Ceuta, the border and the guilty ones

For years I had a passport that opened very few doors for me. Today I have a Spanish passport and I can look at the world from a different place. I am still the same person, but the document I carry in my pocket has changed. I explain this to remember that inequality is also expressed in the capacity one may have to move freely.

Likewise, often, when we talk about African migration to Europe, we forget determining factors to explain it.

First, we look at the phenomenon from the immediate present. The inequality between territories inherited from colonialism almost never structures discourses on migration. This does not mean that all the current problems of Africa are explained by colonial history (African governments have responsibilities and corruption is a fact). But we cannot forget where we come from.

Second, dehumanization. The person who arrives in Ceuta, gets on a boat, jumps a border, or appears in the news had a life before becoming a migrant. But when they arrive in Ceuta, we no longer talk about Fatou, Mohamed, Mariam, or Cheikh. We talk about the immigrants who “saturate the healthcare system”, “take our apartments”, “receive all the aid”, “bring insecurity”. We move from the specific case to generalization. And if we continuously receive inputs of migrant people related to conflicts, this weighs heavily on the way we think about the newcomers as a group. We stop saying “this person did this” to move to saying “these people are like that”.

It is also necessary to understand that the African migrant is not always a person who had nothing and who arrives in Europe fleeing poverty. The reality is more complex. The study Scaling fences, by the United Nations Development Programme, interviewed 1,970 people from 39 African countries who had arrived in Europe through irregular means. 58% were working or studying before leaving. The research also shows that work was not the only motive for migrating and that aspirations, opportunities, and the capacity to decide about one's own life played an important role. A person can have a job and feel that they cannot move forward. They can study and not see a future. They may want to help their family. They may want to earn more. Or they may simply want to experience another life. Migrating is not always fleeing from an impossible life. It can also be wanting to expand the possibilities of one's own life. And understanding this also helps to dismantle harmful myths.

Third, the misunderstanding of what borders are outside of the West. During the Ceuta crisis, many people asked themselves why so many people had entered the city in that way. I would ask another question: what possibilities did they have of arriving there in another way?

To conclude, I do not want to deny the problems being experienced in Ceuta today. There are worried residents. There are migrant people sleeping in the open. There are services under pressure. There have been deaths. What has caused all of this? Is the problem the massive arrival? Or the lack of legal pathways? Or has there been a problem with planning? With reception capacity? With relations between states? With resources? With European policy? Perhaps a combination of things?

By placing the blame on the migrants we obtain a very simple explanation. But perhaps we do not obtain the correct explanation.

Many people who blame migrants for all their woes have real problems. They may not be able to find an apartment. They may wait months for a medical appointment. They may have a precarious job. They may feel that their neighborhood has changed very quickly. This matters. But they attribute the wrong causes to their problems because the migrant person is visible. A housing policy, a budgetary decision, the precariousness of the labor market, or the increase in inequalities are much less visible.

We must undo the path that has brought us here. To see the other as a person again. And not in order to idealize them. A migrant person can make a mistake, can commit a crime, or generate a conflict. Exactly the same as a local person.