ABSTRACT
Alongside these changes in emigration trends and patterns, Morocco has since the mid-1990s also evolved into a destination for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and elsewhere. Although immigration is still modest compared to the large-scale nature of Moroccan emigration, this is a significant shift from the past. An increasing number of migrants from sub-Saharan and other African countries travel to Morocco on visas to pursue studies and to find jobs in unskilled and skilled trades. West African and, more recently, some Filipina women migrate to Morocco as domestic servants and nannies for wealthier Moroccan families, and there is also a modest, but growing presence of Chinese traders in Moroccan cities. In addition, growing numbers of Europeans have settled in Morocco as workers, entrepreneurs, or retirees. Some European labour immigrants, particularly from Spain, have come to Morocco since the onset of the Global Economic Crisis in 2008 (de Haas 2014). While the number of students and workers from African countries such as Senegal and Mali
(who enjoy visa-free travel to Morocco) has been increasing, the African immigrant population in Morocco also includes asylum seekers and refugees fleeing conflict and oppression in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Cameroun or Nigeria, and most recently also from Syria and Iraq (UNHCR 2015). Indeed, Morocco has seen a growing presence of Syrian refugees since 2011 and in 2014, the Moroccan state granted legal status to more than 5200 of them. A substantial number of, predominantly African, migrants use Morocco as a staging post
before attempting to enter Europe. These migrants often enter Morocco from Algeria, at the border east of Oujda, after crossing the Sahara over land. Once in Morocco, they may attempt to enter one of the two Spanish enclaves located on Morocco’s northern coast. Yet, many migrants failing or not venturing to enter Europe prefer to settle in Morocco as a second-best option rather than return to their more unstable and substantially poorer origin countries. Tens of thousands have settled in cities like Casablanca, Rabat, and Fez on a semi-permanent basis, where they find jobs in the informal service sector, domestic households, petty trade, and construction (Berriane et al. 2013). The presence of immigrants from subSaharan Africa has also increased religious diversity and, to a certain extent, revitalised Christian life in some cities of a predominantly Muslim country. Since 2000, immigration has furthermore emerged as a topic of academic and political interest
in Morocco. This has been fostered by the growing interest of European governments in indirectly exerting control over Morocco’s borders in order to prevent irregular migration from Morocco
The Journal of North African Studies 513
her article as a platform to critically engage with Hirschmann’s dialectic between migrants’ ‘voice’ and migrants’ ‘exit’ (Hirschman 1970, 1993), which suggests that faced with discontent, people either stay and raise their voice or leave through migrating. Overcoming this dichotomy, Sahraoui argues that Moroccan migrant communities abroad have undergone a process of political empowerment and succeeded in getting a ‘voice’ through their ‘exit’. For the predominantly unskilled migrants coming from rural areas and mostly belonging to Berber groups, emigration redefined power relationships with the Morocco state. Thus, their settlement and integration abroad has empowered Moroccan migrants and their descendants by enhancing their access to resources and their capacity to interfere in political processes ‘back home’.
