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Abstract
Situated on the north-eastern coast of Morocco, Melilla is a fenced territory of 12 square kilometres under Spanish sovereignty since 1497. Over the course of the twentieth century, and particularly after Spain's incorporation into the European Community (1986), Melilla's fiscal and geo-political status has triggered the growth of a black market economy built on a large variety of cross-border activities, most commonly the smuggling of basic commodities and luxury goods. This paper examines the connections between different forms of exchange linking the Iberian Peninsula to the Spanish enclave of Melilla, and Melilla to the neighbouring Moroccan province of Nador. Different forms of exchange rely on one another – from the family links on which smuggling networks are built, to the migratory tradition which connects Nador to Spain and to a number of European capitals and which has influenced patterns of exchange across the border in unexpected ways. In particular, this paper explores how the assimilation on the part of Nadori emigrants of Western consumption practices, or rather, of what emigrants identify as Western consumption practices, has generated, in Nador, a growing demand for certain goods which are now seen as objects of prestige and markers of status. This demand, in turn, has shaped smuggling practices. It is argued that, in the Melillan context, commodity exchange across the border cannot be properly understood without considering the processes by which certain ideas and conceptions have been appropriated and transformed through long-standing migratory practices linking the Moroccan Eastern Rif to the Iberian Peninsula and beyond.
Acknowledgements
Research for this paper was conducted in 2008–09, and was financed by the European Scatcherd Scholarship, the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (Oxford), All Souls College (Oxford) and the Abbey-Santander Foundation. Writing and revisions took place under the support of Middle East Studies Centre (University of Oxford) and the FfWG foundation. I am grateful to Paul Dresch and Robert Parkin for their guidance during my doctorate, and to all those who helped me with my research in Melilla and in Nador. This article also benefited from the helpful comments of Luis F.B. Plascencia, Adam Gaiser, Miriam Ali-de-Unzaga and two anonymous JNAS reviewers.
Notes
1 The argument is not new. In fact, it is precisely on these grounds that a number of scholars have argued that the Mediterranean constitutes a regional ‘unit’ in and of itself. Braudel (1976) is perhaps the most notable example, but there are others (for a detailed review of the literature Horden (2005) and Purcell (2003)). For a similar perspective on the Sahara, see McDougall and Scheele (2012).
2 For a detailed account of the tensions that defined Melilla's political and economic landscape during the twentieth century, see Bravo Nieto (1996).
3 For an analysis of migratory routes passing through this region and an insight into how people smuggling networks operate, see Collyer (2006) and de Haas (2006). For a more specific analysis of the situation of Sub-Saharan African migrants hiding in the province of Nador, see the brief report written by Chakib Al-Khayari, president of the Human Rights Association of the Rif and an outspoken critic of the Moroccan and Spanish immigration policies (Al-Khayari 2006).
4 Morocco signed labour recruitment agreements with West Germany (1963), France (1963), Belgium (1964) and the Netherlands (1969). Between 1965 and 1975, the estimated number of registered Moroccans living in Europe increased from 30,000 to around 400,000. It has been estimated that somewhat more than 32% of adult men (15–59 years old) born in the eastern Rif were employed in Europe in 1971, while for the whole of Morocco the percentage was only 5.5% (Bossard 1978); in fact, between 1970 and 1973, the region of Nador was ranked first for the absolute number of those leaving for Europe (Berriane and Aderghal 2008, 22).
5 The integration of the eastern Rif into the former French protectorate of Morocco between 1956 and 1958 resulted in great hardship for the local population. Unemployment rose rapidly, as did the cost of living. High levels of unemployment, lack of agricultural development, an inadequate infrastructure and a poor and corrupt administration led to unrest in the provinces of Al-Hoceima and Nador in 1958 and again in 1959. Protests were brutally repressed by King Mohammed V. with the aid of 20,000 troops.
6 There is abundant evidence pointing to Morocco's role as the world's leading cannabis producer and as a key transit point for hashish and cocaine going to Europe (see, for example, UNODC 2005, 2007). The presence of drug-trafficking networks in the area of Nador/Melilla has received less attention in the general literature, but it has been widely documented in the Spanish press. Relevant examples include: Cembrero (2006); Duva (2007); Rodríguez (2005); Gallego Díaz (2002); and Ramos (2002). The Moroccan press has also noted the growing importance of the eastern Rif as a centre of operations for drug-trafficking networks, with articles reporting on the arrests of local drug lords (Abouabdillah; ‘Arrestation d’un trafiquant de droguea` Nador‘ 2009). In the academic literature, McMurray (2001, 149–151), Driessen (1992) and Berriane and Hopfinger (1999) have noted, without going into much detail, the existence of drug-trafficking networks in the area.
7 There is no system in place to count the numbers of people who move in and out of Melilla on a daily basis, and estimates from different sources vary. Ferrer-Gallardo (2008), for instance, puts the number at 20,000.
8 Not all of them are ‘illegal’ workers. According to the Office of Foreigners of Melilla, 2344 work permits were issued to ‘frontier workers’ in 2008; of these, 95% were classified as self-employed, of which 54% were registered as domestic workers.
9 Data published in Spanish newspaper El País; Cembrero (2009) and Cembrero (2008). Estimates from 2009 put the volume of revenues at 600 million euros per year (López-Guzmán and Gonzm´lez Fern´ndez 2009).
10 Melilla is in fact only one of a number of smuggling centres in Morocco; others include the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and the border with Algeria. Several kinds of goods are smuggled in from Algeria, most notably petrol, sold in all major roads across Morocco.
11 People of Moroccan descent make up around 40% of the population. The Jewish and Hindu communities number 1000 and 100–150, respectively (Aziza 2007). For a detailed history of the Spanish enclave, Driessen (1992); for demographic statistics, Mayoral del Amo (2005).
12 For an account of pre-colonial political structures in the Rif, Seddon (1971, 1972); for a detailed account of the Rifi status system and how it conjoins with honour and political power in the figure of the amghar (‘big man’) Jamous (1981). For a more recent perspective, McMurray (2001).
13 Judging by ethnographic evidence of the pre-colonial and colonial Rif, the cash inflow derived from emigration did not generate a new kind of social contest; rather, it intensified one that was already in existence. See, for example, Jamous' (1981) account of the dialectic of challenge and riposte in the pre-colonial Rif and the role competitive displays of wealth played in this form of exchange.
14 This is, of course, an instance of a much wider phenomenon, explored at different times and by different scholars, from Veblen's (1899) work on the ‘leisure class’ or Bourdieu's (1984) concept of ‘distinction’ to Miller's (1987) work on mass consumption or Appadurai's (1986) theories of value.
15 Rifi emigrant households are usually of rural origin, and their relocation in the city is perceived by the local petit-bourgeoisie as a way of sidestepping the more traditional channels for acquisition of social status (i.e. by means of education and family name). For a vivid account of these conflicts in the mid-1980s, see McMurray (2001).
16 In fact, this is a modified version of a Spanish proverb: En la vida la mujer, tres salidas ha de hazer: bautismo, casamiento y sepultura, literally ‘a woman has to leave her house three times: when christened, married and buried’ (Bland 1814, 73; see also Wade 1824, 108; Torres 1989). Interestingly, in this particular account baptism is replaced by birth. The sense is preserved because the word salir that literally means ‘to exit’, ‘to leave’ or ‘get out’ can also be used in reference to the body.
17 It is hard to determine the origins of cannabis cultivation in the central Rif, but we know that its use was firmly established in the nineteenth century (Joseph 1973, 238). According to estimates from 2005, Morocco is one the main producers of cannabis resin (hashish) in the world, with a cultivation area in the central Rif of roughly 20,000 hectares, and around 760,000 people involved in the production of cannabis crops (UNODC 2005). By 2005, the UNODC, estimated an annual market of 4.6 billion euros is in the hands of Moroccan cannabis-resin trafficking networks operating mostly in Europe (UNODC 2005).
18 In recent years, increased controls at European airports and ports have forced South American mafias to redirect cocaine distribution routes through Africa, and the eastern Rif has become a centre for the distribution of cocaine into Europe. The assimilation of the South American cocaine trade greatly increased the volume of revenues generated by the drug business and, today, drug trafficking is one of the most important ‘industries’ in the region. The UNODC's (2007) situation report analyses cocaine trade routes through West Africa, and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs' (2009) strategy report for Morocco analyses hashish and cocaine trade through Morocco.
19 As Herzfeld notes, insofar as they imply a qualitative distinction between insiders and outsiders, moral terms can be seen as markers of lines of social and cultural inclusion and exclusion; ‘ultimately, the language of national or ethnic identity is indeed a language of morality’ (2005, 79).
20 Although this changed with the establishment of the first large commercial store (a branch of a national chain of supermarkets) in the outskirts of the city in 2009. The establishment of this supermarket was, in fact, considerably controversial precisely because it sold alcohol.
21 See Okely (1983) for a similar account in the context Gypsy–Gorgio interactions in Britain.
22 Hart (1976) provided a thorough examination of this musical genre in the Central Rif during the 1950s. Joseph and Joseph (1987) discuss examples from the 1960s, while McMurray (2001) looks at song lyrics collected in Nador in the late 1980s.
23 People in remote areas have a wide definition of ‘strangers’ so that, whatever the real numbers of the latter, there will always appear to be a lot of them. This conceptualization interacts, however, with the undoubted tendency for perceived strangers actually to congregate in remote areas. (Ardener [1987] 2012, 527)
24 This project will involve a redevelopment of the city of Nador and of the Lagoon of Marchica, including not only the construction of hotels and restaurants, but also the creation of a natural park, a sports palace, a golf course, two new ‘leisure ports’, and facilities for nautical and equestrian sports among others. In total, the project will cover an area of 2000 hectares. The new resorts will make provision for over 100,000 visitors and employ around 80,000 people.