Post-crisis relations between Morocco and Spain and the need to renew doctrine

Laziness travels so slowly, that Poverty soon overtakes it.

Benjamin Franklin

It seems that we Moroccans who love Spain, as long as the relations between our countries continue to be governed by a bleak and suspicious doctrine, will be condemned to resemble the one described by the Sudanese poet Idris Yamma in one of his exquisite poems:

My lot is like a flour that on top of thorns they sowed.               

And they said to barefooted people on a windy day to gather it up.

There is no doubt that the latest episode of crisis that Morocco is experiencing with two countries of the European Union (Spain in particular) can be explained by the geopolitical change resulting from a succession of initiatives and developments that have taken place in recent years in the country on the southern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar, among them:

• The policy of the major Mediterranean ports.
• Its successful and natural return to the African Union.
• Its economic penetration of a number of African countries.
• The demarcation of its maritime borders.
• The important resources of Mount Tropic.
• The closure of the Melilla and Ceuta border crossings.
• US recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over the Sahara.

Therefore, the current crisis with the northern neighbour indicates that the fear of the unknown is stronger than the impulse, that treating existing and future variables with the constants of the past is an obsolete exercise, and that the system of exploitation is no longer capable of dealing with the new data. In short, that it is time to adopt a new perspective capable of renewing interests and adapting them to geopolitical and geostrategic changes in the area. And “happiness is sometimes hidden in the unknown", said Victor Hugo.

As those interested in Spanish-Moroccan affairs, we know that Spain's political, military and 'societal' position vis-à-vis Morocco (the Sahara among these issues) is divided between four visions: 

• The first is nourished by the wills of Isabella the Catholic who believes that the persecution of the 'Moors' across the seas and their harassment would guarantee Spain's security. This view was taken up by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, the president of the Conservative Party and of the Spanish government between 1895 and 1897. Aznar is one of the disciples of this vision.
• The second supports Morocco in the search for a favourable solution in the Sahara and considers Morocco's proposed extended autonomy project to be a good stimulus for its democratisation and the strengthening of relations as long as the balance of power remains in Spain's favour and the southern neighbour renounces its claims in Ceuta and Melilla. The origins of this vision go back to Ángel Ganivet, author of the 'Idearium español' and one of the visible heads of the Generation of '98, which was behind the revitalisation of Spain's cultural roots after the loss of its last colonies. Among the Spanish personalities who defend this thesis is José Manuel García Margallo, the foreign minister of Rajoy's government, who insisted in his latest media outings on the need to rethink Spain's position on the Sahara, believing that, as Keynes said, 'when facts change, I change my mind'.
• The third vision sees no problem in recognising that the Sahara is Moroccan but shelving the issue of Ceuta and Melilla until the conditions are ripe and this issue would form part of a 'deal' that would include the return of Gibraltar to the Spanish crown. Among those who defend this thesis are Moratinos and Zapatero, who last week reiterated his support for such a vision, as well as a number of military officers. A strong neighbour linked to Europe is a good thing for Spain, they argue.
• And a fourth vision believes in self-determination and uses the three tracks to advocate this option, namely the logic of the deep state (the intelligence services), the normative logic (diplomacy and economics) and the logic of the NGOs, which can sometimes remind us of the undercover work of missionaries. Let us recall in this context that the UN, which was also considering the option of a referendum, stopped raising it in 2003 as it realised it was mission impossible.

That said, the oscillation of Spanish-Moroccan relations between high and low tide, turmoil and stillness, can be explained by internal political reasons motivated by the quarrel between these four visions, to which external reasons linked to the interests of the major powers in Morocco can be added, who are suspicious that Spain has become the country's leading economic partner in such a short period of time. 

This new situation, which entails a substantial change in relations, is the corollary of Spain's change of doctrine (or slogan) from considering Morocco as a country that 'is interested in its political stability but not its economic development', which prevailed during the 1980s, to another doctrine that is based on a 'cushion of economic interests'. This evolution made it possible to create a climate of mutual trust that encouraged Spanish companies to invest in Morocco, something considered beneficial by the two countries' leaders, and which should be reinforced and developed in accordance with the new challenges.

To do so, it is necessary to move into a third gear, which requires political boldness and moving away from the spirit that lies behind the phrase that claims to be able 'to have one’s cake and eat it' because the Sahara, simply and severely, is a matter of life and death for Morocco.

Working in this direction from the EU, which in addition to being the framework that currently governs relations between the two countries, would allow Spain to alleviate pressure arising from its internal specificity. 

There is no doubt that the Spanish state has every right to defend its interests with Algeria without harming its benefits with Morocco. There is no need for it to embark on such a course of action that tarnishes its image and calls into question the credibility of its judicial system and the separation of powers. Such proceedings also call out to anyone who is obfuscated to pick up the gauntlet and strike back. Those of us who know the ins and outs of the Sahara issue know that it is a pandora's box open. If the aim is to provide a solution for the generations who were born in the camps and grew up there with no direction or horizon, we are way off course. For historical reasons, our Spanish friends are called to be part of the solution instead of continuing to be part of the problem.

The true homeland is time which limits our existence and not an eternal earth, and "political action is sometimes like the surgeon's scalpel, it must not leave time for uncertainty" said François Mitterrand.

It would be unfortunate if love for Spain, which was evident in the jubilant demonstrations after Spain's victory in the 2010 World Cup, were to turn into frustration and hatred. Nor would it be my wish that the image that Spaniards have of Moroccans should return to the time of the Inquisition or back to the stereotypes related to the Rifian soldiers that Franco (or Hadj Abdeslam, as he led them to believe) duped into an ideological and fratricidal war by depriving the lands of the Rif and Yebala of their brave men.

To this end, and after the inevitable return to serenity, action must be taken to establish new relations between the two neighbours:

• To take a step forward on the Sahara issue in accordance with the new geopolitical configuration and combining the interests of both countries with those of the Saharawis suffering in the camps.
• To reinforce its linguistic presence, which is diminishing day by day, despite the fact that Morocco is home to the largest number of the Cervantes institutes in the world.
• To build, together with Morocco, a real media platform to help overcome prejudices and highlight our cultural and economic ties. It is a matter of removing our relations from the smell of fish, the tragedy of migration, the stench of testosterone and the blinding dust of sandstorms.
• It is about seriously re-evaluating the role of Moroccan graduates from Spanish universities in line with Spain's role and the scale of its investment in Morocco. To tell the truth, no action has been taken at this important level, and there is almost no return on this major investment.
• As for the issue of Ceuta and Melilla, I believe that any territorial claim, regardless of its degree of legitimacy, must be based on the benefit to both sides of the conflict of the resources offered by the territory, ensuring human development, recognising the geographical dimension and cultural rights as well. This is because borders exist in the mind, and because the borders of Ceuta and Melilla, which offered thousands of temporary jobs to Moroccans for decades, effectively dismantled their industrial fabric and sent a siren call to tens of thousands of people coming from different parts of the country to settle in the adjoining cities and engage in smuggling. 

Then there is another fact that I whisper in the ears of our Spanish friends as well as my fellow countrymen: you talk about poverty as a reason for a large number of people wanting to leave the country. But, aren't we facing the 'chicken or egg' paradox ? In other words, what if these billion euros devoted to military spending in the Sahara for half a century would have been invested by Morocco in development? What if smuggling via Ceuta and Melilla had not demolished the Moroccan economy and condemned thousands of industries to closure and workers to be laid off? 

And finally, what borders are we talking about in a globalised world, in times when Morocco is a privileged partner of that economic and political bloc called the EU? What borders are we talking about when they collapse under the growing pressure of the economic and political structures of globalisation on the nation-state in its traditional border-based sense? 

I opened this article with a quote that says that 'laziness walks so slowly that poverty catches up with it'. This might be the best image to describe the recent events in Ceuta, so beware that Spain is Morocco's sounding board and vice versa.

"Stupidity is laziness" said Jacques Brel.

That is why the EU should overcome laziness in articulating its foreign policy towards Morocco and proceed by distinction, not by rapprochement, on the issues of the Sahara and Ceuta and Melilla.

As far as Ceuta and Melilla are concerned, instead of being content to say that they are EU borders and add fuel to the fire, it should first mediate, calm things down and then realise that only by financing projects in the areas bordering Ceuta and Melilla can this conflict be remedied. Only by creating an area of economic interest and complementarity can these borders be perceived from the point of view of geographers and not that of experts in international law. Only by turning them into a Euro-Moroccan space open to equitable and interdependent commercial and cultural exchange will these borders fall per se.

As far as the Sahara conflict is concerned, it must be understood that solutions to employment (including for Spaniards), emigration and security problems lie in the project for greater autonomy and in cooperation with the United States to make this area a genuine economic platform. The real interests of the Sahrawi refugees, the weakest link in this miserable soap opera, also lie in these two initiatives. It goes without saying that the precariousness and uncertainty they have been experiencing for decades make them ideal prey for the intertwined trade in terrorism and smuggling.

As Cocteau rightly said, to "rest from doing nothing" means further destabilisation, less security and prosperity; in short, offering the area on a silver platter to the chaos and the jihadist danger that has begun its journey northwards and is gaining more and more ground every day. There is no need to recall the Polisario Front's links with African and Middle Eastern terrorist movements.

And anyone who does not anticipate, work and renew ends up being visited by ignorance and misery sooner or later.

To conclude, I believe that it does not matter whether we agree or disagree with the arguments that Spain put forward to justify Ghali's entry or those that Morocco put forward to explain what happened in Ceuta. What really matters is to know that error leads to error and our role as intellectuals is to find the truth in the midst of error.

'If you make a mistake and do not correct it, this is called a mistake", said Confucius. And there is nothing that equals human intelligence as stubbornness and cruelty. 

Let us hope that intelligence prevails.

Mohamed Nouri, President of the Alcántara Spain-Morocco association and Researcher at the Peace and Conflict Institute. University of Grenada.