I’m starting to get my fill of today’s zmigs . Whether it’s at the beach, at Marjane, at the bank, in a restaurant or on the street, it’s always the same disrespectful and arrogant behavior« ; « The fact that from midnight onwards a beautiful city like Marrakech turns into Aulnay-sous-Bois makes me spin« … These Twitter posts punctuated an eventful summer for the « Moroccans of Morocco »-MRE relationship.
The « zmigs », Moroccans who have emigrated, have been the subject of much controversy following a number of incidents – some of them fatal, such as a road accident in Marrakech which claimed the life of a young Moroccan father – as well as « behaviors » that the locals no longer put up with. However, contrary to what some publications on social networks suggest, this summer’s incidents are not only the work of MREs on vacation, but also of Moroccans living in Morocco.
« MREs are involved, as are people living on the Casablanca-Rabat axis who have come to spend the summer in Marrakech », says a police source. But this rejection of MREs also extends to unsuspected environments: « I receive many Moroccan patients living abroad during vacation periods, and they’re the only ones I have problems with. Inappropriate behavior is one of them, » says Nadia, a physiotherapist in Casablanca. She adds: « I recognize them straight away »
« Some people have gone so far as to say that without MREs, there would be no more incivilities or crime. Give me a break! »
And the mirror effect is there. Among some MREs interviewed by TelQuel, incomprehension is also on the rise. « When you hang around on social networks and see what’s being said about us, even though we bring money and visibility to the country, it’s enough to make you wonder. There are outbursts, but some people have gone so far as to say that without MREs there would be no more incivilities or crime. Give me a break! » comments Yassine, a Moroccan living in Mulhouse.
For, despite the social networking frenzy surrounding certain accidents, behaviors and other excesses, the facts are undeniable: « In recent years, remittances to developing countries have exceeded the cumulative amount of foreign direct investment and official development assistance, and the gap is widening all the time, » analyzed the World Bank in 2023. In Morocco, MREs contribute not only to the real estate market, but also to the tourism (hotels, air transport, etc.) and banking sectors« , explains Driss El Yazami, President of the Council of the Moroccan community abroad (Conseil de la communauté marocaine à l’étranger ,CCME). But it’s at the cultural level that the problem lies.
The image of the suburbs
« For several decades now, we have no longer been dealing with a single figure of the migrant: a poorly qualified, poorly educated man who left alone to do the work that Europeans no longer wanted, living on the fringes of society and joined in the 1970s by his wife. To this first image was added that of the suburbs, the eternal ghetto. The ‘immigrant worker’, as they used to say in France, and the suburbs are now the dominant images in the perception of Moroccan society« , continues the CCME President.
It’s this suburb that comes up so often in the « complaints » of Moroccans in Morocco. As we saw during the early legislative elections in France, when many Moroccans living in Morocco called for a vote for Marine Le Pen’s xenophobic party. « I’ll say it loud and clear: if I were French, I’d vote for the Rassemblement National. Imagine these scum downstairs from you, it would drive anyone mad! And it’s always the same people, » Brahim, a retired Moroccan living in Casablanca, told TelQuel at the end of June 2024.
Younger Moroccans echo the same sentiment: « I don’t recognize myself at all in the way the French describe North Africans. I have the impression that they’re talking about people who don’t belong to Morocco. It makes me sad to say it, but if I could, I’d vote for these scum or ‘banlieusards’ to be at least punished, » confides Miriam, 30, who has just finished her communication studies in Paris. This animosity towards « banlieusards »(people from the suburbs) was also noted on Moroccan social networks this summer.
Dual identity
« There are differences in behavior linked quite simply to the difference in environment. In Morocco, citizens are not seen as different according to their origin, which is sometimes the case in France or other expatriate countries. What’s more, the ‘banlieues’ were built precisely to keep these ‘others’ at bay. How can we be surprised that they don’t behave in the same way as Moroccans living in Morocco? Above all, we shouldn’t make generalizations. We’re talking about a minority, » explains Khalid Mouna, anthropologist and professor at the University of Meknes. Driss El Yazami comments: « Behind the figure of the ‘MRE’, as it is all too often referred to in Moroccan society, there are social, cultural and political realities of extraordinary diversity that we must accept and take into account.
« The greatest challenge for MREs is to feel they belong somewhere »
« Today, the greatest challenge for MREs is to feel they belong somewhere. Take French-Moroccans, for example: they feel neither completely French nor completely Moroccan. This in-between feeling also explains the differences in behavior linked to the image they have of Morocco, which is not the reality, » explains Khalid Mouna. A fantasized Morocco, « the one told to them by their parents or grandparents« , which they don’t find when they arrive for their stay.
But that « double identity » can also be fully assumed and put to good use, as Driss El Yazami suggests: « The rise in power of the new generations, born and socialized in the countries of residence, is indeed a fundamental trend. These are no longer Moroccans living abroad in the strict sense of the term, or adult MREs who left, but – increasingly – dual nationals, who are assuming their dual identity on a massive scale, albeit in different ways. It seems to me that the challenge is to understand and accept this dual loyalty, this mixed anchorage that they feel deep down inside, without stigmatizing them or assigning them to a single origin.«
Economic windfall
Despite certain cultural differences, the impact of MREs on the Kingdom’s development and economy needs no further demonstration. As Driss El Yazami points out: « Hundreds of migrant associations have been set up to contribute to the development of their home territories. This contribution can take the form of more humanitarian aid, such as the purchase of school buses, ambulances or orthopedic equipment for disabled people, etc. This humanitarian approach was particularly evident during the Al Haouz tragedy (in September 2023, editor’s note). In other cases, the projects implemented have a more accentuated development dimension and consist of road building, equipping schools (sanitary facilities, libraries, etc.), building small socio-cultural facilities, connecting to the drinking water network… »
As for money transfers from MREs, they have surged spectacularly: « Migrant deposits have undoubtedly contributed to the solidity and dynamism of Moroccan banks. There’s another type of contribution that, in my opinion, doesn’t get enough attention : that of the Moroccans of the world who are increasingly moving between the Moroccan business world and their home country. Moving between these two worlds, these experts, consultants and entrepreneurs contribute directly to Morocco’s openness to the world, but also indirectly by acclimatizing other entrepreneurial cultures to the national ecosystem« , explains the CCME Chairman.
In 2023, Moroccans from around the world have transferred nearly 115.15 billion dirhams to Morocco, 4% more than in 2022. In 2020, the number of Moroccans living abroad reached 5.4 million, for a total population living in Morocco of around 36.7 million. Their cash transfers have grown significantly and fairly steadily over the past twenty years, rising from 22.96 billion dirhams in 2000 to 93.67 billion in 2021.
Written by Leila Chik. Edited in English by S.E.
