Start Finish Subtitles/Voice Over/Texts
00:00:00;01 00:00:03;24 AFRICAN BROTHERS
Subtitles
00:00:44;24
00:00:51;22
I came from Ghana to Burkina, from Burkina to Niger,
Niger to Algeria and Algeria to Morocco.
00:00:58;09 00:01:02;05 We've been here two years now
00:01:02;22 00:01:05;08 This is where we live
00:01:38;15 00:01:42;06 This is what we are eating to survive
00:01:27;07 00:01:31;20 Look at my body, right here, I'm sitting on detritus
00:01:32;10 00:01:36;23 I live in the forest like an animal, a person living in the forest is like an animal
00:01:40;07 00:01:43;10 Police are pursuing you to catch you, to deport you
00:01:47;04 00:01:51;16 They came here one time, they burnt everything including our passports. Everything.
00:01:55;14 00:01:59;22 You enter here before you know how the situation is.
00:01:59;22 00:02:03;18 But, you can't go forward
00:02:04;15 00:02:09;18 When leaving your country if you knew it was hell, you would not come
00:02:10;12 00:02:12;04 What's your age?
00:02:12;04 00:02:15;12 My age? 16 years
00:02:16;10 00:02:19;17 My two brothers are over there
00:02:19;17 00:02:21;16 One in Germany, the other in Belgium
00:02:26;12 00:02:30;16 I'm surrounded, I'm stuck here. I cannot go forward, I can't go back
00:02:35;20 00:02:39;01 We have nothing back in our countries
00:02:39;01 00:02:41;19 No families, no friends
00:02:41;19 00:02:44;03 nothing, no work
00:02:44;03 00:02:45;19 I'm illiterate
00:02:45;22 00:02:50;03 I did not go to school because my family is poor
00:02:53;14 00:02:57;01 Like the others, like me, I'm just 17
00:02:57;01 00:02:59;15 Look how I'm suffering from this country
00:02:59;15 00:03:01;10 All because I have nothing back
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You also keep in mind that you have to try moving forward
or try to go back to your country
00:03:20;10 00:03:22;20 Or somewhere you could have a better life
00:03:22;22 00:03:23;09 We aren't just here to try to go to Europe
00:03:26;12 00:03:30;13 We are just looking for a way to have a better life, that's all
Voice Over
00:03:37;15 The Kingdom of Morocco has long history as both a destination and stop over point for north African immigration.
Within this history, the plight of Sub-saharan africans in search of a better life is a story that rarely gets told.
Abdou's experiences are typical of what many have faced on this challenging path.
The young senegalese migrant has now been living in Morocco for two years.
Travelling from Casablanca to Oujda, through Nador and Melilla,
Abdou is an expert guide along the well worn migrant route.
Along the way are many would-be travellers, heading towards uncertain promise.
Voiceless and invisible, they are often reduced to a faceless mass within the public debate that surrounds mass immigration.
For decades, public fears over the threat of immigration have been reinforced by politicians and a media that's reliant on racial stereotypes.
In reality, the people making this journey come from a rich mix of cultures, religions and nationalities.
For those that come this way the stopover in Morocco can be brutal.
00:05:04;08 Most of the sub-Saharan migrants enter the the country through Maghnia to Oujda
at the border between Algeria and Morocco
Subtitles
00:05:12;12 00:05:14;00 What are you suffering from?
00:05:15;03 00:05:16;18 From a lot of things
00:05:16;19 00:05:20;03 That's what we were talking about, the pain when you try to jump over the border
00:05:20;04 00:05:22;01 Abdou : It is general fatigue
00:05:22;08 00:05:26;19 Fatigue, and also the daily expulsions by Moroccans
00:05:27;18 00:05:30;00 It's not easy
Voice Over
00:05:25;19
Today the principal piece of legislation governing migration in Morocco is law 02.03.
It was adopted in 2003; the same time as legislation against terrorism, in a general climate of suspicion.
Marking a Shift towards a European style of migration management,
this Act criminalised emigration.
Subtitles
00:05:57;21 00:05:59;23 My name is Kerzazi Mohamed
00:06:00;05 00:06:06;22 I'm a member of AMDH, Moroccan Association of Human Rights here in Oujda
00:06:07;14 00:06:12;05 We work on the ground in the forest of Oujda
00:06:12;06 00:06:16;00 Or on the Campus and also in a place known as "gala"
00:06:16;01 00:06:20;14 These are marginalized areas away from the city center
00:06:22;06 00:06:29;12 Simply because they move away to avoid regular police interventions
00:06:31;02 00:06:36;14 If we focus on minors and pregnant women -
00:06:36;23 00:06:42;10 there have been many times when we've found them at the police station
00:06:46;07 00:06:49;09 Normally, they should let us get out of here
00:06:49;16 00:06:54;04 Now the Moroccans are keeping us here even more than Europe
00:06:55;10 00:06:58;08 Abdou : They're doing the job for Europeans
Voice Over
00:07:01:14 As soon as they can, most migrants leave Oujda for other horizons.
Many try their luck in the coastal town of Nador
Either braving the hostile mountains on one side of the town, or
the rocky slopes slipping down to the Spanish enclave of Melilla on the other.
From the Gourougou mountain
they just wait for an opportunity to reach Europe
On the Spanish side
The Guardia civil (Civil Guard) at the border hands captured migrants back to Moroccan police
On the Moroccan side it's even worse.
Systematic violence is the norm, inflicted with ferocity
‘Fortress Europe' has become impenetrable -
a private club of countries sealed from outsiders.
Subtitles
00:07:44;24 00:07:49;18 Father Esteban Velazquez - Migration Delegation
00:07:49;20
00:07:54;06
The news we got from the immigrants is that, like many other occasions, there was an attempt to jump the fence
00:07:55;13 00:08:00;00 Even if 50 people succeed, as reported
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There are always plenty of them who don't succeed and arrive at the hospital very injured
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which they say is as a result of the Guardia Civil or the Moroccan Security guards
00:08:16;05 00:08:19;07 The fact is, and we only report what we notice...
00:08:20;08 00:08:24;08 We see them in miserable health conditions
00:08:25;13 00:08:31;10 With holes in their heads, broken bones, completely depressed
00:08:36;24 00:08:40;01 16 people came here in these conditions
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When they return to their base, the police arrested them and deported them to Oujda
00:08:50;10
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We met two of them in the city center who told us the police took away their crutches
00:08:58;14 00:09:02;19 They were left in even worse conditions than before
00:09:05;08
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From a humanitarian point of view, It's difficult to understand how you can take crutches away from people in such conditions
00:09:12;10 00:09:15;16 and leave them on the street without anything.
00:09:17;05 00:09:20;07 The immigrants we know from Gourougou, Segangan, Selouan...
00:09:22;18 00:09:26;18 I think we can say that they are living in terrible conditions
00:09:28;03 00:09:32;01 They take advantage of the natural space which protects them
00:09:32;20 00:09:38;15 They use stones and plastic to build their shelters
00:09:39;19 00:09:44;03 and feed thanks to local charities
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They don't have any other way of protecting themselves, they live like that for months, even years
00:09:51;18 00:09:54;23 It's a very inhuman way of living
00:09:55;20 00:09:59;18 Those who come here are the result of the situation in Sub-Saharan Africa
00:10:00;21 00:10:06;07 And ultimately a great world injustice towards the African continent
00:10:06;19 00:10:09;08 It's the cause of everything
00:10:10;11 00:10:14;03 It's hypocrital to ask ourselves what we are doing with this "invasion"
00:10:14;16
00:10:21;12
without asking ourselves what we should do to have a fair relationship with Africa
Voice Over
00:10:23;15 Melilla is an anomoly. The colony is an officially recognised Spanish city, one of two in Northern Africa. The town is home to some 80 000 people,
40% of them with Moroccan ancestry.
Across the border, the difference in living standards is enormous.
The border is a rare point of contact between two countries of such wildly varying wealth.
Desperate to set foot on European soil
many immigrants try to cross the border here.
People here call it the ‘valla':
Two lines of fence seven meters tall.
Between the walls, is a twisted spiders web of cables connected to
electronic sensors, tear gas, night vision cameras and razor-sharp barbed wire.
In 2012, 4 million Euros were allocated to improve it.
There are now eleven kilometres of these high tech booby-traps, funded by the EU.
Subtitles
00:11:24;02 00:11:28;22 José Palazon Osma - Human Right activist
00:11:28;23 00:11:34;06 Last Thursday more than 150 immigrants jumped the fence
00:11:37;04 00:11:43;19 50 of them got into the political opposition leader's house, Mustafa Aberchan
00:11:46;22
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He has a garage with a slope and a fence and the immigrants used this to escape from the policemen who had beaten them up
00:12:01;05 00:12:05;09 They jumped the fence and went into the garage
00:12:06;16 00:12:14;03 To get them out, police used the tear gas, beat them up and broke the fence
00:12:15;16
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Then Mustafa Aberchan arrived, he asked them to stop since it was his private property
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Police didn't listen to him so he opened his door and welcomed all the immigrants inside
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From the 51 at the beginning, there were only thirty-one left. Twenty of them had been arrested
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We thought they were driving them to the CETI (Centre for Temporary Stay of Immigrants)
00:12:39;21 00:12:42;23 As the police has an obligation to do so
00:12:44;14 00:12:51;17 But 21 of them have been sent directly back to the border in a truck
00:12:53;13
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At the border, there is a little backdoor where they use to send immigrants back to Morocco
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The remaining 30 at Mustafa Aberchan's house went outside to negotiate with the police
00:13:15;18
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They agreed to leave the house if the police could guarantee them they would be driven to the CETI and not deported
00:13:25;10 00:13:28;12 The police agreed and asked them to get in the truck
00:13:30;04 00:13:34;10 The immigrants refused and set the condition to walk to the CETI,
00:13:35;18 00:13:43;02 escorted by Associations, ONG and political parties already on location
00:13:44;00 00:13:47;02 The police agreed
00:13:50;11 00:13:54;06 Thank you Lord
00:13:56;09 00:14:02;20 Human solidarity can't ever be a crime and shouldn't be punished
00:14:03;05 00:14:06;07 It doesn't matter what the Government says
00:14:07;21
00:14:10;22
Police reported everyone who helped the Immigrants, including Mustafa Aberchan...
00:14:11;16 00:14:14;14 As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter
00:14:47;21
00:14:58;03
After three days of investigation, we reach a conclusion:
1. - Almost 150 people entered Melilla
2. - Between 60 and 70 registered to the CETI
3. - Almost 60 people have been illegally and summarily deported
Voice Over
00:15:00;21 Those who conquered the border now reside in the Detention Centre for immigrants in Melilla
Known as The CETI, it was designed to hold 480 people
At the end of January 2013, there were almost 1,000
The wait starts here for Djamalou from Niger
Anouar from Tunisia and many more immigrants
Subtitles
00:15:25;20 00:15:30;00 I stayed in Morocco 2 days
00:15:30;07 00:15:36;18 I came here with a Moroccan passport
00:15:36;19
00:15:43;05
- You used a Moroccan passport at the border?
- Yes, I didn't jumped the fence, I came in through the border
00:15:43;19 00:15:47;01 How did you get a Moroccan passport since you are Tunisian?
00:15:48;10 00:15:53;03 I used a fake passport made in Morocco
00:15:56;08 00:15:59;12 Do you still want to go to Europe?
- Yes, always
00:16:00;08 00:16:04;08 It is Europe here, but it's like prison
00:16:05;00 00:16:08;00 We can't go outside of Melilla, not even to go back to Morocco
00:16:08;01 00:16:10;20 We can't move back, or forward
00:16:14;16 00:16:18;16 Here we can do nothing, we can't work, there is nothing we can do
00:16:18;21 00:16:22;21 We can only sleep and eat and sleep again
00:16:23;14 00:16:25;04 Eat and sleep that's all
00:16:29;16 00:16:34;02 Spain, Morocco and the European Union share the same responsibility
00:16:37;20 00:16:40;22 Crimes are committed at the border
00:16:45;07 00:16:45;06 Every day people are tortured and abused
00:16:45;07 00:16:48;09 The border is a brutal place with no law
00:16:49;14
00:16:54;01
At the border, the European Union and Morocco signed an agreement so that there won't be any laws
00:16:54;02 00:16:58;14 Once the European Union got their money, they just washed their hands of it
00:16:59;12
00:17:06;22
They give money to the Moroccan King who sends his army to the border to beat immigrants up
00:17:07;23 00:17:10;12 What do we see from the outside?
00:17:10;17 00:17:17;10 We see Moroccans beating them up and the Spanish as 'little saints' but they do the exact same thing
00:17:18;18 00:17:21;02 That's a crime
00:17:22;01 00:17:25;22 If you give money to someone to commit a crime
00:17:26;22 00:17:31;13 The one who commits the crime is as guilty as the one who gave the money
00:17:31;18 00:17:36;09 Spain, the European Union and Morocco are all guilty of what's going on here
00:17:42;04 00:17:43;12 How old are you?
00:17:43;13 00:17:46;02 21 years old
00:17:50;08 00:17:52;15 What do you want to do?
00:17:54;02 00:17:56;11 I want to go to Europe but it's complicated
00:18:00;14 00:18:04;15 I can only tell those who are in the forest just to hurry up
00:18:05;18 00:18:10;07 Since we are out to look for our new life they should hurry up and come also
00:18:11;18
00:18:17;03
Because I can't discourage them, i can only give them the courage to come also
00:18:19;20 00:18:22;10 I have had my own shock, I was afraid
00:18:23;21 00:18:25;12 Although some people come, others die
00:18:25;22 00:18:33;07 People die, I saw one of my friends die in front of me
00:18:34;02 00:18:35;18 But I can't tell them to give up, they should try
00:18:36;07 00:18:43;02 Because in Morocco it's not good, it's not the best place to live
00:18:51;16 00:18:56;11 They present the Sub-Saharan immigrant as 'ninjas'
00:18:57;17 00:19:00;19 An 'immigrant ninja' with a sword trying to cross the fence
00:19:02;15 00:19:05;17 They give a completely false picture of the reality
00:19:08;13 00:19:12;20 All the solutions implemented are military
00:19:15;23 00:19:19;00 First of all to criminalize immigrants
00:19:19;21
00:19:22;23
means that people don't accept them anymore and think of them as murderers, rapists...
00:19:23;11 00:19:28;17 From this moment, everything is allowed
00:19:30;04 00:19:33;06 What are the Spanish and Moroccan Governments doing at the moment?
00:19:34;03 00:19:35;20 Exactly this
00:19:37;17
00:19:46;02
They are doing what Nazis did to Jews during the first phase: criminalizing them, portraying them as evil
00:19:47;15 00:19:53;17 In order to apply maximum violence on them
00:19:54;06 00:19:57;08 This is the actual situation
00:20:08;21 00:20:11;23 Some people give you 2 euros, others 3 euros
00:20:13;00 00:20:16;02 3 or 4 euros maximum
00:20:16;15 00:20:19;17 Where do you come from?
- Tunisia
00:20:20;09 00:20:23;11 I arrived here 3 years ago, I live in the CETI
00:20:24;01 00:20:28;12 I sleep, I eat, it's alright, not easy but it's ok
00:20:29;13 00:20:32;15 But after 3 years, I'm tired
Voice Over
00:20:34;00 On the road, some migrants feel their only hope is for the European Union to step in andstop the manhunt,
unaware that Morocco's security forces are only playing Europe's policeman, albeit out of the spotlight.
Many rumours spread, but the reality is not getting out
Morrocco's solution to managing the flow of illegal immigrants, by depriving exiles of their rights, is not a new one
It was invented in older times for different groups
People in power apply decades old methods to justify denying people rights
"Anywhere but here" is heard countless times in the immigration debate
However, one question remains
If no country agrees to welcome the migrants
are they being deprived of essential human rights
Subtitles
00:21:31;08 00:21:34;21 People react differently sometimes when you enter a public space
00:21:34;24 00:21:36;17 Abdou Khadir Diaw
00:21:36;18 00:21:41;16 They think that you are dirty, they do something like this...
00:21:42;03 00:21:45;01 They start avoiding you and sometimes it's embarrassing
00:21:46;01 00:21:48;04 How do you put up with it?
00:21:48;18
00:21:54;01
Well, it's routine, you think to yourself that you are the one who left your country for a foreign country
00:21:54;16 00:21:57;14 You have a spirit of self-improvement
00:21:57;18 00:22:03;24 Otherwise you would fight everyday or use bad words
00:22:04;17 00:22:11;04 Of course it hurts your feelings but you try to get over it
00:22:12;00 00:22:15;15 Because it's their own mentality
00:22:16;05
00:22:21;17
You try to swallow your anger, that's what we must do all the time even when it's very hard
00:22:30;15 00:22:34;16 At every police station when you enter Morocco,
00:22:35;18 00:22:39;21 they tell you 'give me a gift or we will deport you'
00:22:41;04 00:22:45;04 Africans are very proud people
00:22:45;16 00:22:49;21 Especially towards their family
00:22:51;06 00:22:54;02 They are ashamed to come back empty handed
00:22:55;07 00:23:00;08 Because great hopes are on their shoulders
00:23:10;06 00:23:14;01 Africa will be built by its own sons and daughters
00:23:15;23 00:23:18;15 First, we have to be patient
00:23:18;20 00:23:21;04 We have to make the necessary efforts to build that Africa
00:23:21;13 00:23:24;09 Europe is not going to build our African land
00:23:27;01 00:23:29;22 First we need new political leaders,
00:23:30;19 00:23:33;08 new mentalities
00:23:35;01 00:23:37;22 No one else can build our own country
00:23:39;02 00:23:43;16 I have faith in the future of poor populations
00:23:44;21 00:23:50;09 I trust the way these people will get confidence in themselves
00:23:50;17 00:23:54;08 Especially in places of great pain like this one
00:23:54;17 00:23:59;18 This is where the conscious of change can happen
00:24:01;16 00:24:05;17 My hope relies on poor populations
00:24:06;23 00:24:09;19 It's sad that we have to compare violence
00:24:10;04 00:24:14;00 I hope the day will come when we will compare solidarity
Credits
00:24:27;12 AFRICAN BROTHERS
A FILM BY ADELINE BAILLEUL AND TAREK BOURAQUE
WITH THE SPECIAL PARTICIPATION OF ABDOU KHADIR DIAW
EDITING BY ADELINE BAILLEUL & TAREK BOURAQUE
TRANSLATION BY MERCREDES AMEZOLA & ADELINE BAILLEUL & TAREK BOURAQUE
ARCHIVES COURTESY OF JOSE PALAZON OSMA/PRODEIN
MUSIC 'UNDERCOVER VAMPIRE POLICEMAN'
COMPOSED AND INTERPRETED
BY CHRIS ZABRISKIE
'TOO YOUNG TO DIE'
COMPOSED AND INTERPRETED
BY VINCENT JACQ AND XAVIER PLOUCHART
'A HIGH WALL'
COMPOSED AND INTERPRETED
BY VINCENT JACQ AND XAVIER PLOUCHART
'SILENCE AWAIT'
COMPOSED AND INTERPRETED
BY CDK
'BENBIENT'
COMPOSED AND INTERPRETED
BY CANTON
'SILENT MOTIONS'
COMPOSED AND INTERPRETED
BY MORGANTJ
'VAGUELY SPANISH GUITAR'
COMPOSED AND INTERPRETED
BY CLARENCE SIMPSON
'THE LONG GOODBYE'
COMPOSED AND INTERPRETED
BY JOHN PAZDAN
THANKS TO JOSE PALAZON OSMA
AMDH SECTION OUJDA
ESTEBAN VELAZQUEZ
THE DELEGACION DE MIGRACIONES DE TANGER EN NADOR
ADDNAN
BASSIT
MOHAMED
ALI
SEGA
ISSA
RAHOU
MOURAD
AOURAR
SIHAM
ANOUAR
DJAMALOU
RACHIDA
AND ALL THE 'CAMARADES'
PETER LEE-WRIGHT
SIOBHAN LOCKART
STEPHANIE OKUPNIAK-VAUGHAN
DEDICATED TO EMILIE KOSKAS
A PRODUCTION BY GLOBAL FRONTERAS PRODUCTION