Excursion to the North

Hello everybody, it’s been a while since I’ve posted so here’s a quick update on where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing the last several weeks:

In the beginning of October, some friends and I traveled to the imperial city of Fes. We explored its famous medina with its seemingly endless winding streets and shops. This medina is considered to be the world’s largest contiguous car-free urban area. Donkeys are used in the medina to transport goods as the streets are too narrow for cars. Here we saw the famous leather tanneries where animal hides are treated, dyed, and processed into fine leather products. It was a fun weekend trip.

From October 13th-20th, our class took a trip to the Netherlands (with stops in Chefchaouen and Tangier in northern Morocco) in order to observe and study the receiving end of migration. In the 1950s and ’60s, the Netherlands experienced a post-WWII boom and along with their unprecedented economic growth, they experienced a great labor shortage. In order to overcome the shortage, guest-workers were recruited from several places, mostly from Morocco and Turkey. While it was the intention of the Dutch government for the guest-workers to stay in the country only temporarily (as their name implies), many ended up staying permanently. Today, almost 10% of the population of Amsterdam is of Moroccan descent making immigration one of the most talked about issues in Dutch politics today. Using this background knowledge, we observed and learned about some of the social, political, and economic aspects of immigration that the Dutch experience on a daily basis.

We spent 5 days in the capital of Amsterdam and were shown around the city by a local 2nd-generation Dutch-Moroccan. We visited a Moroccan neighborhood, considered by some to be the “bad part of town.” We learned that discrimination towards Moroccans here is common and that some people associate young Moroccan males with criminal behavior. Many young 2nd-generation Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands struggle to define their identity as well as to assimilate into Dutch society. The current educational system appears to set young Dutch-Moroccans up for failure.

Later in the week, we had the opportunity to meet with two members of Dutch parliament (Mona Keijzer of the Christian Democrat Party and Désirée Bonis of the Labour Party) to ask them about these issues and their policies regarding immigration in the Netherlands. It was a very interesting and enriching experience. Having members from two parties with differing views definitely made the discussion more lively, too! Afterwards, we met with local high school students from Het Amsterdams Lyceum to have a roundtable discussion on the same topic. It was fun to talk to these students and to hear their opinions on everything from Dutch politics and society to the elections in America to where the hottest clubs in Amsterdam are!

We also visited a local organization called the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Migration and Development (EMCEMO) whose mission is to defend immigrants’ rights and promote equal opportunities for all migrants in the Netherlands (with a particular emphasis on Moroccan immigrants). We learned here that discrimination towards Moroccans and migrants is widespread in the Netherlands. Much like in America, “Islamophobia” is also very present in Holland which adds to the difficulty of the Moroccan immigrant to participate in and assimilate into Dutch society.

This trip was a lot of fun and allowed for a deeper understanding of the difficulties migrants face in a new culture and society. It was also nice to have a break from the heat of Morocco!

That’s all for now! I’ve had trouble keeping up with pictures on this blog but I’ve been trying to post them to Facebook. Below are the links to the albums if you’re interested. Make sure to check out the video section of this blog too! As always thanks for reading!

Morocco

Amsterdam