Due to those usual things in the soccer world and as expected, the World Cup in Qatar has rapidly transitioned from being a media showcase of cynical performances on Human Rights to a
eventwhere what really matters is scoring more goals than the opponent.
Life has its ironies: the social elevator of football has ended up falling to the Moroccan national team, the first African team to reach a semis World Cup participants and an optimal vehicle to reclaim the stampede of Arab culture in the world of football (incidentally, thus fulfilling the wet dreams of the corrupt FIFA organizers and their bribed officials when choosing said Middle Eastern country). Continuing with the stance and cynicism, many inhabitants of the West have become tifosi of the Moroccan national team; among them, many Barcelona residents who, setting aside their usual adoration for our lord Leo Messi, have found the perfect puddle of empathy in the poor brother of the World Cup. Do we, the people of Barcelona, know our citizens of Moroccan nationality or origin? Let's start with the data; according to the City Council (The Population of Barcelona, Reading of the Municipal Register of inhabitants as of 01/01/2021), in the city, just over 15,000 people fit into that sociological category. Of the 179 nationalities cohabiting in Barcelona, Morocco is the sixth (very far from Italy, Pakistan or China and in numbers more similar to France and Colombia). If we look at it by neighborhoods, says the magazine Barcelona Metròpolis, there are Moroccans especially in Ciutat Vella (20.8%), Sants-Montjuïc (15.5%), Nou Barris (14%) and Sant Andreu (9.8%). We know, then, that Moroccans make up around 4.3% of Barcelona residents, accounting for 7.3% of business initiatives, but all the preceding statistics have an amendment: they do not take into account the more than 50,000 Moroccans who have obtained Spanish nationality since 2004. All of this is data and blah blah blah, well, the question I asked before is still alive; do we know the reality of our Moroccan soul neighbors? If the answer is negative, something I already anticipate to the dear reader, it won't be because they haven't tried. After the arrival of Moroccans in Barcelona (most of them from France, between 1967 and 1972), our city has seen entities emerge such as the Bayt Al-Thaqafa Foundation (commanded by the philologist in Semitic studies Teresa Losada, promotes the accompaniment of newcomers to full citizenship through fantastic initiatives such as the Gatzara Conferences) or the volunteer association Amical dels Inmigrants Marroquins de Catalunya, which encourages the coexistence of cultures in the Raval neighborhood. I am talking about entities that are not the result of improvisation, with more than forty years of work behind them, about which most Barcelonans still know almost nothing. No. The answer is negative. Although it hurts us, and no matter how much we send a well-filled basket of food to the Gran Recapte, no matter how much let's brag of living in a megaxupiintercultural district like Ciutat Vella, and no matter how much we sing the melodies of The Lost Cat or we have djellabas and babouches bought at Morocco Style at home... most Barcelona residents have no idea what it means to come from Morocco, nor, on the other hand, do we have any deep relationship with the other ethnicities and nationalities in the city. Whether we like it or not, our life –work, academic, and even sports– is monochromatic, Eurocentric, and so on, something that most Barcelona residents who have lived abroad have only experienced in our city. For this, of course, the newcomers are not responsible, but only our idleness in getting to know better what lives a few streets from home.Whether we like it or not, our life –work, academic, and even sports– is monochrome, Eurocentric, and so on, something that most Barcelona residents who have lived abroad have only experienced in our city.
Beyond football solidarities and other nonsense, instead of singing the praises of Morocco's splendid footballers, perhaps we should have the kindness to move our asses a little more and take an interest in our fellow citizens. These weeks of unbearable Christmas advertising, an ad runs on television where a family is surprised when one of its members (a woman, elderly) unexpectedly brings her boyfriend (a man, younger... and racialized of Asian origin) to Christmas dinner. It may seem like a strange and not very normalized situation, but it is still the echo of a monochrome and static cultural reality. The entities I have mentioned to you, and our neighbors in Morocco, are just a few meters from home. We will finish the article, assume the blame, and rush to meet them. In the end, it turns out that football is for something more than goals, you see.