SPAIN, August 1— “That difference—having a passport that lets you say, ‘Well… I want to earn more money, so I’ll go to Belgium, Germany, or Sweden’—versus the only option we have: throwing ourselves into the sea and trying to cross the border,” a Moroccan man told a journalist on the beach at Ceuta.
Between July 28 and 31, over 60,000 people swam around the border from Morocco into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on the North Africa coast. At least 90 died, drowned or crushed against the border fence. Spain sent more soldiers to Ceuta. Most of the migrants, lacking resources, will be returned to Morocco or their countries of origin.
Why did this happen? One question. Two answers.
The sentiment of being so poor that one has “nothing to lose” is frequently heard in Ceuta and Melilla, another Spanish enclave. People wait for a chance to scale the fence or swim across.
Morocco is a transit zone for the largest and most deadly border in the world—the Mediterranean Sea. Migrants from across Morocco and every part of Africa journey for months. They risk their lives crossing the Sahara in search of survival.
This same desperation sends people from Guatemala to the US and from Mozambique to South Africa. Capitalism has no future for our class, but this attack is uneven. Many workers will risk everything for a chance to find someplace where things are a little better.
But what happened this week is mostly a political maneuver by the Moroccan monarchy. Trucks ferried people to the border, unimpeded by the police. Rumors were spread that a recent Spanish Court decision would allow migrants who arrived by sea to stay. The Moroccan king, colluding with his US and Zionist allies, used these desperate workers to exert pressure on the Spanish government.
Spain’s current government is a thorn in the side of the Zionists and the US. President Pedro Sánchez denounced the genocide in Gaza. He refused to let the US military use Spanish bases to attack Iran.
Encouraging migrants to cross into Ceuta supports US policy interests. It aims to destabilize Spanish politics. It creates an opportunity for openly fascist anti-immigrant politicians who would be friendlier to the US/Zionist gang.
Masses in Morocco have actively denounced the genocide in Gaza. But Moroccan President Mohammed VI openly supports Trump and the Zionist regime. He recognized the State of Israel in the 2020 Abraham Accords. This bought US and Israeli support for Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony where indigenous Sahrawi people are fighting for independence.
Morocco is playing both sides of imperialist rivalry. It has welcomed Chinese investment in its tech sector and provided China access to its phosphate resources. Phosphate is a vital ingredient in fertilizers, and Morocco has 70% of the world’s reserves.
Morocco is also trying to gain advantage in a liquefied natural gas agreement involving Algeria and Spain. Previously the gas passed through Morocco, which collected transit fees. Algeria still sells gas, but it reaches Spain directly via the Medgaz pipeline. This connects Algerian fields to Almería (Spain) across the Mediterranean.
Capitalist rulers use workers as cannon fodder. The struggle for energy resources has claimed countless lives in Gaza, Iran, Sudan, and Ukraine. The bosses will do whatever it takes to secure those profits—including genocide in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
The desperation of migrants at the world’s borders shows clearly that the working class needs to get rid of this system. We need armed revolution for communism, for a world without borders or bosses, where no worker will ever be a foreigner.
Read Fight for the Day When No Worker Will Be Called Foreigner here