”The tongue has no bones, but it breaks bones.” Eloquence and relevance sometimes go hand in hand to deprive the star of the show of its moment in the spotlight. I’m going to become a little too enthusiastic again. My friends blame me for using too many metaphors for the sake of showing off. They recommend that I be straight to the point and present my argument without unnecessary elaboration. They are wrong.
I love metaphors. Remember the anecdote of إِنّ, which tells the story of the Emir of Aleppo, Ali ben Monqed, and his governor, Mahmoud ben Mardass (1065-1075). Communication through codes saves a life for the former while driving the latter to the brink of absurdity. Courage does not rhyme with naivety. Well, the tongue has no bones اللسان ما فيهش عظم. Let us get into the business to lay out the aim of this article.
Like many Moroccans, I closely watched thousands of my fellow citizens and Arab and Sub-Saharan foreign nationals rush toward Sebta on July 29 and 30, 2026. I shared my views in an article I wrote on August 10, 2026 (Hami H., Projet de société, modèles de développement : le vouloir et le pouvoir, Médias 24). Then, I felt disappointed in myself. Why? I think that, like many people, I used this event, unknowingly—or unconsciously—as a means to echo my own voice to feel less guilty.
Many people continue to do so, including journalists and columnists for whom I nurture a lot of respect. What if everyone was being manipulated? The conspiracy theory? The herd mentality? Maybe. But it would be unfair to go that far.
Joking aside, what happened last July is striking. However, instead of throwing another stone into the pond, I take the risk of trying another path. I take the risk and ask the following existential question: why does ‘random’ keep people hovering and spinning?
To be more specific, I would try to perceive the link between several claims people put randomly forward even though they seem to be both senseless and plausible. I will refer to philosophical concepts and paradigms in the hope of understanding what happened at the end of July. I will debate what might happen at more or less regular intervals in the future. I will do it, hopefully, to get the picture as clear as possible.
First, the link between adventure and madness. It is truly astonishing to see adults, teenagers, and kids embark on the adventure hoping to reach Europe, passing through two enclaves separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea. Women and girls who leave everything behind to brave the unknown. Furious madness! as the guardians of the temple of honor, pride and dignity would have screamed. Clearly, there is an undeniable correlation between the propensity for adventure and the early signs of madness.
In his ‘Histoire de la folie à l’âge classique’ (1961), Michel Foucault (1926-1984) argues that the perception of madness evolves over time and remains conditioned by intersocietal power relations. These relations are determined by the instruments of propaganda in the hands of those in power. Where is the adventure in such a statement? And what connection might it have with madness?
The link lies in the central idea of Foucault’s thought that man is shaped to be tamed. There is a classification and compartmentalization of individuals in society. It goes without saying that the concept of individual freedom or free will as Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) had defended is challenged. However, Sartre puts forward other arguments to refute Foucault’s paradigm. I might discuss this matter in another paper. For now, I can say that the choice made with full awareness determines people’s behavior. This applies to hundreds of thousands of people who freely chose to venture no matter what.
Adventure and madness
Would they have considered their adventure as madness? Sure. However, they decide to give it a shot. Why? Two answers. On the one hand, they lost hope for a better life in Morocco. Rightly or wrongly? To them, it doesn’t matter much. On the other hand, they believe that the only truth suitable is the one the ruling elite produces. In so doing, they confirm a key idea in Foucault’s thought. Yet, such a truth does not attract people who storm Sebta and Mellilia. They cling consciously or unconsciously to the concept of class struggle dear to Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895).
Teenagers and adults showed joy and a staged relief once they arrived in Sebta. They gave the impression that they had just won a victory against their own human condition. They were ecstatic, completely unaware of what hid behind the Sebta fortress. A programmed suicide in the pure tradition of mad frenzy.
Marx and Engels talk about class consciousness in relation to class struggle. That’s where the concepts collide. To which class do these young people and adults belong? To the proletariat? To the petty bourgeoisie? To the middle class? Nobody knows for sure. The distinction between class consciousness and class struggle is rather visible in the clashes between participants on social media, including intellectuals, journalists, and renowned personalities.
A common denominator is highlighted in everyone’s behavior: either the targeted individuals criticize before thinking twice, or they defend the government’s policy without producing convincing arguments. Once again, Foucault’s argument that pre-established models determine the social structure proves to be sound.
The idea of linking adventure to madness would therefore be undermined by the fact that the freedom of choice (Sartre) and class struggle (Marx and Engels) are meaningless in people’s minds. It highlights another, more solid argument, that of the direct or indirect intervention of the deep state. The deep state controls and directs social structures as the structuralists suggested (Ferdinand de Saussure, 1857-1913).
At this point, the conspiracy theory shows up. Meditating such a situation, one can draw the conclusion that adventure and madness sail together. All this is inconceivable unless one consults Claude Lévi-Strauss’s revisionist thesis on the deep and influential structures that condition human cultures. In this respect, one has plenty of options to explain the association of adventure and madness, programmed suicide, and euthanasia. Indeed, euthanasia puts an end to the right to life.
Right to life and dignity
Secondly, the right to live in dignity. It is the main wishful request of all those who aspire to leave Morocco and become immigrants. In Casablanca jargon, it is called ‘saving’; that is, escaping from conditions of life deemed catastrophic and unbearable (Hami H., ‘Life and Immortality: Hope and Despair,’ Morocco World News, July 8, 2026).
People make associations with causes beyond borders. They sip from the same glass of troubled water. Unbeknownst to them, they praise a paradise on earth far from the eyes of their loved ones and friends. I will not dwell on the issue of brain drain and skilled workers. I probably will ink a separate article pertaining to their case later.
One may overlook Jean-Paul Sartre’s line in Huis-Clos—No Exist (1944-1947): ‘Hell is other people. ‘No one knows which other people are being referred to. People blame society as a whole. It is in this sense that Foucault emphasizes that political power lets individuals roast under the sun of remote control. It brings about a climate of suspicion to break the potential thread of trust between the two. Political power exerts a soft authority, but the process is visible for whom bare truth should prevail.
Power (or the state) produces and implements instruments of influence and manipulation. This hypothesis is not far from that of Max Weber (1864-1920), Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), Edward Bernays (1891-1995), and George Orwell (1903-1950). All these thinkers share the idea of mass manipulation and the hegemony of a minority over the majority through the use of legal instruments, without society (the herd) being aware of it or revolting. The consent of the majority is gained through a well-crafted scheme.
Soft violence is implemented through the establishment of an apparently peaceful relationship between power (authority) and knowledge (or wisdom). It is in this capacity, as Foucault argues, that power is delegated to several social categories, which, while failing to impose their views, indulge in self-censorship or intermittent oppression-repression. Occasionally interpellated, the majority pays the price for the contradiction it carries between the desire to do well and the headlong rush forward.
Thirdly, the will and denial. Who does not agree does not hold! So many desires that cannot be fulfilled! So many wishes were expressed on the occasion of the assault on Sebta and Mellilia. The most frequently made accusation claims that the state has all the means to get the job done, but it shows no willingness to do so. People lock themselves in a bubble of denial. The progress made and achievements recorded? They don’t care. The decision-makers who recognize that there is a social divide that needs to be addressed. The process will take time to implement reforms, and it will be done gradually! “Smoke and mirrors,” people comment. What about the individual responsibility of each protester? The answer: it’s the other’s fault.
One thing is strange, though: among the people who want to ‘save’ or ‘be saved,’ there are some who have a relatively comfortable economic situation. They explain their decision by the fact that they deserve better. They argue that there is a blockage somewhere. They have a far-fetched explanation: they deny the merit of others. This shows another level of denial. In short, a psychological behavior that challenges understanding.
Fourthly, the schizophrenic behavior. Who doesn’t show it nowadays? Recent events have unmasked new schizophrenics within the category of so-called educated people. Instead of contributing positively to the debates on what would be wrong, they jump on the bandwagon. These are the same people who, not so long ago, praised the Moroccan model. There are others who are eternally unsatisfied. They shoot at everything that moves. These are the same people who supported private education against public education or vice versa, particularly on the issue of language and the alphabet.
Both categories have supported political parties that have voted for laws hurting a considerable segment of the population with limited or insufficient income. Schizophrenia? The degree and extent of the phenomenon are questionable. However, denying its existence is even more questionable. Otherwise, how can one justify the admiration shown for certain symbols and references perceived as an ideal to which everyone aspires?
The will and the denial: what do not fit does not hold
Fifthly, identification with symbols is legitimate. It is advisable to allow hidden energies to emerge and progress. The identification with symbols and the quest for so-called perfect models under other skies accentuate alienation and assimilation without producing, in the long run, the desired integration. When one changes the air, the lungs must adapt, and the body takes the time it needs to feel better. It’s not always easy.
Experience has shown that integration is granted at the cost of abandoning one’s own values. Those who believe they have done so without losing much are bluffing themselves. Because even relatively integrated, they remain second-class citizens. This partly explains the laborious statements of certain Moroccan personalities living in Europe following the events in Sebta and Mellilia. They remained faithful to the same narrative, the one that conducted them to take the stick by the middle. They end up floundering in their obsession. They keep wandering. They take an unequivocal stand. What about the integration they so often claim on television sets?
Sixthly, migration and immigration as a potential solution. Two stories come to mind. The first story is about a Moroccan intellectual who was frequently hosted in the French media—and who deserves the aura he still enjoys. More than three decades ago, he was invited to a flagship show. He was introduced as an immigrant who had successfully crossed the threshold of integration without losing any feathers. He felt outraged and noted that he ruled out being labeled as an immigrant.
His argument? He would have freely chosen to leave Morocco. He wouldn’t have done it for economic reasons. Implicitly, according to him, immigrants would be those who sold their hard labor for economic reasons. They would come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The television set to which this personality was invited kept silent for a while, expressing the degree of contempt felt in both directions.
The second story is that of Gad El Maleh. During the C l’Hebdo show on France 5 in September 2023, he was introduced as a Franco-Moroccan who successfully integrated. He corrected the host, Natacha Polony, by saying that he was a Moroccan national living legally in France. The pill did not go down well for the journalist, but a few seconds later, everything was back to normal. Gad El Maleh often reminds people that he is Moroccan. He did it in Canada and in the United States.
Here are two examples where the true meaning of migration and immigration is cast. Both encounter another form of migration: the so-called spiritual migration. This theme deserves a separate reading. However, it can already be associated with the failure of the integration of the second and the third generations of North-African immigrants.
The marginalization of children who belong to the first waves of migration is a fact confirmed by the limited number of those who have climbed the ladder of professional and social success. The disappointment and despair have led some young people to fall into the trap of organized crime networks.
The psychological dimension is witnessed in the behavior of most of these individuals. The cultural shock and social divide have led some young people to be influenced and co-opted by radical movements of religious allegiance. Certainly, the generalization is unfair. The right to freedom of worship is recognized in all Western societies. The disorder occasionally observed is the result of carefully orchestrated manipulations of obscure interests that are good at.
In this respect, the expression ‘spiritual migration’ takes on its full meaning. It generally consists of the belief young North Africans share that they ought to fight the Western societies’ arrogance through radical religious proselytism, even if it means resorting to violence. The objective would be to avenge the various humiliations suffered by the first and second generations of immigrants—and even to make colonization, of which they know very little, pay the high price.
The debate becomes more interesting indeed. The prospected sound reading flows with the lava of uncertainties. The reason is mistreatment by the suspicious use of the instruments of logic supposed to help get the picture right. Whatever category one belongs to, he becomes a file, a record, a number in the sense Foucault, Orwell, or Huxley expressed. Indeed! Yet, what do some Moroccan intellectuals think about it? And how can one draw inspiration from their perceptions of Moroccan society to understand what happened in Sebta and Mellilia?
At first glance, it is worth commending articles, open letters, and right-of-replies published by men of letters, political scientists, and politicians. They expressed views to demystify the narratives steeped in arrogance, mystification, and manipulation of public opinion in most of the European countries.
Messages written in Arabic, French, Spanish, English, German, or Italian were clear. This also included remarkable inventions on television sets in the Netherlands and Belgium. One can find everything in these messages: the emotional, the factual, and the real combined and yet good to hear.
For the purposes of this section, I will revisit certain expressions –serving as paradigms– put forward by Moroccan thinkers. They will be cross-examined within the same series of postulates on adventure and madness, the right to live in dignity, the dilemma of powerlessness and denial, etc.
I once again take up Mehdi El Manjra’s (1933-2014) argument about the lack of vision in the choice of the societal project in Morocco. A perspective that had its supporters in its time (1970-1990). It was justified to some extent back then. How would El Manjra have reacted to the spectacle of these people trying to reach Sebta? He would undoubtedly have reiterated that he was right. And he was right on some other points. He certainly wouldn’t have made the connection between adventure and madness, except to dare to ask the right questions in front of people unable to distinguish willing from wishful thinking.
Landmarks in the Air or Temporary Schizophrenia
El Manjra would have especially sided with Mohamed Abed al-Jabri (1935-2010) and his interpretation of the Arab mind—and therefore the Moroccan one. Al-Jabri believes that this mind is troubled. It seeks to preserve its roots and, in the process, wants to assess itself and draw from Western civilization. According to al-Jabri, there is no such thing as a clash of civilizations. The West is fighting against what it has produced as a dichotomy between the thought and the behavior.
The West used the Third World to topple the Soviet Union. The victory of the West against communism is perceived as the victory of the entire world. However, the Third World is sacrificed. Now, the Thord World takes its revenge against the West. The West contradicts its own values. However, the Third World does not ask essential questions about its claim to real existence.
According to Abdellah Laroui (1933-present), Morocco would be an island (1998) surrounded by belligerent neighbors whose hostility has historical, cultural, civilizational, and psychological roots. Morocco’s special strategic position ignites and sharpens covetousness. Laroui’s expression is full of meanings. It means insularity, sovereignty, autonomy, and geopolitical constraints. However, this characteristic does not prevent young people from taking the risk to navigate through troubled waters in the hope of reaching the shores of this neighborhood that is so hostile, so arrogant, so hegemonic.
Moreover, one can turn the metaphorical insularity Laroui used into an advantage. This advantage would be to give hope to the people, to convince them that they can only rely on themselves to defend and prevent the hostile neighborhood from daring to attack their island. The island can no longer be a laboratory for democratic transitions according to a one-size-fits-all vision. The island is a melting pot where entities coexist, complementing each other in their contradictions. Because, as Maxime Gorky (1868-1936) thought, contradiction brings about movement and change.
It goes without saying that adventure and madness, the right to live in dignity, individual freedom, class struggles, and conditional cultural characteristics make the movement in the right direction easier. Yet, certainly not in the direction of headlong flight, denial, and programmed suicide.
The disenchantment and disillusionment of the dozens of people at the gates of Sebta and Mellilia are an eloquent response allowing everyone who is willing to properly adjust their compass. Europe is no longer the promised land—and even less the ideal alibi to turn the adventure into madness. Migration and immigration have been synonymous with extremism, dissent, and separatism for the past two and a half decades.
This thunderous trio had served diffuse interests in Europe as a bargaining chip in the name of human rights. It is now perceived as a source of insecurity and destabilization. The sirens of manipulation, regardless of their origins, are beginning to learn this to their detriment.
Mohamed Aziz Lahbabi (1922-1993) provides an enlightening explanation of the freedom of choice that the individual makes. The individual reaches a stage of maturity where he transitions from the state of the so-called biological and social status to that of a conscious, free, and moral person (Mohamed A. Lahbabi, ‘De l’être à la personne’, 1954).
The choice is always individual. You can’t put the blame on the others. My friend, Ambassador Naim Akibou, recently wrote a column that deserves meditation and sustained debate. It is inspired by a Yoruba proverb that says, “Bí ọmọde bà mọ ọwọ wè, a bà àgbà jẹun”, which means, “When a child knows how to wash their hands well, they can eat in the circle of the elders.” In short, “ما حك جلدك مثل ظفرك – If you want something done right, do it yourself.”
