~ DARIJAH IN LONDON'S NOTTING HILL MOROCCAN COMMUNITY IN GB STRUGGLE FOR RECOGNITION

[HOUDA-K]

21/06/05

London, Notting Hill -- The Moroccan community in London, settled in North Kensington during the 1960's, is still struggling for identity and recognition.



Souad Talsi-Naji, a British immigration specialist of Moroccan descent sees the community as disoriented in terms of its relations with local authorities, central administration and support services, and in terms of its integration as a minority within the body of London. She claimed in an interview with Morocco Times that the number of success stories is very sporadic and is greatly outnumbered by the failures.

You have certainly heard about Julia Roberts' Notting Hill. Well, it is not just a movie, but a place where our Moroccan community have settled for more than four decades.

Taza Snack, Bab Marrakech, Casablanca Halal Meat Butchers, L'Etoile de Sousse Patisserie. Such names make you feel you are in one of Casablanca neighborhoods. This is not Morocco but Golborne Road, North Kensington, London W10.

Kensington, where the famous Notting Hill Gate is located, has been home to more than 6000 Moroccans.

As you are exploring the area, going up to Queensway and Bayswater – 15 minutes walk from Notting Hill, you not only hear Moroccan Darija, but different Arabian dialects. You probably think you are in the Midlle East!

“The Moroccan community came to North Kensington in the early 1960's, when migrant workers were directly recruited by British hotels and catering trades,” said Souad Talsi-Naji, a British immigration specialist of Moroccan descent.

“Apart from the small Moroccan Jewish community which settled in Manchester in the 19th century, Most Moroccans living in Britain,” added Talsi-Naji, “came from ‘Jbala' of Northern Morocco; others came from Meknes and Casablanca.”

According to a 2001 Census, conducted by the British Office for National Statistics, the Moroccan community in London – estimated at 6000 – is the largest Arab community in the area of Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBK & C).

Al Hasaniya Moroccan Women's Center, a Londonian NGO working closely with the Moroccan community, estimated, however, that there are more than 8000 Moroccans living in the RBK & C area.

“The number of Moroccans living in this area, given by the Office of National Statistics is just estimation. We believe the number is higher as recent political events in the World and particularly in the Middle East have affected Moroccans' perception towards their identity,” said Souad Talsi-Naji.

Talsi-Naji, who is also a founding member of the Al Hasaniya Moroccan women's center, added that “Moroccans in post 9/11 have reviewed their identity. Some identified themselves as Muslims first and foremost, whilst others feared to identify themselves as Moroccans or Muslims, and some have even changed their names.”

“Despite steady restrictions imposed on migrant entry into Britain since early 1970's and recent entry clearance visas on Maghreb nationals in 1996, there is still some regular movement between Morocco and Britain,” said Talsi-Naji.

She added that the increasing number of the community has been due primarily to the arrival of dependants and the growth of families settled in London with an average of 4 children.



Generation gap

Arriving in London with no spoken English, the first generation of Moroccan immigrants have sought to retain a lifestyle consistent with Moroccan Muslim traditions. They struggled hard to establish their own religious and social facilities, quranic and Arabic studies schools for the younger generation.

“However,” said Talsi-Naji, “it is worth mentioning that the generation gap is bigger than ever, and our community is on the brink of complete disorientation.”

A gap in values and understanding has grown up between parents and the second generation of young people, born and educated in Britain, holding British citizenship and having western values.

“Whilst the first generation remains adamant and resolute to its self-containment, the second generation has rejected such values and embraced those of British society, creating in some cases absolute chaos in family life and the present growing concerns of our third generation,” explained Talsi-Naji.

Education

Talsi-Naji complained that education attainments among the Moroccan community is very poor, and that statistics show that children seldom go beyond the General Certificate for Secondary Education (GCSE) level and leave school without adequate qualifications to compete in the job market.

“One tends to see that the second generation is somewhat of a déjà vu of the first generation immigration. The only difference is that the second generation has the language facilities to communicate,” stressed Talsi-Naji

Arabic, according to the office of National Statistics, is the most common language, other than English, spoken in schools in Kensington and Chelsea, with nearly one in four English-Arabic Language (EAL) children speaking this language.

Figures also suggest that 23.9% of children in schools in the area speak Arabic at home.

Arab immigrants are keen to retain a sense of cultural identity, and the local councils' recognize the need to support this, although mutual understanding is not always easy to achieve. The view has been expressed in some quarters that the Moroccan community is fragmented almost beyond repair.

Kensington, Paris' ‘Monte la Jolie'

Souad Talsi-Naji, raised concerns over the Moroccan community in Kensington, referring to the family breakdown and the increase incidence of juvenile delinquency, which is linked to the dramatic rise of youth unemployment.

The community in Kensington is suffering from high level of unemployment across all ages, especially young men. It is a growing problem which leads to low self-esteem, insecurity, depression, and in some cases petty crime and drug addiction. Talsi-Naji called Kensington ‘Paris Monte la Jolie', in which social ills are concentrated.

Faced with these issues, Moroccans have struggled for recognition of their particular needs - including social services, education and equal opportunities, in a society in which they found themselves marginalized both economically and in their access to services.

Whilst the host community has been exercising its commitment to equal opportunities and in some cases positive discrimination, in order to attract Moroccans to their employment as social workers, nurses, teachers, or legal advisors, very few Moroccans have come forward.

“The reason,” explains Talsi-Naji, “is that our community is not as yet wholly convinced of the vital role played by education and training. We tend to see things from a very narrow point of view and, very sadly, couldn't match other ethnic minorities in Britain such as the Indian community.

Successes and failures

Talsi-Naji said that the Moroccan community in the UK have achieved a little in four decades of immigration. She emphasised that the number of success stories is very sporadic and is greatly outnumbered by the failures.

“The overall picture of our community in London, particularly in Kensington, is that of a completely disoriented one in terms of its relations with local authorities, central administration and support services, and in terms of its own dynamic and its integration as a minority within the body of London.

Talsi-Naji believes that the major solution to this problem is to address efforts to encourage and reinforce self-esteem, and self-confidence among the Moroccan community and help them regain their pride and dignity.

This is, however, not to say that there are no happy stories to report on the community. The fact that organizations such as Al-Hasaniya exist and have done successfully so for the last 20 years, fully demonstrates the commitment of the Moroccan community and the progress made so far.

A significant number of Moroccan children have reached an acceptable level of education, good enough to take them to the white collar employment group, slowly eradicating the need to be bleu collar workers.

“But is this enough?” wondered Talsi-Naji, “I would argue not, simply because we should be doing so much better; we should be ambitious enough to achieve educational level of high standards; to have professional careers and be counted amongst the successful communities; to fully integrate in local politics.”

The immigration specialist and woman activist emphasized that the community should stop marginalizing itself as “the host country has not impeded the community's progress but rather we have done it to ourselves,” she said.

“It is high time to take responsibility and own up to our mistakes, time to replace community leaders who are still having the old ‘Basri' mentality without proper qualification and totally power possessed without the common good; time for the Moroccan authorities to recognize the work done by NGO's and assist them by supporting their work; and time to encourage further education and get role models to work with our youngsters to build on the ethos of striving to excellence,” she suggested.

[-theTruth-]

Salam

Thanks for the report, I now understand the childship behavious of some girls on this forum except Ghazala and Chica and few others, they are trying to be English and it is not working outfor them hence why they are lost and confused

[Ghazala]

I find that the claimed desire to see improvement in the community doesn't sit easily with the usual reactions when officials or people from certain community 'groups' are faced one of the 'success stories'. Especially when they deal with them professionally

That is magharba for you. Success, in reality, usually leds to hostility and/or suspicion. Instead of working side by side with other magharba, it turns into a competition. They don't want to have to deal with someone li ghadi fhem aleehoum. Not this lady, as I do not know her, but generally. Enough said

Coming back to the article - it doesn't say anything we don't already know. The community in East London is much the same. The real question is how do we deal with it?

I personally would be happy to volunteer for activities. Say, a careers fair, where local moroccan children come forward & meet with older Moroccans who are already working in the so-called white collar jobs. Or pursuing postgraduate studies for example. Or running successful businesses. Volunteers could be obtained via the consulate - for example, sent out as a mailshot from the Consulate to people they know of. Then we could pass on the information to our friends. Once volunteers are collected we can arrange something with the assistance of the local groups. That would be a start I think. At least it would break the image of that some young people have where they believe that study is a waste of time because 'white people' won't give us jobs.

I feel that a change of mentality needs to happen so that 'outsiders' are allowed to come in & help. Community projects with the assistance of professionals. Moroccan professionals of course & I don't mean it in the traditional sense. Advice workers, civil servants, IT people. There are Moroccans working at all levels but we don't all know each other. The Consulate should make an appeal for people to come forward with ideas and should help these ideas become realities. At the moment, you have community groups but they are manned by people who are, arguably, not as qualified as they could be. Experienced perhaps, yes. Qualified no. They need help. Why is it so hard for people to allow the 'outsiders' in??? By outsiders I mean people who do not live in the area. Or are not from Larache. Or have no links to the 'Grove'.

There are many of us who are willing to help. However, what I personally have encountered is that certain people enjoy an 'elevated' status in the community and they are not happy for people to come in like this. It is the usual ignorant mentality where they don't want people who are 'better than them' to come forward as they feel that people will have less interest in them & their status will diminish. The 'complexe' as I like to refer to it . It is complete cr@p & we should not stand for it anymore. As a collective group, we need to inject some energy into our community.

There are many things we can do if we only work together for the benefit of our community. Put aside petty jealousy & ego issues. Now, who wants to do something?!

[HOUDA-K]

Good to see the ball rolling with an initial idea of a careers fair, which could be a success.

Any other suggestions ?

Volunteers perhaps ?

[Anonymous]

There is no need for second generation Moroccans to be blue collar workers. It all comes down to the same old point - Education is the key to success in life!

[Ghazala]

Mentoring? Tutoring (for the qualified teachers out there)? Counselling?

As far as I can see, most groups right now deal with the problems (housing, benefits, domestic violence etc) rather than with development. As youth is the focus, we need ideas for developing our young children & teenagers into HE & work. As boredom & hanging around in streets leads to addiction problems for many, community projects should get going for football for example. Or dance classes, music lessons. Someone will have liaise with the Council & Lottery for some money but we can also hold fundraisers of various kinds.

[Sista]

In regards to meeting resistance with members, or leaders of the community in particular, that is to be expected to some degree. They are already in an established position and as an 'outsider' that has to acknowledged and respected at the same time. These interventions/proposed initiatives will be successful if they are orgainsed and approached in the correct way. By that i mean not stepping on anybody toes. There are a number of effective techniques and some common sense ideas, such as involving these leaders of the communities in the process from the start, begin the discussions with them and get their ideas, comments (albeit they may not be used in the end) but they will appreciate that inclusion and it will give your efforts more credit with the rest of the community. Appeal to the better nature of people. All in all i think the above idea on a careers day is a good one.

How about a presentation or show case of the various successes in the Moroccan community? sharing the experiences and the highs and lows of these. Involving local business who could perhaps impart best practices and tips. With questions and answers at the end.