Migrants’ Tails:
Humanizing and Building Bridges to Deconstruct the Simplistic Nationalistic Rhetoric
At our level, we work with our partners to bring about the establishment of meeting places and debates in Belgium and Morocco to accompany the progress and implementation of collaborative projects which aim to make “living together” better.
Nowadays, the migrant crisis is heavily covered by the media. And the images shown are mostly the same: overcrowded boats, people waiting in refugee camps, dead people and human distress.
Despite there being displays of solidarity towards the refugees, the general perception on the phenomenon is an undecided one leaning more towards apprehensiveness…
It must be acknowledged that withdrawal into self is more prevalent in a tough economic context. Not only with regard to refugees, but also different communities of a country.
Recently, a European report demonstrated how misconceptions and discriminatory attitudes prevent economic and social integration of migrants, thus consequentially limiting their employment, education, healthcare and housing opportunities. The line between bias and discrimination is a very blurry one.
Bias tends to deny that which one has in common with the other by reducing that person to “a single specific trait of his character, be it his religious, ethnical, regional affiliation… refusing to acknowledge him as a complete human being,” (100% métissage), we conduct awareness campaigns in Morocco and Belgium to educate partakers on others in a way that goes way beyond the lenses through which they are generally perceived, thus building bridges between people.
Feeling
« Je suis d’ici et d’ailleurs, Une histoire à plusieurs voix entre Bruxelles et Oujda » is a documentary initiated by Echos Communication in conjunction with Kasala ASBL, Solidarité et Développement Maroc, Université du Québec à Rimouski and IBUNTU with the support of the Wallonia-Brussels International Federation and the Direction Générale Coopération au Développement.
The documentary will be made between Morocco and Belgium. In it, 18 migrants’ journeys will be followed. During the course of a 6-day art-expression workshop, participants will be telling their stories. They will be finding their words and expressing themselves through creative writing, slam, and music, explaining why they made the decision to migrate, their perceptions of their adopted home, etc. The spectator will witness an intimate exchange rather than a simple debate on the subject.
This documentary offers a different view on migration and endeavors to remain “just” and free of neither pity nor sensationalism. The film, which opens up the floor for these anonymous and normally voiceless witnesses, is more so intended to be a place of testimony.
Through this documentary, our aim is to question the preconceived views we tend to have on migration and to provide a platform where these individuals (migrants) can be seen for who they are without the simple foreigner or immigrant tag. It is an invitation to bypass our biases and go see what actually lies behind the veil.
