Attempt to manipulate Dutch migration history
Migration historian Nadia Bouras, affiliated with Leiden University, claims in an article in Het Parool on 25 May that the image we have of exploited, unwilling Moroccan guest workers is incorrect. According to her, most came on their own initiative. With choice of words such as: young, hip guests, looking for happiness and adventure, the historian romanticises and disguises the migration of Moroccans to the Netherlands. That is the first step to make the reader susceptible to manipulation.
The article in Het Parool is not the first attempt by Mrs Bouras to trivialize the actual reasons for the migration of Moroccans to the Netherlands, she does so structurally in her media appearances and her own writing. It seems strongly that its mission is to polish up the image of the Moroccan regime in the Netherlands and to rewrite the migration history of Moroccans in the Netherlands according to Rabat’s vision.
Incidentally, you are not simply chosen to sit on the advisory board of the King of Morocco abroad Conseil de la Communauté Marocaine à l’ététranger CCME. Nadia Bouras was on this advisory board between 2007 and 2014.
The claim made by the migration historian Nadia Bouras was invalidated in Morocco before by a close associate of the king.
Abdelhadi Boutaleb (1923–2009) was a Moroccan politician who held many ministerial posts in the 1960s and 1970s. Between 1955 and 1956, Boutaleb was Minister of Labor and Social Affairs in the first Moroccan government during the withdrawal of France from Morocco. He was a confidant of the Moroccan regime and experienced three kings. He worked for two of them: King Mohamed V and his son King Hassan II.
Abdelhadi Boutaleb was a teacher of Crown Prince Hassan and later when he became king, he appointed Boutaleb as his adviser. In an interview with the Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat, Nr. 8064 of December 26, 2000, Abdelhadi Boutaleb mentions a discussion that took place in the Moroccan parliament about “exporting Moroccans abroad”: “Al-Maati Bouabid was director of my cabinet when I was minister of Labor and Social Affairs. When he became a parliamentarian for the opposition, he attacked me: “The minister spends the whole day exporting human flesh abroad.”
Bouabid meant that I encouraged the migration of Moroccan workers abroad. But he formulated it as follows: “The minister spends his time exporting human meat abroad”.
Abdelhadi Boutaleb: “My answer to that was: do you remember, Mr. MP, how often we exported human flesh, you and me, when you were still the director of my cabinet?”
Translated from dutch by Najat M.
