2024-02-17 19:04:00
This February 17 is a very special date for the Moroccan community: 60 years ago, to the day of February 17, that the governments of the two countries signed a convention which recorded the arrival of many workers in our country. In Brussels, there is a place, a café, which symbolizes this story.
In Brussels, celebrations are organized during which gestures, traditions and Moroccan culture are on the program to allow all generations to remember this historic anniversary.
“My father likes to teach me what his father taught him,” notes Naila, 11 years old. “It makes him happy and it reminds him of his parents.” The place was not chosen at random: in the café where they meet, this place served as a base for many immigrant families upon their arrival in Belgium. “Even today, it is a central place for meeting and sharing.
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“At the start of Ramadan, during the holidays, we didn’t know how to do anything, because there was no mosque,” explains Rachida, a second-generation immigrant. “We were trying to get Saudi Arabia on TV.” “It’s important to organize this meeting, especially following the health crisis,” explains Fatiha, organizer. “Many of our elders have left and I wanted us to come together around our memories.”
It is therefore a duty to remember this long history that began sixty years ago now. Indeed, on February 17, 1964, Belgium and Morocco signed a so-called “occupation” convention for Moroccan workers. At the time, the flat country needed a workforce for its mines and industries and in the space of ten years, nearly 40,000 Moroccans made the trip.
Also read: Moroccan immigration celebrates its 60th anniversary
“These people did difficult work and contributed to the improvement of Belgium: on a social and economic level. We must not forget that,” explains Aicha, a social worker.
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