Ceuta ♦

Frontier of Europe 

I did not know Ceuta was a thing until July 2017. Let alone that Spain had not one Gibraltar of their own, but two - Melilla and Ceuta, representing the two infamous Spanish enclaves on the African continent. Finding information online about these two small portions of Europe on another continent is tough. Days of search and all I could find was news articles on migrants desperately trying to climb up fences to set foot in what technically is the EU. 

So here I am again, heading to a frontier city, divided between realities and identities; a city plagued by a social conflict that is mostly unknown to the masses. This was the reality I encountered in Belfast; the feeling, now that I am few days ahead of my departure, is that I've chosen to live a year in a place where this conflict is ten times more intense than the city that used to be my home for so long. 

Ceuta is an 18.5 km2 Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa. It's a tiny peninsula the Mediterranean sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Their claim of Spanish ancestry clashes harshly against the actual composition of the population of the enclave, where 49% is Muslim, and nearly 40% speak the local dialect of Arab rather than the official language - you guessed it, Spanish. I could go on forever chatting about the perfection of Ceuta's climate (average of 22 degree Celsius? I am in); yet a sentence that truly defines part of Ceuta's identity and discourse is laid out by wikipedia: 

Ceuta is attracted by migrants, who try to use it as an entry to Europe. As a result the enclave is surrounded by double fences that are 6 meter high. Nevertheless [...] the fences are stormed by migrants trying to claim asylum once they enter Ceuta. 

Donnie's forbidden dream. Social issues deriving from this daily routine are abundant and result in a somewhat astonishing result: outcomes of living at the frontier of Europe, last stronghold or first sign of a peaceful life, depending from what side of the wall you come from.

© Les Observateurs

I am of the opinion that international news are hardly to be trusted. Wouldn't be the first time that I've heard national or European news butchering the reality of a social or political matter happening elsewhere (read: the Italian constitutional referendum). So I am utterly excited to have the chance to live the Frontier life myself, with a fresh and unbiased point of view. This blog, for the next year and until July 2018, will be all about Ceuta and Conflict Transformation: how do we, the lucky ones who were born in a somewhat peaceful society, approach conflict? How do we critically assess it and take it in with an unbiased point of view? And in particular, what can we do, as outsiders, to alleviate the burden of the frontier and initiate a inner and local process of conflict transformation?

Stay tuned.

© Paul's Travel Blog