Sani Ladan (1995) is a graduate in International Relations and a social educator. He currently works in the field of political advocacy and as a specialist in foreign policy, security, international migration and issues related to the Middle East and Central and West Africa. In addition, Sani is also a Pan-Africanist, anti-racist and human rights defender, member of the Elín Association (Ceuta) and creator of the podcast “Africa in 1 click”. In 2023 he published La luna está en Duala (Plaza & Janés).
Leaving Cameroon to study
The story of Sani Ladan’s migration is a common and at the same time peculiar one. He left Cameroon not out of economic necessity, but out of the desire to study outside his country. As the visa system is exclusive, he had to face a four-day journey through the Sahara desert, with almost nothing to drink or eat.
When he arrived in Morocco and as usually happens in a generalized way in migration processes, his human rights were violated. There, he spent a year living on Mount Gurugú, a place known for its poor living conditions and the ill-treatment of migrants by the Moroccan police. After having tried to reach Spain through the Melilla fence on several occasions, Sani went through an express deportation and was handed over to the Moroccan authorities again.
Finally, he was able to swim to the beach of El Tarajal, in Ceuta, where he again suffered police abuse, this time by the Spanish security forces. Once in Ceuta, he was taken to the CETI where he lived for a year and, from there, he was transferred to the CIE in Tarifa. There he was locked up for sixty days and after that time he was sent to an NGO in Almeria, with the aim of having him work in some of the greenhouses in the area.
Sani Ladan was always clear, however, that his priority was to study, so he moved to Córdoba where, after living on the streets for three months, two Córdoba families helped him. He studied at the institute (since he could not validate any studies from his country of origin) and, finally, graduated in International Relations.
Sani says that his long-term future is not in Spain, but in Africa, where he believes he still has things to contribute and where he believes that “the future of the planet will be decided”. “I did not run away from Africa and I have returned there several times. The definitive return will be to Africa without a doubt, because there is a lot to do there. And I do not want to go back there and feel like a foreigner there; that would be a big mistake on my part. Every time I visit the continent, no matter what the country, I realize that it is there”, he explains. Sani has great confidence in the youth of the continent, who do not act from resentment, but from opportunity and understanding. “The African continent is in a new era. We Africans are on a path of no return and we will not take a single step back. Nothing will ever be the same again and hopefully Europe will understand this”, he insists.
Sani Ladan, who has experienced a migratory process firsthand and who now studies them, insists on the importance of guaranteeing legal pathways for people who migrate, so that they are considered “subjects of law”, leaving behind the racist logic of European migration policy. According to him, the migration policy of States must be proactive and not reactive: and governments, but also society, must assume that migrations are processes inherent to human beings. In his talks and trainings, Sani also emphasizes the need for a radical change in the narrative about the African continent, migration processes and black people; that is why he does not like to talk about tolerance and prefers to refer to it in terms of human rights, “because rights are for everyone and, even if they are not respected, they are there.”
The massacre at the Melilla fence and the deaths on the beach of El Tarajal
On June 24, 2022, some 2,000 people tried to cross the border between Morocco and Spain through the Melilla fence. In the attempt and after the intervention of both Spanish and Moroccan security forces, 37 people died, of whom about seventy are still missing. Some 470 people were illegally returned to Morocco. In the words of Amnesty International, which investigated the case: “For hours, hundreds of injured people remained at the border, without receiving any medical assistance, and although there was at least one Red Cross ambulance in the area, it was not asked to intervene. On the Moroccan side, ambulances did not arrive until two hours after everything had happened. Some of the injured were there for up to 10 hours, without receiving any medical or health care. Later, around 500 people were transferred in buses to remote areas of Morocco, where they were stripped of their possessions and abandoned on the road without medical attention”.
Despite the fact that the events took place in Spain, the Government of Pedro Sánchez has not wanted to investigate or take responsibility for what happened that day. Sani Ladan has investigated this: “When there is no political wear and tear, deaths become passing news in the media. In fact, figures are frivolous. They have become so frivolous that those events no longer have any effect on citizens, because the media do not inform you so that you become aware of them, but rather continuously bombard you with figures and more figures. It is important to inform, but it is also important to do so while dignifying the bodies. Deaths caused by migration policies are treated in the media as just another piece of news. This causes society, even the part that is most aware of them, to become insensitive”. For the defender, there has been no justice regarding the massacre in Melilla, “because no one considers that black bodies deserve it.”
This is not the first incident on the border and the events at the Melilla fence are reminiscent of other tragedies, such as the one that occurred on the beach of El Tarajal, in Ceuta, on February 6, 2014. That day, 14 people died (and one disappeared) when they tried to swim to Spain and were repelled by Spanish security forces. In addition, 23 more people were illegally returned to Morocco. As with the Melilla case, no one assumes responsibility.
You are a social educator and internationalist. In what field do you currently work?
I am dedicated to doing external research, whether on issues of global governance, on issues related to migration or geopolitics. I have carried out different research works on the southern border, on the ground or through reports. The last project in which I participated, together with other researchers, is a report on the Melilla massacre; a research work that has lasted two years. We were working from Morocco and from Spain with Border Forensic, which usually carries out geospatial analysis cases, when there is no other type of data. Satellite means are used to determine human rights violations on the border. I did this as an external researcher for Irídia. Regarding global governance and geopolitics, I am more focused on issues related to Africa, such as France-Afrique relations or Africa’s relations with Europe. I advise parliamentary committees and work as a consultant for different organizations.
What was the investigation into the Melilla massacre?
Within Black Studies, the Melilla massacre represents a continuity of deaths or violence inflicted on certain types of bodies, in this case black bodies. In this context of violence, the Melilla massacre is one of the greatest human rights violations of recent years, both in terms of form and numbers. We have all seen the images. At this point, we must highlight something important, which is that what happens at the border cannot be separated from the racial issue. Although it seems as if we are looking for those responsible, we know who they are. That violence was inflicted on bodies that, historically, have suffered violence without anything happening, without any consequences. In other words, we consider those bodies as waste. If we think about it this way, these bodies become bodies that can be violated. There have been moments in history when these bodies were practically turned into objects; they were commercialized and sold, and now they are forced to be immovable bodies.
Migration is on the lips of all political parties; both here and abroad.
Politicians talk about what will get them votes, regardless of whether they believe in what they are talking about. If something is going to give them political gain, they will defend it. I was very surprised by the CIS survey a few months ago in which it was determined that the main concern of Spanish citizens was migration. When I saw it, I remember thinking that maybe Spaniards were worried about the deaths, but that was not the case. It is ironic. It is surprising that, with everything that is happening in Spain, what worries people the most is migration, and even more so from the point of view from which they worry. So, what will a politician do when they look at the CIS? […] We are faced with a society that rewards the party with the toughest political discourse against migration, and this is not only happening in Spain, but all throughout Europe. We are now in this era. This means that the numbers don’t matter, because behind the numbers there are no stories or names. Although they don’t matter, we live in a culture of numbers; and this is where I am critical of organizations. Providing numbers is important, but this must be accompanied by political advocacy that demands responsibility. We can’t just keep bringing up numbers and more numbers, year after year: if the numbers don’t serve to have consequences, we are dealing with frivolous information. In fact, those who finance the reports in which the numbers appear are often responsible for the deaths.
In a recent interview with elDiario.es, you said that Spain likes “the good black man”. You yourself have been presented on many occasions as “a success story”. You assured that: “If in 2023 we present a person from a minority group as an exceptional case, something is wrong”. How can we end these narratives?
I always say that you have to look at the objective of these narratives. If the objective is clickbait, I’m against it; but if behind the story there is a background work in which a critique is made, then I don’t think it’s bad. Things can be reported in many ways. There is information that does not address the structural problems of the system.
You mentioned earlier that we are facing a change of era. What is happening for the far-right discourse to triumph globally?
Without risking being wrong, I would say that what is happening is that the West is losing its cool. What we are seeing now is and has been the nature of Europe for a long time. Conservatism has been the essence of Europe. Except for specific moments when certain revolutions occurred… But if you think about it, those revolutions were not inclusive either. You just have to look at the French Revolution, the mother of all European revolutions and the Western world. The French were asking for freedom, equality and fraternity, while they had people chained in other territories in a state of slavery. That freedom, that equality and that fraternity were never something universal. Now, on the other hand, more and more people are demanding their rights. When rights and treaties were created in the West to defend them, it was not done with something global and universal in mind. Think of the 1951 Geneva Convention, created for refugees. In reality, it was only designed for European refugees. It took 16 years for a whole series of limitations to be eliminated through an additional protocol. Currently, we are seeing a questioning of the status quo by different movements, such as the anti-racist movement or the LGTBIQ+ movement. And that is why hate speech is increasing: changing the status quo is scary and this fear causes a reaction.
You always say that a proactive migration policy must be promoted instead of a reactive one; but anti-immigration discourse gives votes.
Without a doubt. Politicians live off votes; and a good migration policy does not give votes, but takes them away. It hurts to say it like that, but it is the truth. During Pedro Sánchez’s first term, he insisted on it and carried out the reception of the Aquarius ship, but a few years later the massacre in Melilla occurred. In Spain, Vox has a radical position, and the PP, so as not to be called the “cowardly right”, is getting closer and closer to Vox. At the same time, the PSOE is also moving to the right. And this is useful for some political parties as well as for others: there are those who called themselves allies, but when they formed part of the coalition government, regarding migration issues, they also looked the other way. And this became clear in the case of the massacre in Melilla.
Sometimes the case of Ukraine is mentioned. When the war broke out, European countries provided a series of safe routes for the population to leave the country.
European politicians received Ukrainian refugees with dignity due to a racial issue. On the other hand, if European society had opposed it, governments would have thought about it twice. The majority of European society had more empathy for these refugees. That is why I say that, in migration issues, it is essential to take racial issues into account. In the case of Ukraine, the same neighbors who were demonstrating against the opening of reception centers for migrant minors in their neighborhoods went out to look for Ukrainian refugees in their own cars. European society also has an enormous responsibility for what is happening at the borders. Enormous.
Spain is a racist country. How does this racism manifest itself?
In the institutions themselves. It is said that the Parliament of a country is a reflection of society, but this is not the case in the case of Spain. There are those who still think that Spain is white, Catholic, apostolic and Roman. How is the Spanish State built? When does Spain celebrate its national day? Spain is still in a phase of denial.
Can you elaborate on this?
Things have happened in this country and we should not act as if nothing had happened. What we find ourselves in now is the result of history; but we are facing a past that is not happening: the hierarchical social structure is intact; the great-grandchildren of those who held power are the ones who continue to hold power now. In Europe, there is no will to look at the past because it is stained with blood; that is why we only look to the future. But there comes a time when the result of history holds a mirror up to your eyes and you have to face it and accept it, even if it is not a pleasant image. And Spain is still in the phase of “nothing has happened here”, but we know what happened. The next step, therefore, is to officially recognize it and then carry out acts of reparation. If this does not happen, there will come a time when the oppressed will demand reparation for the wrongs done to them the hard way.
