An Ecofeminist Analysis of Spanish Colonial Extraction in Ceuta and Morocco

The physical borders separating the Spanish-occupied enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla from the rest of Morocco are not merely geopolitical boundaries; they are active sites of colonial extraction, ecological degradation, and patriarchal violence. From an ecofeminist perspective, which identifies the interconnectedness between the exploitation of the natural environment and the subjugation of women and marginalized bodies, the ongoing events and crises at the Ceuta border expose the reality of Spanish politics. Spain, functioning as a persistent colonial power, treats Moroccan geography and human life as inexhaustible resources. In this asymmetrical relationship, Spain's economic and political benefits are built directly upon the exploited backs of Moroccan citizens, with women and children bearing the most devastating costs.

The Colonial Grip and the Stance of the Moroccan State

To understand the crises in Ceuta, one must first recognize the enclaves for what they are: colonial vestiges on the African continent. The Spanish state heavily militarizes these borders, framing itself as a victim of migratory "invasions" while deliberately obscuring its role as an occupying power and economic beneficiary.

The Kingdom of Morocco has historically and consistently rejected Spain’s claims of sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla, officially designating them as occupied Moroccan territories. The late King Hassan II clearly articulated the hypocrisy of Spain's position, noting that while Spain demands the return of Gibraltar from the UK, it violently holds onto African land. In 1987, King Hassan II stated:

“My attitude towards Ceuta and Melilla is that this is a question of an anachronistic situation which cannot be compared to that of Gibraltar, given that Gibraltar is in Europe... The enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla may be for Morocco, just as Gibraltar is for Spain, an ongoing ‘stone in one’s shoe’”.

King Mohammed VI and the modern Moroccan state have consistently reiterated this position, affirming that Morocco's territorial integrity remains incomplete as long as Spain maintains its colonial outposts. The enclaves function as a European spatial enclosure, a concept deeply familiar to ecofeminism, wherein the colonizer fences off indigenous land to control its resources while externalizing the waste and violence back onto the colonized.

The Porteadoras: The Feminization of Colonial Infrastructure

Nowhere is the intersection of capitalist extraction and patriarchal violence more visible than in the historical plight of the porteadoras (the "mule women"). Until the recent restructuring of the borders, thousands of Moroccan women crossed into Ceuta and Melilla daily to transport massive bales of commercial goods back into Morocco. Because Spanish customs regulations allowed goods carried on the physical body to pass untaxed as "personal luggage," the Spanish economy bypassed import tariffs by literally breaking the bodies of Moroccan women.

From an ecofeminist viewpoint, the Spanish colonial apparatus substituted physical infrastructure with the biological female body. The women were treated as beasts of burden, carrying loads of up to 80 kilograms. In her peer-reviewed research on marginalized communities and gendered survival in northern Morocco, Moroccan scholar Meriam Cheikh highlights how patriarchal-capitalist border regimes prey upon socially and economically vulnerable women. The colonial border transformed their physical energy into a subsidized resource for Spanish merchants. When these women collapsed—many were crushed to death in stampedes at the border crossings—they were treated by the Spanish system as disposable, a tragic but acceptable byproduct of cross-border commerce.

Moroccan economist Fatima El Khatabi's peer-reviewed analyses of cross-strait trade dynamics further illustrate this deeply asymmetric economic relationship. The "connectiveness" across this border has historically functioned to enrich the Spanish side, creating a parasitic economy that drains Moroccan human capital while offering no legal protections or structural benefits to the workers facilitating it. 

The Agricultural Frontier: Harvesting Land and Motherhood

Spain's extraction of Moroccan human resources extends beyond the immediate border of Ceuta into the agricultural heartlands of Andalusia, particularly the strawberry fields of Huelva. Spain's "red gold" industry is heavily dependent on a legally vulnerable, easily deportable Moroccan workforce.

The recruitment of this workforce reveals a calculated, patriarchal colonial strategy. Spanish agricultural firms, acting with state approval, specifically recruit Moroccan women from rural areas who are married or widowed and have young children. The requirement of motherhood is weaponized as an anti-migration tool: the children remain in Morocco as collateral, ensuring the women return after the harvest season.

This dynamic is a textbook ecofeminist crisis. The Spanish agricultural sector extracts vitality from two finite sources simultaneously: the ecologically exhausted, pesticide-soaked earth of southern Spain, and the physical bodies of Moroccan mothers. These women frequently face extreme labor exploitation, unsafe exposure to agrochemicals, and rampant sexual abuse by Spanish supervisors. The colonizer feasts on the cheap produce, while the ecological and human trauma is externalized to Moroccan families and children, who suffer prolonged separations and the structural violence of poverty.

Disposable Youth and Border Externalization

The recurrent human waves of undocumented workers and unaccompanied minors attempting to cross into Ceuta are the direct result of this predatory relationship. Spain relies heavily on an illegal, undocumented Moroccan workforce to prop up its construction, agricultural, and domestic sectors. Undocumented workers cannot demand fair wages, unionize, or report abuse, making them the perfect human resource for a colonial-capitalist state.

Moroccan sociologist Mehdi Alioua extensively analyzes this border violence in his peer-reviewed work on transnational migration and border externalization. Alioua argues that the securitization and militarization of Ceuta and Melilla serve to discipline and punish African bodies. By categorizing young Moroccan boys and men as "threats" or "invasions," Spanish politics effectively dehumanizes them, justifying brutal pushbacks, arbitrary detentions, and human rights violations at the fence. The youth of Morocco are viewed not as human beings with inherent rights, but as a surplus population to be either exploited for cheap, undocumented labor when Spain requires it, or violently repelled when they are no longer politically expedient.

Conclusion

The events surrounding Ceuta are not spontaneous crises, but are, unsurpisingly, the intentional design of a continued colonial project. An ecofeminist analysis of Spanish-Moroccan relations exposes how Spain's geopolitical dominance relies on the systematic extraction of Moroccan resources, primarily its human resources. By occupying Moroccan land, breaking the bodies of the porteadoras, weaponizing agricultural workers, and treating Moroccan youth as disposable collateral, the Spanish state maintains its colonial supremacy. Decolonizing Ceuta and Melilla requires dismantling a European capitalist-patriarchal system that refuses to stop consuming Moroccan land and, as a consequence, Moroccan lives.