The famous ‘caudillo’, Spanish head of state, thought it a good idea (perhaps killing off any possibility of Gibraltar surviving and have us throw in the towel) to withdraw the cross frontier workers when we were granted our first constitution in 1969.

   I wasn’t here at the time I was busy trying to become a popstar! I’m told however, that times were tough and all had to do their extra bit to keep the place ticking until a solution was found. Women, many of them housewives not used to going out to work in those days, worked in the hospitals and other places doing the cooking and cleaning. But a skilled workforce was what was required and the Moroccan government and administrations around Tangier were extremely helpful in assisting.

   “A team, which included Willy Serfaty, was dispatched to Tangier to look for workers, skilled and unskilled to take on the jobs the Spaniards had left vacant because of the closure of the frontier,” says Ali Douissi. Ali has been here for 22 years and is now a cook, feeding the Royal Gibraltar Regiment at Devil’s Tower Camp. Ali goes on, “Electricians, carpenters and all sorts were recruited and many of these tradesmen taught Gibraltarians their trade.”

   The Naval Dockyard and construction sites were the main employers for them then, and Main Street was a very busy thoroughfare at six in the morning. Hundreds of Moroccans on their bikes and on foot making their way to work. Casemates, a former army barracks, was made available to accommodate the men.

   The Moroccan connection wasn’t just the workforce. Water, fruit and vegetables were also brought from across the Strait. So when it’s sometimes said that we’ve done them a favour by giving them work etc, it’s not strictly the case. We too benefited in our hour of need. So we helped each other out really.

   So nearly 40 years later, what’s the ‘melting pot’ ingredient as regards the Moroccan community? Many have integrated and married local girls, some have married local men and there’s more inter marriages to come.

   “There are now about 150 Gibraltarian Moroccans — born and bred that is — and most of them feel very Gibraltarian and part of this community,” Ali tells me. I hear many Moroccan kids speaking English amongst themselves and even with their parents sometimes.

   Not all Moroccans are in the service or construction industry. They’re also employed in hotel management, as supervisors, one is the head chef at the International Casino and there are Gib-Marocs employed in banks, there’s three or four in the Royal Gibraltar Regiment and there’s soon to be a Gibraltarian-Moroccan lawyer. So becoming part of the community is the name of the game.

   Ali says that although things are improving for them on the Rock as regards resident permits etc, there’s still some way to go. For instance, going back to the beginning he says, “In other host countries, that country provides schooling to learn French, German or whatever it is. Not so in Gibraltar, here we don’t get English lessons”. He says also that Arabic could be taught in school during religious periods by a teacher provided by them.

   Frontier crossings are problematic for them at the best of times and the ferry service is far from perfect. A new hostel is on the way, but it’s felt, sleeping in bunk beds in the Stone Block at Europa for all this time, is not a ‘temporary’ arrangement.

   There’s not been any trouble between the communities that one can speak of and they feel everyone respects each other here which is a good thing and an example to others around the world.

   There are now about 1,500 Moroccans on the Rock, many here to stay, so there’s more Gibraltarian- Moroccans yet to come.

   All of the above adds to the Gibraltarian identity and makes it richer. British, Spanish, Maltese, Genoese or Italian, Jewish, Hindu, Moroccan and others living together in one very ‘small place,’ a microcosm of a similar ‘big place,’ therefore, despite its grandiose connotation, a nation.

   So how best do we explain to others who these people living here are?

   I always feel we can help outsiders understand what we’re all about by giving them a clear definition, so to speak, of who and what we are.

   Way back in the sixties and living in England, when I was asked what part of the country I was from, and I replied that I wasn’t English, I always said I was “Gibraltarian,” from Gibraltar. The term ‘Gibraltarian’ was rarely used then. Then, I would go on to say that I was British and explain the whole story, if need be, about our make up and what we were all about. This way I felt the individual would go away and take with him or her, a better picture of this person, who together with a group of friends, was chatting away in Spanish and some English, or even vice versa. I feel it must be very confusing for outsiders who know next to nothing about Gibraltar, and see that in the main, Latin looking people are walking around speaking Spanish most of the time, and saying “I’m British!”

   I’m sure they feel that “British,” in these days of a long gone Empire, only relates to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. I think the person receiving the information would be looking for some “Englishness” about us that in many cases would be hard to find and invariably would walk away a little puzzled.

   So why not say, “I’m Gibraltarian” first, and then go on to explain how the Britishness comes about. I think it’s worth the effort and shows maturity and confidence as a people in accepting that although, again in many cases, we may pass as Spanish in some people’s eyes, we are not. Just as Canadians are not citizens of the United States, Belgians are not French, Austrians aren’t Germans and coming from Wales doesn’t make you English, despite the similarities between each of those examples.

   All of the above I think would help further promote what Gibraltar and the Gibraltarians are about, because I’m sure we’re all keen to make sure we put across that we are distinct, not English and not Spanish but Gibraltarian. I think it’s vital we put ourselves across as such, by being natural and honest in our own interpretation of who we are. Instantly jumping on the defensive by saying you’re British in order to erase any inkling of thought that you might be perceived as Spanish is a blinkered view of what is real and there for all to see — be confident and tell it like it is. That’s how it is for me. What do you think?

   So that is the sum total of THE GIBRALTARIAN as I see it. Peoples from here and peoples from there. Huddled together on a small rock in the Mediterranean, The Rock of Gibraltar... Gibraltarian... and British.