1 (…) From harag, ” to burn ” or ” to free ride “. Refers mainly to those risking the journey to the European Eldorado, in the hold of a ship, a container or a smuggler’s boat after a clandestine passage in Morocco. Harragas are literally ” those who burn “: they burn their papers and cross the sea, with no identity, no past, no history. (…)

2 (…) One could be satisfied with the meaning of the word as given by the harragas themselves or by journalists, interested perhaps in the novelty of the term and its sensational context. As for the authorities, they do not use it, since it is an invented word, not listed, a kind of clandestine word itself. (…)