What is it like as a young person of Moroccan origin to grow up grow up in a society that sees you as an outsider or even a threat? After September 11, 2001, Muslims in the West were at distrusted at best.

Dutch teacher and author Bilal Ben Abdelkarim was seventeen at the time and searching. At a time when slagging off Islam was became a growing means of success for far-right politicians, it seemed that there were only two choices: languish in victimhood or assimilate. Inspired by the Arab-European League founded in Belgium - an organisation that claimed equal rights for non-Western minorities in Europe - Bilal chose a third option: emancipation.

About this process of political awareness, he wrote the book From grateful to militant. Emancipation as a response to far-right populism (Mazirel Pers, 2024). On the basis of his personal story, he takes us through the experiences of 3 generations of Muslim migrants in the Low Countries.

More than an autobiography, From grateful to militant is a social-critical analysis that makes clear that the struggle for emancipation is also an emancipation in struggle. And that this struggle concerns us all. This book is an outstretched hand to build together for a truly inclusive and just society. In the current political climate, this hopeful and inspiring invitation is more necessary than ever.

On 15 May, Bilal Ben Abdelkarim comes to De Roma to reflect with his guests on the experiences of the Moroccan diaspora in Belgium and the Netherlands. Political scientist Samira Azabar will talk to Bilal, writer Rachida Lamrabet and researcher Koen Bogaert about the struggle for justice and emancipation in response to the growth of the far-right.