He is 35 and has been in Spain at least since 2004. He never thought that Yossou Ndour, one of the most popular Senegalese singers, would talk about him in the Second Conference on International Cooperation for development that took place this week in Dakar (commentary on this event by Madame Toubab here -- in Spanish). Or that he would create a diplomatic crisis between the Spanish and Senegalese governments. But, thanks to a video by Spanish-based Senegalese producer Lamine Mbene, he has.

For most people, the Massamba Seck affair started on June 16th, when a video where Massamba was forced to get into a plane in Madrid to be deported to Dakar appeared in several news channels, blogs, and online newspapers. It was not clear who he was or why he was treated like that, and as the contradictions increased (particularly regarding his involvement in criminal activities in Spain) his case became more and more famous. Few sources approached the people involved directly (with exceptions such as P+HD and Xibar.net). In the meanwhile, the issue grew into an IR quasi crisis. The Association of European Immigration Lawyers filed a complaint. The Spanish Embassy in Dakar wrote a press release complaining that the controversial video "shows only part of the incident and omits the first part of the episode, where the man (expulsé) refuses to embarque in the plane and resists violently to the police" (source here). The Senegalese Minister of Justice, in a show of concern for his co-nationals abroad that the members of his government should exercise more often, vowed to protect the rights of Mr. Seck and Lamine Mbene. And now Youssou Ndour also has something to say in front of the magnificiently pampered attendants of the Second Conference on International Cooperation for development.

But there are many, many cases of people who go through similar deportation procedures, so why should Massamba's case receive any particular attention? Maybe it's worth stepping back for a few moments to consider Massamba Seck's story, because it's about time we put migrants' story in context. Massamba Seck was born to a Serer Mouride family in Diourbel, the largest town in the region of the same name (and the only one with an ATM, BTW). His family moved to the rural community of Darou Mousty when Massamba was very young. There his parents became a referent for the community due to their involvement in the local school (they were both teachers) and in the local branch of the Mouride brotherhood. In fact, Massamba's family has very good connections with the Senegalese political-religious elites, which may be why his case has received so much support from the Senegalese government.

What makes this case interesting is that Massamba Seck is all that uncodumented migrants are not supposed to be. If there is middle class in Senegal (and there may not be), his family is. All the kids went to school. Both mum and dad worked until their retirement. They have a pension that is not too good, but they manage to make ends meet with the money that one of their daughters sends from the US, where she is a successful Fatu-Fatu (the female equivalent of a Modou-Modou, or successful migrant who lives in a Western country and returns to Senegal only in vacations with a lot of money). Massamba's story proves that migration is not a business for poverty-ridden and backward-minded people whose hopelessness pushes them to risk their lives through the one and only available means: the pirogue.

But, alas, from the moment Massamba Seck got on that pirogue (or cayuco, as they call these fishermen boats in Spanish) he became simply a paperless migrant. His background dissappeared. And what is he now? He's black. He's poor. He's male. He came on a boat. He was a peddler selling CDs and because of that he got arrested by the police. He is a backward Muslim who abused his girlfriend and because of that he was taken to the police. He did not have the papers and because of that he spent a month in detention and then they tried to sent him back to that country where he came from. He resisted and because of that they kicked him, handcuffed him, and taped shut his mouth. Now, he's been shaped into the perfect undesirable migrant.

But unfortunately for the Spanish side of the official story, he's not. Unfortunately, his family and political connections don't think the same. And even worse, Youssou Ndour seems to have chosen the Massamba Seck's affair as his new PR campaign.

Fishermen in St Louis. These are the boats used to cross the sea border between Spain and Senegal illegally.