The art collective Ahl El Hijra (People of Migration) was at the heart of cultural action in Brussels during the seventies. The notions of justice and social engagement were deeply ingrained in their practice from the outset. The collective began in the basement of a house, where the urban struggle converged against the urban Manhattan project in the northern district of Schaerbeek. After meeting Abdelmajid, a young Moroccan student involved in the fight against the expropriation and eviction of the residents of the North district, but also deeply immersed in the burgeoning popular and protest music scene of the Maghreb, the group discovered a new repertoire. They listened attentively to the music and learned the lyrics of the Nass El Ghiwan by heart to make them their own. In their own words: "Ahl El Hijra's musical group rhythms popular percussion, that of gnaoua, jilala, aissaou, soussa,... Its music is drawn from the roots of its people. They have chosen to sing in the popular language of the peasants, the streets, the souks and the beggars. Their songs speak of the daily life of immigrants and that of the country." During a cultural evening organized at the Théâtre Poème, they performed just after the Andi Andek (give and take) RDM's theatre play directed by Hamid Chakir, questioning the corrupted state of affairs in their homeland. Although they joined the cultural commission of the RDM and co-organized the yearly Moussem festival and May Day celebrations, they also continued to organize their cultural activities independently and developed a series of exhibitions, film clubs, music, and theater workshops. In 1981, they memorialized their work with a self-produced vinyl record, distributed in a thousand copies. That same year, during Mayor Roger Nols' tenure, they joined the struggle against racism in Schaerbeek, setting up the exhibition entitled "What's happening in Schaerbeek," based on current political documents and a critical argument resulting from collective research, creating a real outlet for the anger inspired by this systematic stigmatization, denouncing police harassment, and dismantling the racist ideology of domination altogether.