AISSAOUI By Hind Bennani, 02/25/2011
To better understand the demands of the young Moroccan Morocco of Mohammed VI, I met Omar Radi Aziz El Yaakoubi, Souad Guennoun Dadssi and Hind, for some journalists and anti-globalization activists to others. Cross talk in Casablanca on Wednesday February 16.
When I arrived in Casablanca, January 20, 2011, Ben Ali had fallen under popular pressure. The world had taken a lesson in rejection of oppression and organization collective. Simple surgical and unexpected, this event would inspire others. On 11 February, Mubarak fell after 33 years in power. Even today, while in Bahrain, Libya and Jordan, despite fierce repression of the archaic, people are fighting to wrest their most basic rights, young Moroccans are preparing a day of protest. The "movement of 20 February" is running to demand change. Morocco has a rather positive image in France. It is, in the imagination of many of us, a country where life is good, where power is certainly strong, but benevolent with his subjects.
Omar and Aziz, I saw you speak at a panel discussion on political violence in the Maghreb in the new school governance in Rabat. You were well put together. Yet to read the Moroccan press, Morocco is a reference to the region in terms of democracy and to read the French press, here we practice a moderate Islam. So, why you spit in the soup like this?
Omar Radi : In Morocco, not only the social is catastrophic, but there is a total absence of democratic rules, both at the state level than in the private sector. And the press is no exception. I can not speak for the French press, but I can say that the Moroccan press can not in any way reflect or translate what is really happening here. And what happens here, it looks exactly like the revolutions that have revealed Tunisian and Egyptian companies.
Aziz El Yaakoubi: I would add that the problem is the Moroccan political system based on a completely sacredness absurd. It derives its primary legitimacy of religion since the king is the commander of the believers and represents God on earth. This allows a diversion on the responsibility of power, whose legitimacy can not be questioned.
But I thought that Mohammed VI was better than his father ... He has made improvements, right?
GOLD : What is fundamentally different between the father and son is the method. Under Hassan II, the methods were direct and frontal. Mohammed VI has rather focused on psychological factors, including marketing by giving the famous image of "King of the Poor" at the beginning of his reign. He immediately passed to the king of good will, and maintains the idea of a rotten system that would cause problems in Morocco. But the reality is that the predation of royal business is enormous and we are moving back squarely to the methods of Hassan II in terms of repression, censorship, etc.. At the beginning of the reign of M6, there was an attempt to return to the past and the years of lead. But again we were in marketing. For proof, non-implementation of the recommendations of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission. The sole recommendation of this process has been applied is a monetary compensation of victims' families. None of the other promises of the plan has been held, although they were minimal. There were no fundamental questioning or punishment of crimes committed, especially in financial matters, and monopoly on land and real estate. There were huge holdups in Morocco! And there continues to be under the direct control of Mohammed VI. But nobody talks about it. We can not speak of democratization without going into details precisely.
AEY: The opening took place in Morocco was initiated in the reign of Hassan II. In the late 80s, all third world countries who benefited from the east-west duality have been obliged to undertake reforms. It started in Morocco by the release of political prisoners. But this was just a front transitional justice, as everything related to democracy in this country. At the same time, there has been the establishment of regulatory agencies, which contributed actively to liberalize the economy. The hand-setting power over the economy that was not reinforced. And that's exactly the same logic that continues. There is no difference between father and son. Moreover, and this is what is most important, the texts have not changed. The constitution is still the same as under Hassan II, the death penalty is still in force ...
Souad Guennoun: To understand the situation, especially from abroad, we must specify two or three things. Morocco has undergone colonization "soft", so-called protectorate. Lyautey, monarchist, has maintained power in place but pulled the strings. Throughout history, France has legitimized the power in Morocco in making him a picture. I remember at the funeral of Hassan II, Frederic Mitterrand praised the beauty of the protocol. This sort of fascination for the Moroccan monarchy gives him a deep cultural and traditional dimension in our history, when the monarchy was at its worst moment of colonization. And this method was effective. It is also no coincidence that the Americans were inspired Lyautey for what they are doing in Iraq ...
The other very important thing is that Mohammed VI arrived at a crossroads of globalization. In 1999, he replaced his father with new tools. He joined the elite, even more than his father ever did. And that elite has benefited from privatization and it is damn full pockets. The scheme is not only despotic but he also surfed the wave of globalization.
From a geostrategic point of view, we must also understand that Americans rely also on the Moroccan authorities. With its policy of "Greater Middle East" and the war in Iraq, the United States consider Morocco as one of their strongholds, including a military standpoint and in terms of outsourcing torture.
is said that the Moroccan people is not ready for democracy, it is less "educated" that the Tunisian people ...
AEY : Democracy, everyone deserves it, even the illiterate. This speech on the maturity should not even exist. Education, she promotes the ability to revolt. While democracy, it is deserved by everyone.
Hind Dadssi: On the issue of education, it must still clear that there was a deterioration of public education. Until the 80s, public education was quality. Our parents had a very good standard when they came out of the tray. The deterioration of public education is directly related to the first structural adjustment programs of the IMF.
SG: Personally, I filmed many social movements which no media is talking about. I filmed miners, workers in textiles, agriculture, the struggle Sidna IFIN in 2008, etc.. I went to areas where there is nothing, no infrastructure, no housing, no cinema. Nothing! There are young people with nothing before them. So they spend their time before the internet. I'm sure it is in these little villages that the potential of the Internet revolution is the strongest. TV is crap, no radio, the press does not talk. That's how the depths of these little villages, young people themselves are made by defiance against the society that represents them absolutely not. For comparison, we could compare them to European No Vox.
O. R . : Actually, since the events in Tunisia and Egypt, we have gone from the exception to the exception Moroccan Arabic (Laughter). Before, in what they call the Arab world, they said that what happened could not happen to geopolitical considerations. Now the myth has been broken. As it had affected only the republics, it has developed the myth of the exception Moroccan saying that Morocco is a monarchy which dates back four centuries, it is the most stable country in the region, etc.. All this is rubbish!
SG: Moreover, now it moves to Bahrain, which is a monarchy! Proof that these are the same effects which produce the same causes.
GOLD: Absolutely. By cons, if we must speak except Moroccan call by its proper name: the economy of the rent. In Morocco, when the king goes somewhere, it brings people screaming the words follows: "God gives the luck to our Lord" (yuck i fi llah Sidna amr). And this expression has no free lunch, there is a return! Morocco is the only country where it distributes approvals of activities generating income for entire sectors of the economy, taxis, parking, transportation, fishing, ... I also believe that most Moroccan artists benefit. While these activities should be tender, they are distributed as approvals by the king's entourage. It was therefore a socio-economic status, which it buys silence and does not even address the principle of meritocracy, it is also questionable. The whole economy is born with the king. He who dares suggest otherwise can see his work destroyed overnight. The problem is that these people are supposed to form a middle class or middle class, to use terminology liberal, and thus represent an opinion. While most of the time, the voice of change comes from the middle class, any attempt to represent its interests is reduced to zero. Moroccan society, so it's a middle class purchased, many rich and more poor. And the poor have no choice but to fight for survival.
SG: Let me add something important about this concept except Morocco. Morocco is a country where civil society has been the most tested. About women, youth, neighborhood associations, etc.. To the detriment of political parties that were in decline. There was a lot of money injected into the civil society.
The most obvious example is that of feminism. is one of the sectors that was really the most funded, so that they are no longer people, activists, pose the debate. It is an invented feminism held by money, by patronesses with their secretariats, offices, etc.. And it is they who are invited to speak internationally on behalf of women, although they do not even know. One can ask questions about what feminism is! And that these are things that have involved the fact that in France, Morocco has the image of the most advanced country in the region on women's issues.
You'll see that if called to cons events, these feminist groups take to the streets to support the government.
So what are you proposing? By which to begin the change? What are the priorities?
SG: For me, outside the Moroccan problem, the urgency is at the regional level. Since 1975, we have a big problem with this history of the Sahara and borders. At this time, the Algerian people are trying to move too. So we should take the opportunity to focus our struggles, especially for work. During
years it has funded a war to kill people who were seeking self-determination, instead of collaborating to build a complementary economy. And it is time now that the question of borders. This region must be unified, united, socialist, republican, with young people who are at the forefront of struggles. As a priority, we must stop the jingoism. Otherwise, we will all be crushed. Today, we have nothing to lose. It's now or never. We need to make bridges, not at the level Maghreb. The people have the same aspirations in Morocco, Algeria, Latin America.
emancipation of peoples, food sovereignty, recognition of local identities: our demands are the same. And our problems are the same! Our agriculture is plundered, our waters are bottled by the same multinationals, our land is purchased, one after the other ... It is urgent to build bridges. Moreover, the questions that the struggle of Sidi Ifni raised well above the setting of a small fishing village. She posed for global issues. Sidi Ifni Sidi could be Bouzid Morocco. It was a fight for another world. This is not a slogan made by intellectuals, these are claims made by those who are not entitled to speak.
But what do you do the propaganda that we suffered for years and the idea that the King of Morocco is a victim, as well as the people, the rotten system?
GOLD: When you are in a regime of terror, we say "long live the regime." When we remove this terror, people end up speaking. And we feel at this moment in the street. An anecdote to illustrate all this.
Yesterday, a taxi driver told me that if it was just the system that was rotten, the king could eradicate this system. These things do not say so directly before.
AE Y . : One can not deny that there is room ignorance, fed by propaganda. But is that Moroccans know that most African bank (Attijari Wafabank) belongs to the king? Nobody knows it's King who pulls all the strings of the Moroccan economy. Nobody knows that the king is one of greatest royal fortunes in the world. must conduct outreach work, because people change their minds when they learn that whole sectors of the economy owned. It is beginning to talk about the royal fortune on Facebook.
The Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions are they afraid of the Moroccan regime?
GOLD: To put it bluntly, contagion is a fact, and the Moroccan regime is scared. Once there was this call for February 20, a crisis has occurred between the ministries of interior, foreign affairs and the Moroccan secret service. On his Facebook page, the Minister of Youth and Sports conducted a smear campaign against youth movement in the Feb. 20 calling them traitors to the nation and members of the Polisario.
Yesterday, it happened something extraordinary. The Moroccan government has taken two big steps. It has injected 15 billion dirhams into the compensation fund. This fund allows the state to fund the maintenance of prices of essential commodities at a relatively low price for sale. What is funny, is that in June 2010, the authority had refused to inject 10 billion dirhams in this case by explaining that in any event, it had to be reformed because it is too bulky for money. The second step taken yesterday, 10% of the state budget that will be made to recruit people in the public, particularly among unemployed graduates. This is a historic step!
We also know that for 3 days, moqqaddem, who are the representatives of the power distributing land to slum dwellers from Casablanca. Power and his servants do not speak more than Moroccan, there he act! They take initiatives to respond to demands unheeded past ten years, under the pressure of a call made by young people in social networks.
The Moroccan regime is at an impasse. There is no better off than Mubarak or Ben Ali. It is even worse off than Mubarak against the great powers. If this protest has a long breath, I think we will cross the threshold of fear of the regime and that the consciousness of the necessity of the struggle will be even stronger.
You speak of movement of 20 February ?
AEY : The "20 February" is an initiative that was launched on the internet by young apolitisés who are between 20 and 24. They started streaming videos on the internet to request the change of the constitution and establishing a democracy in Morocco. Several unions have announced their participation, but also the overwhelming majority of organizations of Human Rights (MAHR which, the largest association of its kind in Africa) and the Adl wa Ihsan, the Islamist movement the most important. And what is very interesting is that the Democratic Confederation of Labour, the second trade union in the country, talking about a general strike on 21 and 22. February.
GOLD : Although we can not really predict, I think the surprise could come from small towns and Rabat. Now that I know is that the Ministry of Education has given several days to high school and college students are mobilizing to prevent them. But they still do not understand is that if students are not in high school, they are on Facebook. Teachers' unions say that all students, even those who are not on Facebook, speak of 20 February. It's huge! If pro-government thugs out of 20 February, and if there is confrontation, if only one person is wounded among us, it will be the permanent mobilization.
Thank you, friends. Good fight!
SG : I would like to add a message all peculiar to France . This movement is a groundswell, it will not stop tomorrow. Those who exploit us are the same everywhere and they will not let go so easily. We must call for solidarity and everyone should support us. If it fails, the backlash is going to take it all in the face, and even France! If in France you do not support us, it will be severe, and for us and for you.
