Friday, March 25, 2011

Moroccan Parties About-face (Noureddine Boutahar)


Most political parties, unions, associations, and all the profiteers who have been riding the Moroccan gravy train for almost a century disparaged February 20th Movement and gave it a stinkeye at the beginning. They all repudiated these youth and avoided them as if they were scabby with mange. They used the media to mock the movement and demonize it by portraying and spreading an untrue image about its members. But as soon as the king announced "to undertake a comprehensive constitutional reform" everybody did an about-face and changed their speech. What had been criticism became praise, and blame changed into acclamation. They did so 'under duress and not willingly' (Mokrahun akhaka la batal), of course.
What is worse, though, is the attitude of many associations and most political parties which now want to appropriate the movement and hijack the 'revolution'. They have appointed themselves chief negotiators on behalf of the youth and on behalf of the Moroccan people as a whole on constitutional reform. The political parties, for example, which do not represent the people mathematically in view of the low turnout of the last elections and low membership are forcing themselves into the movement's seat to steer the country into a darker and uncertain future.
The Moroccan people have abandoned these political parties as a result of their attitudes towards the people's demands and because of their involvement in the distortion of the political life in Morocco. These political parties, associations and unions are responsible for most of the political, economic, and social problems of the country. The greatest crime they committed against the Moroccan people is that the had no vision and no aspirations beyond the interests of the big heads and the few infamous elite.
It is really disappointing to see vociferous and acerbic 'heros'and 'militants' of yesterday become tamed with money, positions and jobs. It is depressing and disheartening to see yesterday's 'symbolic figures of militancy' turn now into "paper tigers" - to use Mao Tse Tung's words.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe once said, “A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government.” In our case, it's the fault of both because the people too have long believed the honeyed promises and speeches of these guys who want to, in Rachid Nini's terms, "abort the revolution of the people and the king". They will do their best to abort the revolution because they don't represent the people, they are far from the people, they are not interested in the people, they have no practical political agenda, and they do nothing but swim with the tide. But because they have grown older, frail and weak, they will undoubtedly be carried away by the tide of time.
Change is coming, though, beyond any shadow of doubt and tomorrow will definitely not be like yesterday because the people and the king want change, and because times have changed. All we have to do now is offer funeral prayers for the political parties, associations, and unions of yesterday. Let's also cross our fingers and hope a new and young generation of leaders will rise up from the multi-ethnic streets of Morocco to lead the country to a better future and to a democracy based on equality regardless of family name or origin.