What is the reason behind the lack of any visible reaction by the Moroccan government, with Ramadan drawing to a close, while the anger of Central Danone’s employees can be heard loud and clear in front of the Parliament building and with small-scale milk producers also preparing to protest?
The boycott, launched on 20th April and fuelled by thousands of fake news reports on social media, involving men dressed in black robes coming straight out of courtrooms, supported by a number of socially-correct newspaper publications eager to opportunistically adopt a populist posture, lauded by various far-left opponents who regard it as an opportunity to emerge from their torpor, like the perennial blossoming of a hibiscus flower, has ended up causing major damage.
However, those brands which have been targeted by the boycott, Sidi Ali, Afriquia and Danone, are they the only ones to have paid so heavy a price for it?
In fact, the financial cost of the social media campaign is not the only consequence of an affair which has gone viral, an affair in which the identity of the actual sponsors remains a mystery.
The boycott has dramatic economic and social consequences for hundreds of thousands of working-class Moroccan men and women, living in both rural and urban areas!
Widespread desertion
But who cares? As far as this affair is concerned, one thing is immediately obvious to everyone, which is the nonchalance of the government, the public authorities and the State!
Putting aside the mollifying declarations, verbal condemnations and pleas to refuse to join in the boycott or the inflammatory remarks made online which have made matters worse, the government and its officials have offered little in the way of concrete solutions, counter-measures or strategies to counter the boycotters, thwart the liars, pursue the slanderers and reduce the economic and social impact from such a destructive movement.
If the public security services are able to find and arrest, in just a few hours, masked individuals guilty of physically assaulting a couple in the Safi region, why is it not possible to be as responsive to a so-called journalist who testifies with face uncovered in front of a camera about the drought and the destitution affecting the inhabitants and regions surrounding the Lalla Haya and Sidi Ali Chérif springs?
If it is easy enough to prosecute an attempted rapist on an under-age girl caught on an amateur video taken by an accomplice, why it is not possible to stop people blocking service stations or attacking the drivers of the aforementioned brands’ distribution vehicles?
But, above all, what is the State doing to make its presence felt, its power, its durability, lawfulness and respect for citizens’ property and their safety?
120,000 small-scale milk producers have been forced to throw away one-third of their milk production. Isn’t that an absolutely urgent situation which demands, pronto, the public authorities’ speedy intervention?
What interim measures have been taken to reduce the social impact from this failure, announced and assumed by Centrale Danone?
It is the primary role of the government of Mr Saad Eddine El Othmani to act and respond, so as to support and protect the purchasing power of these citizens.
It is the primary role of those bodies responsible for security and public safety to take the necessary action if the law is violated, in strict compliance with the legal prescriptions.
It is the primary role of the State communications apparatus to choose the most appropriate way of explaining and informing citizens about the harmful aspects and consequences of the boycott, by mobilising public radio and television channels, rather than dulling them with boring and pointless programmes.
A case of Pontius Pilate
We are led to believe, however, that the boycott is a private affair between a few major brands, a few personalities and ‘shadow squads’, bitter about their loss!
Nobody within the government, the State and its institutions, would appear capable of gauging the feeling of desolation, the abandonment of responsibilities and the inertia felt so strongly and so keenly that it has become so deeply embedded in our citizens’ very souls!
A robust, rapid and powerful reaction can be expected from the public authorities, first of all, by providing a civic education about the boycott, its causes and consequences, as well as preventing dishonest and malevolent actions which, directly or indirectly, threaten social stability, seriously affect the economy, hinder free trade and ruin hundreds of thousands of small-scale milk-producing businesses.
Because in the weeks, months and years to come, when the time comes to evaluating the government’s action, the role played by the State in defending its own fundamentals, nobody will forget the void and vacuity generated by the absence of those who are responsible for defending us, protecting us, understanding us and helping us!!!
Fahd YATA
Original article : https://lnt.ma/boycott-ou-est-letat/
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