It’s a question that is gnawing away at many a Moroccan man and woman on a daily basis. Ordinary citizens, government officials, business persons, idle youngsters, homemakers, gender equality campaigners, civil society activists and even political leaders, when they are not putting on a public show, have all been asking this question for several months now.
What everyone can see
There is a real sense of discomfort, uncertainty, doubt and disappointment which, as we all know, are the precursors of resignation, abdication and disinterest.
And when we try to get to the bottom of these collective ‘blues’, the same answers keep coming back, almost as if Moroccan society is ailing from a disease called asthenia.
Perhaps the most poignant of all these frustrating observations is the loss of values by many of our fellow citizens.
Incivilities abound and the ‘rodeos’ that we witness on a daily basis in our cities’ streets and trunk roads are just one of the symptoms.
Very often, in fact far too often, we hear that drivers (across all categories of vehicles and machines) no longer fear anyone, including traffic police and police officers, and that the law and the Highway Code are made to be broken, even within sight of those officers whose job it is to enforce the law and who far too often remain tongue-tied!
Besides, why should one deprive oneself of jumping a stop sign or a red light or driving down the hard shoulder or even triple parking, if there is a one-in-two or one-in-three or one-in-four chance that the serving officer is receptive to a backhander in hard cash?
This lack of civility across all sections of society is undoubtedly one of the fundamental causes of this malaise, now affecting larger numbers of people!
Ignorant and unaware
This is the result of serious shortcomings that have tainted our country’s system of education in recent decades.
Too many of our fellow citizens are ignorant of even the basics of how to behave in society, how to respect others and practice tolerance and altruism. Because no one has taught them to appreciate such values!
This increasingly frequent type of behaviour is symptomatic of social and societal decay which is expressed in a number of different ways.
There is, of course, the rising levels of crime, the permanent lack of safety for our women, mothers, sisters and daughters, the salacious voyeurism and repulsive male chauvinism which has become so widespread that even a young woman could be gang-raped in a bus in broad daylight in a city like Casablanca!
Equally worrying is that a certain backward-looking, outdated and orthodox conformism is on the rise, where hypocrites, Tartuffes and bigots hold sway!
We live in a society that is ‘covered up’. Our beaches have become huge clothes lines for wet linen, where women’s bodies are all but banned, to the extent that a woman who wears a swimsuit literally has to flee from the piercing stares of ‘right-minded husbands’, with their hanging pot bellies and skinny legs, whose eyes devour her greedily.
Whose fault, is it?
What has happened to the Morocco of tolerance and openness, where people could live together, each respecting the other and his or her values, the law and could behave, dress, enjoy and travel without any fuss, in peace?
Who has authorised the loss of these rights, rules and habits if not those who have given the obscurantist forces and sections of society, both external and internal, the means, the ability and even the authority to brainwash en masse millions of our fellow-citizens?
Is there a single programme on our public television channels that is dedicated to a profound and serious debate on social issues and the devastating loss of the founding values of a society that is not only attached to its faith and its sacred rituals but where bigotry and an excessive and ostentatious form of religiosity have replaced patriotism and civility?
Must we then consider Moroccans to be dutiful religious practitioners but woeful citizens?
The disappearance of progressive ideas, the abdication of an enlightened intelligentsia, the lack of charismatic and well-respected political leaders, the quest for privileges and emoluments, the lack of transparency and communication even among the ruling classes, the promotion of shady individuals to positions of responsibility, the illiteracy which reigns even in the corridors of Parliament and in district and municipal councils, the devastating effects of corruption and nepotism, these are just some of the evils that deeply afflict our country today!
And, perhaps, rather than answering the question “Where is Morocco headed?”, we should ask another question, “Where is the State?”.
Is it acceptable, for example, that the roundabouts and traffic lights of the country’s larger cities have been gradually transformed into a ‘Court of Miracles’, where the destitute from around the world, from Africa, Syria and Morocco is on display?
How can one remain silent or close one’s eyes to the hundreds of miserable wretches, from remote parts of Africa, ‘our continent’, who sleep on the streets, in the open air, in public gardens or squat in foul slums?
Where are the services of the State?
How does one interpret a speech made with authority, filled with truths, with legitimate and justified criticism, when there is no follow up even after several weeks?
Who is accountable in our country?
Are we accountable to God alone?
Morocco needs to pull itself together and find its way and the voice of authority, to understand that every type of behaviour deserves either punishment or reward, depending on the case.
Of what use are democracy, human rights, and constitutional laws if they are not understood and, even worse, not applied by or for our fellow citizens?
When the print media revel for the most part in trashy news stories and the digital media are besieged by novice self-proclaimed journalists and back-room operators with shady intentions, and when television has become a tool for brainwashing the masses, how can we believe that the country can recover, fight for progress and for emancipating values and rally together to generate wealth and employment?
How can we think that these ‘sub-citizens’ could one day defend their land, their national unity and territorial integrity?
We’ve had enough of procrastination, false promises and prevarication.
Only authority and determination can restore a national ethic, civility and patriotism, which existed even during the darkest moments of our recent history.
Fahd YATA
Original article : https://lnt.ma/ou-va-le-maroc/
Pour aller plus loin
