I knew coming to Morocco that I’d feel closer to the Middle East/North Africa uprisings and Arab Spring movement both physically and culturally, but I didn’t realize how encompassed I’d feel by protests from all sides. I’m taking an entire course on the Arab Spring here, which is a very interesting study of the “conditions that preceded the uprisings, regime reactions, the role of external players, and prospects for the future.” Thus far we’ve studied the beginnings of the movements and their place in the Arab world, why they are unique among other movements for political reform, and what they say about democracy in Islamic nations. We closely follow the developments and effects of the uprisings as they progress, and pay special attention to the Arab Spring as it affects Morocco.
Before arriving here I checked on the status of protests in Morocco daily, both to stay informed of the general situation and to watch for developments that would place Morocco on the State Department’s travel watch list, which would in turn prevent me from coming. Aside from two exceptionally large protests that turned violent in a few locations, the majority reported by western media were portrayed as peaceful and for varied reasons: unemployment and the economy, women’s rights, Amazigh representation, etc. None were ever in objection to the king or monarchy.
Living here, protests in Rabat are at least a weekly occurrence. They have mainly focused on unemployment (demanding more state jobs or against the lack of opportunity to use high-level degrees obtained from state universities) and political change (following the pro-democracy uprisings earlier this year, the King made referendums to his power, largely viewed as inadequate). Carrying signs and pictures of the king is a common practice while protesting, to show continued support for the crown, even while protesting lack of political reform. Until yesterday, every Rabat protest I’d heard of was peaceful.
Yesterday I walked out of Bab el Had, the main entrance to Rabat’s medina, with my Moroccan cultural partner to find hundreds of people, mostly men, quietly congregating. She told me they were there to protest, to which I replied that they seemed calm. She said that yes, they were calm now, but now always. A half hour later, after I had returned home, a large and angry protest broke out. One of my classmates was passing through in a taxi, and was forced to get out because the protesters weren’t letting traffic through. The police arrived in force and relatively quickly dispersed the protest. The group of people at Bab el Had were showing support for a protest led by imams, which had worked its way from the front of parliament, down the main avenue, to Bab el Had. For the first time, the imams were allowed to protest, something they had been attempting since June. (Moroccan imams are not permitted to preach their own sermons. The Moroccan king is the leader of the faithful, the “final arbiter” of Islamic matters within Morocco, and so provides sermons for all imams. They were protesting this and their low pay, though not against the king but against the minister of religion.) And even though yesterday's protest did not remain peaceful, there were no reported injuries or deaths. (The majority of more recent protests have been peaceful or non-lethal, excepting those in the Western Sahara.)
Then, of course, there are the protests back home. Occupy Wall Street has been in my news roundup since it made the news, and Occupy Boston was on my facebook even before it made the news. Yesterday (last night? It’s hard to keep that straight with the time difference…) at Dewey Square the police got involved, and a friend of mine from school was arrested (glad to hear you’re ok, Tori). I'm somewhat disappointed to be missing something that seems so atypical at home, yet it happens so regularly here.
I certainly wasn’t expecting to read about protests from my corner of the world when I left it to come to a region in active uprising, and it definitely makes me ponder.
It’s an interesting time.
