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Mr. Nouh Anajjar is an English high school teacher trainee in Oujda. He is also a Master student in literary and cultural studies. [/symple_box]
[symple_box color=”white”]People should not be afraid of their government, governments should be afraid of their people.” Alan Moore, V for Vendetta. [/symple_box]
It is actually of little significance to know in which era you live. Whether you are in the seventies or eighties or the beginning of the millennium or 2016, the language of violence has practically been the favourite language and the Pandora’s Box of all Moroccan governments throughout modern history with its voice echoing throughout our modern age. The latest embodiment of the government fetishization and lust for violence is widely known on Facebook as The Massacre of Inzagane January 7th 2016.
Poignant videos and graphic photographs going viral on social media, display the diabolical Repressive Forces violently and ruthlessly attacking teacher trainees who were preparing a peaceful march through the streets of Inzagane. The outrageous assault yielded hundreds of injuries ranging from bruising to far graver head injuries along with dozens of fainting cases. Many bodies had been used as punching bags by security forces and as target practice for their coshes. The police also intervened in other cities namely, Marrakesh, Casablanca and Tangier, which resulted in more or less the same casualties.
[symple_box color=”white”]After all, how can one have any faith in a government that abuses teachers who are undoubtedly the engine of any development and any nation-building process?[/symple_box]
The practice of violence against innocent civilians and protesters is universally reprehensible and those responsible for it must be brought to justice and held accountable. Remarkably enough, the “massacre”-as a metaphor- of Inzagan and other assaults against teacher trainees nationwide, is first and foremost a flagrant violation of the Moroccan Constitution as well as a clear-cut infringement of the international treaties and human rights conventions which the Moroccan state continues to boast in international forums. Article 22 of the Moroccan Constitution stipulates conspicuously that the physical or moral integrity of any citizen whosoever is not to be infringed, in any circumstance that may be and by any person regardless of status, public or private and that no one may inflict on others, under whatever pretext there may be, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments or infringements of their dignity. Furthermore, the same article states that the practice of torture, under any form, and by anyone, is a crime punishable by law. This is the Moroccan Constitution and in other words, the theory. Now when it comes to practice there seems to be a colossal discrepancy that has been forever unbridgeable.
The thing is that governments in third-world theocratic regimes firmly believe that violence will resolve the problem, whereas throughout history violence has always had negative repercussions and only adds more ramifications to the crisis. The Moroccan government is no exception. One can be forgiven for wondering if this is really a government or a gang given that governments in democratic states open up channels of dialogue instead of resorting to violence to subdue citizens. After all, how can one have any faith in a government that abuses teachers who are undoubtedly the engine of any development and any nation-building process? Most importantly one wonders whether the Constitution was made/re-made to reform the nation or merely to absorb the social tension.
If the government considers that this violent step will push teacher trainees to go back to training then it should utterly review its policies, because there is no conscious living soul who can surrender after almost 80 days of boycotting and protesting, that is, after 75 days of lessons in struggling and activism. In fact, now that the walls of fear have collapsed, assaults such as this, will merely mobilize civil society of variegated predilections to join The Teacher Trainees Cause and disseminate the echo of teacher trainees protests at an international level. Surely these systematic abuses and assaults of teacher trainees and all other civilians who demand nothing but their rights are to remain a reprehensible stain in the face of this government, and a black page in the history of The Justice and Development Party – the ruling party.
Finally, it is to be noted that Moroccan teacher trainees are boycotting training and protesting to repeal two irrational ministerial Decrees; Decree N: 588-15-2 which states the intention to reduce the scholarship to less than half of that awarded to previous teacher trainees and Decree N: 589-15-2 which stipulates that training be separated from recruitment. A last important point to make is that the government must recognize that until it retracts its two Decrees, and desists from its frivolous decision-making and abuses of teachers and students, the struggle will persist and teacher trainees will strenuously continue to demand for: FREEDON, JUSTICE, and SOCIAL DIGNITY.
