Demonstration on 20th March: Morocco holds steady
Phew…phew…it’s ok…we can breathe out! After holding our breaths a little due to the calls to demonstrate on 20 March, this time, Morocco won’t be making ‘Bloody revolution in the Arab world’ headlines…sorry to those who want to give out lessons in democracy and other freedoms of expression, of impression…perhaps another time, as we know that you haven’t exhausted your reserves…
As here, what frightens us is not so much the demonstrations, possible flare ups, or even a few arrests, but rather the bitter soup served up at the news hour and in the European media in general, or even in the world press…
In effect, the seasoning is often wrongly dosed and the blend of favours doubtful…over dramatic words, shocking photos…remind you of anything?
The media were on the point of declaring a veritable war here, powerfully armed with their laptops and their fantastic Canons of various sizes…
Violent articles fired off, shocking photos of scenes that would make even the biggest arms maker pale, all means are good to use if they highlight the rebellions in Tunisia, Algeria, er, Egypt…er..where else again…er…ah yes, Yemen…and where again? Bother, I can’t remember…ah yes, Bahrain, Syria, Libya of course, and suddenly, what a surprise:
“Whoops, in the fighting and the haste we swept Morocco up in this story, but actually nothing is happening there…Oops…well, no worries, no need to apologise, it wasn’t very professional…and we’re supposed to cite our sources…but not a problem…er…face-saving first! “
The Moroccan economy is strongly based on tourism, itself an activity that fluctuates inexorably in line with media pronouncements. So, after 20 February, we saw a drop in internet traffic of 30-40% in key words linked to tourism. The logical consequence won’t be far behind: hesitations, doubts about the stability of Morocco, cancellations of visits…( emptying all riad marrakech in the merantime ) a drop overall in activity just at the moment where we would normally be entering in to the busiest part of the year. By choosing to feature the few small groups of young people who rioted and looted, the media have been completely silent on the real demands of the demonstrators and above on about the real desire to express themselves in a peaceful fashion, which indeed they did…
The demonstration on 20 March continued to show to all that after the 20th February was overshadowed by a few small numbers of trouble makers, the Moroccan people is very capable of exercising its right to demonstrate about dissatisfactions, and all in a perfectly peaceful atmosphere, even with several thousands of demonstrators pretty much everywhere in the country.
There’s no doubt about it, Morocco is holding it together!
Emmanuel
