Morocco: the King must go!

Submitted by Matthew on 2 March, 2011 - 12:46

Achil Guerrier, a member of the Courant Marxiste Revolutionnaire (CMR, Revolutionary Marxist Current) in Morocco, spoke to Solidarity

Social-democrats and Stalinists and Maoists hope to see the King become a constitutional monarch. Revolutionary Marxists and the left-Maoists of “Voie Democratique” are for a socialist Morocco and for the departure of the King.

Young people split along these lines are using the internet to organise demonstrations. We have so far avoided real debates on the level of politics, but organise joint demonstrations on the basis of social, political and economic demands.

For us, what is important is to mobilise people to come out into the street to demand, at the very least: press freedom, freedom of association, human rights and rights for women, increase in public sector pay, free education, social security.

For us, these are minimal demands, for others they are the maximum. But we’re against a revolution “by stages” — there is no wall between the minimum and the maximum.

Who is heeding the calls for demonstrations? Intellectuals of the left and the different political tendencies, the unemployed, the youth, workers in the informal sector and in agriculture, and the urban poor.

The big demonstrations were in Tangiers and Tetoun — with about 80,000 people.

On 20 February, about 1,000,000 people came out across Morocco. In particular there is a strong movement in the Rif, where there is a history of revolt against the government and colonial rulers; Agadir in the South, where the CMR is strongest; and Casablanca.

Workers’ movements exist, but they are still politically controlled by union leaderships, which are close to the government. There is work underway on grassroots organising in the two big unions in Morocco but the success of the undertaking hangs in the balance.

There is a call to create a new, independent union. We prepared the way for this through work in the big unions and in the workers’ clubs we have created, which function as working-class educational associations, teaching people to read and so on. Remaining in the official unions cannot be the solution to the crisis of trade unionism in Morocco. They are for the monarchy. They are attached to liberal political parties. There is no independence for the unions from these parties.

We will work in the official unions but we think it is impossible to stay there — we must collect workers there, leave, and give an example through struggle. Even if there are dangers related to this strategy, there is no real alternative.

We have not yet launched the union, but we are preparing it. The name is “Offensive Union Voice”. There are already 3,500 people in our workers’ clubs, concentrated in the south, in Agadir. We think that provides a base for the project — but numbers aren’t the only thing, quality is important too.

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