Karim Boukhari, writer of the Moroccan press, knows how to decipher the society around him like no other. Former editor-in-chief of the famous Tel Quel magazine, he is currently editor-in-chief of the history magazine Zamane and regularly writes editorials for the le360 information site. In an editorial published just after the earthquake, he spoke with emotion of the night when everything changed. For L’Express, he gives his impressions and looks back on the state of mind in Morocco today. According to a latest report, the earthquake, which struck the mountainous region of Al-Haouz, southwest of the tourist city of Marrakech, on Friday evening, left 2,901 dead and 5,530 injured.
L’Express: Do you think that the Moroccan state has been sufficiently responsive? What is the feeling of the population a few days after the earthquake?
Karim Boukhari: I am not Morocco, I am just me. And before being a journalist, I was a doctor. I observe, I take notes… Morocco has made a lot of progress, infrastructural and especially human. But he still looks like the head of a business or family who nevertheless has difficulty getting closer to his loved ones. He has not yet established a relationship of trust with his constituents. This is characteristic of all authoritarian states. It happened to me, when I was a doctor, and while I took part in vaccination campaigns, on a completely voluntary basis, to be received with insults and stone throwing… This feeling did not change a lot. This is not something that will change overnight. The State is trying to humanize itself, but it still inspires this mixture of fear and distrust. It’s a reality. For the tragedy of El Haouz, people do not feel abandoned, I don’t think. They feel this surge of national solidarity, which is sincere and which does a lot of good. But their problems are old and go back well before the earthquake. The responsiveness of the State, which is real, and the outpouring of solidarity, do not change much at the root of the problem. The Haouz is lagging behind in development, the douars and villages suffered in silence, well before the earthquake.
Morocco is increasingly often presented as a regional champion, but this tragedy seems to highlight the gap between a rich and dynamic Morocco and a forgotten Morocco with great poverty. How can we explain this infrastructure deficit in part of the country?
I traveled through El Haouz a few months ago. I went to a village where the inhabitants had a drinking water problem. However, the village was nestled opposite a magnificent dam… The whole paradox of Morocco is there. The train of human development is there, but those who move up are not in the same boat. Democrats and progressives point out this anomaly. But again, the problem is old. The desire to reduce these inequalities exists, and I believe it is sincere. The label “regional champion” is not a fiction, it corresponds to a reality, but this reality does not benefit everyone. The Haouz, and despite its proximity to Marrakech, which is certainly one of the most developed cities in the Maghreb, is waiting for this ripple effect which does not happen or only so slowly… When we leave Marrakech, we immediately have the feeling of going back to the past. We have the feeling that the distance that separates Marrakech from its hinterland is not a few kilometers, but several decades… I am not going to list the achievements of the State, nor the improvement in the human development index ( literacy, access to care, opening up, etc.), but the gap remains significant. One of the problems that arise today, after the earthquake, is the delivery of humanitarian aid. We must ask the health personnel and teachers who work in the region: the road network, even before the earthquake, could alone discourage and break all momentum.
How do you explain Morocco’s selective choice in relation to the international aid offered? And in particular the rejection of France, even though the king was in Paris? Furthermore, what do you think of the Algerian outstretched hand?
As you said, this choice is “selective”. It reflects the reality of the Moroccan State’s relationships with its neighbors or partners. This choice does not surprise me. With France, there is a stiffening that has been taking place for a while, it is a reality which concerns States, not individuals. Right now, there are individuals of all nationalities, including French people, who are making sincere contributions to relief efforts in the region. They didn’t wait for anyone’s authorization… For an observer like me, Morocco is in mourning, certainly, but not in crisis. There is a psychological component to take into account. The Moroccan State is not in distress, it is in a situation where, despite the difficulty, it wants to show, and perhaps first of all to itself and to its population, that it is capable of come out alone or almost. Like a big. There is this dimension of national pride, or self-sufficiency, which is real and which should not be neglected. The Moroccan state also has things to prove (to itself). Seen from the outside, he may be experiencing growing pains. As far as I am concerned, it is all the harm that I wish him… As for the outstretched hand, whether it comes from the French or Algerian state, it is difficult to see anything other than a posture, a political calculation. It’s communication, nothing else. States are machines, not humans. We will say it clearly: the French State has a problem with Morocco, and the Algerian State too, in other proportions. It is not the El Haouz disaster that will resolve these problems. Now, today, and after the tragedy of Friday evening, it is first and foremost a matter of saving human lives and resolving emergencies. It is difficult to project oneself. But it’s like when a man stumbles, sometimes all it takes is one hand, but the right one, to help him get up. Literally and figuratively, the Haouz roads are perhaps too narrow, too damaged, to allow everyone to pass through… Afterwards, in a second phase, when it comes to rebuilding, rehabilitating, opening up, to develop, we will perhaps find French companies…
Morocco seems to have overcome many recent crises, terrorism, Covid, inflation, etc., all with a certain political stability. Can this disaster change the situation?
For me, the Haouz disaster offers the Moroccan state the possibility of continuing its growth “crisis”. It’s not cynical. This crisis is valid. The Haouz will be reborn and develop. In its own way, the State is sending the same message as during Covid. He says to those administered: I am with you, listening, I am not forgetting anyone. This message is not swept away by the wind. In my entourage, with critical people, sometimes opponents, many give their blood, struggling left and right to contribute to the general outpouring of solidarity. Nobody forced them, they are sincere. They believe in it. They are like ancient societies: misfortune afflicts them without “scattering” them, on the contrary it welds and unites them. If the Moroccan state has achieved anything, it is at this level. He has reached a milestone. I have the impression, at my humble level, that the State has returned to its favor and recovered, quietly, the fallout from Morocco’s main crises of the 2000s: terrorism, Islamism, parity/equality, social coverage, human development , etc. The management of Covid has left its mark. Even more, the kingdom’s diplomatic aggressiveness, particularly towards a historic partner like France, is widely supported among the working classes. This hard line is one with the general state of mind. Look at the Abraham Accords and the rapprochement with Israel: despite its unpopularity, the decision “passes”.
From my point of view, it’s a challenge. If there were a poll, we would see that the masses do not support, do not adhere to, are going backwards, but they “understand” and in the end they accept. Who would’ve believed that ? It’s extraordinary. There is an upset but silent consensus that is taking hold. Although it was not self-evident. For me, normalization with Israel also becomes normalization of the citizen with the State. Or almost. Alongside this fixed idea of the State generating fear and fear, which we mentioned above and which corresponds well to a reality (see the case of journalists in detention and more generally of prisoners of opinion), it There is this message of the State defending good causes, and of the intelligent State, which is taking shape. The two coexist. The whipping father and the ally. The carrot and the stick. Seen from the outside, it’s astonishing to say the least. But seen from the inside, it’s more fluid than it seems, we are more in the progression and natural accumulation than in the leapfrog.