In her first interview with this blog, on the 6th July last year, Movement of the Rif (‘Hirak’) activist ‘Yassmin B’ explained Hirak’s ‘chen-ten’ method – ‘a contemporary development on the guerrilla tactics that our grandfathers excelled’ – and that Hirak involved, from the first weeks, ‘the descent of women to the street’. Below, she explaiuns life in the Rif today, 9 months on.
The first phase of Hirak began with protests against the killing of Mohasin Fikri, in al-Hoceima, in late October 2016, and ended with Nasser al-Zafzafi’s interruption of a Friday sermon, in the town’s Mohamed V mosque, in late May of 2017 (‘is this a house of God, or of the Makhzan‘ [‘the state’]?). Phase two began with the state’s ‘decapitation’ reaction that weekend – arrest the leadership, including al-Zafzafi – and the popular response, of nightly, scrappy demonstrations across the Rif, throughout the summer.
Phase two culminated with the July 20th demonstration, in al-Hoceima again, involving 10s of 1000s of people from across the Rif, Morocco, and Europe, with the diaspora visiting for the summer. It was a ‘day-long political win‘ – from then on, protests’ size decreased, as police numbers grew, with the number of Hirak prisoners into the mid-100s – ‘the struggle for the liberation of political prisoners has become a front-line‘, as Chowqui Lotfi wrote in October, suggesting how dangerous chen-ten had become.
Into winter, I asked a Moroccan friend whether ‘people in al-Hoceima are still angry, and together, in the streets?’ – ‘no, there’s too much repression’. ‘So they’re angry, but in their homes?’ – ‘N’am; Iawa?‘ (‘Yes; so?’)
To say that the Movement is restricted to the ‘private’ sphere is largely correct, with two qualifications. Firstly, the parliament, the courts, and the licensed media – ‘public’ institutions – have been, and presumably will remain, entirely hostile towards Hirak; similarly, ‘public’ space in the Rif was only ever intermittently under ‘sh’abi’ (‘popular’) control. What’s changed since phase two appears to be quantitative, not qualitative – harder institutions, longer sentences, more police.
The second caveat is that whilst the Rif, especially al-Hoceima and Imzouren, is the ‘centre’ of the Movement, the Movement itself continues across Europe – France, Holland, and Spain/Catalunya – through diaspora groups, who are able to organise relatively freely.
N’am; Iawa? As ‘Yassmin B’ explains below, this is a perilous time in the Rif – certainly the most difficult since October 2016, and perhaps for some time before that; there’s only so much scattered Europe-based groups can do, with their own organisational issues, against prowling riot vans in Imzouren, and an (at least) partly corrupted judiciary in Casablanca. It remains clear though that the Moroccan state’s inability to address social dysfunction – it’s inability to address calls for a ‘a hospital, a university, and work’, as they are in the Rif – except through baton charges, and shamelessly illiberal sentencing, is a sign of ill-health, possibly profound; that the working-class in Morocco – across the country, in al-Hoceima, and Zagora, and Jerada, and Imider – can’t but demand these things is a sign, oppositely, of a post-2011 vivacity.
For further news on Hirak, follow Hirak News Casablanca
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Could you tell us about the 20th July demonstration? How was that day? Were you surprised by the size and the energy of the crowd – and how did the police behave?
For us, on the 20th July, the repression wasn’t that big a deal – we were used to it, after the two months before, especially the eid al-Fitr demonstration [on this, see Hicham Aidi’s essay], in which the police had repressed us with gas, because of the size of that demonstration.
On the 20th July, we were prepared for everything. We were skeptical, of course, but also hoping that the police would not use their full power against the people, because of the international press which was present at that time – we know how our government tries to show how democratic they are.
But, they did. They used violence, and the locals were not surprised – we always know their truth. We were not surprised by the size and the energy of the crowd, either, since, again, we were used to it by it then. Months of sometimes weekly demonstrations have made us experts.
There are now many, many Hirak comrades and friends in prison, some on hunger strike – could you explain a little how people in the Rif have tried to help them over the last six months, since July?
We are not exaggerating when we say there are hundreds of prisoners. It’s the reality, and yes, that means all of us know at least one person, through family, or neighbours or friends.
Yes, everyone can help, but only through our families. You have to know the circumstances of a prisoner – their daily needs in prison, the needs of their family as they travel to visit them – since no one can donate publicly, as this will bring danger. As a society we tried our best to demonstrate as much as we can, to show them our support.
It’s not only uniformed police working against al-Hirak; there are also ‘al-Hanash’, ‘snakes’, who change their clothing. Do you have anything to tell those of us in Europe about the more illusive of security services there – about this kind of repression?
We are used to them now. Maybe most of the Moroccan citizens that have come are policemen.
As locals, we started noticing that hundreds of strangers were filling up the center of city; these movements coincided with the imprisonment of hundreds of young people, and the escape of hundreds more, mainly to Europe.
It’s rare to have a local who works with the police, or the more secretive security.
That is why we easily notice them [the latter], firstly because we live in a small city and, secondly, because they don’t look like around like us – they are always watching everything around them – and, of course, they don’t speak our language, thirdly.
You find them in the beaches, restaurants, cafes, shops, beauty salons – literally everywhere, trying sometimes to provoke, or tease us with some comments.
We think that the state is trying to change the ethnic majority, one that facilitated that harmony in the al-Hirak. We are convinced of that – anything is possible.
Today, we take a walk in the city of al-Hoceima and Imzouren, it’s not only the sadness; there is also anger and loss. We feel weak. The remaining young people are avoiding some areas, and are full of sadness and anger over the imprisonment of their friends and brothers – this is al-Hoceima of 2018.
The first ‘large-scale conference on the topic of the dire situation in the Rif region (Morocco) in the European Parliament‘ was organised recently, the 28th February.
How do people in the Rif speak about the various left-wing parties in Europe, in the European Parliament, who might offer solidarity with the Rif? Are you optimistic about help from those parties?
We are glad to hear about some solidarity movements and conferences in Europe, especially from some personalities – this makes our cause better known, and puts our system in a more revealing light.
We can make a separation between the support of some European parties with us, and the international connections of our government with the European states.
But are we really optimistic? Here in al-Hoceima province? Unfortunately, no.
