By Jamal Elabiad
They could have tried other means of protest
rather than setting themselves on fire. That’s how many Moroccans commented on
the news that some unemployed graduates set themselves alight last week in Rabat
in protest over unemployment. I’m sorry to say that one of them died last Tuesday
in a Casablanca
hospital.
Moroccans are victims of their national TV
channels that usually keep them in the dark when it comes to the serious social
ills Moroccans suffer from, including unemployment. For instance, they have
never informed Moroccans of the fact that those unemployed graduates did not
turn to self-immolation till all the other means of protest failed to put
pressure on the Moroccan government to find jobs for them. Think of the
rallies, sit-ins, and hunger strikes Moroccan unemployed graduates have
organised on a daily basis around Morocco, and that 2M and RTM have never
covered.
Many foreign TV channels have covered the
Moroccan unemployed graduates who burned themselves last week in Rabat , and some of them even
re-published the videos that were posted on YouTube showing their colleagues
trying to rescue them. Moroccan TV channels, however, didn’t cover the incident
for many reasons. One is that it doesn’t serve their slogan behind selecting
news for Moroccans: everything is nice in Morocco !

I actually heard the news about these poor desperate souls on NPR while commuting.
ReplyDeleteIt also made the news on some other TV channels that I did not watch personally.
Moroccan TV serves the regime exclusively. It's nothing more than a platform to promote the agenda of the king. It is so ridiculous that it becomes tragic when one hears the long praises of Mustapha Alaoui.
Samira Sitail had locked the newsroom of 2M for years.
The Moroccans have learned to bypass the loudspeaker that the Moroccan media have become for the regime, and they get their news from AlJazeera or other satellite channels.
If this situation continues, there will be something much more serious than the light protests the M20F has accustomed Moroccans to.
En ces temps qui coulent, les suicidaires deviennent des martyrs et les martyrs , des suicidaires, les militants des agitateurs et les agitateurs, des militants...Nos trottoirs ont été avalés par toutes sortes de commerces and toutes les villes et le reste de ces trottoirs a été couvert par toutes sortes d'articles en vente par de petits détaillants que personne n'ose réprimander par souci de ne pas créer Bouazizis...tout le monde regarde en silence des comportements répréhensibles sans oser souffler mot et même ceux qui construisent des maisons sans plan architectural ni autorisation des services municipaux concernés se croient dans leur droit de s'attaquer aux forces de l'ordre qui essaient de les empêcher d'aggraver la laideur de nos villes... Amadou
ReplyDeleteEn ces temps qui coulent, les suicidaires deviennent des martyrs et les martyrs , des suicidaires, les militants des agitateurs et les agitateurs, des militants...Nos trottoirs ont été avalés par toutes sortes de commerces and toutes les villes et le reste de ces trottoirs a été couvert par toutes sortes d'articles en vente par de petits détaillants que personne n'ose réprimander par souci de ne pas créer d'autres Bouazizis...tout le monde regarde en silence des comportements répréhensibles sans oser souffler mot et même ceux qui construisent des maisons sans plan architectural ni autorisation des services municipaux concernés se croient dans leur droit de s'attaquer aux forces de l'ordre qui essaient de les empêcher d'aggraver la laideur de nos villes...
ReplyDeleteCe qu'on peut écrire n'est pas ce qui s'affiche!
ReplyDeleteI want to wish you good luck. You must be strategic to improve your country - try globalvoices, Open Society Institute, or seek a scholarship abroad in journalism. It will help. Better than self-immolation (which is tragic...as you said, better to shed ink/bytes than blood)
ReplyDeleteI write too. My poetry is here --> lifelib - books