Despotism, neoliberalism and climate change: Morocco’s catastrophic convergence
On Friday, 28 October 2016, a tragic fatal incident happened in Al Hoceima city in northeastern Morocco when a state official seized wares from Mohsin Fikri, a fish vendor, and had it thrown into a garbage truck. When the vendor desperately climbed into the truck to reclaim his fish, “a local police officer ordered the garbage truck driver to start the compactor and ’grind him," according to activists and witnesses. The truck horrifically ground up Fikri, killing him.
This tragedy and the protests that followed were reminiscent of the wave of demonstrations that Morocco witnessed with the onset of the 20th February Movement in 2011 during the so-called Arab Spring. They provided an impetus for Moroccans to continue their fight for dignity, freedom and social justice and have shown that the process of real transformation in Morocco – and more broadly across North Africa and West Asia – is not finished yet.
Rather, the desire for change has been thwarted by rulers and elites since it began. These elites wanted that “spring” to be a passing one which quickly turned to autumn, dashing the hopes of everyone who took to the streets calling for their inalienable right for dignity and freedom.
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