The political alliances that drove the Moroccan opposition parties to power have reversed their wager. More than 10 years after their coexistence in power, they seem to be expending their role which was hoped to bring about the desired reforms.
The accusations leveled by Hamid Chabat, the mayor of the city of Fez, against the historic leader of the opposition National Union of Popular Forces, the late Mehdi Ben-Barka, were enough to sparkle a crisis between the grandchildren of the national movement, specifically between the Socialist Union and the Independence Party, on the eve of the municipal elections which also coincided with a protest movement paralyzing the transportation sector.
The mayor of Fez triggered the crisis at a moment of discord between the brothers-enemies who have struggled and coexisted for long periods of the political and trade union history in Morocco. The National Union sprang from the Independence Party amidst an ideological struggle between the elites of the national movement. From the contradictions of the National Union, the Socialist Union came out with a completely different vision that rests on change from within through the ballot boxes. Influenced by these ideas and inclinations, the two Parties (Independence and Socialist Union) fought endless wars among each other and against the authorities for several years.
Only the late King Hassan II could see the whole scene on board an Algeria-bound ship. The political distance between Morocco and its eastern neighbor was much farther. When he realized that nothing could separate countries that are bound to coexist, he whispered to the leaders of the opposition to unite their ranks.
During the first years of King Hassan II’s term in office, fire broke out between the national movement parties and trade unions. Thus Mehdi Ben-Barka paid with his life the price for the power struggle. It was difficult for the opposition parties to cross the desert until Hassan II realized that historic harmony between the parties and the royal palace could protect Morocco against "sunstrokes."
The King found in the socialist leader Abdul Rahman Al-Youssefi the right man to end the struggle. The Independence Party in turn embraced the formula of consensual rotation of power as a prelude to redress some of the historic mistakes. Yet this formula, which started at the end of the 1990s on the backdrop of a regional consensus over the internal struggle in Algeria, and a domestic wager to contain social chaos, does not seem to have closed off all loopholes to vent out steam. 10 years later, this experience does not seem to have exhausted all its political reasons. Yet, it has weakened as a result of faulty mechanisms. Reviving the struggles of the past only portends a faulty vision for the future.
The Independence Party has changed with its leader Abbas Al-Fassi taking office as prime minister. So has the Socialist Union which lost its clout after the 2007 elections. But nothing justifies their return to clashing except if there are hidden hands pulling the strings from behind. It will be regrettable for the two parties to surrender now to the ghosts of the past which haunted them in bygone times, ghosts which do not seem to have left for good.
The mystery still engulfs the identity of who assassinated the Moroccan opposition figure Mehdi Ben-Barka in Paris. Human rights organizations were formed and political trials were held. Yet grey areas remained concerning the tale of the man’s assassination. Only the street named after him in a classy neighborhood in Rabat highlights the official and popular esteem held for this man, even though all the investigations have yet to help his family find his grave to visit it.
What wind is this that diverted the investigation into his death to another issue which concerns the accusations leveled by his political enemies, who hold him responsible for struggles and events? It is no coincidence. History alone can distinguish the good deeds of men from their mistakes. With no doubt, the necessary harmony is not aimed at opening the wounds of the past but at looking towards the future. For there are generations concerned with reading the open pages of history to draw conclusions about what is happening today and what will happen tomorrow on the ground of reality.
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