Teacher Trainees Crisis: Nurturing the Language of Violence

 “People should not be afraid of their government, governments should be afraid of their people.” Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

It is actually of little significance to know in which era you live. Whether you are in the seventies or eighties or the beginning of the millennium or 2016, the language of violence has practically been   the favourite language and the Pandora’s Box   of all Moroccan governments throughout modern history with its voice echoing throughout our modern age. The latest embodiment of the government fetishization and lust for violence is widely known on Facebook as The Massacre of Inzagane January 7^th 2016.  Poignant videos and graphic photographs going viral on social media, display the diabolical Repressive Forces violently and ruthlessly attacking teacher trainees who were preparing a peaceful march through the streets of Inzagane.  The outrageous assault yielded, hundreds of injuries ranging from bruising to far graver head injuries along with dozens of fainting cases. Many bodies had been used as the punching bags by  the security forces and as target practice  for  their coshes. The police also  intervened in other cities namely, Marrakesh, Casablanca and Tangier, which resulted in more or less the same casualties. 

  

The practice of violence against innocent civilians and protestors is universally reprehensible and those responsible for it   must be brought to justice and held accountable. Remarkably enough, the “massacre”-as a metaphor-  of  Inzagan and other  assaults  against teacher trainees  nationwide,  is first and foremost  a flagrant violation of the Moroccan Constitution as well as  a clear-cut infringement of the international   treaties and human rights conventions which the Moroccan state continues to boast in international forums. Article 22 of the Moroccan Constitution stipulates conspicuously that the physical or moral integrity of any citizen whosoever is not to be infringed, in any circumstance that may be and by any person regardless of status, public or private and that no one may inflict on others, under whatever pretext there may be, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments or infringements of their dignity. Furthermore, the same article states that the practice of torture, under any form, and by anyone, is a crime punishable by the law. This is the Moroccan Constitution and in other words, the theory. Now when it comes to practice there seems to be a colossal discrepancy that has been forever unbridgeable.

  

  The thing is that governments in third-world theocratic regimes firmly believe that violence will resolve the problem, whereas throughout history violence has always had negative repercussions and only adds more ramifications to the crisis. The Moroccan government is no exception. One can be forgiven for wondering if   this is really a government or a gang given that governments in democratic states open up channels of dialogue instead of resorting to violence to subdue citizens.  After all, how can one have any faith in a government that abuses teachers who are undoubtedly the engine of any development and any nation-building process?  Most importantly one wonders whether the Constitution was made/re-made to reform the nation or merely to absorb the social tension.

  

If the government considers that this violent step will push teacher trainees to go back to training then it should utterly review its policies, because there is no conscious living soul who  can surrender after almost 80 days of boycotting and protesting, that is, after 75 days of lessons in struggling and activism. In fact, now that the walls of fear have collapsed, assaults such as this, will merely mobilize civil society of variegated predilections   to join  The Teacher Trainees Cause and disseminate the echo of teacher trainees protests at an international level. Surely these systematic abuses and assaults of teacher trainees and all other civilians who demand nothing but their rights  are to remain a reprehensible stain  in the face of this government, and a black page in the history of  The Justice and Development Party – the ruling party.

Finally, it is to be noted that Moroccan teacher trainees are boycotting training and protesting to  repeal the  two irrational  ministerial  Decrees; Decree   N: 588-15-2 which states the intention to  reduce the  scholarship to less than  half of that awarded to previous teacher trainees and Decree  N: 589-15-2 which stipulates that training be separated from recruitment. A last important point to make is that the government must recognize that until it retracts its two Decrees, and desists from its frivolous decision-making and abuses of teachers and students, the struggle will persist and teacher trainees will strenuously continue to demand for: FREEDON, JUSTICE, and SOCIAL DIGNITY. 


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