Morocco: Terrorism or 'Fashion'?
Abdullah Iskandar Al-Hayat - 15/04/07//
Everything said in Morocco about poverty, misery, lack of practical skills and job opportunities is true. Levels of poverty and misery are on the rise in the popular quarters and random shanty towns surrounding the large urban centers, especially the economic capital, Casablanca. In these areas, where more and more people settle after life has dragged them away from the countryside and from cities, decent living conditions are almost non-existent: no schools, hospitals, infrastructure or regular jobs, and even the State is not constantly present, especially as far as its security forces are concerned. These quarters are witnessing a continuous demographic increase, which thwarts any effort made by the State to empower them. Youth represents the majority of the population. In such an environment, rural and old values and the 'law of the strongest' are dominant, which makes it difficult for one to adapt to urban, modern environment regulated by laws that are supposed to treat people equally.
Amid similar conditions, sociological and political experts may find some justifications for the increasing resentment felt by these youths and perhaps for the criminal conduct that many of them have been forced to adopt due to the tough conditions, even though it is legally and morally condemned. Some of these experts may even try to understand the forces driving these youths from this criminal conduct to terrorism, and notice that this change happens during a short while and after a period of attendance at religious lessons given by a person that calls himself an imam. There is no doubt that this short period of transition does not provide a real chance to get to know religion and its duties. Obviously, religion, its ethics and spiritualism are not the topic of this article, since instigation comes from an imaginary concept of religion without which there is no salvation from the existing misery.
This semi-pagan phenomenon, which confines religion in a fossilized and closed up mould, could repeat itself outside Morocco in what has become known as 'takfir'. However, the Moroccan authorities are denying any relation between the mobile cell of the two suicide bombers in Casablanca and any external organizations, which makes this phenomenon even more worrying. In fact, the simple consent of youths in their 20s to wear explosive belts and wander around in the city's quarters means that suicide alone is what they want. It seems that the only way of opening up to life and affirming oneself is suicide. In other words, one can speak about an example or model like one would speak about 'fashion', for these youths put on an explosive belt as other people imitate a famous actor or singer. The explosive belt turns into a weapon, like a stick, a knife or a gun, to face a hypothetical enemy, and as soon as a security man approaches its wearer, the latter blows himself up with the only objective of committing suicide.
Members of extremist Islamist organizations carry out terrorist operations after making calculations and setting targets for each of them. Some days ago, the suicide bombers in Algiers sent a message to the authorities and al-Qaeda's leadership that their suicide came in the framework of a condemned terrorist act, but they justify it with the ongoing war against what they call the 'tyrant'. As for the Moroccan youths' suicides on the streets by using explosive belts, they do not have similar driving forces, and are not inserted in a framework like this strategy. It is only the killing of oneself. From here stems their increasing gravity, which may even be superior to that of terrorist groups'. In fact, it is a nihilistic imitation of terrorism, and could become a widespread model for those who cannot, for many reasons, fuel organized terrorism.
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