Al-kamahiyatiya (Asitism): the politics of waiting and not waiting for change

Abstract

Torn between desire and hope, patience and impatience, those waiting for change in Morocco have, since independence, been articulating their rejection of the way the queues of dignity and social justice are getting intolerably static and crowded. This article¹ reasons with cultural and socio-political gradations of waiting in the Muslim and Moroccan tradition to discuss how the dynamics of waiting and not waiting reflect the poor people’s methods of tolerating or challenging the prevailing truth. We theoretically and empirically make sense of the way political stagnancy and social nothingness culminate into what we call a state of (asitism) or (as-it-is-ism), a proponent as it were of obdurate stagnancy, deferral of personal and collective expectations, and persistence of social plights and economic ills, that are continuously informed and challenged by waiting and non-waiting protocols. To get to grips with asitism as a conceptual tool and ontological phenomenon, this article takes into consideration how and why the subjects revolt, whether it be by seeking migration opportunities to Europe; by illegally crossing the borders; or by otherwise expressing their denunciation of the way politicians seek to dupe them into more waiting. However, even when they refuse to wait for the promises politicians make to be verified as truthful or fake by not taking part in the elections or by boycotting a particular party, we contend that they simply deploy the time they have for a different wait, hence re-organising themselves in a different queuing order.

Tiraillés entre désir et espoir, patience et impatience, ceux qui attendent un changement au Maroc expriment depuis l'indépendance leur rejet de la manière dont les files d'attente pour la dignité et la justice sociale deviennent intolérablement statiques et encombrées. Cet article pense les gradations culturelles et sociopolitiques de l'attente dans la tradition musulmane et marocaine pour discuter de la manière dont la dynamique de l'attente et de la non-attente reflète la manière dont les pauvres tolèrent ou remettent en question, à des degrés divers, la vérité dominante. Nous donnons un sens théorique et empirique à la manière dont la stagnation politique et le néant social culminent dans ce que nous appelons un état d'al-kamahiatia (asitisme), partisan pour ainsi dire d'une stagnation obstinée, d'un report des attentes personnelles et collectives et d'une persistance des difficultés sociales et des maux économiques, qui sont continuellement informés et remis en question par des protocoles d'attente et de non-attente. Pour appréhender l'asitisme en tant qu'outil conceptuel et phénomène ontologique, cet article tient compte de comment et pourquoi les sujets se révoltent, que ce soit en cherchant des opportunités de migration vers l'Europe ; en franchissant illégalement les frontières ; ou en exprimant autrement leur dénonciation de la manière dont les politiciens cherchent à les inciter à attendre davantage. Cependant, même lorsqu'ils refusent d'attendre que la véracité des promesses effectuées par les politiciens soit vérifiée en ne participant pas aux élections ou en boycottant un parti particulier, nous soutenons qu'ils consacrent simplement le temps dont ils disposent à une attente différente, d'où le fait de se réorganiser dans un ordre de file d'attente différent.

Keywords:

• Asitism
• waiting
• deferral
• queue
• politics
• ceasing to wait
• socio-political change

Mots clés:

• faire la queue
• attendre
• politique de la patience
• asitisme
• Maroc
• élections marocaines

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Statement of Ethics

The research was conducted with approval from the authors' institutions. All images were reproduced with permission from the rights owners, where applicable.

Notes

1 We extend special appreciation to Michèle Brand for her insightful engagement with the concept of asitism. We also express our gratitude to our friend Bouali Mbarek for granting us permission to utilize his cartoons.

2 Change is synonymous with political reform, and with social and economic progress.

3 https://bti-project.org/en/reports/country-report/MAR

4 https://insidearabia.com/tangier-a-crossroads-of-timeless-creativity-and-modern-innovation/

5 Hirak Rif was a large movement in the northern region of Morocco (in the Rif) that started in October 2016 when Mohcin Fikri, a fishmonger, was crushed to death in a garbage truck. Fikri, hence, jumped inside the garbage truck ‘to save the confiscated load of fish he had bought at the port on the grounds that it had been fished illegally’ (Diouani 2021, 1) but the outraged police officer ordered that he must be crashed, shouting ‘t7an mou’ (Grind him). It is unknown who activated the grinding mechanism in the garbage truck, but Mohcin Fikri passed away grinded to his chest with his fish in front of his friends and passersby. The whole incident was recorded on video. The shocking sight and the brutal acts of the police officer pushed the Riffians, who have a history of revolt and protest, to go out on the street and shout down with the system. (El Maarouf and Belghazi 2018; Pasini 2019; Diouani 2021)

6 An epigram by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr.

7 https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/01/291907/morocco-democracy-authoritarianism-democracy/

8 https://rsf.org/en/morocco-western-sahara

9 https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/03/268567/moroccans-happiest-people-world/

10 https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/morocco

11 http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr2019.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2dpm3q4jDsadAEFbq4YzM6oOxQ9UYieqeAL5yudcxAnavCFueVpEmglZg

12 https://mipa.institute/7141

13 The JDP is a conservative Islamic-democratic political party in Morocco that was created in 1967. The party gained unprecedented momentum under the leadership of Abdelilah Benkirane in 2011 and they won 107 out of 395 seats in the Moroccan Parliament. In 2016, the party won the elections again with an even higher number of seats (125) but their rising success came to a sudden halt in 2021 as they only won 13 seats and lost the elections. There are many reasons why people lost faith in the JDP, especially during COVID-19 when the prime minister and the ministry of health showed poor communication and sudden amendments in COVID restrictions which, for many, did not make sense. Moreover, there had been a long-standing dissatisfaction of the then prime minister Saadeddine Othmani who rarely came out with public statements when need be.

14 The Guardian, 2021. More than 6,000 migrants reach Spain’s North African enclave ceuta [online]. The Guardian. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/17/record-1000-migrants-reach-spains-north-african-enclave-ceuta-in-a-day [Accessed 23 May 2022].

15 https://www.tribunemag.co.uk/2020/04/ernst-bloch-and-the-philosophy-of-hope

16 Handy people stand at the corner of main avenues waiting for someone who would hire them for a one-time job. They can lift heavy objects around, clean the house, do gardening, plumbing, and many other random tasks. Their asking price is around 20–200 Dhs (2 to 20 Euros), sometimes a bit more.

17 A state of great trouble

18 Fak̲h̲r al-Dīn al-Rāzī. Mafātīḥ al-g̲h̲ayb, Cairo 1278, on III, 200. Quoted in "Sabr", Encyclopaedia of Islam

19 Fak̲h̲r al-Dīn al-Rāzī. Mafātīḥ al-g̲h̲ayb, Cairo 1278, on III, 200. Quoted in "Sabr", Encyclopaedia of Islam

20 PATIENCE | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary

21 In Yassine’s Footsteps - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

22 In Yassine’s Footsteps - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

23 https://studies.aljazeera.net/en/reports/2018/11/181114115931285.html

24 See Zita Nunes (2008) for more insights on the allegory of cannibalism

25 Nini uses the word tanawob to trigger the sexual image of making turns on Moroccan.

26 Beckett, S. 1952. En attendant Godot. Paris: Editions de Minuit.

27 A pessimist remark from his debate of the century with Jordan Peterson

28 This happened subsequent to the diplomatic tensions between Morocco and Spain, due to the latter’s position on the Moroccan Sahara and also for hosting Polisario leader Brahim Ghali for medical treatment.