Imagining the State through Social Protest: State Reformation and the Mobilizations of Unemployed Graduates in Morocco

Abstract

This article discusses the transformation of the Moroccan state under contemporary neoliberal globalization, and considers what this transition means for the ways in which scholars view state–society interplay in Morocco and the Arab world more generally. Specifically, it examines the protest of unemployed graduates in Morocco, suggesting that public demonstrations are not only a means to communicate and mobilize demands, but also a technology to reclaim and reproduce a particular ‘truth’ in public. This truth does not necessarily equate with the reality of the neoliberal state as a dispersed material force. As such, by looking at the case of Morocco, we hope to instigate further debate on the nature of the state and its specific relation to phenomena as globalization, society and social protest.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Nida Alahmad, Brecht De Smet, Christopher Parker, Sami Zemni, Stephanie Watt, André Bank, Marlies Casier and Pascal Debruyne for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this article. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. This research was made possible thanks to a scholarship funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). Of course, the authors remain solely responsible for the arguments presented here and for any remaining errors of facts or reasoning.

Notes

Note: The final version of this article was submitted before the Arab uprisings affected Morocco. The empirical data gathered here depicts the situation before the protests of the 20 February Movement.

¹ The Four Groups is a merger between four older groups of unemployed graduates: Moubadarah, Hiwar, Istihqaq and Nasr.

² Nick Gill (2010) offers us a slightly different insight. He demonstrates how, depending on their particular understanding or imagination of the state, activists produce different spatial strategies to obtain their goals and protect their interests.

³ For an overview of the hierarchical structure see: http://www.indh.gov.ma/fr/comites.asp (accessed 22 September2010).

⁴ The mqaddem is a representative of the state to act as an interface between the citizens and the Ministry of Interior and keep an eye on everyday life in a certain neighbourhood.

⁵ Every group has its own central committee with a secretary and his assistants. The central committee is usually elected by the rest of the group and they are given the mandate to represent the group during negotiations with the government.

⁶ Decrees 695.99 (Bulletin Officiel, no. 4693, 8 safr 1420/24 May 1999) and 888.99 (Bulletin Officiel, no. 4705, 21 rbi' 1420, 5 July 1999).

⁷ Field notes, statement of a member of Tansikiya (September 2008).

⁸ Interview with member of Tansikiya (16 September 2008).

⁹ Interview with a member of Tansikiya (March 2008).

¹⁰ Interview (September 2008).

¹¹ Field notes, general meeting of the tansikiya (21 October 2008).

¹² Interview with a member of Tansikiya (September 2008).

¹³ Interview with a member of the Four Groups (10 June 2008). In Arabic the expression is: kanakoul l3assa (literally: I am eating batons).

¹⁴ The negotiations between protesters and state authorities can take months, even years. Since 1998 the Cabinet of the Prime Minister has installed a permanent intermediary for unemployed graduates with postgraduate degrees. In practice, this role is shared with the Ministry of Interior and its local representatives, the governors. It is illustrative that the Ministry of Employment seldom participates in the negotiations. Likewise, the whole array of government installed agencies responsible for the elaboration of employment strategies are rarely involved in negotiations. This suggests that the case of the unemployed graduates is more a national security issue than a social issue.

¹⁵ We want to thank Brecht De Smet for making this specific connection with the work of Louis Althusser.

¹⁶ Interview with a member of Tajammo (4 August 2008).

¹⁷ Interview (5 August 2008).