The Moroccan Left and the Amazigh Complex
The problem with the Moroccan “left” is, in my view, primarily psychological. Built upon historical and ideological constructs elevated to the status of founding myths, the left is now discovering that its political foundations are mere mirages, exposed by the rise of Amazigh demands. The ideals it once championed have been corrupted by a Ba’athist Arab nationalist framework—a framework that led several “Arab” states to establish military dictatorships and adopt ethnocidal policies toward non-Arab communities.
To my knowledge, the various branches of the Moroccan left have never denounced Saddam Hussein’s gassing of the Kurds, nor the repression of the Amazigh Spring in Algeria. On the contrary, the movement was sustained by petrodollars from Ba’athist regimes and the slave-owning monarchies of the Middle East. It fully embraced the ethnocidal and genocidal projects of Ba’athist dictatorships, which orchestrated the ethnic cleansing of Kurds, Yazidis, and Imazighen.
Through Arabization programs, the left worked to dismantle Amazigh identity and the Amazigh individual, seeking to replace them with a manufactured “homo arabicus.” Its actions have oscillated between sabotage, destruction, prohibition, and falsification, alongside state-sponsored repression, condemnation, and imprisonment.
In modern-day Morocco, the left finds it difficult to offer a mea culpa, to acknowledge its errors and wanderings, to abandon its myths, and to undergo a necessary catharsis. Psychologically, the left realizes its struggle has deviated from the course of history; its intellectual authority is shaken and destabilized. Activists now find themselves chasing a mirage. They are discovering that the figureheads they claim as predecessors were, in reality, traitors who sold out the Amazigh resistance and collaborated with both colonialism and Ba’athist dictatorships.
Out of pride, some stubbornly cling to a moribund ideology—a suicidal move that will only hasten their downfall and destroy their remaining credibility. Others, unable to cope with sociocultural shifts, have sought refuge in religious fundamentalism. They view it as a final rampart, yet even this ultimate citadel is beginning to crack from all sides.
The left has lived within a lie, a denial of reality that it mistook for absolute truth. Now, reality has caught up. The movement has marched on the wrong side of history, clinging to the illusion that it was a universal model, possessing the magic keys to explain and solve every problem. Today, it finds itself in freefall. Its loud outbursts and vitriol are merely a flight from the truth. The Amazigh reality revealed by the humanities and archaeology is unbearable to them; it represents something they consider unthinkable.
The future of the left depends on its capacity for self-criticism and its courage to admit its catastrophic impact on Amazigh identity and its people. It requires the sincerity and humility to make a total 180-degree turn and break with its dishonorable past. Above all, it must bridge the gap between its proclaimed values and lived experience. This begins with its activists speaking the Amazigh language—or at least having the humility to learn it. The current state of these leftist activists is not an enviable one; it is, quite frankly, pathetic.
