Living in an Authoritarian State

Blog Summary:

• Morocco is a constitutional monarchy on paper—the king holds a lot of power
• Protests happen and they can be dangerous
• The effects of these political and societal events can affect your day-to-day life in more ways than you would expect
• The king is a popular figure in Moroccan society
• Government criticism is not popular and if done it must be vague
• Educate yourself about Mouqadims/Cheikhs 

Morocco is officially a constitutional monarchy but much of the power is still held by the king or members of the king’s party—as such it is an authoritarian state. Honestly, in my day-to-day life I did not expect to be affected by this regime as much as I was. In the beginning of the semester there were protests outside of the parliament building regarding distribution of resources in hospitals. These demonstrations also combined with other groups that were advocating for Palestine which drew even more public attention to the protests as freeing palestine is a very popular subject in Moroccan society. I never felt threatened by the demonstrations even when I accidentally walked through one when leaving Rabat Ville train station. As IES students we are not allowed to participate in protests so accidentally joining one for a couple minutes was a fun experience. There was footage online, however, of police officers behaving violently towards protesters on the front lines.

These protests ended up affecting our lives in other ways, too. The main one being that some of the internship opportunities we had lined up before the protests retracted their offers. This was because there was a sentiment that western values (i.e. American and French values) were fuelling these protests and in some cases supporting them. In an effort to remain in the Moroccan government’s favor some firms, especially those related to politics, became more wary of taking on American students. 

The king’s face is also everywhere, i think there must be a law that requires each place of work to have a picture of the king there. Though, I wouldn’t be completely surprised if the portrait was not a requirement as the king, from my perspective, appears to be wildly popular in Moroccan society. In fact much of the criticism surrounding the distribution of resources for hospitals around Morocco targeted the government offices and not the king. According to one of my professors at IES Rabat, this is the result of some people genuinely believing that the king was an innocent bystander who didn’t know these inequities existed and others simply trying to find a way to safely criticize the government. Another allegory used to criticize the king is to call him by different but similarly powerful names such as ‘Master.’

Another aspect of the regime that touches a student’s everyday life is the presence of Mouqadims or Cheikhs on the street. These people’s job is to watch the streets and make notes of resident’s comings and goings—they will even have information on the IES Rabat students. Usually they are quite nice and do not use this power or information inappropriately. I was uncomfortable at this notion mainly because I didn’t know they had this knowledge about me until towards the end of semester. 

Editor's Note:  Student Health & Safety is our number one priority at IES Abroad. Our highly trained crisis management team both at our headquarters in Chicago and on-site are monitoring situations on the ground as they arise. We also strongly advise against students studying abroad to avoid participating in local protests or demonstrations. If you have any questions or concerns about health and safety while abroad, please contact the staff at your Center abroad. Students with questions about health and safety before they depart should contact the Dean of Students Office at 800.995.2300.