Morocco protest movements in the post-constitutional reform

The research describes and explains the wave of protest movement in the Kingdom of Morocco, one of the Muslim countries in the Western Arab, in the post-2011 constitutional referendum. The constitutional reform was carried out as a response to the large and massive people protest. Unlike the cases in other neighboring states where “Arab Spring” took place, the Moroccan movement receded without neither the fall of the regime nor massive casualties. However, intense protest kept taking place, especially in Muhammad V Street leading to the Parliament Building. Some interesting questions arise, including what the nature of the current protest is and why people still protest after the vast popular agreement toward the constitutional referendum. Based on library research and intense observation for forty days, and interviews, this study found that, to some extent, the Morocco protest has the same nature as that of the Arab Spring. The protest has “hidden agendas” although there are evidences that they dissembled in “smaller and partial issues because of some reasons”. The author holds that Morocco is an important lesson for political reform in the current turbulent Arab world and, to a broader context, in the Muslim world. Indonesian Journal of Islam and Muslim Societies Vol. 7, no.2 (2017), pp. 201-219, doi : 10.18326/ijims.v7i2.201-219


Introduction
The Morocco protest is unique in the context of the vast and massive protest movements in the Arab world known as the Arab Spring.In Moroccan case, the protest had begun much earlier than the first Arab spring movement in Tunis did.The protests that called for the various demands especially political and economic reformations had run since the 1990s.The "usual" protest, then, escalated rapidly before the resign of Zein el-Abidin ben Ali from Tunisian presidency due to the massive people protesting against his regime.The "usual" Morocco protest movement was influenced and strengthened by the Tunisian revolt and the spread of popular movements against their regimes throughout the Arab world.The movement became more complex, as it did not only demand the reformation on special issues, but also demanded the fall of royal regime just as in the other Arab states.The movement, according to some media reports confirmed by some key informants,1 involved more than a million people approximately.Of course, it was the biggest popular protest movement in Moroccan history.Many analysts claimed that the fate of the Morocco regime will be similar to that of the Tunisian and Egyptian regimes.
The other uniqueness of the Morocco protest is the fact that the massive and large protests "found" its peaceful solution.The protest resulted in neither massive casualties nor massive destructions of infrastructures and social relations as in four "Arab Spring countries" (Syria, Libya, Egypt and Yemen). 2 The peaceful solution was achieved in the 2011 constitutional reform and the referendum on the new constitution.The new constitution (2011) includes a partial curbing of the King's power while strengthening the parliament, and supports "democratic governments" and other democratic institutions. 3However, the King still has the full authority in defense, religious and foreign affairs. 4In fact, the massive and large dem-onstrations in various cities in the Kingdom stopped and almost 100% of the people agreed with the new constitution in the relatively free referendum despite the strong campaigns of pro-government media.
However, another new wave of protests began.In this protest movement, the author witnessed, observed, and was inside the protest movement concentrated in King Muhammad V Street, especially in front of the Morocco Parliament Building from 10 November to 20 December 2012.Unlike the "massive protest", the new protest likely has a "usual" nature. 5The protesters did not explicitly demand for a regime change, but merely demanded some "small issues", such as job and direct integration of graduate students".
The research questions on the "new demonstration waves" that guide this study include what the nature of the protest movement is, whether the protest has Arab spring in nature or a "partial movement with specific demand such protest movement long before the explosions of Arab spring, whether it is similar in nature to the massive protest in the pre-constitutional referendum era, why they still make protest movements even after the "significant reduction in King's authority" and the strengthening of the various democratic institutions and the vast agreement of the people.6 The nature of the protest movement The phenomenon of popular protest in Morocco after the constitutional referendum is similar to that before Arab springs broke out.It means the protests are continuation of the "old" protests in Morocco long before the massive Arab people movements demanding the fall of the authoritarian regimes.The old protests did not call for a resignation of the regime openly because such demand used to lead to the severe responses by the security forces, and finally to the insignificant results in political negotiations. 7hat the author witnessed in the protests in November-December 2012 in front of the Parliament Building and along the Muhammad V Street in general confirmed that.The protests never voiced any demand to the regime (the royal family, especially the King).There were no such slogan, banner, or pamphlet as "al-Sha'b yuri> d isqa> t} al-niz} a> m" (People want the fall of regime), or irhal, irhal (leave, leave the country) but "al-Sha'b yuri> d isqa> t} al-h} ukumah" (People want the resign of Government), La> li al-zabuniyyah wa al-mahsubiyyah wa al-rishwah (No for clientelism, nepotism, and bribery), and idma> j muba> shir (direct integration of Master and Doctoral degrees). 8he protesters were also less limited, most of whom were undergraduate students and master and doctoral graduates in various fields such as medicine, engineering, pharmacy, natural sciences, as well as social and Islamic studies."Natural sciences" students were the majority, while those from political or social sciences were the minority.The protesters, many of them were women, 9 -as the author asked some of them-came from various cities in the Kingdom of Morocco especially the neighboring cities of Dar al-baydha (Casablanca), Marakesh, Tangier, and Fes.The women protesters were more active than men protesters, with some even served as "field coordinators".
Unlike the elements of protesters in the massive "Morocco spring protests" (after the Tunisian and Egyptian popular revolution and before 2011 constitutional referendum), there were barely lay people taking part in the protest, It was also clear that no political parties nor social religious groups participated in the protest, as long as the author saw and asked some of them.In the 20 February demonstration, as Al-Athari mentioned, protesters flied various flags of political parties, social religious groups such flags of h} arakah al-Tauh} i> d wa al-Is} la> h} and Jama> 'ah al-Adl wa Ih} sa> n, etnic groups such Amazigh", youth organizations, etc.The protesters also came from different professions, genders, social groups, and status.10 Theseare something the author did not see in the new protest movement.These did not happen in the protest movements after the 2011 constitutional referendum, in which most protesters were graduate students.
The post-2011 protests were characterized as being very well-organized.The protesters -as the author saw-divided themselves into many groups; each consisted of twenty to fifty persons with a coordinator.Each group also had a specific banner, identity flags, and a simple amplifier system.They also had logistic "officers" who distributed food and drink for the protesters.In the beginning, they used to come to the assembly point next to the train station individually and do not show their attributes such as banners or pamphlets.They would come like ordinary people, but then began gathering in the "station field".Shortly afterwards, many people amounting to more than a thousand participants joined, and then organized a long march heading to Muhammad V Street and concen-trated in front of the parliament building.The two aspects, participants and organization, differentiate the protest from the "Arab springs" protest that involved people of diverse social classes in a more spontaneous move and poorer organization.
However, did the protest have no Arab Spring in nature, meaning no intention to demand for the fall of regime?The banners, brochures, pamphlets, and slogans, as well as the author's observation and reading, do not have any demand to royal regime, not even a word.Their long orations did not call for any word about regimes.However, it doesn't automatically mean that the protests had no intention to touch the regime, especially the King.Based on my observations and "secret interviews" with some protesters, I came to a conclusion that the protests had an "Arab Spring dimension", that is, a popular movement to topple down the regime.In various long and relax conversations, the author got a clear hint to the question about the real agenda of the movement, which said by some of them in my interview is "al-niz} a> m al-malaki yarasu kulla al-fasa> d" (Royal regime leads every "corruption").11Of course, the answer is not mainstream, but the situation had forced them (some of them) to hide their real agendas.
In short, the nature of the Morocco protests after the 2011 constitutional reform is a mixture of the Arab Spring and the old (pre-Arab Spring) Moroccan protests.It means that the target is a regime change, but they hide this real agenda, instead call publicly for other "usual" issues.

Half-hearted constitutional reform
This section will deal with the explanation on the protesters' insistence on launching the protests although they did not publicly demand the fall of regime as they did before.The protesters' reasons to go back to streets were "the reluctance of the constitutional reform".In the new constitution, the King has removed some of his own authorities such as to appoint prime minister and cabinet members, governors, ambassadors, etc. Seen from the letter of the law, the King has lost many of his authorities except in three areas including defense, religion, and foreign affairs, in which he has absolute control. 12Practically, however, the King still controls considerable executive powers, among others, to nominate rais al-h} ukumah (prime minister as head of government) although he must nominate figure from the winning party in parliamentary election, and to nominate members of cabinets based on the recommendation of the head of government.The King also has the authority to nominate and to head the council of ministers (al-majlis al-ilmi> al-A'la> ). 13 In addition, it is not easy to implement the new "rule" that curbs the power of the King.That is, because the implementation disturbs the interests of the King's "inner circle".Some parliamentary members and other important person whom the author interviewed said that it would take more time for such implementation to take place. 14In short, the 2011 constitution reform merely makes partial changes to the power structure of the Kingdom while keeping the King at the center of power.
The protesters thought that the 2011 constitutional reform did not mean anything as there had been no real and substantial political changes from autocracy to democracy. 15What happened was just a "pseudo" de-mocracy.The source of power is not people.People participate to determine the government and their legislative representatives, but in fact the "democratic institutions" is under the King's domination, which is strengthened by clash and conflict among people or between people and governments, not between people and the King nor between government and the King forever.The King's honor is protected by the new constitution as "amirulmukminin" (the spiritual leader of the believers) and the real political commander as stated in article 46 of the new constitution. 16The students whom I interviewed stated this clearly and repeadly.
Therefore, the protesters insisted to protest the government or parliamentary representative and avoided to protest the King.Police and security forces tolerated the movement because any protest directed toward government is considered legal and is protected by the constitution and law.However, any form of protest or even a comment about the King is considered illegal as it is a violation of the constitution and law, for which police and security forces could take measures.Criticisms to governments and legislative, no matter how bitter and unethical they are, are considered usual business, while any attempt to question the King, no matter how soft the words used is, is considered a very serious violation and must be eliminated by firm response. 17In more than one month of observation, the author never heard of the protesters mentioning the king or his name or his family, except in the "secret" interview with some of the protesters.
More importantly, the 2011 constitutional reform did not solve the real problem ofunemployment, widening gap in wealth distribution be- 16 Edisoft, Dustu> r al-Mamlakah…, 31. 17Moreover, the King is highest commander of the Royal Armed Forces and, therefore, has highest authority to appoint military officials as stated in the new constitution article 53.In addition, the royal army is the most powerful force in the Kingdom.Edisoft, Dustu> r al-Mamlakah…, 54.tween the "royal circle" and the people, corruption, and the monopoly of the strategic economic modes.They believed the awkward enlargement and pseudo strengthening of "democracy" did not help tolift the root of problem in Morocco.It is like a painkiller to relieve a pain, but it never reaches the real cause of illness.
Lay people believed in the sacred status of the King as he claimed as being a direct descendent of Prophet Muhammad,18 but the protesters that constitute the younger generation and graduate students, challenged their fellow citizens' old mindset.The education system and government financial support to the education in the Kingdom have helped to elevate the students' critical opinion and attitudes.Education in the kingdom is free from elementary school to doctoral degree, and critical/influential lectures and studies in sociology, politics, cultural studies, and philosophy flourish in the country.The Moroccaneducation system is, in fact, more open than that in the Arab and Muslim countries.Many students have two or three diplomas, masters, or doctoral degrees, and such cases of dual degrees is a norm in the Kingdom.Therefore, "democratic" values develop very well among young Moroccans, which constitute "the most democratic society" in the Arab world before the Arab spring era.The young Moroccans aware very well of the situation in theircountry and of the development of the Arab Spring in other Arab countries.

King's popularity
Despite the widespread dissatisfaction, protesters chose to hide their "real" agenda, that is, acriticism to the King.The King is still the most famous and popularperson in Moroccan societies either in the cities or in villages and mountain areas, in the urban or in the rural society, in the balad mahzin or in the balad shiba.Balad Mahzin is urban and rural villages recognizing the legitimacy of the Kingdom from the very beginning, while balad shiba is periphery villages recognizing the Kingdom in the last minutes.Like what Ibn Khaldun, sociologist and historian pioneer, said, the kabilah or Arab nomad society in deserts, tend to be last group that give the recognition to the government in the last minutes, and they did that by perforce. 19Hence, it is not easy for the protester to declare their criticisms to the King while King is still inhis popularity.
Based on deep observation and interviews with people in Rabat (the capital city) Casablanca (the largest city), as well as in Marrakesh, Fes, Tangier, etc., it is sufficient to say thatthe King is so popular among people.
As I asked to one or two peoples in these cities, the King is the protector, honor, and pride of the Moroccans.For them,Morocco is the King and the people.The images of the King among the people is represented as a religious man who loves his family and his people very much, supports the development of sciences and knowledge, strengthensthe reforms and democracy in the Kingdom, and cares highly with religious activities.
The most important thing is that people believed in the King being a direct descendant of the Prophet through Hussein bin 'Ali bin Muhammad.Some artifacts,such as those in Hassan II mosque in Casablanca and other places, depicting the lineage from the prophet to the King are common.Such abelief makes them highly respect the King.The ideais also expressed in many religious rituals such as Friday praying (shala> h al-Jum'ah), communalprayers, and especially in the maulid (celebration and festival of Prophet birthday).The King as ami> r almu`mini> n, the historic title in the Muslim memory, is declared explicitly either in the old or in the new Moroccan constitution.For people, it means that the King is not merely a state leader but also a religious leader that the obedience to him is part of their religiosity, and resistance to him would mean a resistance to the religion.
However, the simplest -and therefore the most widespread-evidence of the King's popularity is the portrait of the King and his family.It is the most vivid picture everywhere from the capital city to the most remote villages.One would never find a place in Morocco without seeing the vivid picture of the King.The pictures displayed in the important places is understood because of the "intervention of Kingdom and government, but its display in homes, very small shops in remoteand isolated places is certainly due toother cause, that is, the King's popularity.This explains very clearly why protesters chose not to declare their real agenda toward regime.
On the other hand, there is no clear support from Moroccan political forces and social-religious organizations.Political parties, either governing or opposition, instead confirmed their commitments on the monarchy system.Almost all party leaders, intellectuals, and even religious clerics that the author interviewed asserted the uniqueness of the history of Morocco.The first uniqueness is the historical facts that the recent Morocco regimehad existed and survived for about five centuries.It is the longest monarchy ever existed in the Arab world today.Second, the uniqueness of the Kingdom is the gradual historical changes.This is the most articulated argument to reject "Arab Springs" movements.According to most of them, there is no historical precedence that the political change in the Kingdom of Morocco is through people movement.Therefore, the 2011 constitutional referendum is a better way to Morocco in its path to democracy.Based on these reasons, most political party leaders donot give clear support to the people movements after the 2011 constitutional reform.However, their attitudes today are relatively different from those before the constitutional referendum.those in Tunisia and Egypt is not limited to both countries. 21It may happen in Morocco as the later faces complex social, political, economic, and cultural problems.It may be the hardestinternal statement toward Kingdom.However, other commentsfrom political parties and social groups including h} izb al-'Ada> lah wa al-Tanmiyah, the most popular party,22 are firm that they support the gradual and peaceful (not through street) reform.
In addition, the tribal support to the protests is not present, which is really different from their total support in the ralliesfor Palestine and for condemning the Prophet cartoon that the author observed in Rabat.Buthalib's research also shows us that the Arab Spring is a momentum of qabilah awakening in social and political spheres in the Arab world. 23In fact, tribal loyalty to the Moroccan regime is very strong, and the support for the people movement is nearlyabsent.In short, the King's popularity and the "absence" of support from political parties and social groups made the protest movements hide their real agenda of touching the kingdom, especially the King.

Precautious stance on the Arab spring
The spreads of popular protestsin the Arab countries, and the success of several movements to overthrow the old regimes, gave addition spirit to the continuation of the Moroccan movement.The protests were not influencedby the Tunisian or Egyptian protests because the Morocco protest movementsstarted earlier than those in Tunisia or Egypt.However, the escalation of the protest occurred just after the fall of the Tunisian and Egyptian regimes.The Morocco protests in this era were in the forms of rallies involving more than a million people in various cities in the Kingdom.The movement was also supported by Amazigh movement, and progressive journalist from Rabat to Casablanca. 24The term masi> rah silmiyyah (peaceful rally) wasnot known in the Morocco street movements before thenbut the terms they used were taz} a> hur (to demonstrate) or id} rab (strike). 25In fact, the protest movements in these days were massive and took place in almost all Morocco cities.The 2011 constitutional reform softened very much, or even ended, the movements, but then, several months after the 2011 constitutional referendum, the movements rose again in different degree.It is the author's conclusion that the protest movements in other Arab countries constituted one of the many factors for therise of the "new" Morocco protest movements.
Many political elites and some intellectuals that the author interviewed rejected the conclusion.For them, the case of Morocco is unique compared to that of the other Arab countries.The roots of the Morocco protests, according to them, differ fromthose of the Arab Spring generally.In fact, the protestersand students declare the similar slogans used in Arab Springs although with "some revisions".The protest went without "definitive" leaders and ideologies like Tunisian and Egyptian protests did and used the similar social and information media, etc. 26 Some stu-  ies, 2012, 195.dents said that the real protest agenda involved critics to regime.For some of them, the Monarchwas not merely obstacle for democracy but also a source of recent Morocco problems.In short, there are many similarities between the new Morocco protest movement and the Arab Spring.It means that the spirit of the protest movements could be strengthened by the protests movement in the other Arab countries.
However, the recent developments in the protest movement in Yemen,Syria, Libya, and Bahrainresulting in the large number of casualties and the physical and social destructions has caused some degrees of hesitation to the movement.Furthermore, the continuous instability in the Arab Spring countries such as Egypt, Libya, and Tunisiahas disturbed the firm protesters.In addition, the geographical distances between Morocco and these countries are very close.In Egypt, political parties areunable to create a consensus in drafting constitution, government, parliamentary, and many other issues in the earlier, and finally we witness the failure of democracy.Meanwhile, social and religious groups are involved in hard conflict with one another and the government and security forces failed to control the situations. 27In Libya, the capacity of the state is very limited to govern and manage the country.This is mainly because Libya seemingly constituted a "new state" that must be built from scratch due to the absence of constitution, political parties, and parliaments in the Moammar Qaddafi era. 28In addition, guerilla groups existed, involved in conflict each another, and it was not easy to integrate them into the Libyan Army or security forces.Meanwhile, Tunisia suddenly became aninstable country after the assassination of Syukri Belaid, one of the outstanding opposition leaders even after that they were able to consolidate.In short, new developments in the Arab Spring countries indicated that the people protest movements cause to the negative situations.
These developments in the neighboring countries are important in the development of the Morocco protestmovement.Almost all people, intellectuals, religious men, students, and lay people that the author interviewed, were aware of the implication of such protest movements in the Arab countries.The Morocco protesters were fully aware of these development.They strived to organize the movement as best as they could to make sure that the movements were well-arranged.All of them asserted that the Morocco reform had to be carried out peacefully although there are many precedents that there had been violence in police response to the previousprotest movements.

Conclusion
The nature of Morocco protest movement in the post-2011 constitutional referendum contained the Arab Spring elements although it is imperceptible.The Moroccan movements come earlier than the beginning of the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt that stimulated the massive people protest movements in Arab countries.However, the Egyptian and Tunisian movements also escalated the Moroccan protest movement.The protests became massive and very strong, and involved various social elements.Yet, the success of the King's 2011 constitutional reform to appease "the fire" of the popular revolution as in the neighboring states was something unique in the recent history of Arab Spring and in the Muslim world.The protest receded for some time.However, students continued their protest with more limited levels and used more hidden agenda strategy.They were dissatisfied with the limited constitutional reform in which the King keeps holding the center of power and authorities.But, they were fully aware that the King still has power and his influences remain in place until today, while the supports from political parties and religious-social groups for the movement were very low.Hence, students opted to go on with the movements by calling for such intermediate agendas as poverty, unemployment, corruption, etc., while avoid calling for the fall of the regime openly and directly as in the pre-2011 constitutional referendum.Morocco "protests" had existed long before the spread of Arab Spring, went on even after the Arab Springs (before 2011 constitutional referendum), and after it.However, how the regime made political reform through peaceful ways is something important in the Arab world today.Even when it is not ideal, it is suffice to say that the Moroccan experience in the political reform is an important lesson for political reform in the current turbulent Arab world today, and perhaps also in Muslim world in general.

24
Sami Zemni, "Moroccan Post-Islamism: Emerging Trend or Chimera" in Asef Bayat (ed), Post Islamism: The Changing Faces of Political Islam, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013, 149. 25 Abdurrahim al-Athary, al-H} arakat Ihtija> jiyyah…, 170. 26Moreover, based on data of Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, the internet user in the Kingdom of Morocco is very high, 33 percent of the population, or the second in the 22 countries of the Arab world.A Group of Researchers, al-Infija> r al-'Arabiy al-Kabi> r fi al-Ab'ad al-Thaqa> fiyyah wa al-Siya> siyyah, Doha: Arab Center for Research and Policy Stud-