A leading French television channel’s recent dismissal of French-Moroccan journalist Rachid Mbarki should not so much surprise as lead us to make observations, then to ask questions, some real questions, and to provide answers, some genuine answers. And the first question is this: now that we know what Mr. Macron’s France wants, what do we want, and what can we do, for our part?
The brutal and unfounded eviction of Rachid Mbarki from BFMTV is only the umpteenth confirmation of France’s political and media elite’s growing animosity towards Morocco, and of Morocco’s equally growing hostility and defiance towards France.
Be it because of a certain lack of imagination, some sort of overconfidence, a version of political myopia, or through the sheer persistence of old grievances, France’s governing elite has been working tirelessly to smear Morocco. How paradoxical, however, that they continue to invoke human rights violations in an attempt to embarrass Morocco while being oblivious to their own country’s sins on the question.
France’s illusion of press freedom
Just consider Le Monde’s aggressiveness in much of its recent coverage of Morocco. While this left-leaning French newspaper’s dim view of Morocco certainly has historical precedence in the French — and Western — media and intellectual landscape, its hostility has become particularly tense in recent years. To put things into their proper historical and political context, it is essential to know that Emmanuel Macron was at the helm when BFMTV bought out in the late 2010s by its current shareholders.
Knowing this is critical to better understand this so-called leading media organization’s fixation on Morocco. For one thing, attacks on freedom of the press are now much more worrying in France itself because of Macron’s insistence that his country’s media organizations, many of which are eager to oblige, should play a more assertive, aggressive role in advancing France’s strategic interests.
Let’s consider some factual elements. Speaking before his country’s diplomatic corps in early September of last year, Mr. Macron said that it was necessary to “make a much better use of the France Medias Monde network, which is absolutely key and which must be a strength for us.” In good French, “much better” means improving what is already there.
And in a sense, France’s leading media groups’ shift toward playing a “much better” role in Paris’ strategic projections has already been in full display in the way that media houses like Le Monde Monde and France24 in particular, have reported on Morocco in the past few years.
Perhaps a perfect illustration of this trend is their coverage of the Pegasus affair in 2021, which was a “scientific” hype against Morocco. While they repeatedly sang their commitment to human rights in their Pegasus reporting, for example, France24 — but also other French media outlets — carefully refrained from covering the last-minute cancellation of Ferhat Mehenni’s appearance on CNews on October 2.
Particularly outrageous was that the televised interview of the president of the Kabyle self-determination movement was canceled after he had already entered CNews’s studio. Meanwhile, both CNews and France’s other establishment newspapers surprisingly did not say or write a single word about the recent visit to Paris of the senior Algerian army official General Chengriha.
Is it then necessary to recall President Macron’s summoning of a dozen of “influential editorialists” to discuss talking points on the government’s pension reform and other policies? Yes, it is necessary. As such, it is equally useful to recall French authorities’ very violent and rapid suspension of the Russian media outlet Russia Today in February 2022, or the French government’s disturbing yet unsurprising silence on the Julian Assange case.
That a country that sees itself as the ultimate champion of press freedom was prompted to ban a media organization on ideological grounds, or has been conspicuous by its silence while a true freedom of press fighter rot in jail in the UK and faces extradition to the US, where he stands the risk of a 175-year prison sentence, should speak volumes about France’s supposed commitment to preserving journalists’ rights.
The problem, however, is that French public opinion strangely persists in sheepishly believing in this freedom of the press hype. But an even more worrying problem is that some intellectuals and activists under our skies also continue to believe in this hype and in whatever the French press, under the orders of Mr. Macron, thinks of or says about us!
This is surely not to say that we should also start pointing fingers at the self-described grand French Republic for all its failures to uphold press freedom. Regardless of what we may think of this Republic, it is clear that it defends what it thinks and believes to be right for its interests. And it should, must be the same for us and our own, including our militants and leaders.
What our dissidents and militants need to understand
For what obscure reason — which is becoming clearer and clearer — so many of our people continue to give credit to the cries and writings of the French media and their Belgian commensals on Morocco? They rush to any critical article, abundantly circulate any TV program about Morocco, sit in the TV studios and in the editorial offices to endorse any attacks on Morocco, take as gospel any judgment about the kingdom, approve any accusation targeting Moroccan services or institutions…
But they become revealingly mute when TLSContact illegally tapes visa-seeking Moroccans (including themselves), and they rush for rhetorical shelters when the European Parliament, despite being mired in corruption, votes (or burps) a “legislative” slur against their own country… This is worrying and regrettable.
Do these “our people” even know that “our French friends,” who persist in calling for a UN solution to the Sahara issue, had, in 1988, during the New Caledonia crisis, first submitted to mainland France’s populations for approval the proposal for a referendum on independence for the New Caledonians?
Indeed, it took a “yes” from the metropolitan French for New Caledonians to hold a referendum. Wouldn’t what is valid for France be valid for Morocco, especially given that the French national archives are full of 18th-century historical documents and correspondences confirming Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara?
It is high time that our activists started militating for their ideas and opinions by putting them forth in Morocco and for Moroccans to decide whether or not their causes are convincing or worth defending, and fighting for. The point is that Morocco’s issues can be discussed — and sometimes resolved –, among Moroccans, without our activists having to appeal to international or French NGOs.
That is, our activists and intellectuals should stop taking as irrefutable truth the oriented conclusions of international NGOs; they should stop giving credit to the writings of French or other foreign journalists who are known to be loyal to the higher interests of their country.
If the European Parliament’s latest resolution on Morocco has demonstrated anything, it is that Moroccans should indeed stop feeding themselves with everything that the others — the French press, Reporters without Borders, Human Rights Watch, ect. — say or write about us, about human rights violations in Morocco.
What to do?
Therein lies the problem and therein lies, too, this question: Are we really able to decide on our alliances and strategic partnerships in accordance with what benefits our stance on the Sahara issue, as King Mohammed VI said in the summer of 2022? Do we really have the means to make our voices heard, loud and clear, on the international stage?
Do we have media outlets that are sufficiently equipped, supported, and backed by our state to defend our utmost national cause and our other causes, here and elsewhere? Are we capable and bold enough to convince, or even defeat, the opponents of our highest interests, as is done in France, Spain, Germany, the United States, and elsewhere? The silence of the government weakens us, and the irritation of the parliament hardly strengthens us, for only the power of the media — classical or digital — counts in the narrative war that French media and other actors have been waging against our country.
Now is the time for Moroccans to make a decision about where they want to assert themselves and impose themselves or where they do not want to. If we are afraid or hesitant, then let us stay where we are.
We cannot be big when we think small, and we cannot be imposing when we remain fragile. To be big, you need big means, because only by projecting strength and self-confidence can you get others’ respect, including from a country that is navigating so many challenges and is in such a delicate situation where we are powerful and influential. We just have to make up our minds.
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