The stage of managing the earthquake disaster in the Haouz region in Morocco witnessed signs and indicators of another earthquake at the level of relations between Morocco and France, relations that were known a kind of coldness in recent years due to several reasons, but the reaction of the French media and political elites, led by President Emmanuel Macron, revealed a sharp gap in relations, and created the conditions for a new crisis whose consequences are added to the old crisis.
This is due in part to the French colonial mind, which has not yet gotten rid of the traditional vision that has been governing its behavior with Morocco and other African countries in the north and west, making it a prisoner of successive crises throughout Africa.
Manifestations and contradictions of the French position
The earthquake in Morocco resulted in a wave of multiple international reactions regarding the provision of support and assistance to the Moroccan authorities in order to overcome the remnants of the natural disaster, and among those countries was France, which has multifaceted relations with Morocco, in which the colonial history overlaps with the economy, politics and culture, but the method of management adopted by the Moroccan authorities for the earthquake, and their determination of the type and method of assistance required and the acceptance of certain countries, namely Spain, Britain, Qatar and the UAE, prompted the French position at the media and political level to More severe towards Morocco, it had multiple manifestations and contradictions at the same time, which can be observed as follows:
First: The French media's attack on Morocco
The media attack through newspapers and video programs focused mainly on two points: the king of the country, whose country, Morocco, is in a situation resembling a catastrophe, while the Moroccan authorities did not accept support from countries that stated this, including France.
Second: Exerting implicit pressure on Morocco
This pressure was on the part of representatives of French diplomacy, and here we mean the repeated exodus of the French Foreign Minister and the French ambassador in Rabat. This talk to the media from French politicians to adopt interpretation or expectations reflects the blockage of direct channels of communication between Rabat and Paris regarding the earthquake, and the foreign minister stated that the French president had contacted the Moroccan king, but the king of Morocco did not answer, because he was in a private meeting with the cell that manages the earthquake. If this was the case, as stated in the justification of the French Foreign Minister, it was possible that communication would have been renewed later, but this did not happen, which means that the Moroccan king refused to receive the call from Macron, and this is not the first time, as this refusal to communicate is an extension of a previous crisis that we will talk about later.
The French mind is dominated by a state of inflation and excessive ego in managing relations with African and Third World countries.
Third: Macron addressed the Moroccan people directly.
The French president's address to the Moroccans through a direct speech, insofar as it expresses a violation of diplomatic and political norms, reflects a state of tension in the French political mind resulting from its crisis with Morocco, as the acceptance of support from certain countries, and the exclusion of France, is an indication of the nature of the multiple partnerships pursued by Morocco, which will inevitably lead to the elimination of French hegemony.
Fourth: Speech of the French Foreign Minister
The French Foreign Minister's talk about a planned visit by President Macron to Morocco, in exchange for Morocco's denial through an official source, is the culmination of a state of French pressure and Morocco's counter-rejection of the paths taken by President Macron, during whose rule France is experiencing a tragic situation in Africa, as well as an ongoing internal controversy.
Morocco's determinants of accepting and rejecting subsidies
The French mentality drags behind it an incursion, at the level of the ego, and a belittlement of other countries, relying on its long colonial history, as it was based on its strength on the vulnerability of others on the one hand and on the other hand on being a source of major intellectual transformations in the world and modern social systems, and falling into the captivity of this historical imagination inflated about the self without the ability to radical criticism, is what makes France is caught in solving countless problems in the issues of immigration, pluralism and the attitude towards the other within French society, which has taken on a sharp identity character with a political horizon whose consequences and consequences are difficult to predict, and has made it in a problem with the other at the level of Africa and the Arab and Islamic world, in a unique situation that most European Union countries do not share.
As for the African and Maghreb context, it can be said that unless France works to review its strategy in dealing with these countries, whose societies have become very sensitive - consciously - towards France, the crisis will deepen with Morocco and other countries, and the regional, international and societal context helps to get rid of relations that have been for decades stained by hegemony and exploitation, and President Macron's own talk to Moroccans was not without the mentality of the merchant who thinks about reconstruction and its benefits, or who employs tools at the level of Civil society, which in one way or another represents a tool to serve French interests, and it seems that Morocco's restriction of aid to certain countries to avoid this situation, where support is often conditional on companies obtaining reconstruction concessions and other benefits, in which countries - caught in disasters - lose their sovereignty and independence.
Morocco did not refuse aid from the countries that submitted it, including Arab and Islamic countries that share a common destiny, but it was keen on the need to rationalize it in order to manage the time of disaster, and to unify its management due to the difficulty of the geography of the earthquake site in the Atlas Mountains in order to avoid falling into chaos that may result in another disaster, and then selecting specific countries for assistance based on the required need and the shortfall that those countries can fill.
The earthquake disaster was managed under the direct supervision of the King of Morocco in his capacity as head of state. As for rescue affairs, most of the civilian and military forces have been integrated into them, which are highly trained forces to deal with crises and disasters, and according to the Moroccan political system, direct royal supervision makes the steps of the rest of the actors necessarily subordinate or restricted to the behavior of the head of state, and the cell entrusted with it, and the intervention of solid institutions such as the army, whose supreme commander is the king, through special teams, may make the need to support civilian forces limited.
Accepting support from European and Arab countries and excluding France, of which North Africa and Morocco are at the core, was an extension of its vital and strategic interests, like the wound inflicted on Macron's government.
But was accepting requests for help from certain countries as devoid of politics and political interests as the refusal of other countries away from politics?
Why Britain and Spain instead of France?
Perhaps we do not need to talk about the extent to which Morocco's relationship with the Arab countries that came to its aid is distinguished and the nature of the strategic relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Gulf countries, but we are interested in the common interests of Morocco with Spain and Britain in order to understand the French state of tension and the Moroccan rejection.
Moroccan-British relations have witnessed a remarkable development in the last decade, and Morocco has worked to build bridges of cooperation and deepen its partnership with the Anglo-Saxon Alliance since the start of the talk about Brexit, and has grown economically, politically and culturally in recent years, which will make it in the foreseeable future at the expense of Morocco's traditional partner in the European Union, France, which is aware of this. The same is true with Spain, which has a common maritime border with Morocco and strategic economic, political and security interests, which have been significantly strengthened after overcoming the recent crisis between the two countries, so that Spain has become a defender of Moroccan interests within the corridors of the European Union and has enjoyed economic privileges inside Morocco.
The acceptance of support from European and Arab countries and the exception of France, of which North Africa and Morocco are at the core, was an extension of its vital and strategic interests like the wound inflicted on the Macron government, and this is in fact a concern for France as a whole. Macron will be the subject of societal and media accountability for his political approach that made France lose its centers of presence in Africa, if not completely today, the multiplicity of partners pursued by Morocco will inevitably tend to dissociate itself from French hegemony, which requires Moroccan political will based on the societal awareness that has been expressed, whether in the forms of solidarity regarding the earthquake or in other national issues.
The roots of the crisis with France
As for the roots of the current crisis between Macron's government and Morocco, it goes beyond the earthquake incident to before, and is represented in Paris' failure to respond to Morocco through an explicitly supportive position on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara that goes beyond the traditional positive position on autonomy, and in line with the new situation of the southern provinces with American recognition.
This is one of the first causes of the crisis between Morocco and France, and arguably a crisis between Rabat and the Macron government mainly. It may have other economic motives related to regional and international competition in Africa, but it may not extend at the moment to a complete rupture due to the nature of the intertwined interests, then to the presence of a Francophone lobby in Morocco, and a lobby that serves Moroccan interests inside France, a crisis that will be accommodated.
The need to get rid of Francophone hegemony in Morocco
Mention has already been made of Morocco's multiplicity of partners, as this option is the gateway through which the state of dependency can be overcome. However, the French presence in all its forms in Morocco remained present in all eras of the Maghreb of independence, as one of the symbols of the national movement put forward a prominent term for what the French lobby or pressure force represents in Morocco, which is the concept of "third power".
The third force, which represents a gathering of economic, cultural and political elites, and is a natural extension of France in the Morocco of independence, is the one that has historically deepened the rift between part of the national movement and the monarchy, and has remained close to the center of government in the context of the political conflict.
Part of the crisis of France and President Macron with Morocco is an expression of a crisis within France.
The third power in Morocco has not disappeared, but has expanded and expanded to form economic, political and cultural elites and forces more rooted in administration, culture and economy, so talking about liberation from French domination starts mainly from weakening the French extension in Morocco, in administration, culture, education and economy, and perhaps the law on education that was developed only six years ago "framework law", illustrates the strategic mistake that Morocco approached, and needs urgent review, because the mortgage of generations to a dead language and culture in a competitive global context is Perhaps the current moment represents a real reason to correct a number of mistakes that have occurred, and just as the emergence of a Moroccan economic power that compensates for the French presence, cultural and educational choices are a strategic bet in any independence, sovereignty or comprehensive civilizational advancement.
In conclusion: Part of the crisis of France and President Macron with Morocco is an expression of a crisis that concerns within France, and more so that concerns the French political mind, because the hot tin on which France lives economically, socially and identificently, is paralleled by another flame related to French interests in Africa and in the countries that were considered a stronghold of France.
In addition to the transformations taking place in the international system and the decline in the roles of a number of powers and states, including France, there is a state of retention in the French political mind, as it produces crises internally and externally, and will not exceed this situation without a radical review of the historical and cultural foundations on which they are formed, which are exclusionary in nature against the other. As for Morocco, the societal dynamics, which expressed vigilant awareness, the ability to act and take social initiative, and even the rejection and disapproval of French behavior, require an understanding and response by the state in order to make the current moment a historical moment in the integration of roles between the state and society on solid bases of societal solidarity, freedom and democracy, and the activation of governance mechanisms to achieve comprehensive development of Morocco on the periphery, as is done in the center, and a renaissance based on self-capabilities, the most important of which is the human being and culture.