WORLD WORLDWIDE ITALY News Journal Update - (en) Italy, UCADI #169: MOROCCAN COLONIALISM (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Morocco has hit the headlines with the "Qatar gate" scandal which brought to the

fore the role of groups and lobbying groups created by this country in the
European Union, led by the country's ambassador, Moroccan emissaries worked
inside and outside the European Parliament to build consensus around their
country's affairs and interests so as to obtain privileged treatment from the
European Union in economic and trade, circumventing obligations that the
Community legal system also sets as a condition for reaching partnership
agreements with third countries. In this way Morocco was able to benefit from a
special treatment which allowed it to carry out an intense economic activity
which competed with the productions of the Community countries, which saw
themselves at a disadvantage since the Moroccan producers were able to benefit
from lower production due to discriminatory treatment of the workforce and low
wages, it was able to produce and sell products, especially agricultural and
foodstuffs, which did not comply with the Community obligations regarding the use
of fertilizers and fungicides, thanks to the absence of any controls. To be
disadvantaged were above all the Italian agricultural activities of the south,
the cultivation of olive trees, oranges and vegetables.
To obtain these advantages, Morocco has provided substantial bribes - as we have
been able to learn from the investigations of the Belgian police - numerous
European parliamentarians, who have undertaken to leave Morocco full operational
freedom in exploiting the agreements and preferential treatments obtained thanks
to the bribes that have sown so much discredit on the Community institutions. The
fact that Morocco uses western Saharawi as a colonial territory, contiguous to
it, which is rich in mineral resources, especially phosphates, and which allows
the full development of the fishing industry, contributes to making the activity
of corruption particularly odious. in which Morocco plays a very important role.
This privileged position, now called into question by the ongoing investigation,

Moroccan Foreign Poetry

It must be considered that regardless of the value of the bribes paid to
community fixers by the Moroccan government, through its agents and emissaries
Moroccan migration amounts to about 5 million people out of 37 million
inhabitants. Morocco has been able to benefit from an accelerated demographic
development that has allowed the country to achieve significant economic
objectives, supported by a management of power, governed by a constitutional
monarchy that has not scrupled to centralize the essential decision-making powers
in the hands of the sovereign, while leaving the prime minister, formally, the
management of state affairs.
Moroccan foreign policy aims to manage the country's immigration with
intelligence and attention, maintaining very close relations with the Moroccan
immigrant communities. These relations are entrusted to the Ministry for the
waqf, which has very large funds which it invests in economic support and
assistance, also providing for the training of imams who are sent to manage
prayer rooms and mosques, built and financed by the country.
The aim is to bind migrant communities to Moroccan Sunni Islam, a moderate Islam,
and, through them, to exert pressure on the companies and governments of the host
countries, which do not mind this choice, as it allows a form of control of a
chaotic phenomenon such as the Islamic diaspora, not only in Morocco, making it
possible to contrast from within radical elements and sometimes terrorist cells
that seek to influence it and to recruit converts.
It is no coincidence that in the same Italian interior ministry he assigned the
Moroccan community in Italy a significant interlocutor role as regards
negotiations with the Muslim communities present in the country, also for the
purpose of stipulating a possible agreement with Islam and on the occasion of the
drafting of the so-called "Charter of Values", approved by the various Islamic
components as a preparatory step for establishing relations with the Italian
State. This control activity on migrant communities does not only concern Italy,
but also affects the migrant communities present in other countries, to which
European governments ask them to play an identical role compared to that played
in Italian society.
A lot of flexibility and ductility on the part of the Moroccan government is also
interested because it has to get the international community to accept its
colonial policy towards the Sawaui people.

The war against the Sawraui people

This is one of the "forgotten" wars but one of the cruellest and most ferocious.
When on December 14, 1960 the United Nations voted the resolution n. 1514, which
recognized the right to independence for the populations of the colonized
countries, posed, among others, the problem of Western Sahara - a territory
located between Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania and inhabited by Berber
populations. This territory in 1963 was included by the United Nations itself in
the list of countries to be decolonized. In December two years later, the UN
reaffirmed the right to independence of the Sahrawi people, inviting Spain to put
an end to the colonial occupation of the area and in 1966 it ratified the act of
self-determination of the Sahrawi people.
It was not until May 10, 1973 that the Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguia el
Hamra y Río de Oro (POLISARIO) was established, which organized the census of the
population of Western Sahara, requested by the UN since the 1960s. 74,902 people
are voting for the self-determination of the Sahrawi people. It opposes this
decision Morocco which on October 31, 1975 invades with an army of 25,000 men in
the area contiguous to its borders with Western Sahara while Spain begins the
evacuation of the areas under its control. On November 6, 197, 350,000 Moroccans
entered Western Sahara (carrying out the so-called green march) carrying out a
definitive appropriation of the western Saharan territories, despite the fact
that on November 2 of the same year Spain confirmed its commitment to respect the
self-determination of the Sahrawi people. Faced with a fait accompli, Spain
secretly signs an agreement with Morocco and Mauritania for the partition of the
country. The Sahrawi people, led by the POLOSARIO Front, began an action of armed
resistance against Morocco and Mauritania.
The answer is that of the most ferocious repression that even knows the use of
napalm bombs and the bombardment of Berber camps even in the most remote oases
while arrests, torture, rapes and all forms of harassment follow one another and
a regime of labor exploitation is imposed which affects not only the Sahrawi
inhabitants but also poor Moroccans, forced to work in greenhouses and in
agricultural work or in phosphate deposits.
The resistance gave birth to the Arab Democratic Republic of the Sahrawi (SADR)
and in 1979 Mauritania signed a separate peace agreement recognizing TASD.
Morocco remained in the war and at that point took possession of the entire
Saharawi territory, opposed by POLISARIO supported by Algeria. The efforts of the
United Nations to achieve a ceasefire and peace through negotiations are
repeatedly frustrated and the war currently continues as well as a fierce
repression to sustain which Morocco needs international consensus and therefore
is willing to arrange for the payment of substantial bribes, especially in
Europe, so that its war situation with Saharawi does not hinder commercial
relations with the European Union which are vital for the country, which should
be closed for the countries in war.
On the other hand, continuing to control the territory of western Saharawi is
vital for the Moroccan economy since it is here that the deposits of phosphates
are located, of which it is the second largest producer in the world (after
China), but largely in first place for reserves (holds about 100% of the world's
known reserves) and is the largest
world exporter. The phosphate mines are managed by the OPC Group, a Moroccan
limited company, leader in the world production of phosphate and phosphoric acid
and is one of the main producers operating in the fertilizer sector worldwide.
OCP has access to approximately 70% of the world's known reserves and is the
world's leading exporter. The company's activities range from the extraction of
mineral resources to the production of high value-added products. OCP has a
global presence in phosphate production and serves all key agricultural markets
worldwide.

The Alawide Monarchy and the Ministry for the Waqf

Morocco is distinguished from other Arab countries by the presence of moderate
Islam. The sovereign declares himself the direct heir of Mohammed and de facto
manages power, claiming the most important decisions for the country for himself.
The social stability of the country is supported by the aforementioned ministry
of the Waqf, the Islamic pious foundations, which manage a wide range of
activities not only as regards relations with the Moroccan diaspora, but also for
the management of numerous agricultural activities especially in the center and
south of the country and guarantee the social control of the poorest population
dedicated to the cultivation of vegetables, cereals, citrus fruits, olives,
fruit, wine, legumes, sheep and beef. In this situation, the European Union can
do a lot to positively affect the end of the war and the repression exercised by
the regime on Sarawui, only if it wants to. In fact, most of the country's
exports are directed towards the union.
It should also be emphasized that Morocco is the second largest cannabis producer
in the world and that approximately 70% of the cannabis consumed in Europe comes
from the Rif region in Morocco where at least 400,000 people live on its
cultivation in the absence of other job prospects. In 2021, Morocco approved a
law that legalizes the use of cannabis for therapeutic and industrial uses
(recreational use remaining prohibited), with the aim of bringing out the
illegality of the tens of thousands of families who live from the cultivation of
hemp and to create further added value to the Moroccan economy for a few billion
dollars.
It must be said that from a security point of view, the economic role played in
the country by the Jewish component of the population, once certainly more
numerous, but which still allows the country to maintain excellent relations of
collaboration in the economic and military fields with Israel which supplies
weapon systems able to contrast the growing Russian military presence in Africa
and to contain the POLISARIO guerrilla which finds the support of the population
and some support in neighboring Algeria and Mauritania.
However, it is quite clear that without international solidarity it will not be
possible to restore peace in this area of North Africa, stabilizing an area
increasingly afflicted by the problems of the climate crisis, by desertification
and with respect to which the war and the ongoing repression it only ends up
spreading salt on deep wounds.

John Ledi

http://www.ucadi.org/2023/03/22/colonialismo-marocchino/
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