The long term political fight of the Moroccan state for power is not only about the monopoly of legitimate physical violence, but also as a monopoly of political meaning and legitimate symbolic violence that historical agents may in the long term internalize and help sustain the established political and social order. Yet, a relative fixation in scholarship on the cultural basis of political authority as associated with concepts such as the bay'a and sharifism has tended to distract scholarly attention from the relationship between violence and political authority and be myopic to the long history of state violence. In parallel other political and social actors reverted to violence in order to challenge or support state formation both in the pre-colonial and postcolonial pasts. This panel seeks to explore and analyze the relationship between violence and the state in Morocco in the longue durue by identifying specific moments, locales, cases and practices through which the state made use of both legitimate and illegitimate use violence in order to establish its authority. Focusing on 19th century writings by Moroccan and French contemporaries, paper I : "The Makhzen in 19th Century Morocco: Between Physical and Symbolic Violence" looks at the interaction between physical violence and its symbolic and cultural manifestation in the cultural realm of Moroccans. It argues that the makhzen in 19th century Morocco made use of physical violence and perform it in the public space in different symbolic ways. Paper II: "The Glaoui's in Tribal Land : Violence and French Colonial Rule in Morocco" base on oral history deals with the famous notable Glaoui and his systematic use of violence against the Moroccan tribes he himself had control. Paper III : "Visualizing the painful past: Struggle over political legitimacy in Morocco" analyzes Morocco's grapple with the so-called "years of led" ( violent repression) under Hassan II and its conversion to visual representations in the form of cites of memory, documentaries and feature films. Paper IV: "Telling Histories of Violence: Hassan II and His Opposition in Moroccan newspapers in the Era of Mohammed VI" looks at how journalistic history of what was is known as the years of the lead is presumed to re-oriented the Moroccan public more than inform its constituents. Using ethnographic materials, paper IV : "Hogra , Structural Violence or Symbolic Violenceo " aims to analyze the notion of hogra ( daily from of violence) as a specific practice of the makhzen.
From the pre-colonial period and through the colonial period to the present, the Moroccan state has continually reverted to violence to impose its authority. The continuous use and justification of violence stands in parallel and in contrast to the long term religious and cultural legitimacy that has often been raised by historians, anthropologists and political scientists in order to explain the legitimacy and continuity of monarchical rule in Morocco. From its inception the Moroccan state, known otherwise as the makhzen, has been bound up with the use of violence and force not just by the appropriation of cultural means and religious rituals to impose its authority. Violence is conceived here not only in its physical but also in its symbolic meaning.
By focusing on 19th century writings by Moroccan and French contemporaries, this paper will attempt to look at the interaction between physical violence and its symbolic and cultural manifestation in the cultural realm of Moroccans. It is argued that the makhzen in 19th century Morocco not only used physical violence in all sorts of ways to get rid of its social and political adversaries, it also made use of the public space to perform violence in different symbolic ways. It is also argued that in order to better understand the makhzen as a potent cultural construct, we cannot detach it from its material and concrete manifestation of physical violence.
Even before the death of Hassan II in July 1999, a few Moroccan journalists have begun to write, though timidly, about his legacy between the 1960s and late 1980s. This paper is predicated on the assumption that the discussion of issues related to instances of violence during the rule of Hassan II was meant to prepare the country to a new political and psychological environment, as the Makhzan is no longer able to control its hold over historical information. Using Robert Park argument on “news as a form of knowledge,” I claim that this journalistic history of what was known as the Years of Lead/sanawat al-rasas is presumed to re-orient the Moroccan public more than inform its constituents. As the country began to un-shelve its history of human rights abuse, Hassan II allowed a new generation of “independent” journalists to write these histories, and therefore make unusual events and stories of violence and abuse cease to be news by the time he died. I argue that these newspapers and magazines played a major role in the national transition from the controlled-state system of information to more “open” public debate about taboo questions allowing the state to slowly prepare its citizens to the political trauma of the 1970s. I also claim that the state succeeded through a number of journalists to create a new postcolonial vulgate that introduced a new set of historical themes, and therefore affected the historiographical narrative of the country in the last decade.
One of the most common concepts Moroccans (and by extension Maghrebis) rely on to describe daily violence of the Moroccan state is the concept of hogra. This concept found in the precolonial lexicon of the region, has strangely been overlooked by historians and social scientists. Currently the term hogra has resurfaced as a major concept to rethink the violent practices of the makhzen (understood as the ensemble of institutions by which state legitimacy and hegemony are constituted and guarded).
When the makhzan is described as haggar, the term hogra conveys then the meaning of illegitimate, yet pervasive violence of the state against the disadvantaged majority of the Moroccan society (often called wlaad shaab). Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to analyze the hogra as a specific violent practice of the makhzen. Using ethnographic materials collected during the time of the Arab Revolutions (2011-2012), my paper offers a rendition of the term hogra and attempts to articulate it as an operational concept by which one can examine the violent practice of the makhzen.
The famous “Lord of the Atlas” or of “the Berbers”, the Pasha Glaoui, is more known in Moroccan nationalist imaginary as the sultan’s “felon” during what the French chronicles called the “Moroccan crisis between 1952 and 1955”. The man, who supported the French army in southern Morocco and supplied them for the war of conquest, also conquered many Moroccan tribes to put them under his administrative leadership and dominium.
My paper will deal with the Glaoui’s systematic use of violence, repression and domination of the tribes he himself had control of or by his own allies whom he appointed. I will base my paper on oral history as well as novels that were written during Glaoui’s highest moment of political power and rule. The French rulers saw Glaoui as part of a “Berber block” which they could use against the nationalist movement. In this paper I look at Glaoui, from the lenses of the tribesmen who were at the receiving end of the violence well expressed in oral tradition and peculiarly depicted by French novelists.
The paper analyzes Morocco's grapple with its years of led and its conversion to visual representations in the form of cites of memory, documentaries and feature films. The focus is two faceted. One is assessing the contributions of these representations in the portrayal of the past as distinct from academic narratives in approaches, methods and objectives. The second facet compares the representations of the painful past with those associated with the celebration of the "glorious" past, such as independence, military victories, economic achievements. These comparisons should highlight the role of emotions in politics and in the continuing struggle over legitimation, de-legitimation and re-ligitimation.
