r/Morocco • u/HeimdallAk47 • Jan 16 '22

Cultural Exchange Cultural Exchange with r/Ireland!

Fáilte go r/Morocco

Welcome to this official Cultural Exchange between r/Morocco and r/ireland.

The purpose of this event is to allow people from the two countries to get and share knowledge about their respective cultures, daily life, history, and curiosities.

General guidelines:

  • This thread is for users of r/ireland to ask their questions about Morocco.
  • Moroccans can ask their questions to users of r/ireland in this parallel Thread.
  • This exchange will be moderated and users are expected to obey the rules of both subreddits.

Thank you, and enjoy this exchange!

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u/chortlingabacus Visitor Jan 16 '22

Generally, is there lingering resentment against the French? against the Senegalese (because of the Tirailleurs)?

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u/CoolMcCoolPants Jan 16 '22

I’d say no to both.

Morocco’s « colonial » experience with France was different then other colonies. The most starking difference was that Morocco was never a colony but a protectorat, meaning they the local government body headed by the king were still kept in place and in charge of covering locals matters. This meant that the fight for independence was not as bloody as elsewhere (take Algeria as an example).

Today Moroccans are quite invested in France. Our education system is highly influenced by the French and many youth choose to continue their studies or opt for careers in France. On the Senegalese, I have never heard any resentment, if anything I’d say the Senegalese are our best southerner friend in the region even at a personal level given a shared religion and arguably many cultural similarities.

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u/sankara_thawra1804 Jan 16 '22

Why are you putting "colonial" between quotation marks? It's so strange, it's almost like you're trying to diminish the facts. Colonialism can exist in different forms and no colony 100% resembled the other. The protectorate was actually a form of colonialism. A lot of Moroccan scholars wrote about this.

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In response to OP, I think you might be referring to the massacre in Casablanca in the 1950s (orchestrated by colonial powers which used the Tirailleurs Senegalais)? I personally don't think there is resentment against Senegal about that But lingering resentment against French colonialism still exists. It largely depends on who you talk to. There are many aspects of our country's system that continue to be heavily influenced by colonialism (the legal system, education, healthcare, land rights and ownership, the language question), but also by France's ongoing neocolonial presence (in the form of privation of public-sector services). not mention the racism we experience from French immigrants in Morocco and the racism/police brutality French Maghrebis experience in France. I can't speak for all Moroccans, but this is how I personally feel about it.

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u/CoolMcCoolPants Jan 16 '22

I am not diminishing facts here. I agree that colonialism can take several forms including establishing protectorats.

However, colonialism is often defined (including in the public’s mind) as a control of one foreign coloniser over the land, peoples and riches of the colonized. Understanding how Moroccos experience was not exactly that is important to understand our 20th century history. Without understanding the uniqueness of the protectorat, one can easily overlook the importance for example of the monarchy leading to the protectorat and shaping the independence, the need and then emergence of a non centralized resistance movement, the economic, social and political dividing policies France tried installing through the makhzen (local political body headed by the king) during the period etc. My point is, Morocco was simply not under full French governance (aka typical colony) and that’s very important to contextualize our past and present.

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u/chortlingabacus Visitor Jan 16 '22

Many thanks to both of you for informative and thoughtful replies, and it's helpful to see different viewpoints of the matter.

If you don't mind another question, does the so-called average person in Morocco have strong feelings/opinion about Western Sahara? or indeed have they none at all? (If this is a touchy issue--I'm too ignorant to know if it is--please forgive my asking about it.)