Rivers of Exile

Moroccan Americans: what are our responsibilities? June 30, 2006

Posted by Delilah in : General, Maroc, US, World, US Congress , trackback

As I indicated earlier, although unacknowledged in the invites or the agenda, the issue of the Sahara was front and center throughout last week-end’s Moroccan Americans Convention - and although a formal denial was offered, visibly stage-managed by various officials of the Moroccan government. Ironically, when all the official speech-making was over and we were invited to break into discussion groups, the one dedicated to “territorial integrity” was, by far, the smallest and the networking group the biggest. Says it all, really: people aren’t interested in having issues forced down their throat.

Still, there was a definite attempt to convince the audience that the Sahara issue is the foremost issue for Moroccan Americans and that we should all mobilize around it to lobby Congress to - I suppose - support whatever position the Moroccan government holds at any given time. We were repeatedly told - not so much by the Moroccan Ambassador, but certainly by the paid PR/communication (sic) flacks - that the Sahara is our only, and most critical , issue to discuss with Congress. One of the flacks - the clownish, patronizing former US Amb. to Morocco - even went as far as acknowledging that the “POW issue is a clever way of bringing Congresspeople to our side”. He went ahead and even brought up Darfur as a “model” of effective mobilizing - as if we didn’t know the kind of manipulation that issue has been subjected to.
So - let’s see here, about these responsibilities of ours as Moroccan Americans:

As responsible Americans, our responsibilities are to make sure that the US foreign policy matches our principles and values as US citizens and that means tackling those urgent US engagements/allies that actually oppress and kill people around the world or impose unfair trade measures on the poorest nations.
It is patently absurd to suggest that any moral, decent American (of Moroccan orginin or otherwise) who pays attention to what is being done internationally in our name and/or with our tax dollars should make the Sahara issue his or her primary responsibility in terms of lobbying Congress.
Specifically on the Sahara, how about some respect for the Moroccan people - including those of us who chose to immigrate to the US? Consider this:

First off, Morocco has had the support of the US government and Congress on this issue for a long time already, Democrats and Republicans alike; and
Second, Moroccan Americans are entitled to know why in heaven’s name hasn’t the 30 year Sahara issue been resovled yet by the leaders of the various parties? Why has this become so intractable? How about some transparency and open debate on the topic instead of asking us to go beg the US Congress?
The Moroccan people have, rightly or wrongly, supported the Moroccan government for thirty years, first by physically taking the territory peacefully and since by providing - through their taxes and subsidies to the ” southern territories” - the ressources to maintain them. Surely, some accountability, in terms of results is in order. At this point, Moroccans (and presumably their brother and sister Algerians and Sahraouis) ought to expect a peace dividend from the leaders: sit around a table and come up with a solution already!