Following the terrible earthquake that struck Morocco, the Moroccan authorities accepted help from 4 friendly countries to cope with the immediate response. What followed was a controversy created and fueled by the French media which consisted of calling into question the decisions of the national authorities. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs put things straight by recalling that the Moroccan authorities are acting with complete sovereignty in the management of this terrible tragedy.
Apparently this was not enough since it was the President of the French Republic himself who insisted on making a speech intended to silence this controversy. But in doing so, he made an absolutely incredible mistake: he spoke directly to Moroccan citizens!
Since when does the head of state of a country speak directly to the citizens of another sovereign country? There is only one explanation: colonial behaviour is still present among French officials and the controversy created by the French media is only an illustration. It is useful to remember that several countries - including the United States, Germany, Canada, Turkey, Algeria, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Iraq, Jordan, Czechia - offered their help, but none of them took offense at the decisions of the Moroccan authorities. It is high time for French officials to abandon this colonial behaviour. I hope that the Moroccan authorities will face this unacceptable attitude, either by not responding to this speech, or by instructing, for example, the Director of European Affairs, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to do so.
That being said, this controversy reveals two things. First, Morocco has reached the stage which allows it in a period of natural disaster to manage the situation with complete sovereignty and in doing so, to accept aid which falls within the framework of its strategy. It is worth remembering that other countries have reached this stage before, including Brazil, China, Iran, Pakistan and India.
Secondly, Western countries are "baffled" by this new episode (1) as they were when India decided to reject foreign aid in 2004. And now Morocco is doing the same thing! It is worth remembering that the Western media have shown, to varying degrees, the same "incomprehension" with regard to the decisions of the Moroccan authorities. But the most virulent reaction was that of France, which did not understand how the "natives" dared reject their aid. This is what is called a colonial attitude.
One thing is certain: people are recovering their sovereignty which was taken away from them for too long . And countries that do not understand this incur the risk of being left out of History.
Benyounes Saidi
"Morocco’s reluctance to accept quake aid baffles foreign governments" I Washington Post, September 11th 2023
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