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A new second language for Morocco? PDF Print
Thursday, 12 August 2010 13:11
Ibn Warraq
Saïd Bellari penned an essay which questioned the continued influence of the French language in Morocco. The essay is sure to raise the debate. The big question; will anyone take any notice.
Al-Humdullilah !  At last someone has come out and said what so many of us have been thinking for a very long time. Recently I was asked to give a talk to non-Moroccans about literacy in Morocco. One of the points I made was that with so many people growing up with one of the Amazigh languages at home, the move to Darija was an initial difficulty. Then there was the need for MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) and finally, the fact that French was also required. At the time I thought again "why do we still teach French".  Right at the beginning of the essay, Saïd Bellari draws attention, not to literacy, but to "disliteracy".
"While you will not be able to find this word in a regular English dictionary I think that it matters nonetheless. The more so because it is especially prevalent amongst the educated elite. It means that they are speaking the wrong language in Morocco amongst themselves and with the rest of the world. Because of that we fail to go with the global flow and we isolate ourselves more and more from the development growth of other areas abroad like the one in South East Asia."

So, what should we be speaking amongst ourselves and what language should we employ to address the world? Saïd Bellari makes it very clear: "I do not want to say that we should stop speaking Arabic in Morocco. Allah yastar! Not in the least, perhaps we should do that even more. With it I mean in fact that we should aim to fade out the French language as soon as possible. Simultaneously we should give the English language a fresh stimulus in all aspects of Moroccan society and let it take its place as a second language of Morocco. French should not even be 3rd or 4th language for that matter. This change from a francophone to an "Arab-Anglophone" country will introduce a second era of Istiqlal. It will unleash a sense of freedom of spirit in our Moroccan society that will erode historic brakes and obstacles settled in Moroccan collective mind."

This is stirring stuff! Not only is he suggesting ditching the language of the colonisers, but very sensibly promoting the idea of wider use of English. Dropping French more than 55 years after independence is taking things a bit too slowly. There are compelling reasons for taking up English. Yes, all of the international ones abut also the local ones, such as tourism. It is noticeable in Fez, year after year, that there are constant complaints that Festivals employ French rather than English, and when they do condescend to publish a programme in English, the translation is from French and is usually laughable.

Saïd Bellari does not hold back from a little straight talking. 

"While we celebrate quite some decades of independence now year after year, one can truly ask himself whether that state of independence has truly soaked our whole Moroccan society? Or is it that in certain corners, some of them essential, the French occupier is virtually still subjugating our hearts and minds to the detriment of our future prospects? Well in the matter of language the question does not even beg for an answer: every Moroccan academician, scientist, entrepreneur, artist, writer, doctor, politician or whatever key societal character, will easily admit that French is still the Master of the Moroccan Universe. In more than 50 years France has still succeeded in keeping the illusion in Morocco alive and kicking that we need our historical and cultural ties with it. It is a communal trance-like state of mind that is inhibiting our progress. Even after all the abuse that colonialism brought with it. (Or perhaps even because of the abuse of our people during centuries by the Western occupiers that shared the inhumane idea behind colonialism.)This pathological trait of dependency is still hurting Moroccan society and it’s future enormously. While I am in the least propagating a severing of ties with France or its culture, it would be foolish indeed, I am merely asking Moroccans to count to 10, think again and again and ask themselves plainly why they would choose French as a second language in this 21st Century?"


France and its culture has become a niche society on Earth and following it as a Moroccan amounts to civilizational self-destruction. While it was understandably hard to make this massive cultural transition in the sixties or the seventies of the 20th Century, nothing ought to keep the Kingdom and its people from choosing their own future nowadays. And this counts especially for the second language that we are cultivating collectively in Morocco. So that is why I am proposing to kick out the French asap and welcome the English in our homes, of course secondly behind our treasured Arabic. There is also a powerful psychological reason behind this transition that will mean a world of difference on this grassroots level. 


France and French are part of our history. And that is exactly all it should be. A part in our history that we did not choose voluntarily. A part also that cost our society a lot to shed definitely, if not at least partially. For the remaining part, French as a Lingua Franca in Moroccan society, consciously, but even more unconsciously, still reminds us of being slaves, of being dependent, of being backward, of being unable and of being all the things that second rate people are, or better phrased: of being what racist people want you to think of yourselves, of being second rate: "I am less worthy, less able”. This mental complex deeply rooted in our collective mind would take generations to overcome otherwise. By audaciously and emphatically peeling French from our society, which was not of our own choosing, we heal ourselves collectively. And by replacing it of our own accord by English (as a logical alternative to better connect to world society and be better prepared for the future) we would heal ourselves even more! It would emanate a second grand wave of independence in Moroccan society. A true collective grass-roots wave that speaks of will-power, self-determination, self-expression and new trust, hope and optimism for the future. 

This is no small undertaking as Saïd Bellari admits - "A committee could investigate and report on how this transition is best done during one generation. Helpful would be ties with the Anglophone part of the world in general and Islamic countries in particular. As a live example of the last category, showing a marvelous development trajectory counts the experience of Malaysia: it is comparable to Morocco in population but instead had a very successful transition since independence from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy and now in the midst of growing into a services oriented economy delivering these also to developed countries. Not coincidentally Malaysia was managed for decades by a doctor who had an assertive and healing stance against their former colonial occupier: the legendary Dr. Mahathir. Morocco would do well to emulate his Wawasan 2020 vision and try to learn from his teachings on the issue of transforming society. But Morocco needs to disremember French and acquire English very soon: the 2nd language after Bahasa in Malaysia….il n'est jamais trop tard pour bien faire.

Will it ever happen?  Inshallah!   

Article first published at View From Fez

 

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hatimi ahmed said:

...
Just so you no, french was re-introduced in moroccan schools, so we already have a new generation that will be cut culturally from the previous one. Do you whant to go on and on like this. We have ties with french university for years. Why change again, and to what benefit really. By doing this we will also cut the cultural ties from one generation to the other in the elite group. Not that I care about them but cultural ties between social groups and generations are already fractured and you whant to add your own mess in it. Let's keep what we allready have, enhance it by sharing it with all moroccans and reinforce it with another language, english, and find a way to harmonise all this in recreating cultural ties from one social group to the other. The only way to do this, is to give to all moroccans, the same education that the elite has or at least something that is similar.
What you don't whant to do is, stretch the culture from bottom to top but the other way round.
Morocco is not a laboratory, there are actual lives in stake. Morocco hasn't got petrole, that is why it has to work with whatever tools it can take and languages will play a key role in our social, cultural and economic future, so lets not fool around with it.
We might be the first country in the world to speak three or four languages. Can you imagine this. All the cultural, social, and economic benefit of this. It is also a fact that moroccans are talented when it concerns languages. Look how the call center industrie has expand in Morocco
09/09/10

hatimi ahmed said:

...
We have ties with french university for years. Why change again, and to what benefit really. By doing this we will also cut the cultural ties from one generation to the other in the elite group. Not that I care about them but cultural ties between social groups and generations are already fractured and you whant to add your own mess in it. Let's keep what we have, enhance it with another language, english, and find a way to harmonise all this in recreating cultural ties from one social group to the other. Morocco is not a laboratory, there are actual lives in stake. Morocco hasn't got petrole, that is why it has to work with whatever tools it can take and languages will play a key role in our future so lets not mess with it.
09/09/10

hatimi ahmed said:

...
There is a big difference between nationalism and patriotism. Nationalism is based on the hate of other nations whereas patriotism is based on the love of your own nation. I sens in your article a resentful mind, like many nationalist of this country, be careful of this because it has no pragmatic grounds.
09/09/10

hatimi ahmed said:

Why?
I don't understand the point. Why take out a language? The more languages a country speaks the better. Yes, let's introduce english but also spanish and lets not loose french.
The french has colonised Morocco yes!… Let's get it over with and accept it. Let's stop playing the victims and see this through another reading. How can one ignore that the french has left amoung us elements of their cultur. Like the arabes left in spain their culture.
You mite not like it because you live in a non french speaking country but there are, unfortunately for you, more Moroccans in france than in Holland.
I think that we should stop thinking that Morocco is some kind of laboratory where we can go from one situation to another just like that, without thinking about the consequences. Let me tell you something, when the nationnaliste Allal El Fassi decided that we should arabize the schools wich they did, he didn't tell us that he put his children in french schools. The reason was that he knew that Moroccan schools could not provide the knowledge that was given in those french schools.
All elites in morocco go to french, spanish, or american schools
Like in all the arabe world where in the middle east the elites speak inglish. And they speak inglish not because of a choice but because they where colonised by the english.
The main question is, can the arab language provide to students the modern knowledge in the making? In other words, has the arab world in all fields of knowledge enought people to translate all of what exists and that is created each year? I don't think we have this, even the chinese don't have it, that is why, they all learn english.
This is I think what we should do. Whatever language that gives us the true knowledge, should be taught to all the society and not just to the elites. Decision made through the nationaliste ideologie is most of the time non pragmatic, very hypocritical, and in the end doesn't benefit to the society. In Morocco, If you want to have a good job you better speak french, and that's a fact. And the reason is, that the knowledge of the 20st century was learned in french because the french left a school system that still exists.
I couldn't get my daughter in a french lycee, so I put her in a spanish lycee and she speaks french, arabic, spanish and english. But unfortunatly she is cut out of society, because there is a clean fracture in our society between the illiterate, more than 60%, the children going to moroccan schools, and the children going to foreign schools. More than an economic difference it is a real cultural difference. The moroccan schools, rather than teaching free thinking, indoctrinate students to produce a conservative society that frankly leads to nowhere. This is why we should also teach another language in those moroccan schools this will allow the students to get access to other though
09/08/10

arayzim said:

chasing the colonisers
Morocco is not arab as you mentioned erroneously. Morocco is Amazigh and both french and arabic are assassin languges . what's the use of the arabic except in the mosques and tvs to brainwash the laymen. english imposed itself internationally and it's a good idea that the moroccans go the short way and learn it without losing millions of dollars on teaching useless languages like french and arabic.
08/19/10

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