Casablanca — Human rights activist like Youness Berkaoui had no idea how much this simple photo was going to change his whole life upside down since the day he decided to share it on Facebook.
The Arabic lettering reads: RIF, which is a region in current northern Morocco that has, only a few short decades ago, been the epicenter of its own independent democratic republic, threatening the seat of the monarchy as a political regime, seeing as the latter was colluding with imperialist Europe, pawning the land, people and resources so it can keep the throne. That republican initiative was short lived, as it threatened the political powers of that period, which earned it a swift squashing by the Moroccan regime with foreign help using chemical weapons, the devastating effects of which still reverberate in the entire region to this day.
[ads1]
Further, the Rif has been center stage of recent protests after the state sanctioned murder of a fish monger, Mohcin Fikri in October of 2016, which was the last straw its residents needed to demand total socioeconomic change, building the region’s infrastructure which remains non existent to this day and raise awareness the systematically marginalized region’s status quo of collective punishment for daring to stand for democracy.
The collective punishment started for the almost entirely Amazigh region since 1926 with documented massacres/genocide as well as dire infrastructural and socioeconomic sanctions on everyone living within its boundaries. The Rif continues to not have a functioning hospital or a university, as a strict minimum to this day.
The Rif movement leaders and activists got arrested by the thousands and each put in prison serving hefty sentences, prompting the entire country to take to the streets in solidarity. Far from being idle, Younes did not miss the opportunity to join in the hundreds and thousands of protesters demanding immediate freedom to the Riffian political prisoners and for the Moroccan regime to work with the residents in order to solve their local problems and develop the entire region mainly known for its breath taking beaches and fresh fish.
[ads1]
Because of this particular picture that he proudly and innocently took to mark his stance, Younes was fired from his job as a car parking lot attendant, a job that, meager as its wages were, was enough to sustain hard working Younes for years, not having to ask for a handout. Younes who found himself unemployed without cause, fought hard within the union to challenge their arbitrary decision, a journey that took him down the moroccan bureaucracy for almost an entire year, during which he was all the more adamant about his rights and the constitutional ones of all Moroccan citizens, and so naturally, he continued to organize and attend rallies and protests.
In addition to Beijing fired, Younes received a couple summons to answer to some charges related to his political posts on Facebook. When those didn’t pan out, he was arrested late last week in a mock “raid” on the neighborhood coffee shop he spends most of his days in, stating that said coffee shop is known for drug activity, which may or may not be true, however, Younes was the only person arrested there with 10g of hashish (cannabis) in his pockets. Younes never once hid the fact that he occasionally enjoys a few puffs of cannabis for medical and recreational reasons, being caught with only 10 grams (the size of a human fingernail) was proof to his innocence, only to be shocked with the heavy charge of drug dealing and intention to distribute added to his previous list of political troublemaker.
All this while Younes has had no income for the past few months and struggles making ends meet doing manual labor here and there to afford his basics on a strict minimum, in direct contradiction with the prosecution’s false claim of his “drug dealing” which would have solved so many of his problems if it were the case.
[ads1]
The prosecution decided to release him on his own recognizance until he is tried for this laughable charge. Always true to his policy of total transparency, Younes, of course, told his entire story on Facebook with dates, details of his harassment and arrests and names of those involved, only to be surprised on Friday evening with yet another SWAT team arresting him at that same coffee shop located on this street, in direct retaliation directly after publishing details of his story with their harassment over the past year.
His friends and activist friends all took to the street to demand his immediate and non conditional release, condemning this policy of obvious political retaliation against all the voices that cannot be bought!
It is worth noting that Younes has no family, his parents are deceased and nobody would have noticed even if he was executed, if it weren’t for the activist community who spread the word of his arrest.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Amazigh World News’ editorial views.
[ads1]
