Morocco - US imperialism brings back the spectre of al-Qaeda

It was a very well organized attack. Five suicide bombings in 30 minutes rocked Casablanca hitting several targets, including a Spanish club and restaurant, a Jewish community centre, the Belgian Consulate and an international hotel.

This striking event, and the other recent attacks, are clear indications that the so-called "war on terror" was far from finished with the fall of Saddam Hussein. The war on Iraq was waged, supposedly in order to "liberate" the world from al Qaeda. The fact that al-Qaeda and the Baath regime in Iraq were fierce enemies seems to have no importance for the American administration.

So far, in just one week more than seventy people have been killed in bombing attacks. And that doesn't include the almost daily suicide bombings in Israel. The picture is far worse now than before the Iraq war. "Is anywhere in the world still safe?" is a common headline in the newspapers over the last few days.

One quote particularly renders this feeling. "The village green is probably still a safe place for a game of cricket (as long as you keep your eyes open) but don't stray beyond the boundary or you might get blown to pieces. That's how it feels, anyway, as the number of dangerous places seems to escalate by the day." (The Independent, May 18, 2003)

In fact, Bush's policy has brought more insecurity into the western world, especially amongst the middle class. This is no accident. We explained that far from solving the problems the US-UK intervention was going to further aggravate them. The sight of an imperialist invader on an Arab country's soil is provoking a lot of anger throughout the whole of the Middle East and the Maghreb.

Morocco has always been one of the closest allies of the West in the region, in spite of the clearly anti-imperialist feelings of its people, especially of the youth. One has also to add to this the worsening living conditions of the masses over the last two decades. No wonder then that hundreds of unemployed youth and students, without any clear alternative being offered to them on the part of the labour movement, end up by channelling their rage against imperialism in active support for the fundamentalist terrorist organisations, such as al-Qaeda.

These methods, however, will not undermine these rotten regimes, quite the contrary. The King of Morocco will exploit these bombings to his own advantage and use them as a pretext for introducing a clampdown on left-wing organisations and on democratic rights. Al-Qaeda was a network created by the CIA, and even though it has now turned on its previous master, nonetheless, by using the methods of individual terrorism it still helps the American government by playing into its hands and providing it with the excuse to justify all its reactionary measures, both abroad and at home.

The Moroccan workers have a tradition of struggle. They have their trade union organisations. What is lacking is a genuine Marxist leadership of the labour movement. If such a leadership existed many of these youth could be educated to participate actively in the struggle for the socialist transformation of society, and not to waste their energies in futile and reactionary acts of terrorism. This is really the only way of effectively fighting imperialism and its local Moroccan puppets.