Angry People

We Arabs are a frustrated bunch. I've been here in Morocco for about 6 weeks and I've already been screamed at plenty of times and done my fair share of yelling, and I probably get my sass on about 3-4 times a day. What does getting my sass on mean, you may ask?  Usually a sarcastic and provocative remark or gesture that aims to piss somebody off who's done something that I find distasteful. And I honestly do feel the need to do this nearly every time somebody says “bonjour madame” to my girlfriend or friend, or when a taxi driver says that his “meter is broken”.

Right when I arrived here I made a conscious decision to not let people take advantage of me just because I’m a foreigner, ESPECIALLY because I’m Algerian. What I’ve noticed is that what one lacks in Moroccan-ness has to made up for in either an above-average tolerance for bullshit, or an assertiveness that rivals the likes of your Moroccan counter-parts. And since I’m sure the only people who are reading this are the ones who know me quite well, you’re all aware of my patience level, especially when somebody tries to screw me or someone I care about over. The idea here is that if you want something, you have to demand it. Moroccans don’t wait in line at the train station or to buy their single cigarette at the hanoot (shop), they don’t have a single problem telling you a plate costs 6 times as much as it would normally cost, and they don’t break when you cross the street (in fact most of the time they seem to speed up). Therefore you’re going to have to throw 6 dirhams at the shopkeeper for your bottle of water and walk away, and then tell the plate-seller that you aren’t an idiot and that he is, in fact, the idiot for assuming your idiocy. I wouldn’t however suggest stopping in the middle of the street to advocate defensive driving, although I have been known to slap the window of a passing taxi that almost killed me. Of course you could always just walk away and go about your day… but shrugging things off was never my strong point.

What’s important is to remember that Moroccans/Arabs and I don’t act this way because we’re from a civilization plagued with rage-inducing radical Islam (I suppose I can’t make excuses for myself because I’m from the good ol’ US of A, but go with it nonetheless), or because we’re just so damned hot all the time. There’s a simple reason for it, and it’s the oppressive and corrupt leadership and near inhumane living conditions that have cloaked and silenced women and completely emasculated men, over the last century especially. I’m ecstatic that people all over the Arab world have come realize this and begin to stand up and demand a better life, however things are still largely the same and situations have become even worse in many countries.

Like the July 1st “98.5%” victory for the constitutional referendum here in Morocco... Does that sound like a democratic election to you? Especially because polls closed at 10 PM and they had the results ready at midnight. And yes they were, in fact, paper ballots counted by hand. What the FUCK, bro? That isn’t a comfortable way to start off a new and improved free and democratic Maghreb.

See? I’m already frustrated. Not to mention it’s probably not a smart idea for me to be espousing those opinions while I’m still here, and I hesitated a long time before actually typing it out because of the advice I’ve gotten from teachers and Moroccans themselves. What does that apprehension say about the true state of freedoms here?

Yeah, we’re a frustrated bunch.