It is undeniable that university years are known to be determinant when it comes to worldviews and sociopolitical orientations. In fact, politically involved students reflect highly intellectual dynamics within a university. While our parents’ generation recalls the “years of lead” as the epitome of activism and political engagement, our generation is no exception. Although the political scene changed nowadays, the ideological belonging remains a constant in a human being’s life. It is also important to draw sharp differentiation between ideological belonging and political proactiveness. The low participation of Moroccan youth in electoral processes are a clear example of such paradigms.
Morocco remains a clear example of a country with highly politicized youth and low political engagement. A low level of trust in the ruling elite led to aversion from any political participation.
AUI and the clash of ideologies
It is commonly believed that AUI students stand far away from any clear political activity or belonging. However, the reality is far from that. Attending one Demoatay on a Friday night is enough to see the engagement of AUIers in Moroccan and international politics. The ideological clashes through intense political discussions are a clear proof of intellectual proactiveness on human matters.
Throughout my university years, I have met people with different political affiliations and beliefs. The fruitful and engaging discussions contributed greatly to my development personally and academically. Additionally, it played a huge role in my political consciousness and understanding of complex matters.
Many link the clash of ideologies with pejorative connotation and physical confrontation in the realm of universities. In fact, ideological belonging is just a certain way of understanding and approaching political, socio-economic and cultural matters. It also creates a sense of belonging to a cause, a group or a movement. Political debates seem to be the best outcome in a heterogeneous community.
In many Moroccan colleges, the university arena is a scene grouping various ideological conflicts. Leftist currents and Islamist factions are in constant confrontation due to the strident ideological differences. Sometimes these physical confrontations can be carried to classrooms and auditoriums. While this commitment to their views can be seen positively in some events, a climate of tolerance and acceptance should reign in universities.
Promoting values of peace, acceptance and dialogue is important for the perpetuity of healthy political debates rather than toxic ones that actually puts an end to the political stance.
Social science researchers proved through studies that university educated students have more liberal tendencies than those who did not attend university. A support for civil liberties, and openness to non-conformist ideologies is promoted. At AUI, you can find a mixture of ideological currents but there is a certain acceptance towards difference that is endorsed by the university’s liberal system. In an attempt to determine some of the ideological belongings on campus, I decided to interview some students that felt comfortable in voicing their political affiliations and the thinking process behind it.
Mohamed Agadr, centrism and incentives
Mohamed Agadr is a freshman student who believes in incentives and free will. For him, you can adopt several political affiliations at once without necessarily having them clash. He believes that workers should be incentisized to produce more and gain profit with respect to their rights. In addition, he believes in freedoms and liberties where human rights and free will are ensured.
For now, there are no political parties that represent my views exactly, but I feel more lenient towards PAM’s political background
Mohamed Agadr
Youssef Benchourfa, in-between captitalism and communism
Youssef Benchourfa is a senior student who considers himself to stand in the middle ground between both capitalist and communist beliefs. His standpoint originates from an inspiring reading he stumbled upon few years ago. Sharing with us his views and critiques of both ideologies, he claims that capitalism was not and might not always be the dominant system. Basing his words on the definitions he learned, he sees that the system presents imbalances between those who own capital and those who own nothing. In addition, he assumes that such system developed the tendency to blame individuals for failure. Although the inequalities resulting from such system, “capitalism actually roots for reaching goals and reaching equality within its hidden charts. Communism on the other hand, I see it as a fake utopian state of what the world should be at some mornings.”, he explains.
Meanwhile, he also believes that communism is the perfect framework to analyze the contradictions that the current system is delivering. “If done right, communism can turn to be the scope that we can use to find alternatives.”, he insists. In addition, he claims that this ideology is often blamed for its failures since it is not as flexible as capitalism, “the lack of flexibility in communism from past ages only kept alive the imbalances that communism was supposed to fight”, he elaborates.
If communism is the tool that can actually be used in finding the flaws in the current system and can push for more equality and freedom, then you might call me a d*mn communist
Youssef Benchourfa
Zineb Bourchouk, the feminist
Zineb Bourchouk, senior student majoring in development studies, expressed her views on her adoption of feminism as her ideology. For her, feminism is about creating equity, “it is as much about giving women the same salaries as it is about erasing our deeply rooted patriarchal traditions and beliefs”, she explains. In fact, she had many conversations with many people about feminism at AUI, “one of the main ideas that I constantly find myself defending is the need to de-colonize feminism in Morocco”, she insists. In this case, it is important to note that some people link their ideas to their identity. It becomes more than just a belief in a thought but rather a determining aspect of one’s personality.
It brings me so much joy to see young people adopt feminism to the context of Morocco and its society
Zineb Bourchouk
Wissal Chafik, the overly-tired feminist
Wissal is one of the students who considers her ideological affiliations as a determining underground for her identity, “I am a socialist and a feminist by heart and nature, and I don’t imagine a world where I wouldn’t be that way”, she explains. She attributes all of her life aspects to who she is. Wissal considers herself as someone who always stands for injustice, sexism and tries to fight for equality, “As someone who believes in social change inherently, I try to share my knowledge and the help that I could provide to anyone”, she insists.
I even chose to seek a path in humanities instead of business for example, because, I would not be comfortable with the idea of studying something that does not match who I am or just for the sakes of having a great career, not that one in International Relations isn’t 😉
Wissal Chafik
Idir Moukhlis, a silent socialist
Idir Moukhlis, MBA students who sees himself as a socialist, he expresses his views about the absence of indoctrination and political factions in the university. He considers himself a socialist because he believes that everyone should be given the same chances to succeed regardless of their background. In addition, he believes that a state-run welfare system is needed to guarantee basic needs for all citizens. “Since I came to AUI, I didn’t really have many discussions about the matter, so I cannot speak of the ideologies of other students.”, he claims.
I noticed that there is an absence of political factions trying to convince or “indoctrinate” new students to join them and I think that could be a reason why the topic is not present in our daily conversations
Idir Moukhlis
To conclude, AUI is considered to be a melting pot of ideologies and political belongings. Most importantly, the values of respect and tolerance are what make the confrontation of different ideologies and views a peaceful and constructive one rather than negative. However, there is always room for improvement when it comes to student involvement politically either at AUI or at a national level.
