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The theme of the rally was, "Touche Pas Mon Pays!" which translates to "Don't Touch My Country!" If you look closely at the picture above you can see some of the kids carrying the signs with a red hand of Fatima and "Touche Pas Mon Pays!" written in Arabic on the palm. This is the antiterrorism symbol of Morocco. The children wore their school uniforms, carried signs and flags and chanted as they marched towards the Place. Overall the march was quite orderly, but the police did have to pick up one tramp near the Café Mogador who was drunk and would not get out of the street. When the march arrived in the Place, the director guided the students to their proper places around an impromptu stage set up near the center of the garden by the fish stalls. Then an Imam led the town dignitaries to the front of the students and a photographer quickly snapped some pictures. The rally started with the singing of the National Anthem and the raising of the flag by two boy scouts on a flagpole erected just for this occasion. Unfortunately, the bottom tie of the flag came off about half way up so the flag flapped helplessly by one string for the rest of the ceremony. I think demerit badges were definitely in order. Next came four speakers. The first speaker was the Imam and he spoke gently and convincingly for about 5 minutes. He wore a grey fir hat, a grey jallaba and reminded me of old pictures of Muhammad V. Then a boy and a girl of about 12 gave excited 2 minute speeches with lots of loud "LA's" ("No's). The featured speaker was a seventeen year old girl. Her hair was in a ponytail and she wore a "Touche Pas Mon Pays!" t-shirt, brown slacks and black high heels. She spoke softly and was really quite eloquent. I wish I could have understood her words. When she finished the crowd gently clapped and the director went over to a cage and released about 20 pigeons as a sign of peace. It was a really nice ceremony and I was glad too see that Morocco is not forgetting this terrible event. I was in Essaouira three years to this day and I remember the bombings. It was a very sad. In total 55 people lost their lives, 12 of them suicide bombers. This was the deadliest terrorist attack in Morocco's history. People in Essaouira were outraged. It made it even more outrageous that all of the bombers were Moroccans. The men and women aged 20 to 25 came from the shanty towns of Sidi Moumen, one of the worst ghettos in Casablanca. I could hear people talk about the attack in the Cafe, but these conversations were always held in Arabic so I could not tell what they were saying. I did know from the tone of the voices that people were upset. The town was tense and instantly filled with police. A few nights after the attack, I was sharing a few beers with my friend Faulzi and he gave me his viewpoint on the event which really helped me understand how Moroccans felt. "Things like this don't happen here Ron." he said slowly. "We are a peaceful country. These bombers were young men and women, this was not right. The men who trained these people, that is who should get blown up. Did you know that most of the bombers were trained out of Morocco?" I nodded. He smiled, took a long drag off his beer, put his arm around my shoulder and said, "Ron, we do not blame America for this attack. There are evil men that do things like this. But I will tell you, America is not making anything better." I knew what he ment and thanked him for his honesty. After the attack things went a little mad in the city's expat community. Some said that the Peace Corps was going to be withdrawn and that we were all to rendezvous at the Hotel Des Isles when the violence broke out. Others talked about how we shouldn’t speak English in the cafe or gather in big groups. These were dark times in Essaouira. They say that time heals all wounds. Probably not in this case. I'm just glad those times are over and that Morocco is working to make sure something so horrible never happens again. |
