Al Maghrib - April 30, 1937.
The misfortunes provoked by the economic crisis spreading over the country constitute the central theme of what is preoccupying Moroccans irrespective of their social standing. This is because the misery which became established in the midst of the lower and middle classes has also reached the well-off; making those among them who find themselves distressed by the pangs of hunger feel more merciful towards the poor by comforting them with a slice of bread or money.
Each time the situation gets worse and the country's resources diminish, the discussions about the origins of the crisis grow in number and the remarks about the search for the causes of the malaise grow in variety. In fact, crises seldom produce the same effects because they do not orignate from the same causes. They vary according to the circumstances and the influence exerted by the organizational structure that the nation put in place to establish a certain harmony between production and consumption. When there is a rupture in the equilibrium between these two important factors, the crisis becomes the main topic of discussion in the public forum.
By navigating through the elements unleashed by the economic storm so as to avoid difficulties which deteriorate from day to day, the western countries hope to come through this test triumphantly. They wish to resume a normal way of life and to find a less catastrophic economic environment than that which they must face now. That day will not come by hazard, as one would have thought in times past. In fact in order for Morocco to pull through this present crisis, it is indispensable that efforts must be supplied from several areas, that serious studies are conducted on the cause of this economic crisis, that all thoughtful men participate in refining the medicinal procedures that are needed and that the press is the privileged site where study of the origins of this evil and where one can reach a correct view of the most appropriate means by which to fight it.
In its fifth edition Al Maghrib published an extremely interesting study of the Moroccan economic crisis by Professor Allal Al Fassi in which he inferred:
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that the cause of this crisis stems from the expropriation of Moroccan farmland to the benefit of the colonial settlers to whom these lands were offered as if they were a legitimate prize.
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that dozens of families who lived in the countryside were relieved of all their possessions and are no longer able to provide for their needs
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that the result has been a rural exodus of unprecedented proportions towards the cities, creating an undescribable congestion in places once reserved only for the city-dweller.
On our part, we can only appreciate this point of view based on its face value and to see in the expropriation of our agricultural lands a calamity leading Morocco to destitution, without it taking the slightest heed or becoming aware of the danger that this represents. Nevertheless we don't believe that this is the unique cause of the crisis which has sapped the wealth of our country.
There is here a factor of primordial importance that we can not allow to remain unvoiced and to which we must accord all the attention it deserves. This pertains to the deep distress that marks our lives and to the fact that what we are capable of producing on the material level is no longer on par with our ambitions. Today there is an enormous moat between the needs we wish to achieve and our potential to participate in the creation of these needs.
And so that is how the the daily life of a peasant, despite its simplicity and the scantiness of its means, considers in our time, as indispensable that which it did not even understand yesterday or that which it had at the least classified as a secondary item in the list of its needs. Today the peasant must climb aboard a train or ride a car, must wear clothes whose fabric was made by foreign hands; he must feed himself with nourishment not produced in Morocco and to drink green tea which comes from the ends of the earth. The peasant drifts with uncertainty over these contingencies. When he enters the city he sees greener grass to satisfy his desires and to give free reign to his whims.
As far as the laborer is concerned, he has seen his expenses multiply. His obligations for living in present society have taken enormous proportions whereas heretofore they were much more modest and confined to the most vital of expenses. Today he is condemned to live above his means and engages in spending which a simple manual laborer can not afford.
The merchant, considered a member of the privileged class in our midst, despite the depressed condition of his resources, wants to be seen through the deceiving appearance of ostentation and grandeur.
Are we therefore capable of producing whatever is of interest with regards to what is consumed by our poor peasant, our simple worker and our merchant who is on the verge of brankruptcy? Do we not see that we all we are consuming comes to us from abroad and that our wealth is slipping little by little into the pockets of outsiders while we continue to lead the good life in a crisis? Do we not see that we lament our misfortune while waiting for conditions to change. But this change will not happen until Morocco becomes engaged in the path of development and progress. The problem is to find out if we will work so that our country effectively takes this path.
