From 12 million dirhams to the new alliance… Who wants to shape the fate of the National Council?
By Najiba Jalal
In the life of nations, there are moments where small details intertwine with major destinies, where fleeting decisions coexist with transformations that quietly shape the coming years. In Morocco, as in other places, politics often moves behind the scenes, while the stage appears exposed to those who wish to see and hidden from those who prefer not to perceive.
I return here to a not-so-distant year, a year in which twelve million dirhams were spent under a title that seemed social at the time, yet bore an unmistakable scent from the moment it was born. It was the scent of a deal meant to pass quietly, a gentle bow before the birth of the law establishing the National Council of the Press. Checks were distributed, smiles were painted, and everyone either knew or pretended not to know that what was happening was not support but rather an attempt to buy media tranquility before crossing a sensitive turning point.
No one said what needed to be said that day, perhaps because the moment required silence, or perhaps because it suited some voices to forget. But the truth, no matter how long it takes, shows its true face. That money was not a charitable act; it was a carefully crafted political temptation, placed even more carefully in the hands of those who could ensure calm.
Today, the story returns, but this time, the protagonist is not money; rather, it is a media front forming, resembling that strange mixture of Islamists with their traditional allies in the Socialist Union, while the Justice and Spirituality organization looms large, alongside voices that have found in media chaos a reason to persist.
This front does not announce itself, yet it moves clearly. It does not state its intentions outright but excels at insinuation. It speaks the language of rights, yet operates under the logic of politics, seeking to topple the proposed law of the National Council of the Press not in defense of freedom, but to preserve influence, to reclaim lost privilege, or to prevent a new system from seeing the light.
It is our right to ask: Are these individuals today seeking a different kind of bribe? Not necessarily money, for the tools and the times have changed, but a bribe in terms of influence, symbolic weight, and the power to define journalism itself. Who is a journalist? Who has the right to represent the profession? Who funds it, and who speaks on its behalf?
The battle today is not one over a law but rather a struggle for the soul of the profession. Just as the twelve million were an attempt to buy a moment of silence, the noise we hear now is an attempt to purchase a moment of chaos.
Therefore, the question many tried to bury is now more pressing than ever. Are we witnessing a reproduction of the old deal but with new tools, a new language, and new actors? Or are we facing a final attempt by an alliance sensing its end to grasp the remaining space in a sector whose maps, consciousness, and balance of power have shifted?
Morocco is entering a phase defined by confrontation rather than compromise. And while the era of checks has passed, the time for buying chaos will not be easy; the ground has shifted, the scene has changed, and those who sold silence yesterday are no longer capable of purchasing the future today.
