The Rhetoric of Transitional Justice: Negotiating the Years of Lead in Morocco Fadoua Loudiy
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Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fall 2010 The Rhetoric of Transitional Justice: Negotiating the Years of Lead in Morocco Fadoua Loudiy Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Loudiy, F. (2010). The Rhetoric of Transitional Justice: Negotiating the Years of Lead in Morocco (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/835 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE RHETORIC OF TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE: NEGOTIATING THE YEARS OF LEAD IN MOROCCO A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Fadoua Loudiy December 2010 Copyright by Fadoua Loudiy 2010 THE RHETORIC OF TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE: NEGOTIATING THE YEARS OF LEAD IN MOROCCO By Fadoua Loudiy Approved October 29, 2010 ________________________________ ________________________________ Calvin Troup Jane H. Fritz Professor of Communication Professor of Communication (Committee Chair) (Committee Member) ________________________________ ________________________________ Kathleen G. Roberts Ronald C. Arnett Professor of Communication Professor of Communication (Committee Member) (Committee Member) ________________________________ ________________________________ Christopher M. Duncan Ronald Arnett, Chair Dean, McAnulty Graduate Department of Communication and School of Liberal Arts Rhetorical Studies Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry iii Professor of Mathematics ABSTRACT THE RHETORIC OF TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE: NEGOTIATING THE YEARS OF LEAD IN MOROCCO By Fadoua Loudiy December 2010 Dissertation supervised by Dr. Calvin Troup Transitional justice refers to the variety of rhetorical practices and discourses (restorative and retributive) that nations engage in during the aftermath of state criminality. While examples of mass political violence abound, this inquiry focuses on the Moroccan experience of coming to terms with the Years of Lead where financial reparations have been the primary mode of redress for victims. The philosophy of Paul Ricoeur contributes to a praxis-oriented understanding of transitional justice. This work advances a rhetoric of symbolic justice that privileges the public memory of victims. Symbolic justice offers hope for the renewal of the community‟s ethos through public discourse and practices that seek to restore the capacity of citizens within their society. iv DEDICATION This project is dedicated to my aunt Saida Menebhi, my parents Khadija Menebhi and Aziz Loudiy, my grandparents, all the victims of the Years of Lead, and to Leyth and Lilya. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation owes much to the support and encouragement of many people. My children, Leyth and Lilya, have been incredible troopers throughout this endeavor, constantly asking me: “Mom, are you a Doctor yet?!” Their patience, exuberance and love have been the fuel that kept me going and, for that, I say shu’kran, merci and thank you! My husband, Andrew Smith, has shown me that love has indeed many idioms and, for that, I am forever grateful. Many victims of the Years of Lead in Morocco have shared with me their experiences, frustrations and hopes and I am forever in their debt. I am thankful to my Dissertation director, Dr. Calvin Troup, for his guidance and thought-provoking discussions. This work has much benefited from Dr. Troup‟s intellectual engagement and pertinent questions. My Committee members, Dr. Ronald C. Arnett, Dr. Janie Harden Fritz, Dr. Kathleen Glenister Roberts have been wonderful mentors. My intellectual journey has been enriched with their teaching and intellectual generosity. Finally, I am grateful to my family for their unwavering support, and to my friends for their continuous engagement and encouragement. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv Dedication ............................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ vi Chapter One: The Urgency of the Past ...............................................................................1 The Moroccan Context ............................................................................................2 Public Memory as Engagement with the Past..........................................................6 Paul Ricoeur‟s Contribution to Transitional Justice ..............................................11 Chapter Two: The Rhetoric of Transitional Justice ..........................................................19 A Historical and Theoretical Framework ..............................................................22 Retribution: A Just Punishment? ..........................................................................26 Restorative Justice: Repairing the Communal Bond ............................................31 Truth Commissions, Reconciliation and the Aporia of Forgiveness .....................37 The Rhetoric of Reparations, Restitutions and Compensations.............................50 Between Remembrance and Oblivion: The Praxis of Memory ............................62 Chapter Three: The Years of Lead in Morocco: A Rhetorical Account ...........................70 The Alaoui Dynasty‟s Rhetoric of the Divine .......................................................76 The Years of Lead: A Culture of Violence ..........................................................86 Demands for Change..............................................................................................94 The State‟s Rhetoric of Financial Compensation ................................................106 Truth and Accountability .....................................................................................112 Partial Truths ........................................................................................................124 vii Chapter Four: Paul Ricoeur and the Praxis of Justice.....................................................128 Narrative Identity, History and Memory .............................................................130 Tragic Action and Suffering ................................................................................137 The Just: Beyond the Good and the Legal ..........................................................145 The Limits of Justice for the Victims of the Years of Lead.................................152 Chapter Five: Toward a Rhetoric of Symbolic Justice ...................................................155 Coordinates of Symbolic Justice ..........................................................................158 Recognition and capacity .....................................................................................158 Imputability ..........................................................................................................163 Solicitude..............................................................................................................165 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................167 Works Cited .....................................................................................................................179 viii Chapter One: The Urgency of the Past We cannot change it at will, but we can work on it until we have a past that leads to a future we can be proud of. --Joshua Foa Dienstag History is riddled with violent events involving millions of innocent victims, including the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, Hiroshima, the Rwandan genocide, Apartheid, the Darfur massacres, to mention just a few. Even for those of us who have not lived through any these events, these names are etched in our memories as historical markers that evoke injustice, grief and suffering. One cannot help but wonder how fellow human beings can be capable of such evil, and how do their victims recover from these experiences of victimhood and injustice. More specifically, how do persons and communities work through experiences of violence and injustice that strip them of their humanity and capacity to act as citizens? This process of negotiating (or working on) the past is commonly referred to as transitional justice. As I explain in chapter two, this metaphor and associated practices emerged (or re-emerged) after World War II but it is truly the South African experience of transitional justice after the end of the Apartheid regime that popularized it. Such popularity was due primarily to the leadership involved (Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu) as well as the restorative approach adopted (truth and reconciliation commissions). There are other ways to engage mass criminality at a national level, such as retribution (Nuremberg trials) or even choosing not to engage it at all, like the Spaniards decided after the death of Franco in the early 1970s (the Pact of Oblivion). However, for those who lost family and friends during the civil war in Spain, the decision 1 not to engage