It is not true that Morocco was an exception in the Arab Spring. It is experiencing it in a way that is different and calmer, one in which there is no place for voices other than those of reason and realism across the spectrum. Indeed, revolution can take place without hangings and bloodshed. It is a transformation within which desire and ability interact with a lesser extent of tension and enthusiasm. And Moroccans were entitled to their own spring, which turned around several notions and equations without turning the tables. Three milestones reflect several aspects of the transformations quietly taking place. In the forefront is the fact that the country anticipated the storm by holding legislative elections ahead of their scheduled date, in light of the new constitution which made it imperative for the political situation to adapt to the necessities of change. The second milestone consists of what such a course involved in terms of the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD – Parti de la Justice et du Développement) overwhelming the political scene, helped in this by the fact that it benefited from the set of constitutional reforms that were enacted, so much that it seemed as if the new system had been tailored to fit it. And the Islamists, who had not been counting on more than a few ministerial positions, were at the forefront of those amazed by the quick succession of events. As for the third milestone, it was the product of nature, the impact of which human beings are powerless to resist. When it seemed that the new government would be facing the wrath of heaven, in the form of lack of rain and sustained drought, the rain fell unexpectedly and saved the sector in a country that remains under the mercy of agriculture, about which French General Lyautey once said that it governs more than any laws or elites do. Those who know Morocco consider that what the years of drought in the 1980s did to the country was harsher than any unsound policies. Thus, nature alone ensures rectifying the economic and social landscape, contrary to all predictions and analyses. And it is lucky for the government that nature is not working against it, as is the case with the opposition, in the arena of political struggle. If it is understood that the countries that were shaken by the Arab Spring did not anchor their sails at the shore of the democratic awareness that governs relations, rulings and positions, the repercussions of the conflicts between conservative forces and angry voices reach their full extent in the struggle taking place at the political level, the latter having moved to all assets and positions being utilized. Thus, waving the threat of financial scandals that have been unveiled means only that the struggle has begun to go out of control. Although the government did not bare its fangs and threaten of prosecutions in confronting the lobbies of corruption that have nestled among the folds of the administration and in the centers of economic influence, growing fears that it might resort to a “witch-hunt" have turned into a kind of policy, at the very least in terms of seeking the protection of laws and procedures that allow for benefiting from wealth in ways devoid of transparency. Yet the core of the debate is not taking place between some laws and others, but rather between authorities accustomed to monopoly and others that yearn to eradicate this phenomenon by the authority of the change sought by the people. And it is paradoxical for the country to be drowning in foreign and domestic debts, and in various forms of social estrangement between segments of the population and between urban and rural areas, while its senior official enjoy such generous remuneration, making them rank among the wealthy of the world. The first Moroccan government produced by the ballot boxes faces an arduous task, particularly as the battle that began under the banner of emerging democracy no longer faces political abstention or the dominance of punitive voting alone, but has opened the gates of the true terra incognita, in reform that tears down the fortresses of resistance. It is a more decisive round than that of the struggle of elites. And the Moroccan government's problem may well be that it has taken away fears and pretexts concerning any utilization of religious authority, and has headed against all expectations towards sowing fears of a different kind in the hearts of those opposed to reform and change. This too is another picture of a Moroccan Spring of a different kind, saved by the rain before the rope tightened around its neck – a rope held by those who seek the head of the PJD at any cost and under any pretext.
