Memes and the Moroccan Far-Right

Paolo Gerbaudo,Cristina Moreno-Almeida

doi:10.1177/1940161221995083

Paolo Gerbaudo, Cristina Moreno-Almeida

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161221995083

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Abstract

Facebook meme pages in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have flared-up in the past decade. Since 2017, some Moroccan pages have started sharing exclusively patriarchal, ultra- and ethnonationalist, misogynist, and racist content shaped to look in line with “alt-right” online aesthetics. Self-identifying as right-wing, these pages have memetized an entire ecosystem of scapegoats as enemies of the nation. Furthermore, they have rescued symbols from the past, such as the late King Hassan II or the Marinid flag, to formally establish the Moroccan Right. In view of this trend, this paper examines Moroccan Facebook meme pages that share ultranationalist content and build on a scapegoating strategy to understand how Far-Right ideologies have been adapted in the MENA. Through multimodal discourse analysis of memes posted since 2017 until April 2020, this paper studies the ways in which the revival of Far-Right tropes is contributing to reshaping local digital political landscapes and pushing toward an Arab Right. By examining a collection of over 1,600 memes, our paper argues that this new online Moroccan Far-Right discourse is adapting Far-Right views, particularly in terms of gender and race, to local politics. This research contends that internet memes are effectively acting as an entry point in the creation of a Moroccan Far-Right. As a newly formed trend, however, the Moroccan Far Right is still negotiating its main tenets.

Highlights

In recent years in Morocco, Facebook meme pages reproducing ultranationalist, antifeminist, and antimigration themes have been blooming
How Far-Right groups in Morocco use Facebook pages and groups to spread their propaganda? What kind of tropes and language are used in self-declared right-wing memes Facebook pages? What are the main targets of these memes, and how do they contribute to the scapegoating culture pursued by the Far-Right? And to what extent are these altogether new phenomena or rather the evolution of conservative views already present in the political arena?
Returning to our research questions, the use of specific threads associated with the Far-Right such as ultranationalism and hate speech embodied in memes suggest the rise of a Far-Right in Morocco through Facebook meme pages

Summary

Introduction

In recent years in Morocco, Facebook meme pages reproducing ultranationalist, antifeminist, and antimigration themes have been blooming. These combine populist and nationalist narratives while employing racist and misogynist language These online discourses assert the superiority of the Arab, light-skinned, heterosexual, and male conservative Moroccan and antagonize minorities and leftists who are accused of endangering the nation. Over the last decades the Makhzen—the central political establishment surrounding the monarchy formed by political and economic ruling elites which provides the country’s administrative structure, legal framework, and military manpower to increase the monarchy’s authority—has promoted neoliberal economic policies together with a discourse of democratization and openness informed by liberal values, despite the ongoing persecution of journalists and leaders of social movements This neoliberal consensus is challenged by the rise of a different ultranationalist sentiment. After discussing methodology and data collection, it delves into the two main contents of Moroccan Far-Right

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