First, the use of Darija, even in writing, is not new. There is an old literary form called Zajal, a poetry that uses Darija and doesn’t abide by the traditional rules of the classical Arabic poetry (centuries old Abderrahman Almajdoub is a perfect example). Also tens of newspapers have used Darija, mainly for citing jokes and in cartoons.

What’s new is the call for “institutionalizing” and standardizing the dialect to become a new language in place of the standard Arabic, an effort that has no apparent benefits in advancing literacy, culture and science in Morocco. It seems that this call is politically motivated by those who want to keep the dominance of the French language in workplace, media and education (especially university level) in the country.

Arabic and Tamazight advocates are now challenging the unfair competition of French imposed by the Moroccan elite (mainly French educated). An example of the unfairness is the public the above-mentioned TV channel, 2M, which broadcast 70% of its programs in French (the remaining 30% is shared by Darija, Arabic and Tamazight)

The channel was once a failed subscription-based French joint-venture that was saved by our government, and it’s now funded by taxes levied through electricity bills (which means everyone who uses electricity pays for the TV station!). In a country where rate of literacy is less than 50%, it is hard to find an argument for using a foreign language in a public TV. No wonder most of Moroccans use satellite TV to tune in to foreign arabic channels such as Al Jazeera.