Morocco's football Ultras stand with Palestine in the face of normalisation

"We love our mothers, Palestine, and Raja," said Simo, a 26-year-old fan of the Moroccan football club, as he tried to explain the holy trinity of Morocco’s Ultras, a term used to refer to the most passionate members of a football team’s fanbase.

Born and raised in Casablanca, Simo made his decision early in life, at just six years old, to support Raja CA instead of Wydad AC, the city’s main other team and Raja’s arch nemesis.

The decision is a potentially life-changing one for every Bidaoui (Casablancan), where the team you support can define your friendships, your dating life, and potentially even your career.

Twenty years later, Simo still has that kind of teenage radiance when he speaks about the team. Among his fellow fans, he feels free to express himself in chants against the government, poverty, and colonisation.

"Football stadiums in Morocco have long guaranteed a higher level of freedom of speech for fans than the streets ever could"

One of his favourite chants of all time is “Rajawi Filistini”, or Rajawi Palestinian, a fan favourite turned terrace anthem.

“We will never leave you alone, Gaza, even though you are far away from us,” chant the green Raja supporters at the packed stadium of Mohamed V in Casablanca during almost every home game.

The pro-Palestine chant made its international debut at the Qatar World Cup last year when a group of Ultra members were filmed singing ‘Rajawi Filistini’ among the cheers of other football fans from around the world, bringing their energy from Morocco to Qatar's stadiums.

The history of Morocco's Ultras

Football Ultras are hardcore fans who will go to extreme lengths to support their favourite teams. The culture is particularly popular among young men.

Dressing identically, religiously memorising all their team’s chants and statistics, and being ready to call out the team’s management, but never betraying their loyalty no matter how often they lose, are a few of the many values that Ultras share.

Ultras first emerged as a subculture in the late 1960s and 1970s in Italy, primarily as pseudo-paramilitary groups with names that carried militaristic connotations.

In Morocco, most researchers and football enthusiasts agree that the start of Ultras culture in the North African Kingdom can be traced back to 2005 with Raja CA's Ultras, known as the Green Boys.

In the following years, other Ultras were established for prominent club teams, such as The Winners for Casablanca’s Wydad AC and The Fatal Tigers for Fes’ Maghreb Association Sportive (MAS).

In Italy, the original Ultras were heavily politically involved and the rivalries extended beyond sport into political ideology. Many openly supported far-right policies, honoured Mussolini with tattoos or used fascist salutes.

Others, like the Ultras of the working-class city of Livorno, regularly displayed communist symbols at their matches and sang anti-fascist songs like Bella Ciao and Bandiera Rossa.

But in Morocco, the political messages of rival Ultras often sound largely identical, with no clear doctrine.

“In Morocco, Ultras are not directly indoctrinated yet, their political messages are very much inspired by their upbringing and they can sound contradictory or naive sometimes,'' a MAS fan told The New Arab.

Mostly born and raised in working-class neighbourhoods across Morocco, where denouncing the government and Israel’s occupation of Palestine are common moral compasses, these attitudes are reflected in the chorus emanating from Curvas - areas of stadiums designated for Ultra fans - as they chant for a country they were brought up to love as their own.

"'We will never leave you alone, Gaza, even though you are far away from us,' chant Raja supporters in Casablanca during almost every home game"

State vs Ultras on Palestine

Late in 2020, Morocco normalised ties with Israel under US auspices. With the exception of some radical nationalists and elites who argue the economic benefits of normalisation, the vast majority of Moroccans oppose ties with Israel.

During the World Cup, Israeli officials took issue with the impassioned support for Palestine among Morocco’s football team - the Atlas Lions - and its fans.

Israeli media even contacted Tel Aviv’s envoy to Rabat for an explanation, who claimed that the Atlas Lions’ display of the Palestinian flag after each win was not “the King’s will”. Moroccan officials have never commented on this.

Football stadiums in Morocco have long guaranteed a higher level of freedom of speech for fans than the streets ever could. As public protests continue to be limited, and timid, due to repression, stadiums are allowed to be loud and wild.

“Football is the arena of expression permitted by secret understanding between the ruler and the ruled in the dungeon of Arab democracy that threatens to suffocate its jailed and jailers together,” wrote Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish in ‘Memory for Forgetfulness’.

But in Morocco, that dungeon might be getting more restrictive. Recently, some fans have reported being denied entry to stadiums while wearing the Palestinian flag. Another fan said they were held in custody for trying to sneak the Palestinian flag into the African Women’s World Cup last year.

“The current government is working to turn football into the effective soft power that it is, especially after what the national team achieved and the probability of organising the Africa Cup or World Cup,” a Raja fan told The New Arab.

Since their return from the World Cup, members of the Atlas Lions, namely coach Walid Reguragui, have featured heavily in the media at events with senior politicians, who have co-opted the team’s impressive achievements as that of the government, a tactic many fans refuse.

"With the exception of some radical nationalists and elites who argue the economic benefits of normalisation, the vast majority of Moroccans oppose ties with Israel"

Still, the Ultras continue to be largely out of the government’s reach. Mostly self-sponsored by merchandise sales, these football fandoms continue to hold significant power over the Moroccan masses who are disenchanted with the state. 

“It would be a dream come true for the government if Ultras disappear, and the clashes among supporters are something the authorities fuel directly and indirectly,” said a Raja fan.

“But we lack the theorising it requires to turn this power into something that puts pressure on the government to revise the normalisation with Israel,” added the fan.

Basma El Atti is The New Arab's correspondent in Morocco.

Follow her on Twitter: @elattibasma