Moroccan author publishes book compiling 'Ain Al Aql' articles

Moroccan novelist and poet Mohamed Achaari has just published a book that compiles a number of articles he had previously written as part of the op-ed “Ain Al Aql” (path of wisdom) in the Arabic-speaking daily newspaper Al Ittihad Al Ichtiraki.

In his presentation of this rather voluminous work (741 pages, medium format), the author tells his readers about his hesitation to publish it because this kind of opinion article tends to reflect a reaction and a commentary concerning a current topic, before changing his mind for two reasons.

First, in response to suggestions from his friends who urged him to republish these articles, which are an eloquent testimony of a highly significant political era in the history of Morocco, marked by major national, Arab, and international events, including social demands in Morocco, the Palestinian cause, the war in Iraq and the collapse of the Soviet bloc.

“These articles that comment on these events with an informative purpose, often in a satirical form, are still relevant because they offer the possibility of reading them from an angle other than that of immediacy, and are therefore a testimony of an era that goes back more than 30 years,” he explained.

The second reason behind the publication of the book is that these articles reflect “my close relationship with writing and my passion for the Arabic language in which I express myself.”

Referring, moreover, to the motivations behind the publication of his op-ed ”Ain Al Aql” signed initially under the pseudonym ”Abu Fares”, Mohamed Achaari reveals that the idea was initially to write a “brief and satirical bill “, but, over time, it turned into a digest that echoes opinions shared by many people, before becoming, like any other post, a counter-opinion that is difficult, if not impossible, to dissociate from the political and ideological referential that shapes it.

On the relevance of rereading articles published three decades ago, he believes that these writings can be approached as a model of classical journalism of the time, at a time when political life was going through a painful transformation in order to open a new page in the history of the country, but also as a testimony to a time when the partisan press occupied a prominent place in the profession, in the absence of the internet, smartphones and social media.

In this regard, he argued, the book could help more or less shed light on the period before the political alternation, marked, among other things, by social demands, political issues, differences on political reform, amendment of electoral laws, and the organization of transparent elections.

He considered that it is necessary today to deliver an objective criticism on this political experience in order to define a new vision of change and not to linger on the unlikely ruptures, noting that “today, Morocco needs a new project carried by new generations in a context marked by the decay of parties, the atony of trade unions, and the disaffection of citizens for politics.”

The author finally wishes to emphasize that he dedicated his book to his friends Mustapha Qarchaoui; a journalist who died in 2005 at the age of 66, and journalist Mohamed Brini, noting that his work can also be considered as belonging to the genre of literary journalism for its way of approaching hidden facets of reality that can only be possible through literature.

Born in 1951 in Moulay Idriss Zerhoun (Meknes), Mohamed Achaari published his first collection of poetry “Neighing of Wounded Horses” in 1978. In 2020, he received the prestigious international Argana prize of poetry.

Former president of the Union of Moroccan Writers (1989-1996), he has worked in journalism, including as editor of several supplements and literary magazines. Also known for his political and trade union commitment, he sat in Parliament after the 1997 legislative elections before being appointed Minister of Culture and Communication (1998-2007).

Mohamed Achaari is the author of several novels and short stories, some of which have received prestigious awards, including “Bow and Butterfly” (Arab Booker Prize in 2011), “Box of Names”, “Three Nights” or “Wood and Soil” , published in September 2021 by Al Moutawassit Editions.