Algeria: Morocco’s Obsession and the Shadow of a Flag
✍️ BY: Dr. Hana Saada
Algiers – November 2025 – In the intricate theatre of Maghrebi geopolitics, there are rivalries born of interests and there are obsessions born of inferiority. What separates Algeria and Morocco is not a mere line on a map, but a deep psychological chasm — one between a nation that chose dignity as destiny and another that turned politics into a marketplace of expedience.
Since independence, Algeria has walked a path carved by sacrifice, sovereignty, and the indelible will of its martyrs. Morocco, meanwhile, has remained haunted by a question it cannot silence: how did a country that rose from the ashes of colonialism manage to eclipse its monarchical neighbor in stature, legitimacy, and moral weight?
The problem has never been Algeria. The problem lies in every regime that fails to understand how freedom, once earned in blood, can never be bought or traded. Algeria became a mirror — an uncomfortable one — reflecting what Morocco could never be: a nation standing upright, unbent by foreign dictate, unowned by palaces or patrons.
The Covered Flag — and the Uncovered Complex
When Moroccan ambassador Omar Hilal audaciously covered the Algerian flag at the UN Security Council, he was not hiding a piece of fabric; he was concealing a national complex. That flag, draped in defiance, represents a history too luminous for his trembling fingers. In that gesture, Morocco’s diplomacy revealed its psychology — a monarchy trembling before the very symbol of liberation that it never truly achieved.
For Algeria, the flag is sacred; it was dyed in the blood of one and a half million martyrs. For Morocco’s regime, it is a haunting reminder that sovereignty cannot be decreed — it must be earned.
The Obsession of Comparison
Turn on a Moroccan television and the fixation is unmistakable: Algeria’s name punctuates every report, every debate, every barometer of supposed progress. Be it in military capability, diplomacy, economy, or even football — the obsession persists. It is a pathological comparison, a ceaseless attempt to measure up to a neighbor who, ironically, is not even competing.
Algeria moves quietly, anchored in principle, while Morocco performs anxiously, as if every Algerian success were a personal affront. It is not rivalry — it is envy institutionalized.
The Western Sahara — The Mirror of Denial
Nowhere is Morocco’s psychological fracture more exposed than in the Western Sahara. Every time Algeria reaffirms the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination, Rabat’s discourse collapses into hysteria — accusing, deflecting, and distorting. Algeria is not a party to the conflict, yet Morocco drags her into every narrative to disguise the simple truth: that international law is not on its side.
The more Algeria stands by justice, the more the Makhzen trembles — for its throne is built on sand, not sovereignty.
When Success Becomes a Threat
Each Algerian diplomatic victory, every African or Arab summit hosted with grace, and every principled stance on Palestine or decolonization triggers a familiar reaction in Rabat: denial, disdain, or discredit. Algeria’s success, to Morocco’s monarchy, feels like an existential challenge — proof that legitimacy is earned through integrity, not intrigue.
Sports, Arts, and the Anxiety of Recognition
Even in the arenas of sports and culture, the syndrome persists. A football victory for Algeria is portrayed as provocation; an Algerian artist’s international recognition becomes an opportunity for appropriation or comparison. It is as though Morocco’s establishment cannot tolerate Algerian excellence without trying to contain or explain it away.
The Empty Hand of Hypocrisy
Morocco’s oft-repeated rhetoric of a “hand extended” towards Algeria has long lost its credibility. It is not a gesture of peace but a performance for diplomacy — a hollow phrase recited for applause, not reconciliation. In Rabat’s corridors of power, every mention of Algeria serves one purpose: to define themselves by her reflection, never by their own reality.
For Algeria, silence is not indifference; it is confidence. The nation of November does not look back — it looks upward, guided by the memory of its martyrs who taught that the head bows only in prayer, and the hand extends only to give, not to beg.
Algeria Does Not Compete — It Defines the Standard
To anger the insincere is to prove one’s authenticity. Algeria’s calm dignity unsettles those whose power depends on illusion. While Morocco performs before cameras and alliances, Algeria builds — steadily, silently, sovereignly.
In the end, Algeria is not the rival Morocco fears; she is the measure by which dignity itself is weighed. And as the winds cross the Atlas, they carry with them a truth that no monarchy can conceal beneath any flag: there is a homeland beyond the mountains, free and unbending, that neither envies nor imitates — because it already is what others pretend to be.
Adapted from:
https://www.aljazairalyoum.dz/الجزائر-عقدة-المغرب-عندما-يرعب-العلم-مملكة-أبو-رغال/
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