Mothers Raising Movements: the Struggle of Moroccan Families for the New Left Political Prisoners and the Victims of Enforced Disappearance (1972–2005)

This article examines the movement formed by the relatives of the Moroccan New Left’s political prisoners, which emerged in the early 1970s. The Movement of Political Prisoners’ Families (MPPF) was characterised by the almost-exclusive participation of political prisoners’ mothers, wives, and sisters who defied social norms by protesting, occupying public spaces, and demanding truth and justice for the victims of political repression during the Years of Lead (1965–1995). The article analyses the articulation of female leadership and the convergences between different generations. It devotes specific focus to the role of the mothers – both from subaltern and underprivileged social contexts, and from already politicised backgrounds – and their transformative participation within the MPPF. It also addresses the evolutions of the MPPF with the emergence, since the early 1990s, of an activism specifically focused on the victims of enforced disappearance. Ultimately, the article underscores that, through their testimonies and activism, some political prisoners’ mothers have become icons of civic resistance in most recent times.