To paraphrase Hunter S. Thompson (or was it Garry Trudeau?), it's been a real kidney stone of a year. Here's looking forward to 2007!
Mabrouk El Eid to all my Moroccan friends!
Eatbees has an excellent post on the Eid.
December 2006 Archives
The Committee to Protect Journalists reports bad news all around for the Moroccan press. First, CPJ states that staff members at banned magazine Nichane have received death threats:
Benchemsi told CPJ that staff at Nichane had received death threats via phone and e-mail since the government made the charges against the publication. He said that the religious jokes involved God, angels and prophets as characters, but did not make fun of them. He added that Nichane staff did not write any of the jokes.
Second, CPJ also reports that Le Journal Hebdomadaire may close as a result of an unprecedented 3 million dirham damages award for alleged defamation in reporting on the Western Sahara. CPJ stated that Belgian journalist Claude Moniquet sued after Le Journal reported that his think tank's report on the Western Sahara was "guided by" the Moroccan government. Le Journal was denied the opportunity to introduce expert witnesses who would have testified that a report on the Western Sahara by Moniquet's think tank closely paralleled the government's position.
Moroccan magazine Nichane was recently banned by the Moroccan government for publishing popular jokes about religion, sex, and politics, which the government claimed subverted public morale and morality. Stand up for freedom of expression and sign the petition to support Nichane today. Text of the petition follows:
Petition to support Nichane
We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the unlawful ban imposed on Nichane weekly and the legal proceedings started against the editor and a journalist working for the magazine after the publication of a special report on “jokes” in Morocco.
We maintain that the ban is illegal and, in view of its form and substance, reinforces the extra-judiciary repressive measures already in force. We further believe that the ban and the legal proceedings undermine the rights and liberties established by the international authorities and human rights principles.
While we express our full and wholehearted solidarity with Nichane and call for the annulment of the ban and the dropping of the charges against its journalists, we reiterate our plea for the amendment of liberticidal laws regarding freedom of the press and freedom of opinion and thought.
Thanks to Foulla for the link. (Foulla's post includes a very attractive picture of targeted journalist Sanaa Al Aji.)
Eatbees reports a disturbing rumor that the Moroccan government's surprise shutdown of the periodical "Nichane" was prompted by pressure from the Gulf states and may reflect Saudi interference with Moroccan internal affairs.
Larbi, however, on whose blog the rumor originally appeared (in a comment from nemo), points out in a comment to eatbees that this act of censorship is unusual because it appears to be supported by a majority of the Moroccan people. At the same time,Larbi paints a grim picture of the fight for civil liberties and free expression caught between the repression of the Monarchy on one side and the widely popular Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD) on the other.
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Blank Post is a protest against the suppression of blogs by the Tunisian government. Bloggers are asked to participate by posting a blank post and nothing else for 24 hours on December 25, 2006. |
Merci a Mon Massir pour le lien.
Le Monde.fr : Maroc: Diffusion interdite d'un hebdomadaire pour atteinte à l'islam
The Palace Crackdown
Le Monde reports that the Moroccan government has taken a step away from free speech by confiscating an issue of the magazine Nichane ("Straight") for having the temerity to print jokes about "religion, sex, and politics." Most particularly, the Palace deemed the publication to have launched an "attack against Islam" and to have published writings contrary to "public morale and morals." The royal prosecutor has launched an investigation into the publisher and the journalist Sanaa Al Aji.
The American Contrast
Regardless of what idiots like Newt Gingrich believe, the First Amendment is the essential linchpin of American Democracy. Central to the First Amendment are the ideas that the government will not restrict freedom of expression and that the government will not support one religion over another. Obviously, I have not seen the jokes in question, but even if they were of the most extreme and inflammatory sort, they could be published in America without prior restraint. (Even in this dark age, jokes in print are unlikely to be considered "incitement" outside of First Amendment protection.) In this sense, unlike so many others, alas, America is a beacon to the world, and Morocco will not be a true democracy until it adopts similar principles. After all that Islam has survived, it will survive a few jokes.
The Erosion of the American Example
Of course, in the Age of Bush, nothing is straightforward. Now that prosecutors are subpoenaing journalists in the Plame affair, threatening them with prosecution in the AIPAC scandal, and otherwise making noises about prosecuting journalists if they are in receipt of "state secrets, the bloom may be off the First Amendment rose even in America.
eatbees blog ｻ Schizophrenic Morocco
Eatbees on the genius of Morocco, and why Moroccans are geniuses. (Scott Fitzgerald had it figure out.)
Go Daddy ordered to pay ex-employee $390,000
Youssef Bouamama, a Moroccan employee of Go Daddy, won an impressive victory in a case before the U.S. District Court in Arizona, the Arizona Republic Reports:
The jury said Go Daddy must pay Bouamama $250,000 in punitive damages, $135,000 in back pay and $5,000 for emotional pain and suffering.
While the award for emotional pain and suffering is minimal, the jury made a clear statement about the wrongfulness of the company's conduct in retaliating against Mr. Bouamama after he complained that he had been discriminated against because of his religion and national origin. The jury did not find that there was discrimination based on religion or national origin, the paper reports, but in general it is easier to prove a case of retaliation under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than it is to prove discrimination. In addition, the fact that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought this case, rather than Mr. Bouamama on his own, suggests that maybe the government will take a stand against discrimination and retaliation toward Muslims and Arabs in this country.
David Kearns has a succinct post on the basic elements of Muslim prayer, explained in English and translated. I agree with him that it is something every American should know a little more about.
Those who believe (in the Quran) and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures) and the Christians and the Sabaeans, any who believe in Allah, and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. T.Q., Sura 2 of 114, The Cow, verse 62.
Nadia Lamlili has a very thoughtful post (in French) discussing the underlying similarities of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and the potential for tolerance among them. Overall, she concludes that there is more room for tolerance than the adherents of the three religions are normally willing to admit.
Interview With Condoleezza Rice - washingtonpost.com
Condoleezza Rice may be whistling past the graveyard, but she has encouraging words for reform and liberalization in Morocco.
But I think if you go to the Forum for the Future and you see these non-governmental organizations gathered together and being able to sit across the table from the most conservative Arab states like Saudi Arabia all the way out to reforming states like the states of the Gulf and Jordan, it's quite an achievement and I can list the achievements: they have women voting in Kuwait, the beginning of municipal elections in Saudi Arabia; but also if you look at places like Bahrain and Oman and Morocco and Jordan, the reform agenda is alive and well. And what will we say to those people who have staked their future on reform and democracy if somehow this word disappears from American foreign policy? And so to me this is at the core.
I actually agree that the United States should support democracy. I do not think we can do this through secret government, intimidation of the press, invasions, torture, clandestine imprisonments, suspension of habeas corpus, military show trials, and removing jurisdiction from courts. In addition, given the stark realities of the situation in Iraq, which Rice largely seems to play down, it seems hard to believe that the administration of which she is a part will somehow experience a revelation and begin to provide wise leadership on the Israeli-Palestinian issue or even on reform in Morocco.
Morocco Foundation - Sponsor an orphan child from Essaouira's area
The Morocco Foundation, established by Moroccans in America to support development efforts in Morocco, is offering a chance to sponsor orphaned and abandoned children in the Essaouira area, among other projects.
Rose-Lynn Fisher Morocco Photos
Beautiful black and white art photos of Morocco, currently on exhibit in Los Angeles.
A painting of Tinherir by Winston Churchill, which he gave to General George Marshall, fetched an unexpectedly high price on the auction block.
The late British prime minister, a respected amateur artist, painted "View of Tinherir" in 1951 during one of his frequent trips to Marrakech in Morocco. In 1953 he gave it to Marshall as a symbol of Anglo-American solidarity.
Frankly, I am astonished that Marshall's heirs would have parted with such a priceless inheritance, and disappointed that they sold it to a private bidder rather than giving it to a museum. Greatness is not necessarily inherited, however.
I have always thought it remarkable that Churchill found a refuge in Marrakesh from his cares during and after the War.
U.N. Cites Arab World's 'Empty Gestures' on Women - washingtonpost.com
A United Nations report cites progress on women's rights in Morocco and a few other countries, but finds that the status of women continues to be below that of much of the rest of the world:
[Amat al-Alim Alsoswa, director of the U.N. Development Program's Arab bureau,] also said that although women's participation in politics has grown in such countries as Morocco, Bahrain and Iraq, it is "still below what it is outside the Arab world."
The report cites Morocco as not simply secularizing the laws related to women, but also creatively reinterpreting Islamic law to afford women more rights.
Thanks to Morocco Time, I have discovered another great English-language Moroccan blog: Morocco Report.
Days of Glory - Movies - Review - New York Times
The New York Times favorably reviews Days of Glory (Indigenes). The movie depicts the struggles of North African soldiers in the French Army in World War II for victory over the German army and French prejudice.
The Daily Princetonian - A prince of Morocco, now of Princeton
The Daily Princetonian has a very flattering portrait of Prince Moulay Hicham Benabdallah, third in line to the throne but persona non grata at the palace for his outspokenness regarding democratic reform.
Satirist spotlights rights record at Morocco festival|Reuters.com
Ahmed Snoussi is protesting censorship at the Marrakesh Film Festival, Reuters reports:
Ahmed Snoussi, known as Bziz, is popular with millions of Moroccans, even though he said the state had excluded him from its radio and television stations, and theatres, since 1988. The government says he is not banned or censored."I'm telling the festival guests that the event they are attending is a fake setting that is unable to veil the real plight of freedom of thought, opinion and press in Morocco," he told Reuters by telephone from the Marrakech Cinema Festival which opened on Friday.
The Moroccan Human Rights Association confirmed the existence of the restrictions on Bziz's performances.
Prisoners of Sex - New York Times
The New York Times has an article on an Arab crackdown on homosexual activity. Primarily dealing with Egypt, although Morocco is mentioned, the article argues that denunciation of homosexuality is perceived as an easy way to attack Western values. For the trope of the West imposing homosexuality on the Arab world, the author cites Mohammed Choukri:
There is a searing scene in the Moroccan writer Mohamed Choukri’s 1973 novel “For Bread Alone” in which a desperate young man, having recently moved from the country to the city in colonial Morocco, sells himself to an elderly Spaniard. The scene is explicit (they have oral sex in a car), and the novel, which has been banned or caused controversy in many Arab countries, serves as a stunning condemnation of the power disparities engendered by colonialism. Symbolism like Choukri’s is common in Arabic literature and cinema, providing for what the British writer Brian Whitaker has referred to as a “reverse Orientalism,” in which sex, and specifically homosexual sex, is presented as a foreign incursion, a tool of colonial domination.
The efforts of human rights organizations to condemn torture have damped down active persecution at the moment, but the article argues that militant Islam has given rise to a resurgence of anti-homosexual feeling that could result in renewed violent repression at any moment.
Matthew Shepard, of course, might remind us that such attitudes are not unique to the Arab world.
