Another Blow to a Free Press
The Morocco Report: Aboubakr Jamai Resigns, Cites Unpayable Fine
Morocco Report has a good background and analysis piece on the resignation of publisher Aboubakir Jamai from the leadership of Le Journal Hebdomadaire, one of Morocco's leading magazines. Crushed under the burden of a fine in the neighborhood of $350,000, Jamai is resigning before the government starts to seize the magazine's assets, and he is rumored to be contemplating exile.
To my mind, crushing an independent press is not the best way for the Moroccan government to counter the threat of impending Islamic radicalization. In the end, education, literacy, and the free exchange of ideas is going to be the best bulwark against fundamentalism of any stripe. One is reminded of Thomas More's comment in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, that if you cut down all of the laws to get at the devil, then in the end there will be nothing between the devil and you. Then again, More was ultimately no favorite of the King.
Ah, I missed this post because I can't seem to get your blog to work in Google Reader (do help me!)
Oh, the reference to my favorite play of all time, A Man for All Seasons! How perfect.
I keep my fingers crossed that Jamai will get a job with the Washington Post - he has a great US background, so it wouldn't surprise me in the least.