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Maghreb Media Roundup (May 24)
![[Imiter residents demonstrate near Africa’s largest silver mine. Photo courtesy of Mamfakinch.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-05-24at10.45.39AM.png "[Imiter residents demonstrate near Africa’s largest silver mine. Photo courtesy of Mamfakinch.]")
[This is a roundup of news articles and other materials circulating on the Maghreb and reflects a wide variety of opinions. It does not reflect the views of the Maghreb Page Editors or of Jadaliyya. You may send your own recommendations for inclusion in each week's roundup to maghreb@jadaliyya.com by Thursday night of every week.] Algeria Deux quotidiens, Mon Journal et Djaridati, interdits de parution Mourad Hachid reports that two Algerian newspapers are censored because of their reporting on Bouteflika’s illness. RSF Dénonce le refus de publier deux quotidiens Reporters Without Borders denounces the Algerian government’s censorship of reports on ...
Keep Reading »Le Sahara, l’identité et l’africanité dans la littérature francophone du Sud-est: Moha Souag s’exprime
![[Quelques œuvres par Moha Souag.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-04-30at11.13.15AM.png "[Quelques œuvres par Moha Souag.]")
Moha Souag est un écrivain francophone qui a gagné une place prestigieuse dans le paysage littéraire francophone au Maroc grâce à sa persévérance, à l’abondance des ses écrits et à son style d’écriture innovant ; « polygraphe confirmé, il a touché/visité (tâté de) tous les genres littéraires, la poésie, la nouvelle, le roman, le conte. Il a obtenu des prix littéraires tels que le grand prix Atlas, le prix de la nouvelle octroyé par RFI. » Moha n’est pas uniquement une figure de proue de la littérature francophone, mais il fait partie de ces écrivains engagés dans les débats socio-économiques et culturels qui touchent au quotidien de leurs concitoyens. ...
Keep Reading »Beyond the Western Saharan Debate
![[Image of Sahrawi women protesting against Moroccan policies in the Western Sahara. Image from Saharauiak/Flickr.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-04-18at11.19.42AM.png "[Image of Sahrawi women protesting against Moroccan policies in the Western Sahara. Image from Saharauiak/Flickr.]")
Following the French military intervention in Mali earlier this year in January, and the hostage crisis in Algeria that soon followed, major world powers briefly oriented their regional focus towards the Maghreb and Sahel regions. In the midst of the escalating conflict in Mali, pundits pointed to Morocco’s geopolitical position as an ally of France and the United States for a source of stability in the Maghreb and its neighboring regions. For example, in an op-ed in the New York Times, Anouar Boukhars argued, “Morocco has the will, the influence and the capability to contribute to conflict resolution in the region.” Conveniently omitted from this argument is ...
Keep Reading »World Social Forum Highlights Shock Doctrine in Tunisia
![[Banner from the World Social Forum in Tunisia. Image from Wikimedia Commons.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-04-08at9.54.12AM.png "[Banner from the World Social Forum in Tunisia. Image from Wikimedia Commons.]")
An estimated fifty thousand people from five thousand organizations in 127 countries spanning five continents participated in the World Social Forum (WSF) in Tunisia over the past week. By choosing to come together in Tunis, this year’s Forum evoked the sprit of the 2011 revolt that inspired uprisings around the world. The WSF also focused attention on the complicated status of that revolt, which in Tunisia has not brought the political or economic changes many hoped for. Conversations with local activists often focused on the recent assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaïd and government dealings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Many in the ...
Keep Reading »Morocco's Justice and Charity Party and the Left: A Critical Reflection
![[Members of the February 20 Movement march in Casablanca on 25 September 2011, when the movement was still comprised of groups from the left and Al Adl Wal Ihsane. Image by Abdeljalil Bounhar/AP Photo.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-04-03at12.22.36PM.png "[Members of the February 20 Movement march in Casablanca on 25 September 2011, when the movement was still comprised of groups from the left and Al Adl Wal Ihsane. Image by Abdeljalil Bounhar/AP Photo.]")
There has recently been controversy regarding the Democratic Path Party’s position concerning Islamist movements, particularly the Justice and Charity Party (Al Adl Wal Ihsane) following an article that appeared in Lakome. In reality, it appears that the position was not meant to be a call for an explicit alliance with Al Adl Wal Ihsane. It was rather recognition that the crux of the conflict is not between “modernists” and “dogmatists” and that there is necessity for a large opposition to counter an immediate and principal entity, the makhzen (ruling elite). El Harrif, secretary general of the Democratic Path Party, raises the issue of how to position the party in ...
Keep Reading »Melancholia and the Possibility of a Geopolitics of Mourning
Nouri Gana, Signifying Loss: Toward a Poetics of Narrative Mourning. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2011. In the preface to his recent book, Signifying Loss, Nouri Gana argues that “[i]n a world marked by the swift and sanitized infliction of loss and suffering, especially as a result of the insidious banalization of global warfare and everyday violence,” “signifying loss is crucial to adjusting to a persistently mutating and alienating reality and, simultaneously, to carrying out sociopolitical changes.” Indeed, the opening claim implicitly yet clearly announces that the following pages will demonstrate how contemporary understandings of loss and suffering ...
Keep Reading »Morocco's 20 February Movement: Two Years Later
![[Members of the 20 February Movement gather in front of the Parliament building in Rabat to commemorate the second year anniversary of the movement's beginning. Image taken by author.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-03-07at8.41.51AM.png "[Members of the 20 February Movement gather in front of the Parliament building in Rabat to commemorate the second year anniversary of the movement's beginning. Image taken by author.]")
Two major protests were planned within the period between 20 and 24 February. On 20 February 2013, members of the 20 February Movement planned to commemorate their two year anniversary with a march in front of the Parliament building in Rabat. Unaffiliated with the movement and less than a block away in front of the Rabat Ville train station was a separate protest that a group of unemployed college graduates organized. Despite the similarity in chants, riot police had a clear target for their repression, and it was the unemployed graduates. While members of the 20 February Movement included even small pockets of students calling for the downfall of the regime, riot ...
Keep Reading »February Culture
Jadaliyya's February Culture Bouquet is our most colorful so far! Our new series Visuals in 1500 returns with contributions by artists Doris Bittar and Sundus Abdul Hadi. Pierre Joris and Habib Tangour share their introduction and selections from their massive anthology of written and oral literature of the Maghreb. Emily Drumsta translates a poem by the pioneer Iraqi poet Nazik al-Mala'ika. Sebastian Anstis translates Libyan writer Omar Al-Kikli. Nicole Fares translates an excerpt from a novel by the Lebanese writer Sahar Mandour. Sinan Antoon translates a poem by Muzaffar Al-Nawwab. Spread the word! * Nazik al-Mala'ika, "Revolt Against the Sun" (tr. ...
Keep Reading »سلا، مدينة الحمق والقراصنة
![[حارة في سلا، المغرب]](/content_images/3/sm_baqa1.png "[حارة في سلا، المغرب]")
[مدن، زاوية جديدة على "جدلية" يكتب فيها الكتاب والكاتبات عن مدنهم المفضلة ] ولدت في مستشفى حكوميّ بمدينة طيّبة اسمها سلا، هي مدينة عتيقة وغير مدعية، مصابة بضيق مزمن بسبب التصاقها المحرج بمدينة مشهورة ومعتدّة بنفسها اسمها الرباط. كان يروق لي في مراحل متعددة من حياتي السابقة التنقل بين المدينتين بواسطة المراكب الخشبية التقليدية التي كانت تحمل العابرين بين ضفتي نهر أبي رقراق الذي خلده عبد الهادي بلخياط في أغنيته الشجية "القمر الأحمر". كنت أجد متعة في تأمل مشهد المدينتين العدوتين المحكومتين بمواجهة بعضهما البعض للأبد، كأنهما توأم سيامي لم تحقق فيه الطبيعة التوازن المطلوب. نجحت إذن، في الخروج إلى الحياة ذات صباح من شهر مارس في القرن الماضي، من أم صغيرة ...
Keep Reading »HRW Report on Repression and Reform in Morocco and the Western Sahara
![[Human Rights Watch logo. Image from hrw.org]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-02-06at9.13.41PM.png "[Human Rights Watch logo. Image from hrw.org]")
[The following report was released by Human Rights Watch on 31 January 2013.] Moroccans still await tangible improvements in human rights a year after the adoption of a progressive new constitution and the election of an Islamist-led parliament and government, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2013. Even as government ministers talked of reform, the courts imprisoned dissidents during 2012 under repressive laws curtailing free speech, and after unfair trials. The police used excessive force against demonstrators, and abused the rights of migrants and advocates of self-determination for Western Sahara faced continuing ...
Keep Reading »Mali in Focus, Part Two: A War That Threatens the Entire Region
![[Armed Islamist fighters race near the Mauritania-Mali border on 21 May 2012. Image by Jemal Oumar/Magharebia.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-01-21at12.11.01PM.png "[Armed Islamist fighters race near the Mauritania-Mali border on 21 May 2012. Image by Jemal Oumar/Magharebia.]")
[This article is the second of a three-part series featuring different perspectives on the recent developments in Mali. Previously published: "Mali in Focus, Part One: The Jihadist Offensive Revisited"] "...This conflict is legitimate and vital to the security of the French. We can not expect to maintain our lifestyles and our prosperity if we do not go outside our country to participate in the stabilization and resolution of crises, eradicating threats that could inevitably threaten us from within our national territory.” French General and former director of the College of Defense (CID) Vincent Desportes, spoke these words while answering ...
Keep Reading »قراءة هادئة في نداء 13 يناير
![[أحد الملصقات التي تدعو إلى الاشتراك في إحتجاجات 13 يناير في المغرب]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-01-16at7.24.28PM.png "[أحد الملصقات التي تدعو إلى الاشتراك في إحتجاجات 13 يناير في المغرب]")
منذ شهور انطلقت على الفايسبوك نداءات تدعو للتظاهر في المدن والقرى المغربية، بل وفي العواصم الأجنبية من أجل المطالبة بالتغيير الجذري للنظام السياسي في المغرب. فبعدما كانت حركة 20 فبراير تطالب بالملكية البرلمانية كحل للأزمة التي تمر فيها البلاد وفاء لشعار اليسار القديم تحت حكم الراحل الحسن الثاني، تحول المطلب اليوم، في ظل حكم ابنه محمد السادس، إلى "إسقاط النظام" في تحول نوعي وغير مسبوق. وقد شق هذا الشعار طريقه إلى الشارع المغربي حيث دُوِّن على جدران بعض الأحياء الشعبية، كما أورد أكثر من مصدر إعلامي. كيف يمكن قراءة هذا التحول في خطاب الشارع المغربي؟ وما هي الأسباب التي أدت إليه؟ وما هو أثر هذا النداء الجديد على مستقبل المغرب السياسي؟ من يعرف الساحة السياسية في ...
Keep Reading »The Facade of Political Crises in Morocco
This weekend, the conservative nationalist Istiqlal Party announced it will be withdrawing from the government coalition, led by the Party of Justice and Development (PJD), and will take its place in parliament's opposition. Its reason, according to the party's press release, was to "avoid being complicit in the scheme against the Moroccan people." Additionally, the party will maintain its cabinet positions until further notice, and the party has written a formal letter to King ...
Keep Reading »New Texts Out Now: Chouki El Hamel, Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam
Chouki El Hamel, Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Questions by Brahim El Guabli Brahim El Guabli (BEG): Why Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam? Chouki El Hamel (CEH): Written history about Morocco is generally silent regarding slavery and racial attitudes, discrimination, and marginalization, and paints a picture of Morocco as free from such social problems. Such problems are usually associated more with ...
Keep Reading »Altérité, interculturalité et marginalité dans la littérature francophone marocaine : Entretien avec El Hassane Aït Moh
El Hassane Aït Moh est l’un des nombreux écrivains marocains, voire maghrébins, résidants à l’étranger et qui ont adopté la langue française comme langue de production littéraire. Après un long parcours dans l’enseignement public, El Hassane a rejoint la mission culturelle marocaine en France pour continuer son métier de toujours : l’enseignement et le dialogue interculturel. Il vient de publier son troisième roman, intitulé Les Jours de Cuivre, chez L’Harmattan. Dans ses ...
Keep Reading »François Hollande au Maroc : plutôt les affaires que les droits de l'homme
C'est un Président français sévèrement diminué politiquement qui s'apprête à se rendre en visite d'Etat au Maroc, les 3 et 4 avril. Battant des records d'impopularité, François Hollande n'a cessé, depuis le début de son mandat, de chuter dans les sondages, où il a encore perdu cinq points, cette semaine, pour s'établir à trente six pour cent d'opinions favorables. Sa dernière prestation sur la deuxième chaîne française, n'y a rien changé. Peu ou prou de ses compatriotes ont été convaincus de sa capacité ...
Keep Reading »Celebrating El Haqed’s Freedom: Soundtracking Resistance
After being arrested twice and serving a one year jail term for his critical lyrics “Dogs of the State,” Mouad Belghouat, whose alias is El Haqed, is finally free. His outspoken lyrics are known for critiquing corruption, clientelism, the monarchy’s excessive wealth, and oligarchy. El Haqed’s trial attracted huge crowds and brought international and national scrutiny on the supposed new reforms and freedom of expression in Morocco. Under the new constitution, article 25 states: “Freedom of thought, ...
Keep Reading »Violence, Vulnerability, and Migration: Trapped at the Gates of Europe
[The following report was issued by Doctors Without Borders on 14 March 2013.] Violence, Vulnerability, and Migration: Trapped at the Gates of Europe A report on the situation of sub-Saharan migrants in an irregular situation in Morocco. Executive Summary Over the last ten years, as the European Union (EU) has tightened its border controls and increasingly externalised its migration policies, Morocco has changed from being just a transit country for migrants en route to Europe to being ...
Keep Reading »Assarag: Habitat and the Imazighen of Morocco
(If the photo slide show does not appear above, please click here.) [The photos and text presented here are the result of my work in five Amazigh (also known as Berber) communities or distinct architectural ensembles in the south of Morocco.] My work in Morocco began in May 2002 when I was invited by a former high school friend of Moroccan descent to photograph his father's native village, Timkatti. This place of mud and stone is located in the Ida Ou Tannane region about forty miles north of Agadir. ...
Keep Reading »Poems from the Maghreb: Introduction and Selections
[To celebrate the publication of Poems for the Millennium: Vol 4, edited by Pierre Joris and Habib Tangour (University of California Press, 2013), a comprehensive anthology of the written and oral literatures of the Maghreb, Jadaliyya is publishing the editors' introduction and a selection of poems (Mehdi Akhrif, Omar Berrada, Ahmad Al-Majjaty, Djibril Zakaria Sall, and Cheikha Rimitti. For more information and to purchase the book, click here] Introduction This book has been incubating in ...
Keep Reading »Positioning Gender Fluidity in Francophone Maghrebi Literature
The journey of self-discovery is a recurring theme in Francophone Maghrebi literature and film. Authors and directors place characters in a struggle against forces in both French and Maghrebi society, evoking various themes through which characters define themselves. While these characters embark on different paths in terms of their search for self-discovery, they prove that identities are not rigid. A multitude of factors contribute to the formation of these identities, illustrating a fluidity that ...
Keep Reading »Mohamed Majd
The great Moroccan actor Mohamed Majd passed away last Thursday, at the age of seventy-three, at a clinic in Casablanca. He was admitted the week before for respiratory problems, following a short stay in Dubai to promote Noureddine Lakhmari’s latest feature Zero (2012). Majd plays one of the lead roles in this film about police corruption, social exclusion, and an anti-hero's redemption through love found in the film-noirish streets of downtown Casablanca. The renowned actor was laid to rest in ...
Keep Reading »A New Revolt in Morocco?: An Interview with Mohamed El Marouani
[Mohamed El Marouani is the author of Abdessalam Yassine's funeral oration, who died on 13 December 2012. Sentenced to twenty-five years in prison for "conspiring against state security," El Marouani was released during the wake of the February 20 Movement. He is the founder of the Al Umma, which he hopes to transform into a political party, however, he has been barred from doing so. The following interview was orginally published in French on Salah Elayoubi's blog and translated to ...
Keep Reading »Mohamed El Marouani: « Les ingrédients d’une nouvelle vague de révolte, sont désormais réunis »
[Mohamed El Marouani est l'auteur de l'oraison funèbre de Abdessalam Yassine. Condamné à une peine de vingt-cinq ans de prison, pour complot contre la sureté de l'état, il est libéré dans le sillage du mouvement du 20 février. Il est le fondateur de l'association Al Oumma qu'il aimerait transformer en parti politique, mais pour lequel il a essuyé un refus.] Ahmed Benseddik et Salah Elayoubi (AB et SE): On se souvient de l’oraison funèbre que vous avez prononcée aux funérailles du Cheikh Yassine. ...
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