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Morocco
Divesting from All Occupations
![[Sahrawi women protest against the Moroccan-built wall that divides the Western Sahara. Image from Flickr/Saharauiak.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2012-08-22at9.10.28AM1.png "[Sahrawi women protest against the Moroccan-built wall that divides the Western Sahara. Image from Flickr/Saharauiak.]")
In response to ongoing violations of international law and basic human rights by the rightist Israeli government of Benyamin Netanyahu in the occupied West Bank and elsewhere, there has been a growing call for divestment of stocks in corporations supporting the occupation. Modeled after the largely successful divestment campaign in the 1980s against corporations doing business in apartheid South Africa, the movement targets companies that support the Israeli occupation by providing weapons or other instruments of repression to Israeli occupation forces, investing in or trading with enterprises in illegal Israeli settlements, and offering assistance in other ways. ...
Keep Reading »Dissent in Morocco: Not All for One
![[Young unemployed university graduates, some with their mouths taped over, carrying out a silent march through the ancient city walls of the Moroccan capital Rabat on April 26, 2012 with images of an unemployed man who set himself on fire to protest the lack of jobs. Image by Paul Schemm/AP Photo.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2012-07-30at2.37.21PM.png "[Young unemployed university graduates, some with their mouths taped over, carrying out a silent march through the ancient city walls of the Moroccan capital Rabat on April 26, 2012 with images of an unemployed man who set himself on fire to protest the lack of jobs. Image by Paul Schemm/AP Photo.]")
When Tunisia and Libya began exhibiting what appeared to be the early stages of a popular uprising, some analysts and commentators turned to Morocco, the only remaining kingdom in North Africa, and tried to make sense of what Morocco is (or is not) experiencing: “Morocco is a regional model.” “Morocco is not like [insert your choice of country].” “This king is not like his father.” “Moroccans are not ready for democracy.” “Morocco is the most democratic country in the region.” “The monarchy is needed to preserve national unity.” Contradictions and inconsistencies set up the predictable arguments of those who tout Moroccan exceptionalism. The logic of the ...
Keep Reading »نقاش الحرية الجنسية في المغرب بين الحقوقي والسياسي
![[المصدر :أ.ف.ب- فضل سنا]](/content_images/3/sm_maghrebsex.jpg "[المصدر :أ.ف.ب- فضل سنا]")
الجو الذي يعيشه المغرب هذه الأيام شبيه بالجو السائد في بداية الألفية الثالثة، حين تقدم الأستاذ سعيد السعدي "بالخطة الوطنية لإدماج المرأة في التنمية" الجريئة، التي كانت ستنقل المرأة المغربية ملايين السنوات الضوئية إلى الأمام بسبب الجرأة التي امتلكها معدها في ذلك الوقت، ولكن مع وجود الفارق بين الجو السياسي السائد آنذاك واختلاف مواقع المتصارعين اليوم في جوقة السلطة. استطاعت تلك الخطة خلق الحدث وشغل حيز كبير من النقاشات التي شهدها مغرب تحول من ملك إلى ملك في ظرف انفتاح غير مسبوق، كان عماده صحافة مستقلة مزدهرة، وحكومة آمن الجميع بأنها ستفتح باب التناوب السياسي الحقيقي فعلا؛ كان النقاش في الموعد وكانت العواطف وكان العراك وكان التخوين والتهويل نتيجة الاستقطاب ...
Keep Reading »Majidi Business : Cas d'école
![[Image of Mounir Majidi with a portrait of King Mohammad VI in the background. Image from Telquel]](/content_images/3/sm_MajidiRT(1).JPG "[Image of Mounir Majidi with a portrait of King Mohammad VI in the background. Image from Telquel]")
C’est le quotidien L’Economiste qui le dit : « la période comprise entre 2009 et 2011 a été la plus difficile de toute l’histoire de la Royal Air Maroc » (1). Fin 2010, la RAM a en effet enregistré un déficit abyssal de… 930 millions de dirhams ! Pour sauver la compagnie publique de la faillite, l’Etat décidera en septembre 2011 d’y injecter 1,6 milliards de dirhams en augmentation de capital. Dans un effort de pénitence publique, le PDG Driss Benhima s’engagera à réaliser les économies plus drastiques: licenciement de 1560 salariés (2), vente de tous les « actifs non stratégiques »… La compagne aérienne va ...
Keep Reading »The Melancholia of a Generation
Mohammed Achaari, al-Qaws wa-al-farashah. al-Dar al-Bayda’: al-Markaz al-Thaqafi al-ʻArabi, 2010. Mohammed Achaari is not new to Morocco’s literary scene; though The Arch and the Butterfly (al-Qaws wa-al-farashah) is only his second novel, he is the author of nine collections of poetry, a collection of short stories, and has served as both Minister of Culture and president of the Moroccan Writer’s Union. The brief synopses that accompanied the announcement of his selection as one of two recipients of the 2011 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (popularly known as the Arabic Booker) for his most recent work inevitably focused on the novel’s connection to terrorism. ...
Keep Reading »El Haqed: Examining Morocco's Judicial Reform in 2012
![[El Haqed after his release from jail on January 2012. Image from L7a9ed/Wikimedia Commons.]](/content_images/3/sm_L7a9ed-janvier2012.jpg "[El Haqed after his release from jail on January 2012. Image from L7a9ed/Wikimedia Commons.]")
On 9 September 2011, Mouad Belghouat, a 24 year old Moroccan rap musician, was passing out fliers to advertize for a demonstration in his impoverished neighborhood outside the cosmopolitan city of Casablanca. On the evening he and his friends were handing out fliers for the upcoming march, Belghouat was approached by another young man, Mohamed Dali, later reported to be a member of the “Alliance of Young Royalists,” who verbally targeted Belghouat, calling him a traitor. Belghouat himself is a member of the February 20th movement, a coalition of activists that has been organizing demonstrations for over a year in Morocco, calling for greater democratic ...
Keep Reading »A Monarchical Affair: From Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula
![[Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in his palace located near Casablanca, Morocco. Image by Ammar Abd Rabbo/Flickr.]](/content_images/3/sm_Fullscreencapture4102012121732AM.bmp.jpg "[Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in his palace located near Casablanca, Morocco. Image by Ammar Abd Rabbo/Flickr.]")
When protests in North Africa ousted dictators and began spreading elsewhere in the region, decades-old alliances between the Arab monarchies were strengthened with the common interest of staying in power at all costs. While Morocco’s political and economic ties have historically been predominantly directed toward European markets, Morocco has recently oriented its outlook toward the East, finding common ground with the monarchies of the Arabian Peninsula. Morocco’s relationship with the monarchies in the Gulf is nothing new. When King Hassan II of Morocco prioritized the acquisition of the Western Saharan territory as the principal objective of his reign, Saudi Arabia ...
Keep Reading »Notes from Western Sahara: An Interview with Fatma El-Mehdi
![[Gdeim Izik protests of 2010. Photo by Kirby Gookin.]](/content_images/3/sm_gdeim1.jpg "[Gdeim Izik protests of 2010. Photo by Kirby Gookin.]")
As the Arab Spring spread across several countries in the Middle East and North Africa, American philosopher Noam Chomsky argued that it did not originate in Tunisia, as is commonly understood. “In fact, the current wave of protests actually began last November in Western Sahara, which is under Moroccan rule, after a brutal invasion and occupation,” Chomsky stated. “The Moroccan forces came in, carried out - destroyed tent cities, a lot of killed and wounded and so on. And then it spread.” The Gdeim Izik protests started in October 2010 when approximately five thousand Saharawi citizens set up temporary “Camps of Justice” to protest the Moroccan occupation and ...
Keep Reading »Morocco: A 'Democratic Moment'?
![[A protester carrying the Amazigh flag during a demonstration in front of Morocco's parliament. Image from Carlyjoy86 on Flickr.]](/content_images/3/sm_2066357120_02fc0fb1f2_z.jpg "[A protester carrying the Amazigh flag during a demonstration in front of Morocco's parliament. Image from Carlyjoy86 on Flickr.]")
During the last years of his reign, King Hassan II initiated a modest and controlled reform process intended to ease the transition of power by attempting to hand the reigns over safely to the crown prince at the time, nowadays King Mohamed VI. To buttress his legitimacy and distance himself from the authoritarian style of his late father, King Mohamed VI ushered in an era of diffident political reforms that—under popular pressure from within and the progression of Arab revolts from without—culminated in a new constitution upon which Moroccans were invited to vote upon by referendum held hastily two weeks after. It was an attempt granted to diffuse the tense ...
Keep Reading »"Violating Sacred Values" in Morocco: Free Speech with an Exception
![[The caricature shared by Walid Bahomane from a 2009 edition of Le Monde. Image via Global Voices.]](/content_images/3/sm_cartoon-Morocco-king-187x300.jpg "[The caricature shared by Walid Bahomane from a 2009 edition of Le Monde. Image via Global Voices.]")
A simple caricature by a cartoonist and a four-minute video featuring an activist expressing his dissent are arguably some of today’s most common mediums for political expression. In post-constitutional reform and post–parliamentary-election Morocco, sharing a political cartoon and criticizing the monarchy in a video is a crime, met with jail time. While reforms have been implemented for months, vague language has allowed Mohammed VI’s regime to selectively interpret and enforce its reforms whenever the monarchical institution is seen to be threatened. Morocco’s previous constitution contained many controversial articles that were either lost or split in the 2011 ...
Keep Reading »Pictures from a Camera
![[9,999 people at an uprising. Image by Rheim Alkadhi]](/content_images/3/sm_10_rheimalkadhi.jpg "[9,999 people at an uprising. Image by Rheim Alkadhi]")
Here in this region, amid the initial, proven, lasting fervor that sends our bodies into perpetual (welcome) disturbance; from these variously perplexing, disappointing, exhilarating, terrible, or inspired moments—from these moments on, we see ourselves on display, and we shed our museums of obsolescence, and in the truest effort to stand up, we are uniquely reshaped. How to compensate for so many lost hours, years, decades of looking at our lives through the lens of wretchedness? And now that we are capable of naming our past, how could we possibly reverse these hopes, these mad euphorias, so immediate, so newly free of fear, and how could we ...
Keep Reading »Having a Conversation on Other Terms: Gender and the Politics of Representation in the New Moroccan Government
![[Women of the PJD; Image from Agence France Presse]](/content_images/3/sm_WomenofPJD-Small.jpg "[Women of the PJD; Image from Agence France Presse]")
The recent parliamentary elections in Morocco have led to the creation of the first ever elected Islamist government in Morocco’s history. After winning more than forty percent of the votes in the November 25th elections, the Party of Justice and Development (PJD) led by Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane formed a coalition government with the socialist Parti du Progrès et du Socialisme (PPS), the nationalist Istiqlal party and the royalist Mouvement Populaire (MP). Benkirane’s first task as Prime Minister was to form the government by appointing ministers. After much speculation and many rumors in the press and social media, Benkirane finally introduced his cabinet on ...
Keep Reading »Abdelilah Benkirane : du chef de gouvernement au simple petit fonctionnaire du Makhzen
Abdelilah Benkirane restera dans les annales politiques du Maroc comme le 1er ministre de façade qui aura incarné jusqu’à la caricature le rôle d’impuissant représentant de la légitimité du vote populaire devant la machine despotique du Makhzen. Ni ses blagues de mauvais goût, ni ses saillies qui tranchent avec le sérieux de la fonction et avec la gravité de la conjoncture économique, ni son populisme débonnaire n’auront suffit à cacher la réalité d’un homme impuissant devant le roc des injustices et de ...
Keep Reading »Morocco Reforms: Criminalizing Dissent
It has been over a year since the first pro-democracy protests began in Morocco. Since 20 February 2011, the beginning of the February 20 Movement, Morocco has adopted a new constitution which promises measures of liberalization. Rushed parliamentary elections brought the Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD) to the forefront of the new government. Supporters of the regime argue that it will take time for the reforms to be enacted, but there is little to indicate that Morocco is truly heading ...
Keep Reading »Children and non-Muslims Only
This image has been circulating among Moroccan online users. The sign reads, "Notice to our customers. During Ramadan, only children and non-Muslims can be served in the restaurant. All other orders will be served strictly for carry-out."
Keep Reading »حوار شامل مع المفكر المغربي عبد الله العروي
في هذا الحوار الذي أجراه الأساتذة مصطفى بوعزيز، المعطي منجب، وسليمان بنشيخ، لمجلة «زمان»، يتحدث المفكر والمؤرخ عبد الله العروي عن قضايا راهنةٍ: عن الملكية والإسلام السياسي وحركة 20 فبراير والمغرب الكبير. كتابك «L’Histoire du Maghreb»، هل كان رد فعلٍ على تسمية شمال إفريقيا، التي أطلقها المؤرخ الفرنسي شارل أندري جوليان؟ من ناحية أخرى هل كانت رؤيتك للمغرب هي تلك الرؤية الفدرالية التي كان يحملها الطلبة المغاربيون في فرنسا، أم كانت رؤيةً اندماجيةً من قبيل تلك التي كانت سائدةً في القاهرة؟ لإزالة كل ...
Keep Reading »Ezzedine Errousi, a Moroccan Prisoner of Conscience, Released: 134 Days on Hunger Strike
On 1 December 2011, Ezzedine Errousi, a Moroccan student from the city of Taza, was taking part in a student union protest on the Taza University campus. The students staged a peaceful protest against the deplorable state of the university. The university sent the local authorities to disperse the protest. Authorities then came on campus, arrested Errousi, stripped, and dragged him through the local souk to prison. He was charged with assaulting a police officer and sentenced to five months in prison, in ...
Keep Reading »قراءة في الرحلة الرشدية بين شح الأمطار وشح الأفكار
إن المتتبع للخطاب السياسي للإسلاميين سيلاحظ ربطاً غريباً بين شح المطر وبخل السماء بمائها وبين انتشار السفور ونزع الحجاب وسياقة المرأة للسيارة، ولكأن ممارسة الحرية الفردية جريمة تستجلب قسوة السماء السحاء بحبس مائها وتجويع الناس والبهائم على حد سواء. ما كل هذه القوة الخارقة لقرار النساء التمتع بحرياتهم الفردية في ظل مجتمعات ترنو إلى الحداثة والعدالة والتقدم؟ فتخلي المرأة، حسب زعم هؤلاء، عن لباس يعتقدونه شرعياً أو استفادة الناس من مظاهر الحياة العصرية هي سبب شح الأمطار وكل الأذى الذي يلحق بمجتمعاتهم. لو ...
Keep Reading »Young Women Demanding Justice and Dignity: By All Means Necessary
Amina Filali was a young Moroccan girl who was raped at the age of 15 then forced to marry her rapist. She was battered, bruised, and starved until she committed suicide in March 2012. She was 16 years old. Contributing to Amina’s suicide are her rapist turned husband, article 475 of the Moroccan penal code that absolves an aggressor of his crime once he consents to marrying his rape victim, the judge who called for a mediation instead of a prosecution against the offender, the police, and the religious ...
Keep Reading »الذاكرة الجماعية العربية بين الانتقام والعدالة والمصالحة
يمر العالم العربي بمرحلة مفصلية في تاريخه هذه الأيام. مرحلة اختلط فيها الصالح بالطالح، واختلطت فيها الانتهازية بالثورة، وكثر فيها تغيير الولاءات وصار نوعاً من التقليد أن نرى الجلادين يصيرون ثواراً وينغسلون من كل أدران الماضي الذي شاركوا في تشكيله بكل مساوئه لمجرد أنهم غيروا الولاء بين ليلة وضحاها وأرسلوا بياناً مسجلاً أو نقل عنهم أنهم تابوا وأصلحوا وانحازوا إلى جانب الشعب. هذه السنة الخطيرة تحمل في طياتها الكثير من المخاطر على مستقبل الثورة في العالم العربي لأن الديكتاتور لا يمكن أن يستحيل ديمقراطياً. ...
Keep Reading »A Year After: The February 20 Protest Movement in Morocco
On the one-year anniversary of the February 20 protest movement in Morocco, (henceforth referred to as Feb. 20), the kingdom boasts relatively meager political progress. Despite the much-vaunted reforms and constitutional changes, Morocco has reinvigorated its state edifice, managed to outmaneuver an inexperienced Feb. 20 protest movement, and engaged in a crackdown on freedom of the press and speech. In the last couple of weeks, the regime has arrested three Moroccans for crimes against his majesty’s ...
Keep Reading »February Flowers
Spring is not here yet. It was a cold and bloody week. Reach out and pluck all the flowers you see—real and imagined—and make a wreath for those who died! And for those who will...for words, and what they stand for. * Rheim Alkadhi's "Pictures from a Camera." * Diyala Najjar translates an excerpt from Ibtisam Azem's The Sleep Thief: Gharib Hifawi. * Gaelle Raphael translates poems from Suzanne Alaywan's The Gazelle's Throw. * Part II of Firas Massouh's translation of Al-Zahawi's ...
Keep Reading »الإخفاقات الأولى للحكومة الملتحية
كنا قد حللنا في مقال سابق الظروف التي فاز فيها حزب العدالة والتنمية بالانتخابات في المغرب بموازاة تحليلنا التاريخي لنشأة الأحزاب المشكلة للتحالف الحكومي الحالي، إذ بحثنا في الظروف التاريخية لولادتها وعرجنا على مشاربها الفكرية والإيديولوجية—إذا كان فعلا ممكنا الحديث عن إيديولوجية حزبية لدى هذه الأحزاب—في ظل نظام سياسي مؤسس الطاعة والولاء في إطار البيعة "التي تطوق أعناق المغاربة"، فتوصلنا في نهاية التحليل إلى أن المخزن المغربي لن يسمح ببروز قوة سياسية تنافسه في شرعيته السلطوية، كما أن ...
Keep Reading »Morocco's Next Government: New Actors, Same Script
Several weeks have passed since Morocco’s most recent parliamentary elections. These yielded a victory for the Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD), whose leader, Abdelilah Benkirane, has been appointed as prime minister (or, as the recent constitution dictates, “Chief of Government”). Benkirane’s first task is to form a new government in conjunction with the Istiqlal Party, the Popular Movement, and the Party of Progress and Socialism, who together comprise a ruling coalition. Once this ...
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