The View From Fez announces a readers' photography competition, in anticipation of the blog's fifth anniversary next October. Photographs should be taken in Morocco and can be submitted by email.
Author: Hisham
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Morocco: Tramway Line Reopens in Rabat
Mounir Bensaleh, who blogs on Des maux à dire [Fr], publishes pictures of the reopening of the Tramway line [Fr] in the Moroccan capital Rabat, which was abandoned 60 years ago.
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Syria: Bloggers Discuss Secularism
Humans are religious creatures. Or are they really?
The Middle East has known waves of political ideologies throughout its long history, but it is often associated with Islam, not only as a system of belief or a cultural matrix, but also as a political ideology that is inseparable from the region's politics and forms of government. Islam's pervasiveness in every aspect of life makes it more a way of life than a strictly devotional faith. Some consider secularism a cornerstone of democracy and human progress, while others think religion can never really be separated from politics. Syrian bloggers have been reflecting on secularism: What it really means? Can it really be achieved in a Muslim majority country? Or is it just another Western ideology, incompatible with the region's traditions and values?
Anas Online [Ar] (An@s) started the discussion. Under the title “The Schizophrenia of Arab Secularists,” he writes:
هناك طرفين متناقضين في جميع هذا النوع من الحوارات:
1- طرف يرى بأنه لا ضير من وجود أحزاب قائمة على أسس دينية يحق لها التواجد على الساحة السياسية والتواجد في البرلمانات وحتى الوصول وتسلم مقاليد السلطة.
2- طرف ثاني يرى بأنه يحق للجميع تأسيس الأحزاب والتواجد السياسي بشرط ألا تكون أحزابهم قائمة على أسس دينية و(سماوية).There are two antagonistic parties in this debate:
1 – one that sees no harm in the presence of parties based on religious grounds, entitled to participate in the political arena and even to access power
2 – and another that considers that everybody is entitled to establish a political party, provided that it is not based on religious groundsAn@s sees a contradiction in the Arab secularists' support for resistance movements in the region, since most of the latter stem from religious parties. He wonders:
هل هو بالفعل نوع من انفصام الشخصية؟ دعونا نحاول دراسة هذه الظاهرة بشيء من المنطق ونرتب الاحتمالات الموجودة لدينا:الاحتمال الأول: العلماني العربي هو في النهاية وليد لمجتمع ذو ثقافة إسلامية عمرها يقارب الخمسة عشر قرناً, العلماني العربي يحمل في النهاية وبشكل أو بآخر في وجدانه الجماعي جينات من حكموا يوماً نصف الكرة الأرضية بعد أن كانوا قبائل متشرذمة وكان فضل الاسلام أساسياً في قوتهم هذه, ربما يحاول أن ينكر هذا, أو ربما يحاول أن يقتنع بأن الزمن تغير وما صَلُحَ في الماضي للحكم تحت إسم (دولة إسلامية) لن يصلح الآن, وربما يسوّد الصفحات والمقالات حول هذه الفكرة لكنه يغير رأيه فوراً عند أي تجربة عملية يشاهدها على المحك, فهو لا يرى نوراً في نهاية النفق سوى تلك الحركات (الإسلامية).
الاحتمال الثاني: العلماني العربي سيُشجع الشيطان نفسه لو كان محارباً لإسرائيل, عند هذه النقطة تنتهي الخلافات والحواجز ويصبح الأمر أكبر من أن يفكر فيه بهذه الطريقة! تخيل أن يقف حينها إلى جانب العدو الإسرائيلي لمجرد أنه ضد فكرة الأحزاب الإسلامية من أساسها! الأمر غير وارد على الإطلاق.
Is it really a kind of schizophrenia? Let us try to study this phenomenon with some logic and come up with some possible explanations:The first possibility: the secular Arab being after all born in a society with a five century old Islamic heritage, s/he carries in her/his conscience the genes of those who were unified and empowered by Islam and who once ruled half the world. Maybe the secular Arab tries to deny this, or perhaps s/he tries to convince her/himself that times have changed and that what was successful in the past under so-called Islamic rule, might no longer work today. S/he even goes on writing whole pages and articles about these ideas but changes her/his mind immediately when they have to be put to the test. S/he does not see at the end of the tunnel other than the flicker of light coming from those same “Islamic” movements.
The second possibility: a secular Arab would associate with the devil in person if that devil was waging war against Israel. There, all the differences and barriers vanish, and the issue becomes so big the secularist can no longer think about it in the same way! Can you imagine the secular Arab standing by the Israeli enemy just because of an opposition to the idea of Islamic parties? This is out of the question.
Commenting on Anas Online's post, Mutanazih (متنزه بين المدونات) criticizes what he considers an unfair interpretation of secularism. He writes:
العلمانية التي ترفضها حضرتك هي من جعلت بلدك ( سوريا ) آمنة من بطش المتدينين […] والعلمانية التي ترفضها حضرتك هي من جعلت الوزير المسيحي بجانب الوزير السني بجانب الدرزي بجانب العلوي والعلمانية هي من جعلت الصداقات والزواجات تتشعب بين الشعب السوري وإن كانت قليلة. يا صديقي نحن لانريد عراقاً ثانياً تراق فيه الدماء بغير حساب ولانريد لبناناً آخر نشتم بعضنا البعض فيه لمجرد انتمائنا الفكري لذلك أدعوك بروح أخوية عن الكف عن هذه المهاترات أنت ومعلقي مدونتك وتقبل الآخر. فأنا بعشقي للعلمانية يعجبني المتدين المعتدل فقط فكما لي قضية فكرية أتبناها وأدافع عنها ولاأفرضها عنوة على الآخرن أو اقتل بسببها فأحترم المتدين الآخر الذي له نفس التوجه ….Secularism that you're rejecting Sir, has made your country (Syria) safe from the oppression of religious people. And secularism Sir has allowed the Christian minister to sit next to the Sunni minister, himself sitting next to the Druze and the Alawee. Secularism has made friendships and mixed marriages between Syrian people possible. My friend, we do not want another Iraq where blood is shed with no regard for human lives, and we do not want another Lebanon where we would insult each other just because our intellectual backgrounds differ. That's why I'm calling upon you to cease such rhetoric, you and your commentators are having, and accept the other. I like secularism, but I also do like the moderate religious person, for as much as I have an opinion that I endorse and defend, and for which I would never harm or kill, I do respect the religious person who acts in the same way.Anas Qtiesh [Ar] is a Syrian blogger. He writes:
صححوني إن كنت مخطئاً ولكنني أعتقد بأننا لا نريد العيش كما في السعودية حيث يتم فرض لباس معين على الأشخاص (يتعدى متطلبات الحشمة بشكل غير معقول) ويمنع فيه الاختلاط والتفاعل البريء بين الجنسين، وتمنع فيه النساء من قيادة السيارات والانخراط في العديد من مسالك العمل ويضرب فيه الناس في الشارع لقسرهم على الصلاة؛ وأيضاً لا نريد العيش في دولة كفرنسا تضطهد الأقلية الدينية المسلمة بحظر الحجاب أو النقاب مثلاً تحت غطاء حقوق المرأة وحقوق الإنسان.Correct me if I am wrong but I think we do not want to live in countries like Saudi Arabia, where people are forced to wear particular clothes (imposed beyond any reasonable requirements of decency) and prevented from mixing and from innocent interaction between the sexes. A country that prohibits women from driving and accessing a number of jobs. And also a country where people are hit in the streets to force them to perform prayers. We do not want to live in a country like France neither: a country that persecutes its religious minorities, banning the Muslim veil or niqab for example, under the pretense of women's rights and human rights.Anas Qtiesh also asks for a more informed reading of the history of secular movements:
لو نظر أنس بدقة إلى وجهة النظر تلك بتمعن لوجد أن العلماني يدعم المقاومة مهما كانت، حتى لو اختلف معها بالأيديولوجيا (وهذا أمر لا يمكننا أن نقوله عن بعض “المتدينين” الذين لا يريدون أن يروا سلاحاً بيد المقاومة لمجرد أنها من مذهب ديني مختلف) فالمهم هو الدفاع عن الأرض وعدم السكوت بوجه الاحتلال […] الفكرة هنا أن المقاومة الإسلامية هي الأقوى والأكثر تأثيراً في الوقت الحالي، ولكنها ليست “النور الوحيد في نهاية النفق”، كل من حمل سلاحاً بوجه المستعمر هو نورٌ في نهاية النفق. ليس هناك تناقض ولا فصام، هناك أولويات ووعي للاعتبارات السياسية القائمة على أرض الواقع، ما يسميه أنس فصاماً أسميه أنا تحكيماً للمنطق […]
أنا أؤمن بأن حريتي تنتهي عندما تبدأ حرية الأخرين وأرفض العيش في مجتمع لا يحترم حرية الآخرين، كل الآخرين. المرء له الحرية في حياته طالما أنه لا يؤذي الآخرين ولا يتعدى عليهم بممارساته. والأحزاب الإسلامية أو الدينية ليست شراً مستطيراً كما يروج بعض العلمانيين، بل هي جزء ضروري من العملية السياسية في أي مكان لكي تمثل مصالح المواطنين الذين يؤمنون بها ويقومون بدعمها. ونتفق جميعاً أن الأنظمة الشمولية القمعية غير مقبولة بتاتاً سواء كانت علمانية أم دينية.If Anas (Online) reconsiders closely his point of view he would discover that secularists have always supported resistance, all forms of resistance, even those they disagree with ideologically (this is not something we can say about certain “religious” people who do not want to see weapons in the hands of a resistance of a different religious sect). The most important here is to defend the land and not tolerate its occupation. The idea is that the Islamic Resistance is the strongest and most influential at the moment, but it is not “the only light at the end of the tunnel.” Anyone who carries a weapon to fight a colonizer is a light at the end of the tunnel. I see no contradiction and no schizophrenia here. There are only priorities and [political] awareness. Considering the political situation on the ground, where Anas sees schizophrenia, I see an affirmation of reason and logic […]
I believe that my freedom ends where the freedom of others begins and I refuse to live in a society that does not respect the freedom of others, all the others. One is free in his life as long as s/he does not harm others. Islamic or religious parties are not the absolute evil some secularists are alleging, but these are a necessary part of a political process where they represent the interests of the people who believe in and support them. We all agree to reject all repressive and totalitarian regimes, whether secular or religious.Also commenting on Anas Online blog, Ahmed Bakdash [Ar] writes:
المشكلة من وجهة نظري ليست ان اكون مع او ضد الاحزاب الدينية ,
المشكلة يا عزيزي اننا جميعا نعاني انفصام شخصية اكيد , فكل احزابنا الدينية واللادينية احزاب شمولية اقصائية , بدءا بالبعث والقومي السوري […] وليس انتهاءا بالاسلامويين العرب ..The problem from my point of view is not whether we are for or against religious parties. The problem is, we all suffer from schizophrenia. All our parties, whether religious or not, are totalitarian, from the Baath to the Syrian Nationalists to the Arab Islamists.Another commenter, Hunter, seems to be more interested in what political parties can deliver, regardless of their political background:
سأطرح رأيي على اني مواطن لايريد الا شيئين الأول الحرية والثاني الازدهار الاقتصادي اذا كان الحزب الاسلامي سيقدم لي ماقدمة حزب العدالة والتنمية للشعب التركي فيا اهلاً وسهلاً
واما اذا كان الحزب الاسلامي سيقدم لي ماقدمته حماس او حزب الاخوان المسلمين فلا اهلاً ولا سهلاً اريد من يأخذ بيدي الى التقدم والازدهار وليس من يأخذ بيدي إلى الانحدار الثقافي والفوضىI would say I'm a citizen who wants only two things: first freedom, and second economic prosperity. If an Islamic party can give me what the Turkish Justice and Development ruling Party has delivered to the Turkish people, then a warm welcome to it. But if this Islamic party will give me the kind of service Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood have provided, then no, thank you very much! I need someone who can assist me and lead me to progress and prosperity, not cultural decline and chaos.Yassine Swiha, writing on Syrian Gavroche [Ar] is another Syrian blogger. He thinks secularism is facing major problems in the Arab world:
تعاني العلمانية إلى حد كبير من صورة نمطية سلبية عند الكثيرين مثل تصوير العلمانية ككل بأنها معادية للدين أو أن العلمانيين هم ناس منحطّون و ينادون للانحلال الأخلاقي أو ما شابه, و لا شك أن هذه الصورة النمطية هي إلى حد كبير من إنجاز فئات كثيرة تعادي أي فكرة علمانية انطلاقاً من الإيمان بفكرة دوغماتية دينية ترى في أي نظرية علمانية عدوّة لها, و لكن أيضاً هناك مسئولية كبيرة على عاتق النخب الفكرية العلمانية المختلفة أيضاً من حيث الفشل في نقل الصورة الواضحة عن فكرهم, و قد يكون هذا الفشل بسبب التضييق و المنع و الصعوبات المختلفة الأخرى, لكن كثيرين منهم ارتاح في لجوئه إلى برج عاجي و ابتعاده عن “العوام”.
Many people have a stereotypical and negative idea about secularism, such as considering it anti-religious or assuming that secular people are immoral and are calling for moral deprivation. These stereotypes have largely been nurtured by groups hostile to any secular idea, based on a dogmatic religious ideology that sees an enemy in any alternative theory. But the greater responsibility rests with the secular intellectual elite that failed to transmit a clear picture of secular thinking. This failure may be due to harassment, bans and the various other difficulties, but it is mainly due to the fact that many of those intellectuals have taken comfort in their retreat to an ivory tower, away from the “grassroots.”Yassine Swiha goes on to explain that some Western countries' attitude toward their Muslim communities, shouldn't be blamed on their secularism. He writes:
إن أصل الصراع على الحجاب هو نزعة قومية يمينية لا تخلو من شوفينية, و هي نزعة رجعية لا علاقة لها بمبادئ الثورة الفرنسية و لا بـ”روح الجمهورية الفرنسية” الرومانسية التحررية, و نجد في ساركوزي و فكره السياسي رمزاً لهذه النزعة التي تتبنّى تعصّباً للهويّة القومية في وجه “الغزو المهاجر”
The origin of the conflict over the veil is right-wing nationalism and is loaded with chauvinist and reactionary tendencies. It is not related to the principles of the French Revolution nor to the liberating, romantic “spirit of the French Republic.” Sarkozy, with his political thinking, constitutes the symbol of this (right-wing) trend -a vision that underpins the radicalization of the national identity in the face of the so-called “immigrant invasion.”Mohammad Online [Ar] disagrees with Yassine's analysis. He writes a comment saying:
أن تبعد تهمة محاربة الحجاب و المظاهر الدينية عن العلمانيين أمر غير وارد لأن هؤلاء إعترفوا في أكثر من مناسبة عن محاربتهم لتك الأمور .
هل حورب الحجاب في فرنسا فقط ؟ ماذا عن باقي الدول الاوروبية ؟ ماذا عن منع المآذن في سويسرا و الإساءة إلى القرآن في هولندا ، ألم يقم بتلك الاعمال القائمين على العلمانية في تلك البلاد ؟Trying to put the blame over the banning of the hijab (Muslim veil) and the persecution of all religious signs, away from secularism is nonsense because secularists themselves have acknowledged, time and again, their intention to wage a war against everything religious. Does the war on Hijab exist only in France? What about the rest of Europe? What about the banning of minarets in Switzerland and the abuse of the Koran in the Netherlands? Wasn't all that based on secularism?An anonymous commenter joins the conversation saying:
أنا يا جماعة ماني ضد دين معين بس مافيني طلع عالغرب وقول شوفو شو عم يعملو وآخد كم حالة وقول عن هالغرب ما بيسوا ومنافق ونحن عنا مشاكل بتتوزع عالكرة الارضية كلها
أنا بتمنى يجي اليوم يلي يتم فيه بالاشارة لانفسنا باسمائنا وتقييمنا بأفعالنا .. مش بدياناتنا وطوائفناI'm not against religion. All I'm saying is we should stop fixating on the West, taking few examples out of context and accusing the West of hypocrisy while we have enough problems of our own. I hope the day will come when we will call ourselves by our names and judge ourselves for our acts and not for our religions or sects.Mohamed Mesrati [Ar] adds his voice to the debate [Ar]. He writes:
قبلَ البدء في التحدّث حولَ العلمانية في الوطن العربي، علينا التحدّث عن الديمقراطية في الوطن العربي.
المشكلة الأساسية هي الحكم الاستبدادي الذي نتعرّضُ له، وعدم توفّر أي مساحة نعبّر من خلالها عن أفكارنا. فالحاكم العربي باستبداديتهِ وغطرستهِ يعرفُ أنّ الدين هو الوسيلة الفعّالة للسيطرة على شعبه […]
أعتبر نفسي كانسان علماني مؤمن بالانفتاح، كافرًا بالقومية العربية لأنّها (كفكر) نظرية عنصرية. فنظام كلّنا عرب، قمعَ الكثير من الأعراق التي تقطن الشرق الأوسط، كالأمازيغ في شمال أفريقيا والأكراد في بلاد الشام والعراق…Before we start talking about secularism in the Arab world, we ought to talk about democracy (or lack thereof) in the region. The fundamental problem is authoritarian rule and the lack of any space in which we can express our thoughts. The arrogant and authoritarian Arab ruler knows that religion is an effective way to control the people […]
I consider myself to be a secular human being. I believe in openness. I don't believe in Arab nationalism which (as an ideology) I consider racist. It's a system that led to the persecution of many ethnic minorities living in the Middle East, like Amazighs in North Africa and Kurds in the Levant and Iraq.Sham, writing on Tabashir (طباشير) [Ar], tries to draw the line between secularism and atheism. She writes:
ما يجمع العلمانية و الإلحاد اليوم هو ليس َ أكثر من عدد من الأشخاص فالعديد من الملحدين ينادون بالعلمانية كطريقة للعيش و التعايش و يدافعون عنها و يؤيدونها ( تماما ً كما يفعل بعض المتدينون المؤمنون بها كطريقة حياة ) و لذا يربط البعض و يخطئ بربطه بين الإلحاد و العلمانية بصورة خاطئة و سطحيّة .What unites secularism and atheism today are people, many of whom atheists, calling for secularism as a way of living, dedicating themselves to defend and support it (just as some religious people do support secularism as a way of life). It is thus wrong and superficial to link atheism to secularism, like some wrongly do.Razan Ghazzawi is another Syrian blogger. She adds this comment to Sham's post:
إشكالية العلمانية هي انو عم تفترض انو المشكلة تكمن بأي حكم ديني, وهاد افتراض خاطئ لانو المشكلة هو أولا الدولة كسلطة بذاتها, وتانيا المشكلة بسلطة رجال الدين ياللي ترجمت الى ثقافة سلطوية تمتد إلى الحكم وإلى أفراد الشعب ياللي بمارسو هالسلطة على أفراد مهمشين تانيين. المشكلة سلطة وبس, الدين مالو علاقة. ازا حكم ملحد او ديني او علماني كلو نفس الشي.
The problem with secularism is that it assumes that the issue is with religious rule, and this is a wrong presumption. The problem lies primarily with state authority first, then with clerical authority, something that translates into an authoritarian culture that extends to the government, and is in turn exerted on the marginalized. The problem is the authoritarianism not religion. Whether it's an atheist, religious or secular rule, it doesn't make any difference.The debate continues.
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Morocco: Whose blog is the BOMB?
The Best Of Morocco Blog Awards, or the BOMBies, are the latest of Moroccan blogging annual contests. It is centered primarily on English language Moroccan blogs. Voting for nominees, who were assigned to five different categories, closed on February 21, 2010. MoroccoBlogs.com, which is hosting the awards, has recently announced the complete list of nominees and winners.The acclaimed collaborative blog The View From Fez , topped the Best Overall Morocco Blog and the Best Morocco News Blog categories. The View From Fez interviewed Vago Damitio, the man behind MoroccoBlogs.com and the BOMBies. Some interesting thoughts came out of the dialogue, such as this excerpt:
[Vago Damitio:] It's my belief that the future of Morocco doesn't lie with tourism but with the internet. Moroccans have an aptitude for both language and technology. Morocco sits as a bridge between the East and the West and I think that as the internet reaches adulthood, Morocco has the chance to be the next India in terms of technology. I can't think of a more worthy goal than MoroccoBlogs.com and the Bombies helping to make that future a reality.
The blog Près du puits came first as the Best Personal blog. Culture Vultures Fez won the Best Morocco Culture Blog award, while The Elephant Cloud topped the Best Morocco Travel Blog category.
Evelyn in Morocco who came second as the Best Overall blog, shares her thoughts as she was eagerly awaiting the final results:
I feel like I've won because my colleagues, my friends, my regular readers of this post and especially my students have been so supportive of me and my blog. Because of this contest, more and more people who I live and work with have taken the time to read my blog and have encouraged me to continue to write. Now that's a prize. In fact, it's a priceless prize and I am grateful.
Next up is a Blog Camp, which MoroccoBlogs.com has ambitions to hold sometime next May in the city of Fez. It will be the first of its kind in Morocco, as Vago Damitio explains to The View From Fez:
This will be a chance for bloggers from all over Morocco to come together in Fez for workshops, community, and fun. […] There has been a lot of interest in Blog Camp since I first mentioned it and even some interest from a few of the top bloggers in the world! It's conceivable Blog Camp could actually become an event that rivals The Festival of Sacred Music in terms of the number of people it could bring to Morocco.
Watch this space!
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Morocco: Maghreb Bloggers Search for Common Ground
A three-day workshop for bloggers from Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco was held from 15 to 17 February 2010 in the Moroccan capital Rabat. The meeting was funded by Search for Common Ground (SFCG), a non-governmental organization based in Washington DC, promoting collaborative approaches in dealing with conflicts. Participating bloggers who reported the event on their own blogs and live-tweeted it under the #mab10 hashtag, shared their blogging experiences, engaged in lively debates openly confronting their views on contentious issues and were encouraged to reflect on ways to find grounds for mutual understanding.
Leena El-Ali and Laurna Strickwarda, respectively Director and Program Assistant with SFCG's Partners in Humanity programme, together with the organization's local team and a group of distinguished trainers conducted and moderated the debates.
Magda Abu-Fadil is director of the Journalism Training Program at the American University of Beirut (AUB). She's also blogger for the Huffington Post and former foreign correspondent and editor with major international news organizations. She insisted among other things on the ethics of journalism and (by extension) blogging, exploring the legal and political difficulties facing bloggers in the region and ways to confront them.
Mohamed Daadaoui is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Oklahoma City University. He writes on Maghreb Blogs where he comments on issues related to the Maghreb region. Mohamed's intervention focused on the perceived limits of freedom of speech online and the impact bloggers think they have on ongoing local or regional conflicts.
Rachid Jankari is a media savvy Moroccan journalist, blogger and founder of MIT Media. His energetic intervention covered a wide range of tools for online activism and advocacy, cataloging and offering an invaluable tutoring of some of the most effective websites and services online.
When asked about the top conflicts bloggers have to deal with in the region, most recurrent themes were socioeconomic, cultural and political issues. Some stressed the need for a more “common ground” approach, as opposed to either a biased or neutral kind of media, so as to highlight mutual values, contextualizing and exploring roots of conflicts. Others protested that bloggers are “opinion providers” and are not supposed to follow unwieldy rules in their writings as opposed to professional journalists.
In an interesting free writing exercise, bloggers were asked to push their limits and try to come up with texts they deem unpublishable in their own blogs for fear of being censored. Bloggers were then invited to edit their texts adopting a more common ground style so as to make their text less censurable but still be able get their messages across.
Hind is a Moroccan blogger present at the workshop. She writes [Ar]:
واهم ما لوحظ خلال هده الدورة الانسجام الكبير بين كل المشاركين من مختلف الدول والجنسيات رغم وجود اختلافات في وجهات النظر وقد كان أهم ما طرح خلال هدا التدريب أن يكتب كل مدون ويعبر بحرية تامة بدون أن يفكر في الرقابة و المنع فكانت النتيجة أن البعض استطاع التعبير بكل سهولة ويسر بينما البعض الأخر خانته الكلمات وغابت عنه الأفكار خاصة أن المدون بالعالم العربي مازالت سلطة الرقابة والمنع تتحكم به وقد صدم المشاركون من وضعية حرية التعبير المتدهورة جدا بتونس الخضراء والرقابة الصارمة على الانترنت ومنع الكثير من المواقع مثل يوتوب وغيرهThe most remarkable thing noted during the workshop was the great harmony between all participants from various countries and nationalities, despite differences in views. And one of the most important things put forward during those sessions was a free writing exercise, encouraging bloggers to express themselves freely without thinking about government control or censorship. As a result, some have managed to express themselves with ease, while others lacked ideas and words, unsurprisingly, especially as bloggers in the Arab world are constantly under the influence of censorship and control. Participants were most shocked by the status of freedom of expression in Tunisia, where tight state censorship over the Internet prevents access to many websites like YouTube …Sarra Grira, a Tunisian blogger, journalist and author for cross-regional online news magazine e-Marrakech [Fr], attended the workshop. Regarding freedom of speech in the region, she writes [Fr]:
Si j'étais dans un monde libre et démocratique, je n'aurais pas à parler de la censure qui nous assomme tous les jours et qui s'incruste tant et si bien dans nos vies qu'elle devient de l'auto-censure. Je n'aurais pas à en parler parce que, dans ce monde-là, toutes les personnes pourraient s'exprimer librement.
If I were in a free and democratic world, I would not have had to talk about the censorship that stuns us every day and encrusts so heavily in our lives it becomes self-censorship. I wouldn't have talked because in this world, everyone could speak freely.After three days of intense interactive training, bloggers embarked on a final brainstorming session, trying to think big and come up with novel ideas based on what they've learned. Three groups came up with three different projects, participants say they will try to materialize in the future:
– A cross-posting day throughout the Maghreb of “words that upset” so as to overwhelm governments' censorship capabilities.
– Creating a visual, “wordfree” system using exclusively icons and colors to benefit the large illiterate and disenfranchised population, with the ambition of providing interfaces for the most useful and popular tools on the Web.
– Creating an online group of reporters throughout North Africa, focusing on Common Ground journalism, monitoring blogs and giving help and advise.In the following picture a whiteboard displays notes left by bloggers at the end of their three-day interactive workshop. It reads: “Partnership, Neutrality, Sharing, Convergence, Objectivity, Mutual Respect, Understanding, Responsability, Be Yourself…”
The following video shows interviews [Ar, Fr] with some bloggers and journalists present at the workshop:
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Morocco: Where Independent Media is No More
There have been mounting attacks on freedom of expression in Morocco lately, targeting journalists as well as bloggers as we consistently have been reporting on Global Voices Online recently. So constant are the attacks, that a reader might find the news coming out form the north African kingdom, a redundant rehash of the same old story. But what happened last week arguably marks a major turning point in the continuous campaign the Moroccan authorities are pursuing to silence independent media.It took Morocco decades of struggle and the end of the cold war with an ailing dictator who, having lost his geo-strategic clout and sensing his death approaching, finally decided to relinquish power and open up the system in an effort to guaranty a smooth transfer of authority to his son, to see the emergence of a new breed of irreverent journalism. The French language weekly news magazine Le Journal Hebdomadaire, founded in the mid-90s thanks to an unusual alliance of benevolent capital and highly skilled western trained journalists, initiated a long line of privately owned independent newspapers critical of the government and the Moroccan establishment at large. Targeting the Moroccan cosmopolitan elite, “Le Journal Hebdo” rapidly became iconic, embarking on a decade long confrontational quest for factual truths, challenging the most powerful tenants of the local regime, revisiting official history, flirting with the red lines imposed by the government and exploring many taboos.
There was a time when Arab dictatorships used to extra-judicially clampdown on dissenting voices in a gross demonstration of authority. The popular rumor would have it that in every house and every street, in every newsroom of every publication government had its eyes and ears ready to report on anyone who wasn't in line with the prescribed official discourse. Today, repression of independent voices goes through a protracted but sophisticated process of harassment by a judiciary system under orders from the executive and boycott from advertisers keen to please the authorities. That's what happened to Le Journal Hebdo, which now faces closure after a commercial court in Casablanca declared the publishing group behind the magazine bankrupt, crippled by a series of libel fines, by taxes and an insurmountable debt – a development which many interpreted as the final and deadly blow to the publication.
The New York-based media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the development and recaps the most recent judicial episode in a chain of condemnations and fines that eventually led to the administrative termination of the publication:
Le Journal Hebdomadaire was dealt a devastating financial blow in 2006 when a Moroccan court ordered that it pay 3 million dirhams (US$354,000) damages in a defamation case […] Jamaï (director and co-founder of the publication) left the country after the 2006 court decision and a series of government-inspired cases of harassment against the newsmagazine. Harassment of Le Journal Hebdomadaire appeared to ease for a time. But when Jamaï returned to Morocco in 2009 and resumed his critical journalism, he said, the government intensified its efforts to have advertisers boycott Le Journal Hebdomadaire. In September 2009, the Supreme Court upheld the damage award in the [defamation] case.
Issandr El Amrani writing on The Arabist blog says he received a message from Aboubakr Jamaï (Bou Bakr) announcing the official death of Le Journal Hebdomadaire. He writes:
I just received very sad news from Abou Bakr Jamai [Fr], the editor behind one of Morocco's most courageous publications and one that had been a symbol of the opening that began in the mid-1990s under King Hassan II and petered out under the rather aimless reign of his son, Muhammad VI. Bou Bakr wrote:
After all your prediction about the end of Le Journal has been proven on the money. Le Journal Hebdo has been shut down. Yesterday, 5, yes 5, bailiffs showed up armed with a court decision to take over Le Journal Hebdomadaire and the company behind it, Trimedia.. What is still unclear to us is the legal argument that led the judge from the receivership procedure of Mediatrust to act against trimedia. The only link is the title:”Le Journal Hebdomadaire” but the title is owned by the publisher himself not the company. Although we are waiting to get a clearer legal picture, we can already officially announce the death of Le Journal Hebdomaire.
El Amrani also wrote an op-ed about the issue on The Guardian/Observer British newspapers' online blogging platform, Comment Is Free. He mourns Le Journal and warns about a worrying pattern of repression and authoritarianism:
Most of all, Le Journal tried to keep officials honest about the democratisation that they promised in speeches. It relentlessly campaigned for constitutional reform that would shift political power from the palace to parliament. For many of my generation of Moroccans, it provided a political education and an inspiring example of outspokenness.
[…]The most worrying thing is that its closure comes amid other signs of a renewed authoritarianism. The methods originally used against Le Journal have become a commonplace method of disciplining the press. Other critics of the monarchy, for instance in Morocco's vibrant blogosphere, are now dealt with severely. Political reform has hit a standstill, and the regime's human rights record has regressed.
Le Journal's sad demise is now only one of many signals that something is rotten in the kingdom of Morocco.Blogger Jillian C. York adds to Al Amrani's comment saying:
[T]he closure of Le Journal does not alone indicate Morocco’s slide backwards. The arrests of bloggers Bashir Hazzem, Mohammed Erraji, and Boubaker Al-Yadib, of Facebooker Fouad Mourtada, of countless journalists, should speak for themselves. Yet, Morocco continues to maintain an appearance of moving forward, especially to the United States, which proudly touts Morocco’s Mudawana (or family code) and subsequent other new rights to women as evidence.
This is an issue that cannot, must not be ignored. Morocco, in case I don’t say it enough, is a beautiful place. I spent more than two wonderful years there, and would still happily go back, despite its faults. But in order for Morocco, for any country, to continue down the road of progress, free expression is non-negotiable.
Moroccan online news magazine Hesspress [Ar] deplores the deafening silence and lack of solidarity in face of mounting repression:
إن هذا الصمت المطبق إزاء عمليات تصفية المنابر الإعلامية الوطنية المستقلة، التي تدخل في خانة جرائم القتل التسلسلي، تفرض تلاحما تلقائيا بين المنابر المتبقية لإعمال مبدأ التضامن، كأضعف الإيمان، وبالتالي طمر الخوف والجبن ووضع التوافقات جانبا، لوقف هذا المسلسل الهتشكوكي الذي بات يقض مضجع “صاحبة الجلالة” في عز عنفوانها.
The heavy silence surrounding the liquidation of national independent media outlets, which falls under the category of serial killings, should impose a spontaneous coalition between the remaining platforms in the name of solidarity. This is the least we can do to fight fear and cowardice. We should put our differences aside to stop this Hitchcock-like assault on ” Her Majesty” (meaning the Press), who is at her prime.Many bloggers have been commenting on the development like Anas Alaoui [Fr] who bemoans the loss of a unique news outlet:
J’aimerais tout simplement remercier Le Journal et les personnes y ayant travaillé. Je les remercie pour l’effort engagé dans cette première marocaine quand on a cru à une ouverture, une certaine ouverture tout du moins. Je les remercie pour le courage et le dévouement dans leur tâche d’informer le public. Ils ont été les premiers à briser des tabous. Ils ont été les premiers à dire des choses vraies. Nous pouvons être d’accord ou pas avec les éditos écrits dans ce magazine. Nous pouvons être d’accord ou pas avec les analyses qui y ont été publiées, mais nous ne pouvons nier le fait que le Journal Hebdo a changé la pratique journalistique marocaine. Désormais, il y a un avant Journal Hebdo et un après Journal Hebdo.
I would like to thank Le Journal and the people who worked in it. I thank them for the effort they made to make this Moroccan first. They made us believe in openness; an openness of some sort at least. I thank them for their courage and dedication in their task to inform the public. They were the first to break taboos. They were the first to say true things. We can agree or disagree with the editorial line of the magazine. We can agree or disagree with the analysis that have been published in it, but we can not deny the fact that Le Journal Hebdo has changed the practice of journalism in Morocco. Now there is a before and after Le Journal Hebdo.The end of Le Journal Hebdomadaire signals a dangerous setback for the state of freedoms in Morocco. It pulls a thorn out of the regime's side but it also sends a strong message to the remaining independent media still struggling to survive in an increasingly repressive environment. This leaves the question about whether the online media and citizen journalism will constitute a breathing space for voices of dissent in countries like Morocco to vent their grievances, convey the truth and hold their governments accountable.
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Morocco: A Charter for the Environment
On January 15, in the city of Skhirat, south of the capital Rabat, the Moroccan government launched an ambitious project on environment. A series of regional meetings, workshops and conferences are to follow, sparking a national debate that aims at establishing a Charter for the environment. This effort follows a policy speech delivered last summer by king Mohammed VI in which he insisted on the significance his government is attaching to environmental issues.
The Charter for Environment and Sustainable Development, as it was officially dubbed, will lead among other things to the creation of 16 regional observatories that would provide the government with yearly reports and recommendations on environment and developmental issues. The initiative has now a website with interactive content and a blog in three different languages.
Mabrouk Benazzouz, writing [Fr] for the online regional news website Eljadida.com, explains how the new approach is in part about holding polluters to account. He writes:
L’idée de prise de conscience collective et notamment la prise de conscience nécessaire au niveau de tout un chacun et à commencer par les industriels, a imposé un principe nouveau dans notre pays, celui du pollueur /payeur. Madame la Ministre, explique que « ce principe est nouveau, mais tout le monde donc en a conscience, et nous travaillons progressivement pour le mettre en œuvre, à travers les lois et les décrets appropriés, pour faire en sorte que chacun assume ses responsabilités.”
The idea of raising collective awareness, starting with the industries, has imposed a new principle in our country: the polluter must pay. Madam Benkhadra [the Moroccan minister for environment and energy], explains that “this principle is new indeed, but then everyone is now aware of it, and we are working on progressively implementing it through legislation and appropriate decrees, to ensure that everyone assumes his or her responsibilities.”Big Brother Morocco wonders [Fr] if the decision makers will be up to the task, praising the apparent open process initiated by the government:
Quand on sait qu'il y a très peu d'experts en Écologie au Maroc et Nos chers élus locaux s'y connaissent tellement en écologie que le débat sera, bien sur, soporifique. Dormir debout dans une conférence, ça va être possible avec ces débats sur la charte Nationale de l'environnement. Mais heureusement, le débat sera ouvert au Grand Public, à travers internet et le blog/site de la charte. Il y a même un forum -internet- ou Vous pourrez poster vos propositions et répondre à un formulaire. Ce qui est Louable dans tout cela, c'est que l'état “OUVRE” le débat : une première étape pour instaurer à la fois, un dialogue, et surtout de faire impliquer les Marocains dans les actions à entreprendre.
Given the lack of experts on environment in Morocco – our deputies are not exactly the kind of connoisseurs such process requires – the debate, I'm sure, will be soporific. People risk falling asleep during this national debate for an Environmental Charter. Fortunately, the discussion will be open to the public through the Internet where you can post your propositions and fill in a survey. The fact that the state has opted for an “open” debate is laudable: a first step to initiate dialog and involve Moroccans in the actions about to be undertaken.Tayyibi A., writing [Fr] on Architecture et Société – Architecture de terre au Maroc recaps the timetable for the project and explains how it was mainly inspired by the French experience:
Octobre/Novembre 2009 : Elaboration du projet de la charte.
Du 15 janvier au 20 février 2010 : Lancement de la concertation nationale à travers les 16 régions du Royaume.
Mars 2010 : Elaboration du projet final de la Charte.
Le 22 avril 2010 : Adoption officielle de la charte.
Le 25 avril 2010 : Célébration de la journée de la Terre.Le texte de la Charte […] est fortement inspiré dans sa partie la plus importante (valeurs et principes), des articles de la Charte de l’Environnement adoptée dans la constitution Française en 2005!
October and November 2009: elaboration of the project.
15 January to 20 February 2010: launch of a National Consultation throughout the 16 regions of the kingdom.
March 2010: elaboration of the final draft of the Charter.
April 22th, 2010: official adoption of the Charter.
April 25th, 2010: celebration of Earth Day.The text of the Charter is heavily inspired in its main lines by the French Environmental Charter adopted in the French Constitution in 2005!
Some bloggers however deplored a lack of consistency in the government policy and contradictions between what has been announced and the reality on the ground. Lbadikho posting on Sustainable Mediterranean Rif Now! [Fr], denounces what he describes as the outrageous environmental damage caused in the eastern city of Oujda by the decision of the local governor (unelected official, who's nominated by decree) to uproot a large number of trees. He writes:
Jusqu’à quand cette situation de Walis/Gouverneurs non élus avec plus de prérogatives et de pouvoir que le député ou le maire élu? […] Tout comme la démocratie et le développement vont de paire, le développement durable et la démocratie ne peuvent avoir lieu l’un sans l’autre de façon durable. Seule une réforme constitutionnelle profonde pourrait épargner à des régions comme l’orientale d’être à la merci d’un Wali exogène à leur choix, et encore mieux, d’une technocratie marocaine qui a prouvé ses limites avec tout le mal qu’elle a faite à Saîdia, dans le plus grand crime contre l’homme et la terre que cette région a connu depuis peut être la colonisation.
How long [will we have to bear] this situation where unlected Walis (governors) have more prerogatives and authority than the elected deputy or mayor? […] Just as democracy and development go hand in hand, sustainable development and democracy can not durably occur without each other. Only a profound constitutional reform could spare the people in regions like the East the misdeeds of a Wali they didn't choose, and a technocracy that has proved its limits with all the harm it has inflicted on the Saidia region; the greatest crime against the population and the environment the region has experienced since the colonial era maybe. -
Morocco: Meet the Cartoonists
Casey Scieszka and Steven Weinberg are two American cartoonists, creators of “a book/art/zine/stuff” operation called Telephone and Soup. They have settled recently in Morocco and are announcing the organization of a meet up in a café downtown Rabat on January 26, around the Shitty Kitty comics concept, inviting people to join them, draw little kitties on paper with captions and hang out with new folks.
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Morocco: Bloggers Mourn Freedom of Expression
Nebrash Eshabab [Ar] is a Moroccan collective blogging platform. It published a call for Moroccan bloggers to “mourn freedom of expression in Morocco during a week, from 25 to 31 January,” in order to raise awareness about the deteriorating situation of free speech in the country.