Starting Points: Morocco

Showing posts with label Morocco. Show all posts

Apr 4, 2010

Global Voices Online » Morocco: Are Christians at Risk?

In early March, observers watched as around 20 long-time Christian orphanage workers were expelled from the country they called home. The incident, and others which followed it, have brought to light the debate surrounding Christianity in the Kingdom.

While the official Moroccan line is that 98.7-99 per cent of the population is Muslim (the remainder being approximately 1% Christian and 0.2% Jewish), that statistic includes ethnic Europeans residing in Morocco. Proselytizing is illegal, as is conversion away from Islam. Still, foreign Christians are allowed to practice freely, and a number of churches, mostly from the era of French colonization, remain. In contrast, the country's tiny Jewish population is almost entirely native, and is also allowed free practice of their faith.

Despite guarantees of freedom, it would appear that the government is taking a stronger approach of late to proselytism, both real and perceived. The Moroccan Dispatches shares a recent incident in which an Egyptian Catholic priest was expelled from the country:

Evangelicals have operated for years in Morocco, with their main purpose being the conversion of Muslims. Catholics have operated for longer, but purposefully have not engaged in proselytizing. So it came as a surprise that a Catholic priest was also detained and then exported during last week's crackdown.

The blogger shares a message he received from the church in Casablanca:

On Sunday the 7th of March, five minutes before mass began; the police in the city of Larache entered our friary and arrested one of our confrères, Rami Zaki, a young Egyptian friar still in initial formation who was spending a year with us. He was ordered to go with the police, had no possibility to collect anything, and was given no explanation for his arrest…

…When Rami was put on the plane, his passport was taken from him and given to the pilot who later surrendered it with Rami to the police in Cairo. He was detained by the police in Cairo for another seven hours for interrogation before he was permitted to telephone his community of friars. From Sunday, the morning of his arrest, to Tuesday afternoon, when he was released – a total of more than 50 hours – Rami was deprived by the police in Morocco and Egypt of any of his human rights.

In another post, the blogger demonstrates that the public has joined in the crackdowns, citing a recent incident in which a cross was removed from its site of many years:

Where a cross once hung in Meknés

This is the place where a cross used to hang in Meknes' medina. The Catholics who teach Moroccans languages and career skills in this building do not engage in proselytism but have caught up in the anti-Christian sentiment following the recent expulsions of Christians. Last week, the cross was knocked down and beaten into pieces.
On a positive note, Moroccans who have benefited from their services have volunteered to reconstruct the cross.

In a more recent post, the same blogger assesses a TelQuel article on the situation, and says of it:

In the main article, it points out that most Moroccans convert to Christianity more as a result of Arabic media and not from foreign missionaries. This jives with my experience: a number of Moroccans I know have had long conversations with Christian missionaries about religion and none have converted. Some defended Islam while smoking hashish just to piss off the Christians, it that gives you an idea of how many Moroccans understand their Islamic identity. This observation about foreign missionaries, of course, undermines the rationale behind the recent expulsions of many foreigners.

To conclude, the blogger notes the recent media crackdowns and laments:

Other media critical of the government have been shut down recently. And the same could happen to Tel Quel. But as long as they are still around, there will be at least some debate and critical thinking about current events.

Sep 5, 2009

Dar Al Hayat - A Libyan message to Morocco

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Sat, 05 September 2009

Mohammad al-Ashab

When Libyan Leader Mu'ammar al-Qaddafi announced that he supports the independence of southern Sudan if its people want to, it was clear that his message goes beyond the Sudanese crisis to the West of North Africa, particularly the issue of Western Sahara, especially since both crises erupted at the same time in the mid-1990s in order to separate the Arab space from its African extension.

Those who are acquainted with Col. Al-Qaddafi realize that he has been keen on giving precedence to the image of the thinking leader over the reality that he is a head of a state who can hit and miss. When a Moroccan court prosecuted some newspapers for criticizing the Libyan leader, the issue was considered closed at this level. On the one hand, this newspaper was unofficial and only reflects the ideas of its publishers. On the other hand, the commitment to principles in the relations among states is not subject to mood swings. It is different when Libya expresses its discontent with some reports published by the Moroccan press, and when Libyan officials go back in time and manipulate the Sahara issue.

It was enough for the Libyan officials to inform the Morocco officials that the leader of the Polisario Front Mohammad Abdelaziz will attend the celebrations of Al-Fateh Revolution in order to avoid any embarrassment. In this case, Morocco's absence would not be more serious that driving it to face a fait accompli. Also, Morocco does not agree to be at the same distance with the Polisario Front, especially since the issue is still on the table of the United Nations.

In its current experience, Libya has replaced resounding slogans with a pragmatic methodology that is closer to understanding the laws of the times. Going backward in dealing with the Sahara issue and southern Sudan just because Libya was displeased with reports published by the press is out of the question. The Libyan role is necessary to help solve the problems of the African continent, not to complicate them. The Libyan Republic might have been forced to deal with the European Union in its current structure, or it might have been exposed to political pressures to ensure a mass rally to mark the 40th anniversary of Al-Fateh Revolution.

However, it realizes that the accession of the "Sahara Republic" to the Organization of the African Unity in 1984 raised political and legal controversies which the efforts of the wise people of African failed to overcome. The evidence is that the Sahara dossier in particular has moved to the corridors of the United Nations, and thus there is still a need for a political solution to the predicament of the African Union, all the more so after many countries suspended their recognition of the "Sahara Republic" and are yearning for a political solution to end the problem.

Likewise, the situation in southern Sudan would not have enjoyed the current dimensions had it not been for the repercussions of the Darfur crisis which put Sudan's unity before the unknown. This can only be faced by consolidating unity and sovereignty in light of respecting ethnic and political pluralism. After all, there are many African and Arab frameworks that can contain the struggle of the brother-enemies in Sudan.

No one wants the relations between Morocco and Libya to deteriorate. Both countries are bound by joint commitments inside the Maghreb Union, which can obviously play a role in encouraging the parties of the Sahara conflict to carry on with negotiations, let alone the fact that its current situation cannot withstand new differences.

It is worth mentioning that while the Maghreb capitals abstain from carrying out any efforts to arrange the appropriate atmosphere for a political solution brokered by the United Nations, international envoy Christopher Ross took the lead and talked with the Maghreb Union Secretariat about the issue. But Col. Al-Qaddafi still heads the current session of the Union, and he had experienced, two years ago, how the Sahara differences reflected negatively on the Maghreb Summit hosted by Tripoli at the time. His position and responsibilities perhaps push him to contemplate over the dreams that fade away of establishing a Maghreb Union, one that is active in its periphery and a partner to its neighbors. The opportunity remains favorable to do something, but not under the circumstances of the protest of the celebration which necessitated the withdrawal of Morocco. And it is not too late!

Aug 27, 2009

Islamic Radicalism Slows Moroccan Reforms - NYTimes.com

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By STEVEN ERLANGER and SOUAD MEKHENNET

CASABLANCA, Morocco — Morocco has long been viewed as a rare liberalizing, modernizing Islamic state, open to the West and a potential bridge to a calmer Middle East that can live in peace with Israel.

But under pressure from Islamic radicalism, King Mohammed VI has slowed the pace of change. Power remains concentrated in the monarchy; democracy seems more demonstrative than real. While insisting that the king is committed to deeper reforms, senior officials speak instead of keeping a proper balance between freedom and social cohesion. Many discuss the threat of extremism in neighboring Algeria.

Since a major bombing of downtown hotels and shopping areas by Islamic radicals in 2003, and a thwarted attempt at another bombing campaign in 2007, there has been a major and continuing crackdown on those suspected of being extremists here.

In 2003, anyone with a long beard was likely to be arrested. Even now, nearly 1,000 prisoners considered to be Islamic radicals remain in Moroccan jails. Six Islamist politicians (and a reporter from the Hezbollah television station, Al Manar) were jailed recently, accused of complicity in a major terrorist plot. The case was full of irregularities and based mainly on circumstantial evidence, according to a defense lawyer, Abelaziz Nouaydi, and Human Rights Watch.

In a rare interview, Yassine Mansouri, Morocco’s chief of intelligence, said that the arrested politicians “used their political activities as a cover for terrorist activities.”

“It was not our aim to stop a political party,” he said. “There is a law to be followed.”

Morocco is threatened, Mr. Mansouri said, by two extremes — the conservative Wahhabism spread by Saudi Arabia and the Shiism spread by Iran. “We consider them both aggressive,” Mr. Mansouri said. “Radical Islam has the wind in its sail, and it remains a threat.”

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, especially active in Algeria, remains a major problem for Morocco, Mr. Mansouri said. Officials say it is appealing to the young and has recreated a training route to Afghanistan through Pakistan, and it just sponsored a suicide bombing in Mauritania.

Foreign Minister Taïeb Fassi Fihri said: “We know where the risks to our stability are. We know kids are listening to this Islamic song, so we have to act quickly.”

King Mohammed, who celebrated his 10th year on the throne this year, has vowed to help the poor and wipe out the slums, called “bidonvilles,” where radicalism is bred. One such slum, Sidi Moumen, where the bombers lived, is being redeveloped. Half of it has already been ripped down, and some 700 families shipped to the outskirts of the city, where they are provided a small plot of land at a cheap price to build new housing.

Hamid al-Gout, 34, was born in Sidi Moumen and built his own hovel here. Nearly everyone has been to prison, he said, and Islamist political groups quietly hold meetings. “Sometimes we talk, 12 or 14 people, about our lives,” he said, then added carefully, “But there is no radical thinking here now.”

Abdelkhabir Hamma, 36, said that he had been told that if he and his family did not leave by the end of the year, they would be thrown out. He said that while many respect the king, few trust other authorities.

The king sees himself as a modernizer and reformer, having invested heavily in economic development, loosened restraints on the news media, given more rights to women and shed light on some of the worst human-rights abuses of the past. These are remarkable steps in a region dominated by uncompromising examples of state control, like Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.

Because the king, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, is also revered as the “Commander of the Faithful,” challenges to Moroccan Islam are taken very seriously.

In March, the king cut diplomatic ties to Iran, accusing Tehran of “intolerable interference in internal affairs” by trying to spread Shiism in Morocco and recruiting Moroccans in Europe, especially in Belgium, to participate in acts of terrorism, Mr. Mansouri said.

The king has tried to be more inclusive, traveling for instance to the north of Morocco, where his father had refused to go. The north is also a hotbed of extremism and home for many of the Qaeda bombers of Madrid. The king held a traditional ceremony of mutual allegiance, or baiaa, this year in Tetouan and highlighted significant development funds there.

But Morocco’s response has also been to slam the brakes on reform, even of the corrupt judiciary and of laws governing women’s rights, in order not to inflame conservative and traditional views of Islam, especially in the countryside and among the poor, where extremists fish. For that reason, too, the king has not put Morocco forward as an interlocutor between Israel and the Palestinians, as his father did. The view here is simply that Israel — and other, harder-line Arab states — must move first, before Morocco exposes itself.

The crackdown has also damaged Morocco’s human rights record. Muslim prisoners are treated roughly in jail, sometimes sodomized with bottles, said Abdel-Rahim Moutard, a former prisoner himself, his hands broken during interrogations. He runs Ennasir, a rights organization for prisoners. But when they emerge from prison, they get little help, even from the mosques or Ennasir.

“A lot of them are shocked that their country would treat them this way,” Mr. Moutard said. “After the bottle treatment, every time he goes to the toilet he’ll remember, and he will think of vengeance.”

The main Islamist party, the Party for Justice and Development, is effectively neutered, but officials want to ensure that it does not combine with the Socialists. So for recent elections for local authorities, the palace created the Authenticity and Modernity Party, run by Fouad Ali El Himma, 46, who as a youth had been chosen, like Mr. Mansouri and other boys from varied backgrounds, to study with the young king. Mr. Himma is also a former deputy interior minister.

The effort is to provide an alternative — sanctioned informally by the palace — but also to try to mobilize Moroccans, who do not see their participation as having much effect on weak governments, to vote. The new party won, with 22 percent of the vote on a turnout of 52 percent; Mr. Himma is seen as a future prime minister.

In an interview, Mr. Himma spoke passionately about the commitment of the king to aid the poor and reform the country. Morocco “has always been a country of transit, and we have found the cement for all this — our multifaceted monarchy,” he said.

Critics, however, see the king and his friends as a closed, anti-democratic “monarchy of pals.” The king has concentrated much economic power in the palace, argues Aboubakr Jamai, former editor of Le Journal Hebdomadaire — becoming Morocco’s chief banker, insurer and industrialist. Moves toward a more democratic system, with more power to the Parliament, or even a constitutional monarchy, are off the table, certainly for now.

The officials readily concede that poverty, illiteracy and corruption remain serious challenges. The king, they say, has made judicial reform a key goal.

Yet in a nationally televised address on his 10th anniversary as king, Mohammed VI spoke of poverty and development. But he did not use the word “corruption,” and he spoke only once of “social justice,” making no mention of judicial reform.

Aug 19, 2009

5 Years Later, Morocco Is Still Adjusting to a Family Reform Law

By STEVEN ERLANGER and SOUAD MEKHENNET

TANGIER, Morocco — Fairouz Guiro, 19, still looks with wonder at her little girl, Marwar, all of 27 days old.

But Ms. Guiro has no idea how to find Marwar’s father. She was seduced by an older Moroccan man visiting Tangier on vacation from Spain, and he has since changed his cellphone number.

“My mother told me to be careful of men and not to trust them,” she said. “I didn’t listen.”

Ms. Guiro came to Tangier to work from a little town nine hours away and found a job at a company called Delphi. But her job is gone, and as a single mother, she has few rights here.

Her parents told her to give up Marwar for adoption, and so did her siblings. “I said ‘O.K., I would,’ but later I couldn’t,” she said. “I know it’s my right to take care of my daughter.”

Despite an important reform of Morocco’s family code in 2004, pressed upon a reluctant Parliament by the young king, Muhammad VI, sex outside marriage is not recognized in Morocco, any more than homosexuality is.

The new law, known as the Moudawana, provides no protection to women like Ms. Guiro or Latifa al-Amrani, 21, from Salé, near Rabat, who is about to become a single mother. She met a man, Ali, 24, who claimed he was a plainclothes policeman, and one day he took her supposedly to meet his aunt. It was an empty apartment, and they made love.

“He told me he wanted to marry me,” Ms. Amrani said. “But then he changed his phone and I couldn’t reach him anymore.” She filed a complaint with the police but has heard nothing from them. Her parents beat her, she said, so she ran away.

She, too, says she intends to keep her baby. One reason for her confidence is the work of a charitable organization here called 100%Mamans, created in 2006 by Claire Trichot, 33. With help from a Spanish nongovernmental organization and private donors, Ms. Trichot and a small staff provide food, shelter and education for expectant single mothers; take them to decent hospitals for the birth; and then help them to care for the babies and find jobs.

Most of the young women have been shunned by their families and abandoned by the fathers of their children, Ms. Trichot said. “It’s illegal to have sex outside marriage, so single mothers have no rights,” she said. The mosques ignore them; families sometimes throw them out; the police usually think even rape victims are lying; the hospitals often treat them badly.

“We want to make sure these women are treated fairly,” Ms. Trichot said, so they don’t abandon their babies. “Our goal is to reintegrate them into life.”

The Moudawana was much praised. It gave women equal legal rights to men in a marriage, including the right to ask for a divorce; raised the legal age for marriage to 18 from 15; and gave first wives the right to refuse should their husbands desire to marry a second wife. The law made divorce a legal procedure, eliminating the tradition of a husband divorcing a wife simply by handing her a letter.

Even five years later, the family code is deeply controversial in the country and among conservative religious figures, and many family judges are susceptible to corruption, according to groups promoting women’s education and legal rights, like the Women’s Development Association in Casablanca.

Touria Eloumri, its president, said that the “philosophy in the new law, based on equality, is the most important factor.” But, she added, “You can’t expect a quick change in mentality and habits in only five years.” More often than not, she said, “The biggest problem here is corruption among judges.”

There are often cases where a first wife’s consent to a second wife is forged, or another woman appears before the judge pretending to be a man’s wife, Ms. Eloumri said. There are long delays, and a system of family courts is only now being instituted.

Polygamy is still legal, subject to the agreement of the first wife, and adultery remains a crime. If a woman remarries before a child is 7, custody automatically reverts to her ex-husband, so some decide not to remarry. Many women want further changes.

But there has been “a real counter-reaction” to the law as it is, Ms. Eloumri said, particularly among the religious.

The king, who is also the “commander of the faithful,” pushed through the law by telling Parliament that there was nothing in it that violated Islam, and nothing in Islam that contradicted the law. But his advisers say that it will take a generation for Moroccan attitudes to change, and no one is yet contemplating further reform.

In a recent poll of Moroccans done by a Moroccan magazine, TelQuel, and the French daily Le Monde, 91 percent had favorable opinions of the king. But the same poll, which was banned by the government and never published here, showed that 49 percent of respondents said that the new Moudawana “gave too many rights to women,” while 30 percent said it gave “enough rights to women” and should not go further.

Zakia Tahiri, 46, a filmmaker, just made a social comedy called “Number One,” about a man who mistreats his wife and the women at the factory he manages — until his wife feeds him a potion that turns him into a kind of feminist. “Everyone blames everything on the Moudawana,” she said, laughing.

Islam “is a religion where everyone thinks he’s a specialist,” she said. “I wanted to show with my movie that each group does with the Moudawana what they want — the women, the men, the Islamists.”

Hinde Taarji, 52, is a writer and journalist, divorced, who recently adopted a son. “It’s evident the new law cannot be implemented the way it should for now,” she said. “But it’s a very important signal.” She described a female friend who ran a hotel and was separated for 15 years, but could not get a divorce and remarry because her husband refused. Under the new law, she finally divorced.

“Even with the best law in the world, the corruption of the justice system is still a very big problem here,” Ms. Taarji said. “But lots of things have changed in Morocco for the better.”

Still, the biggest problem for young women in Morocco is lack of education; there is little sex education, even at home, and almost 70 percent of the women who come to 100%Mamans are illiterate — compared with about 38 percent nationwide. “They leave home and go to the cities to work, and confront the freedom of that,” Ms. Trichot said. “Then they meet young men and they are not ready.”