Yet another excellent article, from the Lebanese Daily Star, opines on Morocco’s seeming regression in freedom(s).  Journalist Anna Mahjar-Barducci highlights this year’s and last’s major events - the Nichane case, Aboubakr Jamai’s resignation - and then goes on to discuss a recent meeting she had with Andre Azoulay, who is a (Jewish) advisor to the king.

Mahjar-Barducci quotes Azoulay as saying, “Nowadays our religions are falling into the trap of fundamentalists.”

She then goes on to say, “The Moroccan government, by condemning Nichane and other publications, is merely doing a favor to Islamists, who cannot seem to laugh at jokes and who would not accept a Jew as an adviser. By condemning journalists, the government only deepens the gap between Morocco and modernity.”

Harsh words, but true - as much as one may disagree, Morocco’s only path to development is to leave the fundamentalists/-ism behind.