Some wonderful news this morning about Egyptian blogger Abdel-Monem Mahmoud, a member of the Muslim brotherhood who was arrested in April for “belonging to an illegal organization” - he is soon to be freed, according to Global Voices Online’s Freedom for Egyptians.
The View from Fez questioned why Bono has been seen wandering the medina of late; USA Today confirms that popular band U2 is currently in Fez recording an album. This is not the first visit to Morocco for U2 - their 1991 video “Mysterious Ways,” directed by Stephane Sednaoui, was filmed in Fez.
The View from Fez suggests that perhaps they are also here to see the World Sacred Music Festival - I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s indeed true. Here’s hoping that The View manages to catch up with Bono!
The Global Peace Index, in which the United States and Iran are practically tied at 96 and 97, ranks Morocco as 48 out of 121. Iraq and Sudan are at the bottom of the list, while Norway is ranked as #1.
In certain indicators, ranked on a scale of 1 ( most peaceful) to 5, Morocco did extremely well. “Number of homicides per 100,000 people,” “Number of deaths from organized conflict (internal)” and “Aggregate numbers of heavy weapons per 100,000 people” are just three of the indicators for which Morocco was given a “1.” The lowest ranking indicators were “UN Deployments 2006-7″ (5), “Relations with Neighboring Countries” (3), “Level of Violent Crime” (3), “Political instability” (3), and “Respect for Human Rights” (3).
The survey also covered culture and education, as well as other indicators. Morocco’s lowest point lies in higher education; in the education rankings, percentages of students enrolled were given. The results:
Primary education enrollment: 90%
Secondary education enrollment: 36%
Higher education enrollment: 11%
Overall literacy was said to lie at about 51%.
Thanks Oumama, for being the first to alert me to the fact that YouTube has returned to Maroc Telecom customers.
What is truly amazing is how bloggers managed to mobilize so quickly. This afternoon, I found that several international news sources had picked up the story, no doubt because of the fact that bloggers in three (or more) languages managed to pool their resources, e-mail each other, start up petitions, make incessant posts (which we then managed to get put up on Global Voices), starting an incredibly effective chain reaction.
International news sources which covered the story:
Reporters Without Borders
MidEast Youth
Associated Press Article (via San Jose Mercury - surprising how many local papers in the States picked this up!)
Special thanks to Youssef who quickly got this story noticed.
A first-year student at Moulay Ismail University at Toulal in Meknes was attacked Tuesday afternoon and died while being transported to the hospital. TelQuel reported that the incident in which the boy was killed was between Amazigh students and leftists, “pour des divergences idéologiques et le contrôle de l’université.” (for ideological divergences and control of the university).
Additionally, a Saharawi student named Soltana Khaya lost an eye last week during a clash between Moroccan police and Saharawi students, according to an Algerian paper.
Reuters AlertNet reports that violence against Saharawi students in Morocco has grown this year, with police involvement in recent skirmishes crossing the line.
Today’s news indicates that things are looking up in Morocco. First, Reuters AlertNet announced, in a statement made by the UNHCR itself, that Morocco’s UN Refugee office has reopened after the peaceful breakup of a sit-in staged by refugees. Last weekend, several Congolese refugees stormed the office, causing them to shut down at the threat of violence. Since the closure of the office, there have been protestors outside, urging it to reopen. Many of Morocco’s refugees, most of whom are sub-Saharan Africans, have requested monthly financial assistance, which the UNHCR says it cannot provide.
Morocco’s main Islamist opposition group, Al Adl wa al Ihsane, which advocates for Shari’a law in the country, was barred from holding a news conference on Thursday in Rabat. The group, which has about 250,000 members, is also banned from holding meetings.
The Moroccan Council for Higher Education met on Wednesday to discuss the need for civic education in schools, according to Magharebia.com. King Mohammed VI, in his opening remarks, stressed that “promoting civic conduct is a pressing demand in today’s world.”
Finally, Amnesty International released its 2007 Report on Wednesday, which called attention to abuses in the Western Sahara. The report also highlighted the questioning of 3,000 Al Adl wa al Ihsane members, the deaths of migrants trying to cross to Sebta and Melilla last summer, and abuses in the ‘war on terror.’
Yesterday, when The View From Fez posted that a new English-language newspaper, The Casablanca Analyst was on the stands, I could hardly believe it - but it is, indeed, true! And aside from the aforementioned typos/translation errors, it’s quite excellent! I read excerpts to my class last night, and would like to share my favorite with you. It’s on page 2, in an article called “Ambition in modesty.” Let’s read, shall we?
We would like the reader to be pleased with his newspaper and to experience a faint thrill whenever he buys his copy of the Analyst. We certainly do not want him to buy it grudgingly - as he sometimes does with some third rate newspapers - when he often feels swindled and finds that the daily he has purchased is too expensive for the two and a half Dirhams he paid for it.
On the contrary, we want our reader to buy his copy of the Casablanca Analyst without hesitation and almost with his eyes closed as he will each time be sure that every single article in it will bring him something new, will quench his intellectual curiousity, enrich his world view, and give him that exquisite pleasure that newspaper connoisseurs experience and that even the best satellite channels could not substitute.
Finally, we would like our public in Morocco to become a newspaper reading public in general and particularly to impatiently expect his copy of th eAnalyst and purchase it first thing in the day. This may be a dream but we shall diligently work to make it come true./
My students remarked that the editors are indeed quite ambitious, and I don’t disagree, but that kind of confidence is what they’ll need to succeed in a country where even the most popular newspapers only sell around 100,000 per issue (Morocco’s population is 31 million), and where few people speak or read English.
And yet, I’m impressed, because not only are the articles original, but the writers seem to remain true to their identities, claiming their perspectives as Muslims, humanists, pacifists, environmentalists, nationalists, seekers of truth, democrats, lovers of literature and the arts, militants for freedom and economists (not in that order).
I look forward to the next issue.
Although I have not personally been posting about the French elections, I did write a post about them on Global Voices, but this came out afterward and I loved the title: “King congratulates Sarkozy on the phone” (Maghreb Arabe Presse).
Congratulations, Sarkozy. I’m a little surprised, honestly, and a little disappointed, but all I can do is hope you make things fair. Set it right.
Morocco is quite angry about the CPJ report mentioned yesterday; Minister of Communication Nabil Benabdellah told the press that “the report in no way reflects the situation of press freedom in Morocco.”
Right - arresting two journalists over some silly jokes, fining them large sums of money that they cannot easily afford, and pushing the country’s best editor and journalist to the United States are just normal, everyday events. Nothing to see here.
