Because I am not there, I’m not following the elections as closely as I ought to, however Ibn Kafka has written an excellent, detailed three-part piece over at ‘Aqoul which I highly recommend to anyone interested:

Part I
Part II
Part III

A Moroccan Jewish woman, Maggie Cacoun, is to “head the women’s list of the Al-Wast Al-Aghtama’i party,” according to The Memri Blog.  Cacoun calls herself a “nationalist Moroccan” and states that she doesn’t want her religion to play a role in her candidacy.

CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) has released a special report entitled The Moroccan Facade, which outlines media law, court cases and harassment received by journalists in Morocco.

Despite boasting a lively print press, CPJ found, Morocco has come to rely on a stealthy system of judicial and financial controls to keep enterprising journalists in check. The record shows that press freedom conditions are far from the glowing version furnished by officials and many journalists.

The article also mentions the low literacy rate and the influence of the French-language media and press as compared to Arabic.

My favorite part of the article, however, is the exultory praise given to Aboubakr Jamai, perhaps Morocco’s best journalist and editor, who recently moved to the United States with his family after his magazine, Le Journal, was slapped with an unpayable fine.

The article even mentions the influence Kuwaitis had on the Nichane ban, something which - at the time- few people believed.

It’s quite long, but worth reading every word.

I post this article without any bias*: “Morocco, Israel to form unholy alliance.”

I post it mainly because it comes from an Oslo-based Africa news site which, while terribly interesting, lacks real information on the Maghreb countries. On the other hand, please check out the satire page. I particularly like this image:

(Image used without permission from: La Moncloa, Satire - Afrol News)

*to be clear: I meant without any of my own bias!  That is not to say anything of the article’s bias!

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.

Awhile ago, I mentioned the MobiSud Sma3ni campaign featuring H-Kayne, Bigg, Steph Ragga Man and Khansa Batma - here’s the H-Kayne version of the poster (for some reason I haven’t seen a Steph Ragga Man poster, but the rest are around - there are certainly more H-Kaynes than Biggs or Khansas though - at least in Meknes!)

This is a poster encouraging people to vote - I counted at least four of them in Fez, but haven’t seen one in Meknes.

Speaking of voting, on Sunday afternoon I was substituting for another teacher when I heard what sounded like a marching band outside - turns out it was, sort of. The Labor Party was having a public meeting at the Toledano car dealership right down the street. During the 15 minute break, I went with some students to check it out and was invited by the owner himself to have a seat - unfortunately, I had to decline (class, you know), but nevertheless - quite exciting. Plus trumpets and bass drums!

June 1st has been designated the day to blog for the Maghreb Union by Tunisian Big Trap Boy in his blog. Samsoum from Global Voices Online summarized and translated the original post (which was in Arabic) here. An excerpt:

الحرب العالمية الثانية قتلت 50 مليون بشرأوروبا بعد 50 سنة توحّدت ونسات الحرب والأحقاد القديمة بين الدول الأعداء

و نحنا في المغرب العربي عندنا 50 مليون سنة ونحنا وخيّان وأحباب

عندنا 50 ألف سنة من التاريخ والحضارة والثقافة المشتركة

عندنا 50 مليار سبب باش نكونو متوحدين

واليوم، وبعد حوالي 50 سنة من الإستقلال لبلداننا الشقيقة والصديقة

ما عندناش شبكة قطارات مشتركة

ما عندناش طريق سيارة مشتركة

ما عندناش سياسة طاقة مشتركة

ما عندناش حتى مسابقة متاع عدو ريفي مشتركة

علاه؟ بالله فهمونا علاه؟

WWII killed 50 million.
Europe after 50 years united and forgot about the war and the old hatred between enemy states.
And we in the Maghreb, have been friend and brothers for 50 million years
We have 50,000 years of shared history, civilization and culture.
We have 50 billion reasons to be united
And today after almost 50 years of the independence for our friendly countries
We don’t have a shared rail network
We don’t have a shared freeway network
We don’t have a shared energy policy
We don’t even have a shared track race event
Why? Why, For God’s sake?

 

So Maghreb bloggers, mark June 1st as a day to blog for the unity of the Maghreb!

According to the Islam in Europe blog, few Dutch Moroccans make use of their right to vote in Morocco, given that Moroccan law does not permit them to vote in the Moroccan consulate.  In addition, there is a lack of information about the Moroccan elections available in the Netherlands, so few constituents have knowledge or interest in voting.

Original article, as posted in Islam in Europe : MSN (Dutch language)

From the Washington Post’s PostGlobal:

I never thought I would be saying this but — with the way the Arab world has gone — a stable, serious and relatively open monarchy would be more favorable than the supposedly open rule and equal opportunity to rule that a republic is supposed to provide.

Praising Jordan, Bahrain and Morocco, Kuttab, a Palestinian journalist and founder of AmmanNet, hopes that in the future Arab monarchies will become more like Denmark or Britain in terms of rule.

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.