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.

Then sign this petition. Mind you, I highly doubt a petition will change anything, but express your right to free speech and free thought anyway, while you still can.

Personally, I think it’s time for Blair to retire.  While I don’t take major issue to him as a person or politician, having only followed his career in the past few years, I simply don’t feel he’s the right person for the job, given how the amount of hatred much of the world holds for him and his ilk.

MoTIC is urging readers to continue signing petitions against Morocco’s internet censorship. Although YouTube is back, Livejournal and Google Earth are still blocked, without explanation. The petitions are:

Petition to Counter Internet Censorship in Morocco (Fr)
Stop-Censure (Fr)
Unblock Youtube (continue signing anyway!)

The Maroc IT Blog also urges readers to denounce the censure, pointing out a satirical article by La Gachette du Maroc (fr).  A Moroccan in Washington DC is questioning who blocked YouTube in the first place, saying:

People behind the blocking of Youtube in Morocco have to be reprimanded in proportion with the damage caused from ban. The news has made its way to BBC,New York times, Washington Post and a plethora of other news outlets in the world causing an unwanted negative advertising of a Kingdom that seeks to replenish its image and join the club of modern and free societies. Consequently, the ban on a high profile such as Youtube has tarnished the image of Morocco,a country in a democratic transition.

Additionally, here is another good piece by Omar El Hyani for Open Source.

Magically, Moroccan bloggers are all beginning to post bits in English, which is nice considering how many more readers English blogs seem to garner here.

I’m saddened and disappointed today. #1, by how many comments I’ve read, mostly in other blogs, in support of censorship; and #2, by the fact that it seems that Maroc Telecom/Itissalat Maghreb, owned by Vivendi Universal, has blocked YouTube on its own, and that it is, perhaps, not a directive of the Moroccan government (thanks Youssef for the info)

I should first clarify that most of the people I’ve found to be, seemingly, pro-censorship, support it in this case because the likely cause of the ban on certain websites was related to the rise of fundamentalist materials. That sounds fair.

But, the problem with censorship is that once it starts, it seems to pick up speed. First, they censor fundamentalist sites, then what? Soon, nothing is off-limits.

In Europe, hate speech has been criminalized. It is illegal in most countries to deny the Holocaust. Now, I will state that personally, I believe that the Holocaust happened, that it was one of history’s biggest tragedies, that the persecution of Jews, homosexuals, and other minorities occurred on the largest scale ever during that time. But what if I didn’t? Shouldn’t I have the right to express my opinion?

The U.S. Constitution allows for free speech in any form, excepting libel, slander, and speech which poses a direct threat to one’s person. The founders of the United States, tired of religious intolerance in Europe, created the First Amendment to protect against censorship.

Of course, I am the first to acknowledge that the American ideals have, in many ways, fallen apart - recent examples being the firing of Don Imus and possibly Rosie O’Donnell, the Senate bill introduced in 2005 that could have barred certain topics from university classroom discussions. My country is by no means, nowhere even close to perfect.

But I raise it in discussion because I believe in First Amendment ideals.

Morocco is not blocking YouTube simply because some fundamentalists may have posted videos there. If that were the case, they would not have censored Aboubakr Jamai, Ali Lmrabet, Sanaa Al-Aji and Driss Ksikes, none of whom support fundamentalism.

Although citizen media has not yet hit it big, look to Global Voices Online, MidEast Youth and all of the other sites that we have begun to look to for news - and look at the recent case of Bangladeshi blogger Tasneem Khalil if you don’t believe it’s possible for us to have influence.  Get your story picked up by RSF or HRW and you never know…

So props to The View From Fez, Youssef (here and here), Agora, Hchica, El Hafa, Larbi, Sami ben Gharbia at GVO, A Moroccan in Washington D.C. and anyone else who is making an effort to open a dialogue on this subject.

This morning, I signed into Google Reader and saw that netdur had posted “YouTube blocked in Morocco?” A quick little check, and I confirmed it…YouTube is indeed blocked here, adding to a list that already includes Livejournal, Google Earth and any sites about the Western Sahara (although a few in English have slipped through).

What I want to know, however, is why no one is speaking out about this? Out of the over 40 Morocco-based blogs I read, only five or six have even mentioned these facts. Is it that the internet, without which your blogs wouldn’t exist, just isn’t important? Or is it that you don’t feel that you can do anything, so you keep mum?

And as Everything Morocco pointed out, this problem is not unique to Morocco.  As The Enquirer says “China, Iran, Syria, Tunisia, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Oman and Pakistan censor anything that moves or jiggles.”

Personally, I have no idea what we can do, but I know that keeping quiet won’t help. Morocco bloggers, join me in speaking out against internet censorship.

–It appears that A Moroccan in Washington D.C. also posted about this early this morning.

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.

I found this great post this morning from One Hump or Two?, also known as the only Western Sahara blog accessible from within Morocco.

The article highlights the Wikipedia Western Sahara portal, which has been under dispute for awhile, mainly because pro-Polisario folks have been doing most of the posting. Regardless of my personal beliefs, which you shall never know, I’d like to see more of the other side involved for the sake of balance.

What I’d really like to see, however, is Morocco stop censoring the internet. Did you know that I can’t access Western Sahara blogs and Livejournal (apparently too many Moroccans were signing up)? I’m sure there are other sites, but those are the ones I know about. Why isn’t anyone else talking about this?

p.s. How could I forget Google Earth, which is currently blocked by the Moroccan government so that we cannot view the palaces.

• First, a great article today from Lebanese Lobby written by Marc Lynch of Abu Aardvark. The article, entitled “Arab pluralism requires a free, contentious media,” quotes the recent World Public Opinion survey”A recent public opinion survey of four relatively “moderate” Arab countries by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems found that very few citizens believe the media is independent or effective, or that journalists can do their work without fear of punishment.”

• Morocco and Latvia are to form bilateral cooperation. The People’s Daily Online reported that “aims at facilitating trade between economic operators and encouraging exchange of trade missions.”

• 133 migrants were caught in Laayoune, in attempts to sail to Spain, Reuters reports.

• Mideast Youth has picked up and propelled the cause of blogging for the Maghreb Union.

• Moroccan police in Casa attack Saharawi students who tried to enter Hassan II University (AP).

The articles will be available online on May 11. But if you can, go buy it, it’s only 15dh and comes with something extra.

Esclavage Sexuel

Parties travailler dans les pays du Golfe comme coiffeuses au hôtesses, des milliers de Marocaines se retrouvent séquestrées battues et forcées a se prostituer. Cherchant a s’évader, certaines sont emprisonnées ou même assassinées ! Et le Maroc se tait, au nom de “considérations diplomatiques .” Il est temps de briser cette scandaleuse omerta.

And my approximate translation (remember, I don’t speak French well):

Having left to work in the Gulf countries as hairdressers or hostesses; thousands of Moroccan women are found sequestered, beaten and forced into prostitution. Seeking to escape, some are imprisoned or even assassinated! And Morocco keeps silent, in the name of “diplomatic considerations.” It is time to break this scandalous “code of silence.*”

(*quotes are mine)

And this week’s Nichane discusses the salaries of Moroccan celebrities.

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.