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  • MOROCCO TIMES www.moroccotimes.cn.ma a Moroccan English-speaking blog in day-to-day news and general information.

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Saturday 29 october 2011 6 29 /10 /Oct /2011 04:08

 

27102011-34b7c.jpg

Kamal El Hassini (image from the archive of http://hcwu.297m.com)

According to several sources, a young unemployed graduate died in the evening of October 27, after he has been assaulted by unknown persons.


The same sources testify that the victim’s name is Kamal El Hassini and he is a member of the February 20 Movement based in the city of Elhouceima and a member of the local office of the National Assembly of Unemployed Graduates in Morocco (known in Morocco as ACDM: l’Association Nationale des Diplômés Chômeurs du Maroc.


Sources from within February 20 Movement have confirmed that Kamal El Hassini was knifed to death by some thugs or BALTAJIS, which is a term used by protest movements in Morocco to refer to people forcibly drafted by local authorities to oppose the protesters and confuse them. The victim, according to the same sources, gasped out his last breath in the way to the emergency.


On the other hand, the Moroccan official news agency MAP has reported that elements from the royal gendarmerie in the village of Beni Bouayach have arrested the person who was behind the killing of Kamal El Hassini with his murder weapon with him and put him under custody, waiting to be brought to justice on Saturday.


 

It should be noted that the February 20 Movement has been voicing out its worry about the risk of physical assault that surrounds its members particularly from people utilized by local authorities. While this is not the first time that such people attack the movement publicly in the streets, it is the first time that the baltajis killed someone from the movement.


Najib Chaouki, an activist in the February 20 Movement, told Aljazeera that this murder came in the context of the sues and investigations conducted by the authorities these days with a number of activists in the Feb 20 Movement in cities like Rabat, Tangier and Casablanca and that this is happening in the broader sense of the coming legislative elections that will take place on November 25, and which the movement called to boycott. 

 

By MOROCCO TIMES - Posted in: News - Community: World Wide News
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Monday 15 august 2011 1 15 /08 /Aug /2011 20:16

 

190318 1872484255035 1329010846 2073835 3198344 n-375x254For an informative purpose and with no aim to analyze the act of self-immolation since I’m not a specialist, the purpose of this post is to list some cases of self-immolation that took place in  Morocco, and which I believe they have not received the attention they deserve from Institutional media, neither the official nor the independent one, since  the official Moroccan press agency (La MAP) makes a great effort to take each case of self-immolation out of its real context, usually by associating the act of self-immolation with psychological disorder.  

It seems that after the sad occasion of the death of the Tunisian martyr of the Arab Spring, Muhammad Bouazizi, when he self-immolated himself, self-immolation turned to be a trend in the Arab world. It is perhaps the latest innovation in the culture of protest among Arab desperate youths seeking to liberate themselves from their hard living conditions in their countries. In morocco the list of those who fall within this category is too long. A number of self-immolation attempts have been committed so far — some of which took place even before December 17, 2010 when Bouazizi set himself on fire — within different context. Here are most of the recorded cases:

1.        April 14, 2001: a man tried to set fire on himself in front of the city council of Saadia as he hasn’t received his monthly salary from the company he works for.

2.       November 28, 2007: an unemployed university graduate, holder of royal letters of employment set himself on fire in front of the parliament to protest against the failure of officials to activate the royal instructions and the decisions taken by the government in order to recruit unemployed graduates.

3.       June 1, 2010: a group of three unemployed university graduates set themselves on fire in front of the parliament.

4.       January 21, 2011: a citizen from the city of Casablanca set himself on fire.  The Moroccan official press agency (la MAP) reported that the man was suffering family problems that have to do with inheritance.

5.       January 19, 2011: the 23 years old, Issam Boustani, attempted to set himself on fire after he was eliminated from joining the Auxiliary Forces.

6.       January 21, 2011: Mbarek Smiri, a 46 years old street vendor from the city of Beni Mellal, tried to set himself on fire in the municipality, after he got tired of the repetitive promises from officials to receive a small shop they promised him, in a local market.

7.       February 2, 2011: a young Moroccan teacher set himself on fire during a sit in by teachers front of the Ministry of Education in Rabat, demanding their integration as formal teachers.

8.      February 10, 2011 Murad Rahho, from benguerir (72 km from Marrakech), set himself on fire after he was discharged from the Moroccan army and died two days after that.

9.       February 11, 2011 Couali Mohammed, a 27 years old man from the city of Taza, set himself on in the Court of First Instance because of problems related to a fast food snack to express his denial of the decision taken by the court, which he thought it was not fair.

10.   February 21, 2011: A citizen from the city of Tan-Tan set himself on fire in front of the prefecture, to protest against ill-treatment from an official.

11.    February 21, 2011 Fadwa Laroui, a young woman from the city of Fkih Ben Salah, set herself on fire in front of the municipality to protest against the destruction of her shack by local authorities that let her homeless with two children. Fadwa died on.

12.   May 9, 2011: Rachid, a young man selling cigarettes in retails in the place of Hay Mohammadi in Casablanca, died after setting himself on fire after he was assaulted and humiliated by a woman and her husband. 

13.   June 17, 2011: Salem Alaoui, a man in his fifties, from the region of Sebt Gzoula (near the city of Safi), father of three children, set fire on himself to protest against the crackdown by local authorities.

14.   July 31, 2011: a police officer in the city of Khribga set himself on fire in front of the regional administration of the police on (Throne day). The police officer was a subject to harassment and humiliation by his superiors after he discovered a number of abuses in the police station where he works. 

15.    August 7, 2011 Hamid Kenouni, a citizen from the city of Berkan, set himself on fire in front of the main police station in the city, after he was insulted and humiliated by a police officer and another official. Hamid died on 8 August 2011.

By Zakaria RMIDI - Posted in: Society - Community: World Wide News
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Tuesday 9 august 2011 2 09 /08 /Aug /2011 06:44

 

By Zakaria RMIDI

 

constitution           My aim in this article is to argue that the new Moroccan constitution is undemocratic and illegitimate. I refer to this constitution here as an illegitimate child that was born out of an «act of rape», yet it is necessary for Moroccans to adopt it.  I will try to elaborate more on this simple metaphoric conception through answering three main questions:


  1. Why is the new Moroccan constitution an illegitimate child?


           The new constitution, which was approved by 98.49% of voters on 1 July 2011, is an illegitimate child because it was born out of an «act of rape». The latter was committed by all Moroccan political parties that submitted proposals for constitutional reforms to the advisory committee tasked with reviewing the 1996 constitution and formulating a new one, after King Mohammed VI speech on 9 March, in which he pledged constitutional reforms. The victim of this act of rape was a pretty young woman full of life that was born during the Arab Spring; a pretty young woman full of life and hope; a pretty young woman called “The February 20 Movement”, a movement that has been calling for all noble values ​​of freedom, justice, equality and democracy since it took to the streets of Morocco on 20 February 2011, yet the movement had been raped by the majority of Morocco’s political parties and with the complicity of the Makhzen.


2.   How did the act of rape take place?


           The act of rape began on 9 March immediately after King Mohamed VI addressed the Moroccan people in a speech that was described by the Moroccan mainstream media as a historic speech. In this speech, the King announced constitutional reforms and determined the most important points that would be the subject of the reforms and five other points that he considered unanimously supported by the whole nation; namely, (1) Islam as the religion of a state which guarantees freedom of worship; (2) Imarat al-Muminin (Commandership of the faithful); (3) the monarchy; (4) national unity and territorial integrity; and (5) commitment to democratic principles. After the speech, the King had formed a committee with an advisory nature made up of academics and specialists in law, headed by Professor Abdellatif Menouni and he asked all political parties to submit their proposal concerning the constitutional reforms to the committee in charge in order to draft aconstitution that responds to the expectations of Moroccans and some of what has been expressed by the February 20 movement when they took to the streets asking for a parliamentary monarchy,  denouncing corruption and dictatorship, rejecting article 19 in the 1996 constitution and demanding the dissolution of the current government and parliament. And in addition to these legitimate demands, it is important to note one important demand that was expressed by "the movement of freedom and democracy now" in its first manifesto issued on January 27, 2011, namely the dissolution of all political parties which contributed in political corruption.


           The royal speech has, in fact, provided a suitable climate for «rapists» political parties to be able to rape the February 20 Movement at best conditions. The King did not take into consideration the last demand concerning dissolving those political parties which have lost their legitimacy since the 2007 parliamentary elections — that were marred by corrupt practices such as illicit use of money, merchandise, and promises — in which voters turnout was estimated to be 37%, (5721073 voters out of 15462362 registered voters) the lowest in Moroccan political history (down from 51% in 2001). This means that those political parties do not represent the Moroccan people by any means and accordingly their proposals for constitutional reforms did not reflect the expectations and aspirations of Moroccans, who have lost trust in political parties. Moreover, most of the parties, which took part in the constitutional reforms, such as the Islamist party of Justice and Development (PJD), declared in more than one occasion that the question of reforming the constitution is not something included in their agendas.  All this suggests that Moroccan political parties have raped the February 20 Movement, which resulted in the birth of an illegitimate child named “the 2011 Moroccan Constitution draft”.


3.  Why should Moroccans adopt this illegitimate child?


           Although the new Moroccan constitution is an illegitimate child, it does not mean a thing to give up this child after 98,50% of voters ( more than 9 millions Moroccans) have shown their will to adopt it in the day of the referendum. I can not, in this article, go into the reasons why the turnout of voters who voted in favor for the new constitution is generally high, but I believe that one the one hand citizens and officials, who have voted by yes, should work together to activate the constitution on the ground as a supreme law that is in force now, and on the other those who have boycotted should also work on the activation of some aspects, especially those related with connecting power with accountability and the separation between power and wealth, in the absence of real separation of power and the continued hegemony of the Makhzen over the political life. Nevertheless, it is important for the February 20 movement and those who sympathize with it to continue protesting for a democratic constitution and a parliamentary monarchy that shall respect its citizens and that shall guarantee them the right to a decent life.

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Wednesday 1 june 2011 3 01 /06 /Jun /2011 02:46

 

By Zakaria Rmidi

 

241740 2106362342431 1346724942 32576916 3693762 oPart of the security forces that intervened to break up the protesters on the 22nd of May in Sbata

 

 

 

      Sunday, May 29 was the announced day by the February 20th movement to take to the streets one more time, after a series of manifestations and marches all across the Kingdom of Morocco. In Casablanca, the city where I live currently, the Feb 20 movement decided to organize the protest march in the street of Commandant Driss Al Harti in the neighborhood of Sbata. The choice of this popular area for a second time came as a reaction from the movement to the failure of the previous protest march which took place on the 22nd of May in the same place. The failure was mainly due to the violent intervention by the anti-riot police to break up the march, even before it started at 6 o’clock, as it was planned. The result was dozens of wounded people among the protesters and the arrest of more than 40 of them in addition to creating a state of fear and terror among the peaceful inhabitants of the neighborhood of Sbata. This was not something I read somewhere or someone told me about, rather something that I myself witnessed as the distance between me and one of the policeman’s club was only a few inches before I escaped it.


      In a communiqué of press, the government spokesman, Khalid Naciri, told Reuters: “Authorities had to deal with people who use the February 20 Movement to serve the agenda of three groups,” meaning the leftist Democratic Approach party, the Islamism group Justice and Charity, and the Salafist Jihadi group. “Islamists and extreme leftists were seeking to spread unrest under the guise of democracy protests,” he added.  


      For the Feb 20 movement the failure of the protest was big disappointment as protesters were supposed to march peacefully holding slogans and chanting their demands in the street of Driss Al Harti. Some activists in the movement believe that the 22nd of May was a bloody day and a serious setback after the monarch’s speech on the 9th of March in which he gave start to extensive constitutional reforms and emphasis to strengthening public liberties.  


      This Sunday 29th May the same scenario was repeated with an over exposition of power and violence on the part of the authorities. Because I lived in Sbata for more that 20 years and because I sympathize with the Feb 20 movement, I was very excited about joining the march in my fourth participation since the first manifestation on February 20th.  Sunday morning when I logged into my Facebook account at 12 o’clock and without asking — a friend of mine like he jumped and said: “Zakaria, I was out for a walk and I noticed there are many secret police and the worst is that some inhabitants are going to submit complaints at the police station against the Feb 20 movement”. Later, when we arrived to the neighborhood we realized that local authorities represented by “mukadem” and “sheikh” (very low officials) were asking shop keepers and cafés owners to do that claiming that their commercial interests were damaged because of the previous protest. Local authorities as I know from my friends who live in the neighborhood were also asking those people to display signboard on their shops on which they wrote, addressing the Feb 20 movement: “get out of our neighborhood”, “who asked you to speak on our behalf”, “don’t get into our affairs” and such. 


      Another friend of mine contacted me at about 4 o’clock and we decided to meet around my house to go together to the place where the protest march is supposed to take place. The nearer we were getting from the place of the protest the huger the number of the security forces became. They were composed from the hawks group, anti-riot forces, auxiliary forces, traffic police, and secret police, all armed with different kinds of sticks including electric batons and wearing lead aprons.


      As we arrived at about half passed four we decided to walk around the place as my friend also spent part of his childhood in the neighborhood of Sbata and both of us were having a nostalgic affect to explore the neighborhood and bring to mind some memories. We visited another friend and we became three walking across the main streets of Sbata before we sat to chat over a cup of coffee in the street of Ouad Eddahab. We discussed different things related to Feb 20 movement and every one of us was voicing his opinion from his own standpoint. At 6 o’clock we decided to walk down towards the street of Driss Al Harti. As we got near from the street we found that different groups from the security forces have blocked roughly all the allies that take to the street. This brought about several groups of protesters marching in various places near from the street of Driss Al Harti and chanting: “Morocco is my free land. The makhzen must get out of it”, “we are asking a parliamentary monarchy”, “we don’t want a given constitution”, “the people want to overthrow tyranny” in addition to other demands which call for social and economic change.


       Despite the interventions of the security forces several times to break up the protesters by attacking them by cars, clubs, and motorcycles the protesters tried to meet around the angle of the street of November the 6th and Driss Al Harti so that the march becomes larger. As they met there, the security forces ran out of patience and started beating everyone including the inhabitants of the neighborhood who were peacefully watching what was going on. The police intervention soon turned out to be a cat-and-mouse game; a bunch of protesters here and another one there while the security forces were running after them zanga zanga. The result was too heavier this time; in addition to the dozens of wounded people who got serious injuries and did not got any medical certificates from public hospitals which justify their injuries, a serious violation of human rights, women’s rights and children's rights and the right to demonstrate was committed by the Moroccan authorities.


      This is one of the videos that shows the aggressive intervention by the authorities.

 

 


 


By MOROCCO TIMES - Posted in: Politics - Community: World Wide News
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