“If you don’t have a shame, then do whatever you want”

“If you have no shame, then do whatever you want”

Lately, there was a program on 2m (a Moroccan TV channel) on the freedom of press in Morocco. What astonished me the most in the program was the statistics provided about the press in my country.

•Only 300 000 Moroccans read more than 500 Moroccan newspapers and magazines
•13 copies for every 1000 Moroccans, compared to 60 copies in Algeria, 38 in Tunisia, 230 in Europe, 600 in Scandinavian countries and Japan.
•More than 50 % of returns (of copies) everyday.

These numbers show clearly that journalism in our country is mingling in a serious crisis of readership and distribution. What makes the scene more catastrophic is that the situation of press in neighboring countries (Algeria and Tunisia) is much better. Probably, one cause of this is the oppression exercised against print and broadcast media over the last few years.

In 2008, the famous journalist Aboubaker Jamaii said to a number of journalists who had come to support him after his weekly Le Journal had been shut down " Today I inform you that I am quitting the business of journalism in Morocco. I am not giving up my ideals, but it has become clear to me that serious journalism has become impossible in Morocco today. "

When such words come in such a sad tone from a well-known and veteran journalist in Morocco, this means that freedom of expression in our country has come to a dead-end. One can sense the gravity of the situation in these words.

All these years gone, officials in Morocco couldn’t make their minds up when the freedom of expression is at question. They haven’t yet clearly answered this essential question of weather our country should follow the unavoidable trend of the liberation of media or keep up those out-dated acts of tyranny and oppression.

In fact, with the crowning of King Muhammad VI in 1999, so much talk has been launched about the utter rupture with the previous era of political oppression and antidemocratic policies. A rupture with what is often referred to in Morocco as ‘the years of lead’ that was marked by the state violence against the former opponents to the rule of King Hassan II. We started to hear expressions like ‘the democratic transition’, ‘the state of right and law’ the good governance’, ‘the promotion of human rights’, etc. Hope began to inhabit again so many Moroccans even the most pessimistic. We all said, well this is the 21st century and officials in our country would feel ashamed if such acts of ‘the years of lead’ still persisted; it would harm the image of Morocco across the international community; the ‘beautiful’ image, which all the previous governments cared so much to manifest to the world more than to the Moroccans.

We believed that the international media and human rights organizations today would put some pressure on our governmental officials and make them think twice before they put a journalist into jail, confiscate a newspaper or ban it from publication. Yet unfortunately all these were mere fancies and illusions.

The famous Arabic poetic proverb: “if you have no shame then do whatever you want” applies well to our officials. They don’t feel ashamed of the foolish and old-fashioned acts they exercise against many honest and dedicated media voices. Besides, they have no respect for the Moroccans’ will and hope of having a state where real democracy prevails.

Actually, the seven years following the crowning of the king Muhammad VI were described as ‘the spring of freedom of expression’ in Morocco. Media, notably press, dealt with issues so far considered as sacred and not for discussion. We saw pictures of the king and his family on front-pages of newspapers and magazines with very big daring titles; we read articles not always in favor of the Monarchy institution; we heard of harsh criticism on the work of ministers and the government. We thought it would be the birth of a state that respects its own people’s thoughts and attitudes; a state that accepts criticism and is ready to defend itself with serious projects for economic, political and social development; a government that acts and not searches for ‘eloquent’ spokespersons to give sparkling but in-vain reports of every governmental meeting.

Alas! The last two years came up to break the fabric of hope and illusions we have constructed so far to convince ourselves of the change that waited for us. The Moroccan government suspended the Al Jazeera s Maghreb Daily News show that we have been proud it broadcast from our capital Rabat. And up to now it hasn’t provided any solid arguments for this inexplicable act, and claimed it was because of some legal or technical reasons. The minister of communication provided hollow explanations, understandable to nobody but himself and his government. The only thing we are sure of is that Aljazeera has done well to Morocco and contributed to the understanding of many national issues such as the ‘Sahara’ question, probably more than the Moroccan ministry of foreign affairs itself could do.

Accordingly, The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), whose vice-president is a Moroccan journalist Younes Moujahid, condemned the Moroccan government decision. And most of if not all the Moroccan people felt ashamed of this suspension and this fatal error of the Moroccan diplomacy (which may be added to many we still ‘reap’ its consequences today).

Also, the French-language weekly Le Journal, ‘notorious’ for criticizing the Moroccan monarchy, was silenced and shut down forever. The reason: it transgressed the ‘red lines’. Its’ founder Aboubaker Jamaii, called this an act of state terrorism , and abandoned journalism forever.

In fact, since the establishment of this independent newspaper in 1997, it had dealt with issues considered as political taboos that nobody should speak out. It brought about ‘unwanted’ people to have a say: Malika Oufkir, the daughter of General Mohamed Oufkir, who was executed in 1972 after a failed coup, and the Polisario Front leader Muhammad Abdelaziz, who leads the movement fighting for ‘the independence’ of ‘Western Sahara’.

‘TelQuel’, another independent pioneer magazine in Morocco, was seized two years ago after it had printed out an opinion poll about the popularity of King Mohammed VI. Besides, Driss Chahtane, editor of the weekly al-Mish al, was sentenced last year to one year in prison for spreading "false information" about the King s health.

Ali Lmrabet, a famous former chief editor of Le Journal served jail time for slandering the King, and in 2005 was banned from working as a journalist in Morocco for ten years. Later on, he went to Spain to write for the newspaper El Mundo.

In 2003, the court suspended tow papers Al-Hayat al-Maghribiya after it had published an article on the history of the Islamist movement in Morocco and its alleged relationship with the country s intelligence services.

In 2009 again, the ministry of interior decided to seize and sue the daily Akhbar Al Yawm for publishing a cartoon that caricatured the marriage of Prince Mulay Smail. It considered it a flagrant defamation of one of the royal family and insulting the Moroccan flag and motto.

These are but few examples of the problems of press in Morocco, especially the independent. Many other papers and journalists have witnessed similar dark and oppressive acts, and there are no signs this would come to an end in the nearest future. The independent voice in Morocco is being silenced, and most of what is available now in Moroccan ‘kiosks’ is a number of papers full of ads for companies and extolment for the government and political parties. This may be one of the reasons why Moroccans do not read many newspapers and magazines.

However, we will never give up hope. Things will be better... time will tell, after all.

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