In 2006 Morocco assigned the first ten licenses to private radio stations in an attempt to put an end to the state’s monopoly in radio and television broadcasting. At the time, observers acknowledged that radio stations (as well as the independent press) animated the debate on censorship and the lawfulness of addressing taboo subjects. This was an initiative that, together with other reforms such as the approval of the Mudawwana, a revolutionary Family Law for the Islamic world, might keep the country safe from revolts such as those that have caused bloodshed in Tunisia and Algeria.
Mohamed El Ghoul, a journalist working for the Tangiers Cap Radio station and one of the first ten to obtain a licence in 2006, has no doubts on this subject. “In Morocco there is a widespread atmosphere of relative freedom. Of course this is still a transition phase, but giving licences to independent radio stations provided a significant signal,” he told us in an interview. El Ghoul also added that in Morocco, details of the so-called Jasmine Revolution in nearby Tunisia have been reported by independent channels. Younes Boumehdi, President of the Associations of Morocco’s Free Radio Stations, and CEO of Rabat’s commercial HitRadio, agrees with him and said that the present situation in the country is not bad. “Even if we still fight every day to defend it,” he says, “ I do believe that there is an atmosphere of relative freedom here.” The optimism Boumehdi speaks of takes us back ten years. “A degree of freedom started about ten years ago with the creation of magazines such as Le Journal and Tel Quel”, he says.
Of course these are not “western” standards of democracy and participation. News reports suggest that in the last two years there has been an abrupt return to the past in Morocco. Between August 2009 and January 2010 there were many cases of censorship. The cartoonist Khalid Gueddar was banned from the Moroccan media, the August 2009 edition of ‘Tel Quel’ was removed from news-stands for having published a survey on the first ten years of the reign of Mohammed VI. Recently, in November 2010, al Jazeera correspondents were deported because accused of broadcasting a negative image of Morocco (documents from the Italian blog (R)umori dal Mediterraneo – http://rumoridalmediterraneo.blogspot.com).
In Morocco civil society is structured; but one important social-economic issue remains evident, that of creating new jobs. This issue frustrates the new generations to the point that some are committing suicide and they are organising street riots. “Unemployment worries the young more that the cost of living and corruption,” said El Ghoul. Morocco is the fifth largest economy in Africa, but there are still significant pockets of poverty and discontent (unemployment at 9.1 percent and GPD growth at 4.9 percent – Data for 2009), and most of the country’s wealth is controlled directly by the King and his entourage. In the past there have been a number of attempted suicides during protests by Moroccan diplomés-chomeurs [unemployed-graduates], who for years have marched past parliament every single day in Rabat. The most recent case reported by the press took place on June 2nd when a number of young men attempted to set fire to themselves outside parliament, but were stopped in time by police officers. This is a problem that will not easily be resolved in the short term.
According to the two journalists, however, the fear of a domino effect of revolts in the Maghreb remains contained. “It is best to avoid generalizations,” said El Ghoul. “I believe that the Moroccan monarchy will be able to manage dissent.” Thus, El Ghoul reminds us above all that the Maghreb is composed of various different elements. Morocco is the only monarchy in the area, with the country led by a “young” king (48-year-old Mohamed VI) who has serious intentions of asking his people to contribute to the creation of a new constitutional structure. In particular, a review of the constitution was discussed at the beginning of the reign of Mohamed VI, although in 2003 the extremist Islamist attacks in Casablanca resulted in a new authoritarian clampdown by the regime.
The atmosphere in Morocco in the Seventies and the Eighties, known as the “years of lead” and described by four detainees in “Black Sun” (Mesogea, 2004) and by Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi in “The Prisoner” (Mondadori, 2000), is a distant memory. HitRadio’s CEO said instead that he “supports the activism of Muhammed El Baradei”, the Egyptian politician and former head of the IAEA. In Egypt, El Baradei leads a reform and change movement instead of a political party he could represent in elections.
Translated by Francesca Simmons