[P2P-F] [NetworkedLabour] Fwd: [Participants] Internet and social movements in Morocco

Mon Nov 7 20:53:32 CET 2016

Would you have a link to this important article ? It didn't show up in
google,

Michel

On Mon, Nov 7, 2016 at 2:37 PM, peter waterman <peterwaterman1936 at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Richard Greeman <rgreeman at gmail.com>
> Date: Sun, Nov 6, 2016 at 6:33 PM
> Subject: [Participants] Internet and social movements in Morocco
> To: participants at internetsocialforum.net
>
>
> *Behind the Demonstrations in Morocco*
>
>
>
> By Richard Greeman
>
>
>
> On Wednesday Oct. 26, the well-known Moroccan historian and human rights
> activist Maâti Monjib and five of his colleagues were hauled into the High
> Court at Rabat to answer charges of “attacks on national security” and
> “receiving foreign funds.” They are facing up to five years in prison for
> their activities as investigative journalists, human rights advocates and
> members of the “February 20th Movement” -- the Moroccan version of “Arab
> Spring” of 2011.
>
>
>
> Two days later, anti-government demonstrations spread across Morocco after
> social media spread the story of  Mousine Fikri, a fishmonger crushed to
> death inside a garbage truck as he tried to block the destruction of a
> truckload of his fish confiscated by police. The February 20th Movement,
> long assumed dormant, sprang back to life and took the lead in organizing
> the protests, which spread to 40 cities.
>
>
>
> These two events – the Monjib trial and the demonstrations sweeping the
> country -- are hardly unrelated. Monjib and his co-defendants, journalists,
> media activists, and fighters for human rights, were already a thorn in the
> side of the regime even before the 2011 rising. Since then they and their
> colleagues have courageously struggled for media freedom while building the
> on-line infrastructure of information and interaction that makes possible
> real-time on-the-ground mobilizations like those taking place this week.
> Their efforts have not gone unrewarded, despite years of government
> harassment including base defamation campaigns in official media, bogus
> arrests on morals charges and the current treason trial. As today’s
> headlines illustrate, social media remain a potent tool in the hands of the
> oppressed, and the authoritarian regime of King Mohammed VI had “good”
> reasons to persecute media activists like Monjib and his friends.
>
>                                     *A Long Tug of War*
>
> The mastery of social media has apparently leveled the playing field in
> Morocco’s  long struggle for democracy and human rights. On the ground, it
> helps coordinate mass mobilizations challenging the regime in the streets,
> demanding an end to corruption, brutality, and injustice summed up by the
> cry (and hash tag) of *Hoga!* *(*oppression). His Majesty, out of the
> country on an official visit, has not returned to take charge of the
> emergency. In any case the authorities dare not attempt to repress the
> demonstrations and sit-ins by force on the eve of the upcoming COP
> conference in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, at which the Monarchy’s
> international reputation as a progressive island of stability in the Arab
> world is at stake. The timing couldn’t be worse for Mohammed VI.
>
> The tug of war on the ground is matched by propaganda war in the air in
> which for once both sides are well armed. The regime controls all the
> official “vertical” media and can spin the truth in any direction. The
> popular movement ripostes with its Internet-based, horizontal social media
> and investigative journalist-bloggers. Here’s how the story of Mousine
> Fikri’s death plays out in the rival media.
>
> The regime is going through the motions of satisfying the call for justice
> without actually seeking justice. The Royal Prosecutor in the town of Al
> Hoseima noisily prosecuting eleven officials. This made the *N.Y.Times. *But
> don’t look too closely. To calm the fury, the eleven police and fishery
> officials have been locked up, but for “forgery” (in fact faulty paperwork
> in recording the incident). They will be released when things calm down.
> However the Prosecutor is *not* investigating the question of who gave
> the order to turn on the crushing machine at the back of the empty garbage
> truck. (The fish had not yet been loaded). According to the independent
> on-line journal *Le Desk,* this operation requires the cooperation of *two
> *workers: the driver to turn on the electricity in the cab and his
> assistant to pull the lever at the back of the truck, where Mr. Fiki and
> his friends were presumably visible. Eyewitnesses have been quoted saying
> they heard someone give the order: “crush him.”
>
> The authorities are classing Mr. Fiki’s death as an “accident.” In the
> social media, it is called a “state-crime.” Few believe the regime will
> keep its promises to “investigate” Fiki’s death: after five years the
> Interior Ministry still has not found who was responsible for the deaths of
> 15 protesters on Feb. 20, 2011 -- the date which gave the popular movement
> its name. The regime, through its official and allied websites, has also
> been flooding the web with disinformation designed to confuse and discredit
> what the protestors and the independent media are saying. These wild
> stories are not likely to be believed by anyone but dedicated loyalist
>
> *            Background to this Struggle*
>
> The democratic uprising in Morocco (also known as “Revolution2.0” or “the
> social media revolution”) was not defeated in the Spring of 2011, only
> stalemated in its struggle with the *makhzen *(or deep state) that rules
> supreme behind the façade of a progressive, pro-Western monarchy, based on
> well-controlled moderate Islam (the King is also Commander of the
> Faithful). In July 2011, Mohammed V succeeded in diverting the broad
> democratic movement’s demands into electoral channels by proposing a new,
> more “liberal” constitution in a snap referendum.
>
>
>
> This “compromise” Constitution gained a hardly credible 98.7% of the
> votes, and has never been enforced, *au contraire. *As the democracy
> spring faded into memory, the *makhzen, *thirsty for revenge, began
> tightening the screws on February 20th and Human Rights activists and above
> all on the independent investigative journalists, who expose corruption and
> oppression. For example my good friend Ali Anouzla, the independent
> journalist who in 2011 first brought the news of the uprisings in Tunisia
> and Egypt to the Moroccans, was imprisoned in 2013 for “inciting terrorism”
> (in fact for exposing the corruption of the Monarchy). Anouzla was
> arrested again on Sept. 17 and held without charge for a little over a week
> before being formally accused of « material assistance to a terrorist
> group, » « advocating terrorism, » and « initiating terrorist acts. » On
> Oct. 25, after strong international protests, Anzoula was provisionally
> released.
>
>
>
> Meanwhile, during 2009-2016 over at the Center for Study and Communication
> in Rabat, hundreds of young journalists and human rights activists were
> being trained to use the electronic tools of citizen-journalism, in
> particular the App known as StoryMaker (mentioned in the indictment against
> Maâti Monjib and his students). The Center was founded by Monjib (Professor
> of History at the University of Rabat) and named for the tolerant medieval
> Arab philosopher Ibn Rochd (Averroes in English).
>
>
>
>                                                 *Repression*
>
>
>
> As repression increased in 2015, the government forced the Center to
> close. Monjib, an internationally known scholar who frequently attends
> conferences, was stopped at the Casablanca airport and banned from
> traveling. Only at the end Monjib’s 20-day public hunger strike did the
> government agree to lift the ban. Next came a series of groundless
> accusations culminating in the Rabat High Court trial for “attacks on state
> security” and “mishandling funds,” a trial that once again was adjourned
> last week, perhaps because there is no evidence.
>
>
>
> Another reason why the regime is trying to discredit Monjib is that he
> edited a book entitled « *Islamists versus secularists : Dialogues and
> Confrontations* » and brought representatives of two independant Islamic
> Parties together with Socialist and Secularist leaders on his campus. This
> was the first public dialogue between the two sides, which have often
> settled their differences in blood, and was covered by Al Jazeera and other
> serious media. These meetings continued and resulted in the *rapprochement
> *of the two sides in a common pro-democracy movement, such as has
> recently been achieved in Tunisia. The *Makhzen, *whose policy is “divide
> and rule,” rightly considers this *rapprochement *a threat to its
> hegemony.
>
> As a result of these activities, Monjib has been the object of a sustained
> campaign of calumny aimed at destroying his reputation as a scholar, human
> rights activist and man of peace. Pro-government websites continue to spew
> filth about Monjib’s impeccable personal and financial life. Monjib
> himself analyzed these techniques in an article published before he himself
> became a victim: First, activists are attacked in media close to the secret
> services so as to discredit them and prepare public opinion for what is
> coming next. He distinguished three types of slander: sex for Islamists,
> drugs for young activists and money for Left personalities. Next are
> publically accused of “high treason,” “espionage,” “drug possession,” “tax
> evasion,” “illegal business,” etc., often changing the charges and keeping
> them tied up in court.
>
> A defense committee (supported by Noam Chomsky) has been established in
> France, and funds and support are very much needed. Please sign up at
> solidaritemonjib at gmail.com (dollars and pounds accepted).
>
>
>
>                                                 *Theory and Practice*
>
>
>
> Among the ibn Rochd Center’s most promising graduates are two of Monjib’s
> young co-defendants before the High Court of Rabat: Samad Iach and Hicham
> Mansouri. Last year, the scholarly, slight Mansouri was arrested, convicted
> and sent to prison a trumped-up charge of living off prostitution. Iach and
> Mansouri are now in exile in Paris, where they are working as journalists
> and studying communications at the University. Mansouri’s
> thesis-in-preparation documents how on-line discussion of democracy and
> revolution actually *preceded *the revolts of 2011 and shows how “people
> with a common interest in democracy built solid networks and organized
> political actions.” He concludes, “armed with their Smartphones connected
> to the Internet, thousands of young activists and citizen-journalists have
> succeeded in getting around censorship and providing information in real
> time while encouraging sharing, comments and interactions among the
> citizen-users.” This is clearly bad news for corrupt despots everywhere,
> Morocco not excluded.
>
>
>
> According to *Forbes, *Mohammed VI is the richest man in North Africa and
> the fifth richest on the continent. The King has control over and profits
> from the national economy in every sphere, for example phosphates,
> Morocco’s most profitable export, as well as the fishing industry. His
> Majesty has imposed an electoral system which makes it impossible for any
> party to win an absolute majority, and the new Constitution, devised by a
> commission all of whose members were nominated by the King, leaves all
> power in his hands. Unlike his father, Hassan II, who during his long reign
> (1961-1999) was infamous for his use of kidnapping, torture, and long-term
> imprisonment, Mohammed VI, a progressive, modern autocrat, prefers new
> methods of repression, similar to those used by the ‘progressive’ and
> pro-Western Aliev dictatorship in post-Communist Azerbaijan, considered
> one of the worst human rights violators in the world.[1]
> <#m_-5876017178777201986_m_743564307291440496__ftn1> Mohammed VI has
> excellent reasons to want to take revenge on Professor Monjib and his
> friends, and today His Majesty is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
> Stay tuned.
>
>
>
> Although the world looks dark these days, the continuing tug of war in
> Morocco inspires hope… and solidarity. Please contact:
> solidaritemonjib at gmail.com
>
>
>
> Nov. 1, 2016
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> [1] <#m_-5876017178777201986_m_743564307291440496__ftnref1>
> https://blogs.mediapart.fr/hicham-mansouri/blog/181016/affai
> res-monjib-et-yunus-maroc-azerbaidjan-memes-techniques-de-repression
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Participants mailing list
> Participants at internetsocialforum.net
> http://internetsocialforum.net/mailman/listinfo/participants
> _internetsocialforum.net
>
>
>
>
> --
> *Click here for Peter's recent writings*
> <https://www.dropbox.com/s/o8s52g2y905rq6w/WatermanGmailSignaturePanel%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20Updated.docx?dl=0>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> NetworkedLabour mailing list
> NetworkedLabour at lists.contrast.org
> http://lists.contrast.org/mailman/listinfo/networkedlabour
>
>

-- 
Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org

P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net

<http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates:
http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens

#82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ourproject.org/pipermail/p2p-foundation/attachments/20161108/4a551967/attachment-0001.html>