A Martyr in Morocco

Do the protests in Morocco finally have enough steam to unsettle the monarchy?

BY BETWA SHARMA | JUNE 9, 2011

While the world's attention is focused on Yemen and Syria, the Arab Spring is slowly gaining momentum in Morocco. In this North African kingdom, protesters are increasingly enraged by the security forces' crackdown on peaceful demonstrations and dismissive of the promises of reform that the monarchy made in March.

The protest movement was reinvigorated on May 29, when thousands of pro-democracy protesters marched peacefully in different cities in the largest demonstrations yet. In Morocco's most populous city of Casablanca, helmeted police on motorcycles attacked protesters with clubs. Activists estimate that dozens of people were injured, the majority in Casablanca.

Kamal Amari, 30, was a university graduate with a degree in physics who worked as a private security officer at the port in the western city of Safi. On May 29, he was caught up in the crackdown there. "Seven policemen beat him for five minutes," said Adel Fathi, a friend.

On June 2, Amari succumbed to his wounds. Local activists call him the "first martyr" of Morocco's freedom movement. His death has transformed Safi into a front line of the country's protest movement.

The government claimed that Amari died from a chronic illness, but his family insists that local authorities did not conduct a proper autopsy. Instead, his brothers say, they were offered a bribe to keep quiet. Their father almost agreed, but the brothers refused.

A day after Amari was buried, his family and friends sat around low-set tables in an airless room. Flies buzzed around chunks of bread and sweet tea. They passed around pictures of the dead man. "Cute?" asked a relative, pausing at a picture in which Amari looked five or six years old.

Amari's brothers said that he had initially refused to visit the hospital after being beaten, fearing arrest. They said that after his death, the government also sent a religious leader to urge them to bury the body quickly. They claimed that was cover to avoid an autopsy.

One brother resolved not to let the matter end there. "I want to know who gave the order for the violence," said Mohamed. "I want the policemen and the minister of interior to be held responsible."

Mohamed, however, did not dare blame Morocco's King Mohammed VI. To do so would be breaking the law, specifically Article 23 of the Moroccan Constitution, which reads, "The person of the King shall be sacred and inviolable."

ABDELHAK SENNA/AFP/Getty Images

 

Betwa Sharma is a New York-based correspondent who writes about international politics, human rights, and art. Her work has appeared in several publications in India and the United States.

HEM JOSHI

3:49 AM ET

June 10, 2011

Morocco

I liked the informative article on Morocco by Betwa Sharma,
My view is that Morocco society, relative to others in the region, is quite at peace with itself and with the establishment. It has a crossroads approach to winds from across the seas and other countries. Much gets assimilated in its melting pot of many cultures and centuries, and change can only be gradual. I think that the Music Festival in Fez presently on reflects the point. The element is to embrace. The theme of the music-fest is Sufism.

 

MARTINCDL

12:12 PM ET

July 8, 2011

Though these

Though these are also providing evidence of what is influencing the the thinking in society at different levels like students, professionals and others cdl. But, it would be right to say that Morocco has steered away from violence

 

THOMAS JANETH

6:33 AM ET

June 10, 2011

Morocco Revolution

They want to find a guillotine it appears. If you do not ruin the present states monopoly of violence and change it out with an all new form then it just isn't a revolution. It is really a shuffling of faces before the exact same oppressive establishments with the exact same kind of selfish elite which will permanently grind you up and run you in to the floor.

The British understood this, in France they understood this, the folks of the Russia/Soviet Union realized this, the Cubans understood this, the Iranians realized this, etc. Of which is the reason why they got their revolutions to evolve their own nations and societies. If you would like to negotiate with your oppressor instead, you will simply get stumped on as you are no real challenge to the elites control. The only bargain they will help to make is that of another boot crushing yet another human skull.

 

ANITA SWAROOP

6:50 AM ET

June 10, 2011

Avoid Violence

Betwa Sharma's piece on Morocco, I have chanced upon while surfing for other countries in troubled West Asia and North Africa.
I was not expecting ferment in Morocco.
When I purchased in the year 1993 a 50th anniversary commemmoration of the movie, Casablanca (released in 1942-43), I felt that that part of the world would remain as we saw it in that film.
Later I covered a number of multilateral conferences in Marrakesh - developed as a conference town. The country really had no bent or inclination for politics and protest that caused violence and turmoil. A large many of us would like to see it that way.
Whatever happens, recourse to violence must be avoided.

 

CARL GOODSIR

8:11 AM ET

June 10, 2011

The King

The House of Windsor is one model of monarchy with pageantry an impotant aspect to entertain and guile those around. Monarchies have a better chance of surviving compared to armymen and tribal chiefs at the helm. It is a matter not so much of rights and democracy and judicial review, but whether the one to be ousted, did he usurp power. Demonstrators have lesser tolerance for usurpers. The Morocco king is protected by a sentiment that gives him legitimacy. The recent steps by the Rabat Government have also helped. Anyway, I found the article a nice piece of reporting.

 

MASHROOF SAMADDAR

9:36 AM ET

June 10, 2011

Ibn Battuta of Tangier

The Moroccan Berber jurist and traveller of the early 14th century would have given his own explanation to the events. What we are witnessing, starting from Algeria, and what followed in other countries is when cultures collide. Different political spheres are clashing. But Morocco is somewhat different. Here, many thoughts and races have always got together. The coexistence of monarchy, constitutional systems, and councils at other levels holds hope. The mind must travel distances. Ibn Battuta travelled 75,000 miles in those days. To west and north Africa, the Middle East, south Europe and Asia right upto China. A great Moroccan with lessons for today.

 

FARHANA ALI

10:25 AM ET

June 10, 2011

Morocco Protests

I read the Betwa Sharma account because this was not written by a western person. It has made me informed about what is going on in a country like Morocco that does not cause problems for others. The real problem areas are those where there have been strongman personalitiies like Mubarak, Gaddafi who were looked on as difficult to dislodge. Alienation with a system targets individuals. So, a challenge comes up. This is not the case with Morocco. There is a big Latin/ French atmospherics also in Morocco. This lightens up things. But, one can never tell.

 

GIRISH BHANDARI

9:31 PM ET

June 10, 2011

Keeping step with changing times

It is the modern communication sites and social networks that magnify the situation. Though these are also providing evidence of what is influencing the the thinking in society at different levels like students, professionals and others. But, it would be right to say that Morocco has steered away from violence. It is not a closed society. It draws people from outside to its historical cities and beaches. Recently, Morocco did well in soccer. So, things are still in control though everywhere in the world the movement is towards greater freedoms. Today, more people want to speak and express themselves and they should be allowed to do so.

 

DWANA OTA

8:08 PM ET

July 8, 2011

A Martyr in Morocco

Do the protests in Morocco finally have enough steam to unsettle the monarchy? I read the Betwa Sharma account because this was not written by a western person. It has made me informed about what is going on in a country like Morocco that does not cause problems for others. The real problem areas are those where there have been strongman personalitiies like Mubarak, Gaddafi who were looked on as difficult to dislodge. Alienation with a system targets individuals. So, a chall alcohol addiction The Moroccan Berber jurist and traveller of the early 14th century would have given his own explanation to the events. What we are witnessing, starting from Algeria, and what followed in other countries is when cultures collide. Different political spheres are clashing. But Morocco is somewhat different. Here, many thoughts and races have always got together. The coexistence of monarchy, constitut.