More on Arabs and the Holocaust

First Arab Nominated for Holocaust Honor - washingtonpost.com

Khaled Abdelwahhab saved a group of Tunisian Jews by hiding them on his farm during World War II. Now, he iis the first Arab to be nominated as "Righteous Among the Nations" an honor bestowed upon non-Jews who saved Jews from the Nazis by Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to the Holocaust.

Abdelwahhab was nominated by Robert Satloff, director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a U.S. think tank.

Satloff said that after the Sept. 11 attacks, he went to Morocco to research what happened during the Nazi genocide in hopes of countering Holocaust denial in the Arab world and tempering some of the sentiments he thought helped pave the way for the attacks.

While the recognition of Abdelwahhab is welcome, it seems sad to me that it has come so late to so few.

Note: Although Morocco was controlled by Vichy France and not the Nazis directly, the story notes the role of Mohammed V in saving Moroccan Jews. Nomination two?

Sword of Damocles

Laila Lalami | Nichane: Update

Laila Lalami weighs in on the Nichane judgment, which despite being less than the penalty sought, she characterizes as a "Sword of Damocles" over the journalists' heads. One misstep, and they could be subject to jail time. As a strategy by the palace for dealing with Islamists, she deems it a failure, a strategy more likely to encourage them than not.

Shipped to Morocco for Torture

The Imperial Presidency 2.0 - New York Times

The New York Times' lead editorial reiterates allegations that the Bush administration is using Morocco for "extraordinary rendition" and torture of terror suspects:

Mr. Mohamed was a target of another favorite Bush administration practice: “extraordinary rendition,” in which foreign citizens are snatched off the streets of their hometowns and secretly shipped to countries where they can be abused and tortured on behalf of the American government. Mr. Mohamed — whose name appears nowhere in either of the cases against Mr. Padilla — has said he was tortured in Morocco until he signed a confession that he conspired with Mr. Padilla. The Bush administration clearly has no intention of answering that claim, and plans to keep Mr. Mohamed in extralegal detention indefinitely.

Sign the Petition to Save Nichane

Nichane - نيشان

Moroccan magazine Nichane was recently banned by the Moroccan government for publishing popular jokes about religion, sex, and politics, which the government claimed subverted public morale and morality. Stand up for freedom of expression and sign the petition to support Nichane today. Text of the petition follows:

Petition to support Nichane

We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the unlawful ban imposed on Nichane weekly and the legal proceedings started against the editor and a journalist working for the magazine after the publication of a special report on “jokes” in Morocco.

We maintain that the ban is illegal and, in view of its form and substance, reinforces the extra-judiciary repressive measures already in force. We further believe that the ban and the legal proceedings undermine the rights and liberties established by the international authorities and human rights principles.

While we express our full and wholehearted solidarity with Nichane and call for the annulment of the ban and the dropping of the charges against its journalists, we reiterate our plea for the amendment of liberticidal laws regarding freedom of the press and freedom of opinion and thought.

Thanks to Foulla for the link. (Foulla's post includes a very attractive picture of targeted journalist Sanaa Al Aji.)

Behind the Scenes Machinations from the Gulf?

nichane.jpg

Eatbees reports a disturbing rumor that the Moroccan government's surprise shutdown of the periodical "Nichane" was prompted by pressure from the Gulf states and may reflect Saudi interference with Moroccan internal affairs.

Larbi, however, on whose blog the rumor originally appeared (in a comment from nemo), points out in a comment to eatbees that this act of censorship is unusual because it appears to be supported by a majority of the Moroccan people. At the same time,Larbi paints a grim picture of the fight for civil liberties and free expression caught between the repression of the Monarchy on one side and the widely popular Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD) on the other.

Blank Post














Blank Post is a protest against the suppression of blogs by the Tunisian government. Bloggers are asked to participate by posting a blank post and nothing else for 24 hours on December 25, 2006.

Merci a Mon Massir pour le lien.

No Jokes Please, We're Muslims

Le Monde.fr : Maroc: Diffusion interdite d'un hebdomadaire pour atteinte à l'islam

The Palace Crackdown

Le Monde reports that the Moroccan government has taken a step away from free speech by confiscating an issue of the magazine Nichane ("Straight") for having the temerity to print jokes about "religion, sex, and politics." Most particularly, the Palace deemed the publication to have launched an "attack against Islam" and to have published writings contrary to "public morale and morals." The royal prosecutor has launched an investigation into the publisher and the journalist Sanaa Al Aji.

The American Contrast

Regardless of what idiots like Newt Gingrich believe, the First Amendment is the essential linchpin of American Democracy. Central to the First Amendment are the ideas that the government will not restrict freedom of expression and that the government will not support one religion over another. Obviously, I have not seen the jokes in question, but even if they were of the most extreme and inflammatory sort, they could be published in America without prior restraint. (Even in this dark age, jokes in print are unlikely to be considered "incitement" outside of First Amendment protection.) In this sense, unlike so many others, alas, America is a beacon to the world, and Morocco will not be a true democracy until it adopts similar principles. After all that Islam has survived, it will survive a few jokes.

The Erosion of the American Example

Of course, in the Age of Bush, nothing is straightforward. Now that prosecutors are subpoenaing journalists in the Plame affair, threatening them with prosecution in the AIPAC scandal, and otherwise making noises about prosecuting journalists if they are in receipt of "state secrets, the bloom may be off the First Amendment rose even in America.

$250,000.00 Says Stop Daddy!

Go Daddy ordered to pay ex-employee $390,000

Youssef Bouamama, a Moroccan employee of Go Daddy, won an impressive victory in a case before the U.S. District Court in Arizona, the Arizona Republic Reports:

The jury said Go Daddy must pay Bouamama $250,000 in punitive damages, $135,000 in back pay and $5,000 for emotional pain and suffering.

While the award for emotional pain and suffering is minimal, the jury made a clear statement about the wrongfulness of the company's conduct in retaliating against Mr. Bouamama after he complained that he had been discriminated against because of his religion and national origin. The jury did not find that there was discrimination based on religion or national origin, the paper reports, but in general it is easier to prove a case of retaliation under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than it is to prove discrimination. In addition, the fact that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought this case, rather than Mr. Bouamama on his own, suggests that maybe the government will take a stand against discrimination and retaliation toward Muslims and Arabs in this country.

Beliefs in Common

Islam & Religious Tolerance

Those who believe (in the Quran) and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures) and the Christians and the Sabaeans, any who believe in Allah, and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. T.Q., Sura 2 of 114, The Cow, verse 62.

Nadia Lamlili has a very thoughtful post (in French) discussing the underlying similarities of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and the potential for tolerance among them. Overall, she concludes that there is more room for tolerance than the adherents of the three religions are normally willing to admit.

Whistling Past the Graveyard

Interview With Condoleezza Rice - washingtonpost.com

Condoleezza Rice may be whistling past the graveyard, but she has encouraging words for reform and liberalization in Morocco.

But I think if you go to the Forum for the Future and you see these non-governmental organizations gathered together and being able to sit across the table from the most conservative Arab states like Saudi Arabia all the way out to reforming states like the states of the Gulf and Jordan, it's quite an achievement and I can list the achievements: they have women voting in Kuwait, the beginning of municipal elections in Saudi Arabia; but also if you look at places like Bahrain and Oman and Morocco and Jordan, the reform agenda is alive and well. And what will we say to those people who have staked their future on reform and democracy if somehow this word disappears from American foreign policy? And so to me this is at the core.

I actually agree that the United States should support democracy. I do not think we can do this through secret government, intimidation of the press, invasions, torture, clandestine imprisonments, suspension of habeas corpus, military show trials, and removing jurisdiction from courts. In addition, given the stark realities of the situation in Iraq, which Rice largely seems to play down, it seems hard to believe that the administration of which she is a part will somehow experience a revelation and begin to provide wise leadership on the Israeli-Palestinian issue or even on reform in Morocco.

You Have a Long Way to Go, Baby

U.N. Cites Arab World's 'Empty Gestures' on Women - washingtonpost.com

A United Nations report cites progress on women's rights in Morocco and a few other countries, but finds that the status of women continues to be below that of much of the rest of the world:

[Amat al-Alim Alsoswa, director of the U.N. Development Program's Arab bureau,] also said that although women's participation in politics has grown in such countries as Morocco, Bahrain and Iraq, it is "still below what it is outside the Arab world."

The report cites Morocco as not simply secularizing the laws related to women, but also creatively reinterpreting Islamic law to afford women more rights.

Moroccan Comedian Says Censorship Is No Joke

Satirist spotlights rights record at Morocco festival|Reuters.com

Ahmed Snoussi is protesting censorship at the Marrakesh Film Festival, Reuters reports:

Ahmed Snoussi, known as Bziz, is popular with millions of Moroccans, even though he said the state had excluded him from its radio and television stations, and theatres, since 1988. The government says he is not banned or censored.

"I'm telling the festival guests that the event they are attending is a fake setting that is unable to veil the real plight of freedom of thought, opinion and press in Morocco," he told Reuters by telephone from the Marrakech Cinema Festival which opened on Friday.

The Moroccan Human Rights Association confirmed the existence of the restrictions on Bziz's performances.

Gay Bashing

Prisoners of Sex - New York Times

The New York Times has an article on an Arab crackdown on homosexual activity. Primarily dealing with Egypt, although Morocco is mentioned, the article argues that denunciation of homosexuality is perceived as an easy way to attack Western values. For the trope of the West imposing homosexuality on the Arab world, the author cites Mohammed Choukri:

There is a searing scene in the Moroccan writer Mohamed Choukri’s 1973 novel “For Bread Alone” in which a desperate young man, having recently moved from the country to the city in colonial Morocco, sells himself to an elderly Spaniard. The scene is explicit (they have oral sex in a car), and the novel, which has been banned or caused controversy in many Arab countries, serves as a stunning condemnation of the power disparities engendered by colonialism. Symbolism like Choukri’s is common in Arabic literature and cinema, providing for what the British writer Brian Whitaker has referred to as a “reverse Orientalism,” in which sex, and specifically homosexual sex, is presented as a foreign incursion, a tool of colonial domination.

The efforts of human rights organizations to condemn torture have damped down active persecution at the moment, but the article argues that militant Islam has given rise to a resurgence of anti-homosexual feeling that could result in renewed violent repression at any moment.

Matthew Shepard
, of course, might remind us that such attitudes are not unique to the Arab world.

Discretion, Yes; Discrimination, No

Plane Prayers - washingtonpost.com

The Washington Post is critical of U.S. Airways for its decision to force six imams from boarding an aircraft last week after they unrolled prayer rugs and said their prayers before boarding the aircraft. The Post concludes, correctly, that "America can't become a country so locked by fear that those who unfurl a prayer rug automatically become suspects."

The Post also notes that there are reports of other suspicious behavior by the imams that may have justified expelling them from the aircraft. In cases such as this, I believe the pilot ought to have near absolute discretion to decide who boards his airplane. However, if the imams were denied passage not because of suspicious behavior but because they prayed, or were Arabs, or were Muslims, then they should sue the airline blind. Discretion, yes; discrimination, no.

Thanks to Crossroads Arabia. See also BlackProf.com.

The Three Things One Should Never Discuss at Dinner

As I was reading a post about the election of Keith Ellison, America's first Muslim Congressman, the following anonymous comment at Refusenik raised a number of questions in my mind:

He's also an ardent supporter of Gay rights and gay marriage and legislation (including full rights for domestic gay partnerships)...which is fine if that's your thing...but as a Muslim?

Apparently the anonymous commenter does not think that Muslims can support, for example. gay rights. It seems to me that questions of religion, sexuality, and politics are always more complex than that.

Ellison's possible dilemma as a Muslim has long been faced by American Catholics, culminating in the election of John F. Kennedy, who was quite explicit about the fact that as President of the United States, he answered to the American people, all of them, not to the Pope. Mr. Ellison is not primarily elected for his private beliefs, but as the representative of his constituents. However, the anonymous commenter also raised questions for me about how Muslims should confront sexuality and individual rights in a modern Islamic country such as Morocco.

My knowledge of sexuality in Morocco is spotty at best. I know that I was a bit surprised at the degree of rural prostitution. I had friends who were involved in straight relationships with Moroccans and friends who were involved in gay relationships with Moroccans. I am aware that homosexual activity is a criminal offense, and it is my understanding that there is a significant problem with sex trafficking in Morocco. America's most famous expatriate novelist living in Morocco, Paul Bowles, was but one of a number of prominent gay Americans who spent time in Morocco. Tahar ben Jelloun, at least in Le Dernier Ami, is quite frank about premarital Moroccan sexual relationships. And yet there is a strict requirement that women be virgins upon marriage. But there are always rumors of ways to cheat.

One might ask whether it is necessary, or important, or decent to pry into such questions. I think that it probably is, however uncomfortable people may find it, because sexual orientation and sexual practices are too often used to marginalize, victimize, or oppress people. Whether it is women or gays who choose to express or acknowledge their sexuality, doing so puts them at peril, not just in Islamic societies such as Morocco, but also in the United States.

SeeGay Morocco — Myths and Realities (contains some offensive references to "swarthiness"); What Is Going on in Morocco? Middle East Gay Journal (July 2006); Tahar Ben Jelloun, Le Dernier Ami

Arabs and the Holocaust

The Holocaust's Arab Heroes - washingtonpost.com

The Washington Post reports on Arab resistance to the Nazi occupation of North Africa and the role of Arab rescuers in saving Jews from the Nazis.

Arabs welcomed Jews into their homes, guarded Jews' valuables so Germans could not confiscate them, shared with Jews their meager rations and warned Jewish leaders of coming SS raids. The sultan of Morocco and the bey of Tunis provided moral support and, at times, practical help to Jewish subjects. In Vichy-controlled Algiers, mosque preachers gave Friday sermons forbidding believers from serving as conservators of confiscated Jewish property. In the words of Yaacov Zrivy, from a small town near Sfax, Tunisia, "The Arabs watched over the Jews."

Rights for Detainees

Hearings for Moroccan Suspects Postponed - New York Times

RABAT, Morocco (AP) -- Hearings for the 56 people rounded up in a recent anti-terror sweep in Morocco scheduled for this week have been postponed to an unspecified date, judicial officials said Tuesday.

The indefinite postponement of hearings for 56 terror suspects arrested in Morocco raises questions about whether the rights of the suspects are being respected.