For immediate release March 5, 2001 Middle East Report 218 Spring 2001       PDF Version

The early reign of Mohammed VI, king of Morocco since July 1999, inspired hope that the late King Hassan II’s "years of lead"—marked by severe political repression—were over for good. Within weeks Mohammed VI had sacked his father’s hated right-hand man, Interior Minister Driss Basri. The new king declared war on corruption, poverty and neglect of Morocco’s marginalized northern regions. But beginning in the fall of 2000, the Moroccan government commenced a fresh crackdown on press freedom and human rights activists. Morocco’s economy continues to stagnate, portending ever greater popular discontent.

As hopes dim for rapid political and economic change, attention has shifted from the personal qualities of Mohammed VI to the deeply entrenched interests that surround the monarchy, and inhibit the growth of democracy in Morocco. The spring 2001 issue of Middle East Report, "Morocco in Transition," examines the prospects for transformation in Morocco beyond the high-profile royal succession.

As political scientist Abdeslam Maghraoui details, the makhzen—the complicated bureaucratic and semi-official networks that sustain and draw sustenance from the palace—remains firmly in place. The makhzen resists meaningful reform, but promotes the appearance of reform. Researcher Catherine Sweet argues that the Moroccan state’s "democratic" institutions actually serve to buttress the power of the regime. For all his famed modesty, the king is still regarded as a divinely appointed monarch, one presumably unaccountable to his subjects.

Resistance to the makhzen does not carry the high price it carried under Hassan II, when Morocco had a horrible record of prison torture and other human rights violations. Anthropologist Susan Slyomovics brings the testimony of the old regime’s victims dramatically to life. Middle East Report interviews human rights activist Fatna El Bouih on her "return" to prison as a prisoners’ advocate.

Mohammed VI also inherits from his father a struggling economy and the military’s grip on the Western Sahara. As Gregory White shows, Moroccan youth increasingly escape poverty and joblessness through emigration to Europe—often at great personal risk. John Damis chronicles the peaceful student and worker demonstrations in the Saharan provincial capital of Laayoune that were violently suppressed by the Moroccan army in 1999 and 2000.

Also featured: Graham Usher takes a walk through besieged Gaza; Mouin Rabbani assesses the second, "militarized" phase of the new intifada; Ziba Mir-Hosseini narrates the career of an Iranian woman parliamentarian; and more.

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Middle East Report is published by the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), a progressive, independent non-profit based in Washington, DC. Since 1971 MERIP has provided critical analysis of the Middle East, focusing on political economy, popular struggles and the implications of US and international policy for the region.

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