Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
September 17, 2005

Morocco: Internet Making Censorship Obsolete.
Moroccan association to launch anti-tobacco campaign.
"Operation smile Morocco" starts soon in Ouarzazate.
New York: Princess Lalla Salma takes part in meeting on AIDS.
New academic year
Morocco determined to bridge digital divide.
New academic year: Further reforms, hindrances to overcome.
King launches ICT programme.
New Academic Year: Parents suffer heavy financial demands.
Economist Christophe Aubin-Nury de Malicorne optimistic about Morocco-US FTA.

Morocco: Internet Making Censorship Obsolete.
Mohammad Ibahrine

While satellite television often attracts the lion's share of analysis about new media and their effect on prospects for democratization in the Middle East and North Africa, another technology may already have had at least as large an impact: the Internet. In Morocco, where the regime has severely constrained, controlled, or silenced independent print media through direct and indirect censorship, the Internet has become an important instrument for unrestricted flows of information, which in turn are leading to the emergence of a more vibrant public sphere.

The degree of Morocco's connectivity to the Internet is surprising. For a country that established its first Internet connection in 1995, Morocco has now about one million users among a population of about 32 million, one of the highest growth rates in the Arab world. The spread of cybercafés (now numbering over 1500), as well as of Voice Over Internet Protocols for inexpensive long-distance phone calls, are helping to spread Internet use.

Since the introduction of the Internet into the political field in Morocco in the late 1990s, government ministries, political parties, and the parliament are online. The same holds true for activists and civil society groups, who have a long tradition of developing and using independent media to promote their interests and facilitate communication.

Among the most important cases of political use of the Internet in Morocco is that of Abdul Salam Yassine, leader of Al Adl wa Al Ihsan (Justice and Charity), a leading Islam-oriented political organization. Internet use for political purposes gained momentum in 2000 when Al Adl wa Al Ihsan launched a website http://www.yassine.net/ to publish an open letter in many European languages after the regime banned independent newspapers for publishing it. Entitled "To whom it may concern," the voluminous memorandum criticized King Hassan II's regime and urged King Mohammad to redistribute the late king's wealth. Yassine's website featured information resources, news, and audio and video clips, thus breaking the chains of censorship.

A separate but related recent case that shows how the Internet is facilitating political communication in the face of growing authoritarian tendencies is that of Nadia Yassine, daughter and unofficial spokesperson of Abdul Salam Yassine. In an interview published on June 2, 2005 in Al Usbuiyya Al Jadida, a Moroccan weekly, Nadia Yassine criticized authoritarian regimes and expressed support for a republic. Nadia Yassine was charged with damaging the monarchy and if found guilty, may face heavy fines and up to five years in prison. 

Following the charges, Nadia Yassine launched a website in Arabic, English and French http://www.nadiayassine.net containing detailed information about her biography, ideas, and activities (including audio clips of her public lectures, for example one given at the University of California at Berkeley), as well as the full text of the interview that resulted in the case against her. The website has received numerous e-mail messages of support, mostly from highly educated Moroccans.

Nor have Islamists been the only ones to use the Internet to circumvent government constraints. Since January 1998 progressive intellectual and human rights activist Mahdi Elmandjra, denied access to regular Moroccan media, has used his website http://www.elmandjra.org and e-mail lists to disseminate information and alternative viewpoints. Elmandjra recently launched the "Baraka Movement," similar to Egypt's Kifaya Movement, which opposes despotism and monopoly of authority. In using his electronic networks with international and national human rights organizations, he is able to publicize abuses, rights violations and repressive practices quickly. He perceives information sharing as an important feature of political participation, as it empowers marginalized individuals and civil society groups to overcome regime censorship. Since 1998 his website has had more than 400,000 hits, a large number of visitors for a personal website in the Arab world.

Internet-based political activism in Morocco is still nascent, but is growing at a fast pace and is likely to play an increasingly important role in accelerating political pluralism. The Moroccan regime is not ignorant of the power of the Internet and is attempting to stifle its effectiveness via legal constraints such as the 2003 anti-terrorism law as well as technical methods such as filtering and blocking websites. But such methods ultimately are ineffective; even when a website is shut down, there are still e-mail list serves and blogs to take up the cause. Mohammad Ibahrine is Lecturer in International and Comparative Communication Studies at the University of Erfurt, Germany.
http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=17448&prog=zru#internet  
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Moroccan association to launch anti-tobacco campaign.
14/09/2005

The Association of Teachers of Life and Earth Sciences will launch an anti-tobacco campaign to spur the public and decision makers to fight smoking. According to data in its press release, 5 million of the 1.3 billion smokers worldwide die each year. In April 2004, Morocco signed the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which will be submitted for ratification in October.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/homepage/ 
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"Operation smile Morocco" starts soon in Ouarzazate.

"Operation smile Morocco" Association restores smile to 50 children in Ouarzazate. A new campaign is expected to be launched in Sept. 19-24 in Sidi Hssein hospital, reported MAP. A group of Moroccan and foreigners volunteers will carry out free consultations and surgical operations, during six days, for children who suffer facial malformations. Through the team's efforts, people from Ouarzazate will be given the chance to lead a normal life.

According to a source of the health delegation in Ouarzazate, a medical staff consisting of plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, pediatricians and speech therapists will perform surgical operations in Sidi Hssein hospital for people suffering from cleft lips, cleft palates, tumors, burns and other facial deformities.

"Operation Smile Morocco", a branch of Operation Smile International, headquartered in Virginia (USA), was founded in 1999. The organization carried out over 3,000 surgical operations throughout the kingdom notably in Agadir, Casablanca, Laayoune, Marrakech, Meknes, Rabat and Tangier. Founded in 1982, Operation Smile International has brought new hope and new lives to tens of thousands of children and young adults by providing free reconstructive surgery.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/news/article.asp?id=9680 
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New York: Princess Lalla Salma takes part in meeting on AIDS.

Princess Lalla Salma, spouse of HM King Mohammed VI, is expected Tuesday in New York where she will take part in the meeting of Africa's first ladies on fighting AIDS, scheduled on September 15. The princess will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Mohammed Benaissa, President of the Association against AIDS, Hakima Himmich, and president of the Pan-African organisation against AIDS, Nadia bezad, Minister of Health, Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, Secretary of State in charge of Family, Children and Handicapped people, Yasmina Baddou.

Morocco is one of the North African countries that has known AIDS since the middle of the 80's. The first case of AIDS was discovered in 1986 in a man infected by blood transfusion during surgery in France. Statistics up to 31/10/2004 reveal that the total number of cases in Morocco reached 1,557 of which 62% were men, and 38% were women. According to the Ministry of Health, 16,000 people live with AIDS in Morocco.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/news/article.asp?id=9654 
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New academic year

Six million students join Moroccan schools today About six million students belonging to the three cycles of public education have started attending schools in Morocco. The new academic year, which begins on Thursday, marks the transition to the second phase of the decimal education reform. The number of students attending primary, secondary and high schools this year has attained 5.887.761, including 515356 newly registered ones. This makes a 3% increase in primary schools, 12% in secondary schools, and 6% in high schools.

Moroccan Minister of National Education, Stuff Training, and Scientific Research, Habib El Malki reaffirmed his ministry will exert more efforts to decrease the number of students abandoning schools, by making available support courses, eradicating unjustified student absence, and restructuring orientation services.

The minister also declared the voluntary early retirement (VER) will not affect the educational system, adding that it has "nothing to do with the structural lack in human resources." Out of 25.000 VER demands in the educational sector, 13.000 have been accepted.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/news/article.asp?id=9692 
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Morocco determined to bridge digital divide.
By Hanane Boujemi | Morocco TIMES 9/16/2005

Morocco is one of the African countries working very hard to benefit from Information Communication Technologies (ICT) by taking measures to forge an action plan that aims at putting technology at the service of human development. Since Internet was introduced to Morocco in 1995, the number of users increased slowly, not because of government restrictions but due to the high costs, the absence of a national policy to promote Internet development and monopoly in the sector by Ittisalat Al Maghreb (IAM), Morocco's leading telecoms operator.

Statistics of Moroccan Internet use, at the time, showed that the number of subscribers was 8000 and the number of regular users was 12,000. It took Morocco 10 years to reach concrete results in increasing the number of Internet users. According to the National Telecommunication Regulatory Agency (ANRT), the Moroccan IT market is progressing. The number of users rose from 102 610 in Dec. 2004 to 160 000 in June 2005, an increase of about 13% compared to last year's figures. More importantly, the number is likely to increase, as the Moroccan government is implementing an open policy for a free flow of information. A strategy to liberalise Internet access is part of this policy.

In March 2005, the regulator ANRT proposed new affordable tariffs to encourage access to the world of information aiming to reach the standard of emerging countries. Morocco aims to register three million Internet users, representing about 10% of the population. In 2010, Morocco intends to reach the standard of developed countries. The number of mobile subscribers in Morocco is estimated to reach 10 million by the end of 2005, as a result of the competitive prices of the two operators (Meditel and Ittisalat Al Maghreb) and their new strategy targeting small traders, to encourage them to use mobile phones in their daily professional life.

The use of ICT remains very limited in rural areas. People are still travelling from the douar (hamlet), where the minimum infrastructure of telecommunication does not exist, to the nearest town to make a phone call. However, the advertising campaigns of the local operators to bridge the gap between rural and urban areas in terms of connectivity, is permitting individuals and marginalised groups to take advantage of the telecommunication revolution.

ICT offers potent tools to overcome obstacles faced by Moroccan women and girls, especially in rural areas. It bridges communication gaps by allowing women to access many opportunities without having to leave their homes, villages, or communities. There is a website called Virtual Souk, a project monitored by the World Bank Institute employing 775 poor artisans in Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon, and delivering 65-80% of the earned money to the artisans themselves.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has also launched a project providing digital opportunities through the dot-com alliance to bridge the gender digital divide in Morocco. The main objective of this initiative is to provide Moroccan women leaders, involved in politics, with computer training, focusing on using ICT for professional networking and advocacy. This will help them gain access to new education and training opportunities, thereby surmounting obstacles of distance, cost, and traditional seclusion or segregation.

ICT use in Morocco has increased due to the strong will of the government and initiatives taken by international organisations to introduce the Moroccan population to new technologies. Internet use is gradually expanding in the Kingdom as a result of the decreasing costs of Internet access. People who cannot afford to buy a computer can still connect from cyber cafés, especially in big cities. But those in rural areas are lagging behind and completely dependant on NGOs' projects. This is due to two main factors: the high costs of bridging the digital divide in all the different parts of the kingdom and the lack of funds.

Funds to support ICT use in countries like Morocco can be generated partially from the private sector. Big local companies are urged to launch projects with associations in marginalized parts of the country, to reduce the digital divide. They can take the form of programmes to introduce people to new technologies, or funds to provide computers for elementary schools.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=2&id=9716 
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New academic year: Further reforms, hindrances to overcome.
By Mohamed Amine Elaabassi | Morocco TIMES 9/16/2005

Although the five-year-old reforms have contributed much to the school system, much work has to be done to overcome some problems hindering the development of the education system, said the Ministry of National Education, Higher Education, Staff Training, and Scientific Research on Thursday. The reforms implemented in the last five years, gave great importance to the examinations, held all through the year, which enabled students to double their performance and earn higher marks.

The reforms this year focus on ranges of textbooks which have been multiplied, after previously having been similar throughout Morocco. The new strategy also aims at encouraging students not to abandon school, in an attempt to decrease marginalisation in rural and some urban areas.
Supporting courses will also be given within public schools.

The Ministry also promised to reconsider grant systems and build further campuses and students' canteens. In addition, orientation centres will be made available for students, to help them enroll in appropriate streams. However, the Ministry has to take some measures in order to make these reforms more effective, said the Moroccan daily Assahra Al Maghrebiya. It added that teachers need to undertake in-service trainings to be competent to assimilate differences in the new textbooks.

The Ministry should also nationalise orientation centres, to reorganise the uncontrolled tendency of students to enroll in certain departments, in order to re-examine the inappropriate distribution of students in different departments. The establishment of the Supreme Council for Education, by HM King Mohammed VI, confirms that Morocco is determined to advance the educational system, which is a necessary step for the country's development.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=2&id=9746 
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King launches ICT programme.
9/16/2005

HM King Mohammed VI, accompanied by his younger brother, HRH Prince Moulay Rachid, launched Thursday the national programme, worth MAD 1billion (USD 11million), to disseminate Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education. This programme, which was launched in Lalla Aicha School, Casablanca, aims at providing all schools, over 8,600, throughout the country with Internet-connected multi-media rooms by the year 2008. It will be implemented in three years. It is divided into three steps: "infrastructure building, teacher training and pedagogical content development.

The programme, which will equip schools with 100,000 computers, is planned to cover, in this academic year, 75% of secondary and high schools, and 25% of primary schools. The Sovereign also launched the school year 2005-2006, which registered the enrolment of 6.5 million students in different education levels, including 5.88 million in primary and secondary schools (2.17 million of whom are females and 2.25 millions are enrolled in rural areas).

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Education, schooling of six-year old children has exceeded 90% and is expected to reach 97% by the year 2009. This is thanks to the educational reform, introduced five years ago to provide schooling for all citizens. The ministry of education has also taken measures to instill patriotism in students, especially through saluting the Moroccan flag and reciting the national anthem every morning. The monarch also distributed school bags and other supplies to needy students, as part of the national programme of educational assistance, initiated by the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=2&id=9714 
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New Academic Year: Parents suffer heavy financial demands.
By Kaoutar Tbatou | Morocco TIMES 9/15/2005

After summer vacations, parents are currently facing new financial demands. While some return home loaded with new books and school supplies, others go home disappointed and helpless due to high prices. Mohammed Cheddadi, a civil servant and father of three children, told Morocco Times that the new academic year has become a nightmare haunting all parents. Children's need for new clothes faces breadwinners with heavier responsibilities than just books and school supplies. This, he added, makes some parents resort to bank loans to keep up with the increasing expenses of school supplies, registration fees, and insurance bills.

Another Moroccan citizen said that social habits add to the difficulties families have to cope with, especially when the new back-to-school season coincides with a religious feast, as is the case with Ramadan this year. A number of mothers and students have reported problems of a more serious nature, related to the students' psychological and physical conditions.

Anouar Doukkali, a student, asks with fright: "Going back to school again? Getting up early, revising the interminable lessons, and carrying the heavy school bag which exhausts me? Please don't remind me of that and let me play on." As for Soumaya Massoudi, an 11-year old student, cumbersome homework is what frustrates her more. "I never have enough time to do all my homework," she says. "Sometimes I have to work during lunch time, which doesn't allow me to play with my friends or watch TV."

Some professors noted that students carry school bags with loads nearly equal to their own weights, which requires serious consideration. Dr. A. Benchaboubi, a psychologist, stressed the importance of the students' psychological conditions, especially in their early years when they start becoming independent from their parents care.

Informal measures have been undertaken by many professors to decrease the effects of these problems. These include keeping student books and copybooks in cupboards at schools, and making reasonable home work schedules, in a move that aims at helping students avoid overwork. The concerned national authorities are also called to reconsider the issue of overloaded school curricula.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=2&id=9708 
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Economist Christophe Aubin-Nury de Malicorne optimistic about Morocco-US FTA.
16/09/2005

A Free Trade Agreement reached between Morocco and the United States in 2004 is set to start in January 2006. Economist Christophe Aubin-Nury de Malicorne is one of many analysts expecting the arrangement to be fruitful.
By Hassan Benmehdi for Magharebia in Casablanca - 16/09

According to Christophe Aubin-Nury de Malicorne, a French-American expert in international economic affairs and finance, Morocco will reap the first benefits from a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States. At a press conference organised by the American consulate in Casablanca, he explained his reasons for optimism.

Firstly, he pointed to the nature of present economic circumstances in Morocco. "Given its needs and the current state of its economy, Morocco will be the first to benefit from the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States of America, in terms of employment and industrial dynamism," he said, adding the country has demonstrated undeniable leadership capabilities on many occasions and its determination to promote economic growth.

Aubin-Nury de Malicorne also noted that the American market is a growth market for the Moroccan economy and presents an opportunity for all sectors to access a very large market. "This agreement will allow Morocco to export its products free from customs duties to the United States, with a market of more than $11 billion," he said.
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