The cat’s out of the bag in Morocco. The banned Islamic extremist party has made sensational headlines here over the weekend for openly appealing to the political parties for dialogue. And dialogue can only mean one thing, with the elections expected only 12 weeks away: to form some sort of political party to present itself at the ballot box.
I don’t know what shocks me more. This news, or perhaps another headline that other Islamic groups in Morocco appealed for the Lebanese bombshell Nancy Ajram to abandon her Saturday night concert in the northern town of Tetuan. Apparently, Nancy’s provocative performance on stage and the lyrics of her songs are considered too hot by religious groups here.
But the Islamists have been out in the sun too long on the subject of high octane-charged Levantine lovelies; true, we’ve been here before with Haifa, Nancy’s rival, being refused to perform in Agadir some years ago, but Morocco shows no sign of toning down its own interpretation of how an Islamic country should be.
In reality, Nancy went ahead and strutted her stuff. It was never a serious option for Lebanon’s one woman PR campaign for the country’s only real national industry -- cosmetic surgery -- that she would hand back the check for 60,000 Euros. Yes. That’s right. Euros. But the call from Islamists to curtail some of these more hedonistic aspects of modern, western Morocco reminds the elite in Rabat of a dilemma which is far from showing any signs of going away – the same one in fact that many European governments have battled with over their own far-right wing groups. Do you try and keep such parties illegal and therefore underground – but risk them being more attractive and charismatic than what they really are – or do you allow them total freedom of speech to let them shoot themselves in their own feet, thereby deflating their political appeal?
Presumably, if they think that they can stop leagues of people paying a Lebanese singer 20,000 Euros an hour for pouting her bee-sting lips, then we should probably assume they have a screw loose somewhere, no?
The problem is that democracy has broken out in Morocco and it threatens to cause chaos if it isn’t brought under control. The reference to Europe is an important one. Oh yes it is. Let’s not forget who is really driving Morocco’s reform -- the European Union – which gave Morocco a special status three years back and continues to encourage it financially with reform, which, in Euro-jargon means shaping up human rights.
In all fairness, Rabat has made some progress, in particular with women’s rights and a slight, but noticeable change, in freedom of speech for hacks here. But the fact the European Union is behind the reform plan is scary at best. Given that everything that happens in Brussels is experimental, ratchet-driven (each click is a click forward with no return option), most of the Commissioners are rejected politicians and that many of the MEPs are as bent as a nice Euro note -- and that the EU has no proven track whatsoever on sorting out its own problems (annoying issues like a totally buggered monetary policy with at least three Eurozone countries in freefall), you have to ask yourself what will happen if “reform” goes too far in Morocco?. Does Brussels have a blueprint for “troubles in Morocco”? A sort of Plan B if the Islamists cause a bit of a dust-up?
I admitted in an earlier blog to having been a News of the World stringer. Perhaps now I should come completely clean to admitting to also having friends who work in the European Commission. I can tell you that the EU doesn’t have any such blueprint to help countries like Morocco out of the mess that “democracy” can cause.
Which brings me nicely on to the important subject of belly dancers. It doesn’t actually. I’m just dying to talk about it. In 2009, I worked with three Danish TV journalists on a documentary and brought them to Morocco for an interview. I deliberately took them to a restaurant which had belly dancers and I will never forget the sheer joy on their faces as they feasted their eyes on three dancers of various ages; they felt so guilty that all of them immediately telephoned their wives in Copenhagen to redeem themselves the moment the performance was over and they composed themselves. My point is that anyone who has seen a decent belly dancer in action here in the Maghreb will tell you that nothing comes closer to sexual provocation at the dinner table than Moroccan belly dancers. And certainly not Nancy belting out her signature chorus “Enta Eih.”
Ok, it’s a fair cop. I have all her CDs in my car. But what are the Islamists trying to achieve by making a stand against Nancy? Are they proposing that belly dancing is also outlawed? And what will be Al-Adl Wal Ihsan’s approach toward being snubbed by the political establishment – who only stand to lose if they were to accommodate the group’s followers? Recently I blogged about the attack on one of the moderate members of Fev20 by one of these extremists. A young man had his lower leg hacked with a knife; his crime was simply trying to get into a Fev20 meeting, which had since rejected all moderates. We can assume from now on that Fev20 is an extremist movement, which plans more and more marches. Today they, the extremists, with their Fev20 flag of convenience plan a six-hour march until midnight in a bid to get the attention of Rabat.
But is the knife attack an omen for violence, which is about to be cranked up a notch? Will these extremists keep these demos peaceful or should I invest in some body armor? I almost feel like writing a letter to an old friend Edward MacMillan-Scott who is one of the vice presidents of the European parliament and asking him for Europe’s take on these growing pains.
Oh no. I can just see those MEPs in Brussels here with their blue shiny waistcoats with the words “EU Election monitor” emblazed on them.
Nurse! The Curtains!
(Martin Jay is a veteran foreign correspondent currently based in Morocco. He can be reached by email at: makeminealargeoneincasa@yahoo.co.uk)
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