Maghreb bloggers cast critical look at society

2009-02-13

Maghreb bloggers analysed social behaviours and attitudes towards religion in their countries, discussed underdevelopment and lamented political censorship.

[telestlemonde.blogspot.com] Tunisian blogger Sarah from Un oeil sur la planète lamented about the change in Tunisian society.

In the Maghreb blogosphere last week, bloggers offered a broad range of critical commentary about the societies in which they live.

Tunisian blogger Sarah from Un oeil sur la planète wrote about seeing Tunisian society change from one with a strong identity and where women enjoyed certain rights to one which, ever since "the invasion of Arab satellite channels and its sheikhs", has "sunk into a world that is not its own". She added, "They tell us stupidities… and prevent us from having a sound and convinced faith."

Tunisian blogger Massir noted, "[T]hese days, I see more and more people who don't respect… basic moral guidelines, but who are otherwise religious. And I don't understand such people." She continued, "What purpose does it serve to listen to the Qur'an, do one's prayers, fast… when one otherwise lies, steals, cheats, and hurts others?"

The Tunisian blog Écrits anonymes posted on the same issue, saying, "I belong to a bastard generation which has known neither the times of triumphant revolutions, nor those of abounding ideologies." Écrits anonymes added, "I belong to a thirty-something generation which has tried more or less to face adversity and the arbitrary."

Tunisia's Zmemi, writing about the country's blogosphere, cited the "exchanges of insults in various blogs, the judging [and] the pseudo-intellectuals who believe in amorphous truths and who react with the frustration of those who submit to silence all the while calling names instead of building analysis".

Along the same lines, 3amrouch wrote on the Tunisian blog Network for Tunisian Bloggers for Free Blogging about the culture and creativity crisis in Tunisia. 3amrouch said, "In any European country, every Wednesday, at least 6 films are released in movie theatres... In Tunis, we create one film a year and a play every five years."

Over in Morocco, Moi dans tous mes états discussed the recently released ranking of world universities by Webométric. Morocco's top three universities - the Cadi Ayad University in Marrakech, the School of Engineers of Mohammedia in Rabat and the Alakhawayn University in Ifrane - "respectively rank 3,412th, 4,183th, and 4,571th". Many other bloggers commented on the information.

Another Moroccan blogger, Taha Balafrej, wrote in Vues du Maroc about UNICEF's 2009 report, released January 15th, which revealedthat Morocco ranks 81st among 189 countries. Balafrej commented, "This is the kind of news that demoralize. Why?... Will our officials once again accuse the United Nations of plotting against Morocco?... Breaking the thermometer has never made the temperature go down…"

Censorship took centre stage on several blogs. On Tunisia's Les amis d'Attariq, Larbi Chouikha commented on the Tunisian government's censuring of Radio Kalima:"To all those who don't know it yet, we announce the elections campaign has indeed begun!"

On the same topic, the blog Against online censorship in Tunisia posted an AFP article about Tunisia preventing the public from accessing the popular networking tool Facebook for 10 days before ultimately yielding to public pressure.

Algeria's Kamel Chibout published a piece written by Karim Aimeur from Algeria's L'Expression, describing how few of Algeria's politicians are using new technologies, hence "turning their backs away from the youth".

Finally, Morocco's Politiquonaute marocain wrote about the alleged existence of an official list of "permissible" first names that can be given to Moroccan newborns. Politiquonaute marocain noted that the law requires any given first name to have a "Moroccan character", among other criteria. Still several first names are denied, especially those of Berber heritage. Politiquonaute marocain commented, "Unless you choose a common, Arab name with an Islamic overtone, you easily run the risk to have your newborn be a premature victim of bureaucracy, incompetence, corruption, arbitrary and injustice, which reign in Morocco: a good way to tell [him or her] 'welcome to your-most-beautiful-country-in-the-world.'"