Morocco's blogosphere buzzes over the banning of two magazines

2009-08-07

After last week's clampdown on TelQuel and Nichane, social networking sites Facebook and Twitter quickly mobilised to form groups protesting censorship in Morocco.

Rachid Jankari in Casablanca contributed to this report—07/08/09

[www.ibnkafkasobiterdicta.wordpress.com] The Moroccan government seizure of TelQuel and Nichane led to the emergence of the 9% movement in the Moroccan online community.

The Moroccan blogosphere reacted promptly and vividly to the government seizure of TelQuel and Nichane magazines for publishing an opinion poll about the performance of King Mohammed VI during his 10 years on the throne.

The confiscation of the two issues on Saturday (August 1st) led to the emergence of the "9% movement" in the blogosphere, Twitter, and Facebook. The name refers to the number of Moroccans who did not give the King a favourable rating in the TelQuel and Nichane evaluation survey.

Several bloggers announced their solidarity with the two magazines. Larbi, in his blog, Comme une bouteille jetée à la mer, proclaimed, "I am a 9%".

Many bloggers were of the opinion that the ban created more bad publicity for the Moroccan government than the poll itself.

"It is AFP who first published the banned poll, in detail with all the numbers. An article that will be reproduced by the world media. Now, unless they ban the world media, the censors have a lame start," Larbi noted.

"Censuring a magazine that is as well-known the day after Throne Day is taking the risk of creating a certain media buzz around hindrances on freedom of expression," wrote Le Politiquonaute marocain. "This censorship seems even more useless than the survey… [Information Minister Khaled Naciri] has no doubt learned these past few days…that in the 21st century, because of the Internet and other things, that censorship above all leads to rather detrimental boomerang effects on the image of the country of which he is in charge of polishing."

Blogger Citoyen Hmida noted that "it is not the birth of a 'bloggers' movement that will change the historical, sociological, and political set up of the country, but once again, we are witnessing the sad manoeuvre of an overzealous administration".

"What is disturbing and disappointing about this entire fiasco is not only the application of the outdated 1958 press code, but the minister's handling of the affair has turned what should have been a public relations dream into a nightmare," said Ahmad Bennis on The View From Fez.

Another blogger, Mounir Bensalah, reproduced the banned opinion poll on his blog, Des maux à dire,

"Against any act of liberticide, the seizure by the Moroccan authorities of editions of Nichane and TelQuel is an act from the Middle Ages," Bensalah wrote.

The Ibn Kafka blog contributed legal coverage of the affair, with a full review of the national and international press.

Several other bloggers published excerpts of the banned publications, whether poll results, articles published in Le Monde – also banned – or the front covers of the banned magazine Nichane.

"If that poll had not existed, it would have had to be invented," Bensalah concluded in a post analysing the results. The blogger said that at the very least, such a poll has enabled the public to understand the ways Moroccans think.

"It also served to provoke debate, not always possible outside of intellectual spheres," Bensalah added.