Moroccan group launches innovative campaign against religious extremism

2008-03-18

Alarmed by recent terrorism arrests in Morocco, some women's rights activists have taken a bold step to counter the threat of extremism: bringing an awareness-raising programme to schools and performing community outreach in poor neighbourhoods.

By Imrane Binoual for Magharebia in Casablanca – 18/03/08

[Imrane Binoual] The Democratic League for Women’s Rights (LDDF) has spearheaded civil society efforts to raise awareness of the threats of terrorism and extremism. "Most NGOs have other priorities," LDDF President Fouzia Assouli said.

While women's rights activists around the world celebrated International Women's Day earlier this month, one women’s group in Morocco opted to concentrate instead on raising awareness of terrorism.

The Democratic League for Women’s Rights (LDDF) dropped all the celebrations it had planned, having decided in the wake of the discovery of a new terrorist network – the Belliraj Cell – that the country needed an emergency action plan to draw attention to the threat of posed by extremism.

LDDF President Fouzia Assouli told Magharebia, "We have found that there is a lack of unity among associations, particularly women’s associations, with regard to tackling this phenomenon. Most NGOs have other priorities. We therefore decided to raise people’s awareness by bringing the issue into the spotlight."

Under the slogan "No to extremism and terrorism, yes to equality and citizenship", her association has organised an awareness-raising and training programme for secondary schools and universities. The targeted institutions are located in Casablanca's working-class districts, which have traditionally been breeding-grounds for terrorism.

As well as working in schools, the association is also conducting outreach activities in residential neighbourhoods about "the threat of extremism and indoctrination [and] the danger of religion being used for political ends".

Fatiha Moukhlisse, a teacher who volunteered to run workshops in a number of secondary schools, says that the organisation’s work is vital. "We all need to respond to the terrorist activity which is taking place. These efforts to raise the awareness of secondary-school pupils are highly commendable. This kind of face-to-face contact in workshops with schoolchildren enables us to instil values of decency into them."

"With the children aged 11-15, who are still open-minded, we had no problems – on the contrary, they were very receptive and we really got the message of tolerance and respect for the ideas of others across to them," she said.

Moukhlisse found the situation much different with the older children aged 15-18. "We realised they have a lot of prejudices," she said. "A lot of them have been indoctrinated by their teachers, who instil undemocratic ideas into them, so we had difficulties with them," she told Magharebia.

The director of one of the schools included in the LDDF awareness campaign praised the initiative. Abdelakrim Idlhaj said the workshops provided an opportunity for his students "to receive lessons in citizenship, and also for them to do something different which is not part of their normal school routine".

This enthusiasm was mirrored by young students at a school in the working-class district of Moulay Rachid. "This activity is a good thing for us because it gets us to think about political topics like terrorism. It gives us a chance to say what we think… because often people treat us like children, as though we don’t have minds of our own," Said Hdidou remarked as he and other students gathered around a young trainer to work on a wall painting project.

"How are we supposed to be happy about new ways of learning and discussing things in workshops when our school is lacking in so many things," asked fellow student Mustapha Khaloudi. "We don’t have a sports hall or a library, and outside, in our area, there aren’t any clubs for young people. This is why extremism exists."

As part of the LDDF strategy to open a debate on the role of certain Islamist movements in the rise of extremism, the group plans to hold a public forum on March 28th.

Fouzia Assouli told Magharebia that the LDDF is also working to form a consortium of several associations to address extremism. "There are a lot of NGOs which have agreed to become involved in our plan," she said.