Let's have another revolution thread. Morocco's Day of Dignity 20/2

[quimcunx]

Talk and share here. I'll start you off.

Morocco (Arabic: المغرب‎, al-Maġrib), officially the Kingdom of Morocco[4] (المملكة المغربية, al-Mamlakah al-Maġribiyya), is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of nearly 33 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara. It is a part of the Maghreb region, besides Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania and Libya, with whom it shares both cultural, historical and linguistic ties.
Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive powers, including dissolving parliament at will. Executive power is exercised by the government but more importantly by the king himself. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors. The king can also issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. Parliamentary elections were held in Morocco on 7 September 2007, and were considered by some neutral observers to be mostly free and fair; although voter turnout was estimated to be 37%, the lowest in decades. The political capital is Rabat, and the largest city is Casablanca; other large cities include Marrakesh, Tetouan, Tangier, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes and Oujda.
The population is a mix of Arabs and Berbers speaking a dialect of Maghrebi Arabic with many regional dialects. Berber-speaking Moroccans can be divided in three main dialectal groups: the Riffians, the Chleuh and the Central Moroccan Atlas inhabitants.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco

Lest we forget, Moroccan leaders are a bunch of cunts to the Saharawi too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahrawi_Arab_Democratic_Republic

http://www.waronwant.org/past-campaigns/western-sahara

Morocco has occupied Western Sahara since 1975. Decades later, tens of thousands of Saharawi people are still living in a state of siege and face appalling human rights abuses and repression.

Protesters have already had a pop at the police and the french in Tangiers as a little warm up.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/02/2011219163145111944.html

Riot police intervened to break up the protest in Tangier, which evolved from a sit-in in front of the city hall to a march that gathered hundreds of protesters, the Moroccan branch of the local activist organisation, Attac, said on its website.

The sit-in was organised to push for the cancellation of a utilities contract that the city has awarded to an affiliate of the French firm Veolia.

Moroccans in cities where foreign firms run utility services often complain of hefty tariffs.............................."No tear gas, nothing was fired. They used long truncheons to disperse the crowds," one resident said.

 

[elbows]

Giles Tremlett of the Guardian has a report:

Both Nora Fakim, who is reporting for us from the Moroccan capital of Rabat today, and the AFP agency estimate numbers in Rabat as 2,000 people. AFP gives a futher 1,000 in Casablanca, though one source at the demonstrations there (not necessarily an expert counter of people) told me a few minutes ago that there are now many, many more people than that in Mohamed V square and that the numbers continue to swell.

This is not a huge turn-out and there has been no violence or heavy-handed policing - though police are said to have been slowing down access to Rabat from neighbouring Sale, considered an Islamist stronghold. A protester on the march in Rabat has told me they are now marching towards the nearby parliament, which may set up a different situation.

Demonstrators are out in relative force in Marrakech, though there are no reliable numbers from there yet. Mobile phone video posted at Bambuser.com suggests that demonstrators there can, at the least, be counted in their hundreds. Some tweets suggest thousands. Other protests are being reported in Alhoceima, Imzouren, Agadir and Oujda.
Reports that Moroccan state TV is present may be a sign that authorities are determined to prove themselves more liberal - as they already claim to be - in their treatment of this kind of protest than other countries in the region. Al-Jazeera, of course, remains banned from operating in Morocco.

 

[teqniq]

Well it has my blessing (as if they need it or would care ) what with it being my birthday.

 

[quimcunx]

I like the line ''Al Jazeera, of course, remains banned from operating in Morocco''.

I heard that there was some discussion regarding whether to do it on your birthday or not teqniq. One school of thought was that it would bring them luck, another that if things went especially badly, resulting in say the regime concentrating their crackdown in Wales, it might ruin your special day.

Happy Birthday.

 

[teqniq]

lol

 

[elbows]

In Morocco, five people have died as a result of Sunday's unrest in the northern town of al-Houceima, AFP reports.

 

[Alphonsus Jack]

Well happy birthday for yesterday.

 

[Alphonsus Jack]

Surely not at teqniq's birthday party?

 

[elbows]

In Morocco, five people have died as a result of Sunday's unrest in the northern town of al-Houceima, AFP reports.

I assume this is the same 5 deaths, following comes from BBC live updates page:

1352: Further west in Morocco, meanwhile, the government says five burned bodies have been found in a bank following demonstrations on Sunday. Interior Minister Taeib Cherqaoui said the protests demanding that King Mohamed give up some of his powers were largely peaceful, but troublemakers had vandalised buildings in some towns, including Al Hoceima where the bodies were discovered.

 

[teqniq]

In Morocco, five people have died as a result of Sunday's unrest in the northern town of al-Houceima, AFP reports.

Fuck

 

[teqniq]

There were demonstrations this Sunday just gone, vids here:

http://mariamsrevolution.blogspot.com/2011/03/big-protests-all-over-morocco.html

Today has been a big day for the #feb20 youth. All over Morocco thousands have taken on the streets to protest. Rabat, Casablanca, Asfi, Essaouira, Tanger, Beni Mellal, Oujda and Mohamedia are just a few. They were peaceful protests and well organised by the #feb20 movement. Only in Rabat protesters were attacked by police dogs and in particular our comrade Osama Khulaifi.

 

[teqniq]

Vids of protests today:

http://alhakika.tumblr.com/post/4310973084/protests-in-morocco-april-3-2011

 

[ericjarvis]

Can we just skip the thread and get straight on to the revolution. I'm busy next week, but the week after is free.

 

[teqniq]

*bump*

I've been seeing stuff on Twitter about protests over the past week or so. Here is an article that covers events.

Thousands rally in north Morocco after protest leader arrested

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

Who are the protesters? Who's lurking in the background to take advantage of the upheaval?

 

[teqniq]

Led by Islamists, thousands of Moroccans rally in support of northern protests

 

[inva]

the Hirak hashtag on twitter has a bunch of photos and videos from the protests and a few bits of info so may be worth a look if not seen already.

 

[mather]

Led by Islamists, thousands of Moroccans rally in support of northern protests

A real shame to see Islamists exploiting and cynically using the very legitimate concerns and grievances of the Moroccan people concerning corruption, poverty and wealth inequality. Whenever Islamists do take power they never solve any of the problems that the people face, in fact things always get worse once they take power.

My step family are Moroccan and I really do worry for them were the Islamists ever to take power.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

This all seems worryingly familiar.

 

[teqniq]

Morocco: Protest Leader Alleges Police Beat Him