Saturday, July 2, 2011

Al-mashi fi athar Walili

I was going to post yesterday with news about the excitement of voting day, but to be honest it was very anti-climactic. All the demonstrations took place the day before. I did, however, interview a few Moroccans who were sitting in cafes about their thoughts on the referendum. Most, understandably, didn't want to talk to me, and one man responded to every one of my questions with Kul shay mizian ("everything is good").

I interviewed one man, however, who was very interesting to talk to. I asked him if he was voting and why. He said yes, he would vote that day because voting is a better alternative to violent revolution in enacting reforms. He said he would vote "yes" on the new constitution because it would get the wheels rolling on real reform in the country. It was the first time he had ever voted in his life.

While voting day was uneventful, this may be the calm before the storm. I received an email today from my study abroad office that said this:

Morocco: Demonstrations planned on 3 July over preliminary results of referendum on constitutional reforms
The 20 February Movement has called for demonstrations on 3 July to protest against the preliminary result of a referendum, which was held on 1 July as part of the reforms proposed by King Mohammed VI on 17 June in a bid to create a constitutional monarchy with a democratic parliament. The preliminary result of the plebiscite, which was announced by Interior Minister Taib Cherkaoui on 1 July, indicated that more than 98% of the voters approved the proposed reforms; the voting turnout was around 73%. The final results are expected to be announced on 3-4 July. The 20 February Movement has alleged that the proposed reforms do not amount to a true separation of authoritarian powers.
Several protests have been staged in recent weeks to demand democratic reforms and against the use of force by the police during previous demonstrations. Although the 20 February Movement has not yet disclosed details of the planned events, such rallies are likely to take place in the capital Rabat and other major cities. Although the proposed draft announced by the monarch was expected to reduce the risk of rallies gaining momentum and pre-empt any further unrest, the latest call to demonstrate by the protest movement suggests otherwise. Precedents suggest that the security forces may use uncompromising crowd-control measures to disperse unruly protesters, posing indirect risks to bystanders. There is also a high risk of unrest incited by youths from low-income areas in the hours following such gatherings, particularly in northern cities such as Tangier.
Thousands of protesters on 26 June staged marches Rabat and other urban centres across the country as part of demonstrations both for and against the constitutional reforms. In Casablanca, around 100,000 people participated in marches organised by a coalition group known as ‘Matkich Bladi' (Do not touch my country) in support of the 1 July referendum, while 7,000 people demonstrated against the planned reforms in the low-income neighbourhood of Hay Mohammedi, where scuffles between protesters and government supporters injured at least two people. Additionally, at least 2,000 anti-constitution protesters marched the same day in central Rabat in a protest organised by the 20 February Movement.
Mohammed VI claims that the proposed constitutional reforms would provide for an independent judiciary and greater roles for the legislature and political parties. While Morocco shares a number of socio-economic traits with neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt – where protest campaigns in late 2010 and early 2011 led to the ousting of those countries' long-serving presidents, such as the high youth unemployment rate, its political climate differs from these countries and an uprising is unlikely in the near term. However, demonstrations calling for political and constitutional reform should be expected to persist.

But enough about politics. Today I visited Volubilis, or as they call it in Morocco, Walili. This was a day trip organized by our program so I piled into a bus with the other students, all of us sweating in the blazing summer heat. Volubilis is a site of ancient Roman ruins that used to be the southernmost outpost of the Roman Empire. The ruins are very beautiful and surprisingly complete, despite the fact that they allow you to climb all over them (some students even climbed atop old grave markers to pose like roman statues and the tour guide was fine with it).

The tour guide showed us the site where townspeople would sacrifice animals to the Roman gods on sacred days, as well as where they used to make olive oil, some houses, and the baths. The tour concluded with what our tour guide described as "a happy ending." And this was not entirely untrue, as the last stop of the tour was the brothel, which was marked by a large erect penis carved from stone and pointing to the entrance of the brothel (photos not included).

From Walili we went on to a small mountain town called Moulay Idriss, where a famous Muslim holy man is buried on the grounds of a large mosque. A sign confirmed the Moroccan law that non-Muslims are not allowed inside mosques, so we sent a friend who is Muslim in to see the mosque and the tomb inside. She ducked under the wood barrier and came back shortly after with lots of pictures, which I hope to post this week.

A man told us that we could walk up the cliff side through the old city to get a better view of the mosque, so we climbed up what seemed like a never-ending staircase that wound through alleyways in the old city. We were exhausted by the time we reached the summit, but the view was worth it. You could not only look over the mosque, but see the whole city built on a mountain and the valley beyond.

I'll be traveling again today and tomorrow, taking advantage of the weekend. As always, location TBA when I return. The suspense!

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