Myrtus

Moroccans For Change ~ #Feb20

Moroccan voices calling for reform are multiplying by the minute, all over social media and in many different languages, as everyone gears up for the big day on February 20th.

"I am Moroccan and I will take part in the #Feb20 protest."

   

Moroccans For Change | Facebook

If you believe that Morocco needs change, join Moroccans for Change.

We aim to be a platform where all groups calling for a better Morocco can come together to support our demands for change on February 20th. We support a Morocco where justice, equality, freedoms and sharing into the country’s wealth is every Moroccan's right. We want dignity, education, health, and economic opportunities for everyone, and we will mobilize on February 20th to make our voices heard, in the most peacefully powerful way.

 
Over 40% of the Moroccan population is illiterate, about 60% of them are women. The state of public education is beyond deplorable. There are no social guarantees for the poor. According to Human Rights Watch, “Morocco has one of the highest child labor rates in the Middle East and North Africa. Although Moroccan law prohibits children under fifteen from working, government statistics suggest that at least six hundred thousand children age seven through fourteen— 11 percent of all children in that age group—are engaged in economic activity.” There are also between 10,000 and 14,000 street children in Morocco. According to Baiti association 98% of them are now addicted to sniffing glue.

 
King Mohammed VI has encouraged many changes and much of the legal framework is already at an advance stage of modernity; albeit many laws lack real translation into enforceable rules. Despite important advances in freedoms, and democracy, such as the creation of the Reconciliation and Truth Commission, the reform of the Moudawana, and various development projects, the country has experienced serious setbacks in the last few years. The authorities doubled in acts of injustice and violence against citizens, harassing journalists through illegitimate fines and trials, and imprisoning political activists.

The king has succeeded in symbolism and signs of humility, but he has yet to help create a country where social justice and sharing into the country’s wealth is everyone’s right and not a privilege of the few. The Makhzenian governing style inherited from the Hassan II era remains a serious problem. The Royal family owns the only real holding in Morocco, ONA, (Omnium North African) which enjoys a literal monopoly over most vital businesses and commodities. The system of exclusive licensing issued by the palace commonly called “Grimat,” (which stands for agreement) is still in place. This system allows the king to indiscriminately bestow authorizations to some of his subjects and most faithful servants, specifically the military, to operate taxis, buses and enjoy fishing permits. The king grants French journalists interviews, but we have yet to see a Moroccan paper given the same privilege. Moroccans are subjects of the king, rather than citizens, thus they do not enjoy the right to question the “constitutionally sacral authority” of the king. Currently, most of the key government positions are assigned to members of one Moroccan family. Corruption is a way of life, sustained by poverty at the bottom and much greed at the top.

 
In this climate of favoritism rather than healthy competition, Moroccans learn to despise each other, and social confidence is at the lowest. We all want to put an end to this.  Clearly, many of those elected in the government and parliament share into the status quo, and much can be said about their own failure to bring about tangible changes.  It is time for things to change. Our call for change in Morocco targets immediate reforms, and long term reforms that would take place soon after the constitution is reformed, and a new government is elected.

Immediate changes:

Constitutional reform: A new constitution with as a preamble the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The New constitution will outline guarantees for universal freedoms the following freedoms and rights, including specifically, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Human Rights, more specifically Women's Rights, Equality. Constitutional amendments will include article 19. Morocco shall become a parliamentary monarchy, where the King rules but does not govern.
Free and democratic elections: New elections must be organized in a timely manner with the presence of international observers to ensure transparency, fairness and accountability.
New Government Program: The new Government will focus on these priority issues:
Socioeconomic reform: Address the issue of poverty: Priority should be given to education and training opportunities to give Moroccans the chance for a better future, and create the conditions for social justice.
Education Reform: Education is a priority sector. We want education for all, and a reform of the curriculum to adapt it to the requirements of the global economy and the 21st century.
End corruption and harassment: Human rights mechanisms must be put in place to ensure that all Moroccans are equal before the law. The right to diversity and pluralism must be acknowledged and guaranteed. Freedom of all Moroccans, men, women, children, Arabs and Berbers, must be explicitly included in the constitution’s preamble
All provisions in Penal Code, Personal Status and other legal codes must reflect and guarantee the changes in the Constitution. In case of conflict, the new Constitution prevails.

Meet Asmaa Mahfouz - The girl who started Egypt's revolution

God bless her!

 

Equal Rights Takes to the Barricades - NYTimes.com

CAIRO — People here are not afraid anymore — and it just may be that a woman helped break that barrier of fear.

Asmaa Mahfouz was celebrating her 26th birthday on Tuesday among tens of thousands of Egyptians as they took to the streets, parting with old fears in a bid to end President Hosni Mubarak’s three decades of authoritarian, single-party rule.

“As long as you say there is no hope, then there will be no hope, but if you go down and take a stance, then there will be hope.”

That was what Ms. Mahfouz had to say in a video she posted online more than two weeks ago. She spoke straight to the camera and held a sign saying she would go out and protest to try to bring down Mr. Mubarak’s regime.

This was certainly not the first time a young activist used the Internet — later virtually shut down by the government — as a tool to organize and mobilize, but it departed from the convenient, familiar anonymity of online activism.

More than that, it was a woman who dared put a face to the message, unfazed by the possibility of arrest for her defiance. “Do not be afraid,” she said.

When Ms. Mahfouz posted this bold video, she said she worried about the reaction that it might generate in a society that expected women to behave in a more subdued and reserved manner.

“I felt that doing this video may be too big a step for me, but then I thought: For how much longer will I continue to be afraid and hesitant? I had to do something,” Ms. Mahfouz said.

To her surprise, dozens of other people picked up on the spirit of her message and started to post their own pictures, holding similar signs to their chests that declared their intent to take to the streets on Jan. 25 — last Friday — in what turned out to be a momentous national day of rage.

Don't believe the hype, Egypt uprising is not about Islamists or Israel

Live reports and images that are floating around the Internet from Egypt, passed on by Al Jazeera and various citizen media sources, leave no doubt that the Egyptian uprising is about everyday people fighting for their basic human freedoms and ousting Mubarak's brutal regime. 

Only pessimists, haters, fearmongers and special interest groups are going around claiming otherwise.

 

Don't believe the hype!

To connect to ongoing instant up-to-date information coming from Egypt, follow Egyptian columnist Mona Eltahawy - @monaeltahawy on Twitter and/or Facebook.

Mona says: "For years, successive Arab dictators have tried to keep discontent at bay by distracting people with the Israeli-Arab conflict."

We've waited for this revolution for years. Other despots should quail | Mona Eltahawy | The Observer

Meanwhile, the uprisings are curing the Arab world of an opiate, the obsession with Israel. For years, successive Arab dictators have tried to keep discontent at bay by distracting people with the Israeli-Arab conflict. Israel's bombardment of Gaza in 2009 increased global sympathy for Palestinians. Mubarak faced the issue of both guarding the border of Gaza, helping Israel enforce its siege, and continuing to use the conflict as a distraction. Enough with dictators hijacking sympathy for Palestinians and enough with putting our lives on hold for that conflict.

And yes, Israel does have a legitimate reason to fear an Islamist takeover in Egypt, but so does the majority of the people in the International community.  Bottom line, the truth cannot be denied or swept under a rug.

Democracy now!

Power to the people!

Mubarak be gone!

Recent unrest in Arab world is not about us | Commentary - Jerusalem Post

One of the axioms repeated ad nauseum over the years by pundits around the world is that Arab despair breeds the radicalism that breeds the terrorism, and that the source of that despair is the Palestinian issue. Take that issue away and there will be far less despair, and thus far less terrorism. Hogwash.

True, there is hopelessness in the Arab world – but the source is not the Arab masses concern about the Palestinians; the source is the Arab masses concern about their own lives, their own unemployment and their own lack of freedoms. Fix that and you get stability; ignore that, and you get revolution.

 

Expose these hating barbarians and throw them in jail!

Sadist bastards in Sudan torture a woman in public with a whip and laugh about it while she screams for mercy. A bunch of spectators standing around appear to be enjoying the show.  Spineless, hating cowards the lot of them! It will make your blood boil and probably give you nightmares, so proceed with caution....

 

Hat tip Asma

Update 12/15/10, Human Rights activists get arrested:

Video of Sudanese woman being flogged prompts protest - CNN.com

The demonstrators belonged to the Women Initiative Against Violence, and 52 of them -- 46 women and six men -- were arrested for unlawful assembly, the Khartoum State Police Force said in a statement.

All 52 persons were released under bail, police said.

The two-minute video has caused an uproar in Sudan, and columnists in pro-government newspapers have called for an immediate investigation. Much criticism focuses on how the flogging was carried out.

"My Lebanese Sri Lankan" - "سرلنكيتي لبنانية"

Recently there has been an overabundance of reports on the abuse and torture of Sri Lankan maids taking place in countries all over the Middle East and elsewhere in Asia.  It's great to see that finally something is being done about this poblem.

To raise awareness on the abuse in Lebanon, this video presents a picture where the roles are reversed, putting (what appears to be) a Sri Lankan in charge of a Lebanese maid, and to a add a special twist to the whole, the Lebanese maid is referred to as "Sri Lankieti" in Arabic, meaning "my Sri Lankan [maid]" as if calling someone a "Sri Lankan" is equal to calling someone a "maid", but in a way that dehumanizes her, as if she's just a tool, merely intended to serve, be enslaved to others and be denied all human dignity.

 

Ahmed Marcouch Petition Update

Hello friends

I got word from Ahmed Marcouch himself and one other source who's a close friend/associate of his saying how moved he is, expressing his appreciation for all our support with this petition.  And I too must thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your support and helping raise awareness. 

 

A great big hug to all! :)

Normally I don't put all that much faith in politicians, but with Ahmed Marcouch it's different, mainly because when I read the newspapers, it appears that he didn't set out to be where he's at right now with his political career, he's paving the way as he goes purely with his NO-nonsense approach to whatever ails the community and just takes care of things.  He's now in the position to possibly become a key lawmaker and a staunch advocate for minorities, the disadvantaged and education at a national level, purely by popular vote.

At the recently held municipal elections in The Netherlands he was positioned last on the list of candidates by his political party (PvdA) in Amsterdam (at #29), but he ended up coming in 2nd (with a little over 12000 votes), securing a spot as a city councilman in Amsterdam.  This was probably due to all the great things he has accomplished in the few years that he's been district mayor in a highly troubled part of Amsterdam.  During that time, not only did he manage to ease tensions caused by widespread ETHNIC CLASHES and clamp down on HOMOPHOBIA, which had reached a critical level among Muslim youth, he actually succeeded in tearing down the entire neighborhood where the Muslim extremist who murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh grew up, to root out evil and send a strong message of TOLERANCE, DIVERSITY and FREEDOM above all.  And the fact that he's a practicing Muslim fighting against homophobia....I myself as a (non-practicing Muslim) find it truly remarkable. 

Take THAT Ahmadinejad!

Supporter Bryan F. writes:

Thanks for the update.  It is very interesting for me to learn of Ahmed Marcouch's message to be one of hope of TOLERANCE, DIVERSITY and FREEDOM.  

Unfortunately in the world today, Islam and Muslims, and even those who appear to be of Arab ethnicity have been unfairly classified and categorized as being radical fundamentalists who threaten and plague the Western World.  That fabrication must be addressed and corrected. I applaud you for taking the time to thoughtfully post a petition on Change.org to enlighten all regarding this issue.

Keep up the good work, and please keep me informed accordingly.

Be well or as a friend of mine says,

Salaam alaikum,

Bryan :-)

I dare you sign this PETITION! :)

Petition

Muslim lady lost her job for demonstrating proper use of condom while dressed in hijab

Please support Milouda!

There is no reason she should lose her job or be threatened and harassed simply for performing a necessary public service.

She was merely doing her job educating the public and raising awareness to combat the spread of AIDS, while working for an anti-AIDS nonprofit organization in a country that has 25,000 recorded cases of AIDS infected patients. 

Now she's being harassed and threatened for causing embarrassment to the Muslim community, after she was shown on French TV educating Moroccan youth and prostitutes at an anti-Aids conference on how to apply a subtle technique to use a condom, especially when a sex partner refuses to use protection.

The spread of AIDS continues to be a global menace that affects us all!

Milouda should be hailed as a brave and courageous woman for going all out to raise awareness on a serious public threat and should NOT be ostracized for doing her job.

Clearly her intentions are good and not meant to cause harm or embarrassment to anyone.

Thank you for your attention to this critical matter.

Support Milouda, Sign petition here

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I just translated the first half of the Dutch article I linked to above (starting with the title), which I think is most relevant to Milouda's case.

Also...it is not clear from this article if Milouda was fired or simply quit her job out of embarrassment or as a result of being threatened and harassed.

.........

Little trick with a condom cost Moroccan woman her career

 

RABAT - Milouda can be seen only briefly on the Internet. "But those ten seconds, have ruined my entire career," she says. Milouda is a Moroccan woman with a headscarf shown on a clip via Youtube, demonstrating how to put a condom on a penis with your mouth . She is being threatened ever since.

 

Her aim was so praiseworthy. In the fight against AIDS, she wants to get prostitutes and young, inexperienced girls acquainted with the condom. Milouda worked at Doctors Without Borders for ten years she says on Tuesday on the Moroccan newspaper Akhbar Alyoum, and since 2007 she is working for the ALCS, a Moroccan anti-AIDS organization.

 

In late March the ALCS organized a conference on HIV and AIDS in Casablanca. In response, the French news agency AFP made a movie about HIV and AIDS in Morocco, which was broadcast on French television. Afterwards, the clip ended up on Youtube.

 

It's a neat movie. Himmich Hakima, president of the ALCS, explains that in Morocco around 25 thousand people are HIV positive. An HIV patient says that no one dares to talk about her illness and we hear that condoms are not popular in Morocco.

 

The movie also shows what ALCS does in terms of AIDS prevention. One of the actions is a weekly briefing for prostitutes - and the camera zooms in on the educator, a woman with a black head scarf in the back with a condom. That woman is Milouda.

 

Milouda explains how a prostitute can handle customers who do not want the condom. "If the customer does not want to, tell him that you have something new," says Milouda. "He will enjoy it." Milouda then crumpled the condom in her mouth and let it slide down on one of the colored fake penises in front of her on the table.

 

[I think this is the part that's most telling]

 

Morocco's conservative Islamic party PJD said it was a disgrace. Sex education, fine, but this woman went into too much detail. She didn't need to say how men like to be satisfied. Even chief editor Rachid Niny of Al Massae, who is known as enlightened, thought this was a no no. The combination scarf and condoms, that was what most critics found repugnant.

Fatwa on Lesbianism/Tomboys

The Malaysian term for lesbianism is "Pengkid", which is already considered a crime in Malaysia, but now the Malaysian Department of Islamic Development wants to add "tomboy" to its vague and confusing definition of "pengkid". 

According to these religious loons, women who dress and behave like men are more inclined to develop sexual desires for other women, therefore they must be stopped immediately to prevent them from committing "homosexual crimes".

Access Malaysia Today: Sunday Interview: Fatwa on 'pengkid' to prevent lesbianism

Q: What is the actual definition of “pengkid”?
A: Pengkid refers to a married woman or maiden whose appearance or image is like that of a man. Although this also includes the dressing of the person and not just the way she behaves, the way of dressing is just one aspect of what makes a pengkid.

A woman may be dressed as a woman, but her behaviour may be like a man, or it might be a combination of this. She might also have a sexual desire for women.

This brings it “hampir” (close) to the practice of les bianism.

Q: Is it close to, or is it actually lesbianism?

A: We can’t say that all people who are pengkid are lesbians. That wouldn’t be right. That’s why I say it is “hampir”.

Hampir means she doesn’t do that act, but she is heading that way. For instance, Islam forbids people from coming close to zina. That means, not only is the act forbidden, but any act that may lead to the actual act is also forbidden.

I believe there is no religion that allows lesbianism or homosexuality. But anything that can drive or lead towards it should also be stopped. So, this is the culture that we are trying to stop.

Actually, we are trying to save these women (from be coming lesbians).

Read the rest of this religious loony acrobatics here.

This silly fatwa has no leg to stand on as long as there is some serious doubt amongst Muslim scholars whether homosexuality is prohibited under Islamic law. Some scholars say that there is no mention of homosexuality or lesbianism, but there is mention of "liwat" (violent sodomy), which is forbidden in Islam. Some even argue that since a homosexual relationship/act isn't necessarily violent by definition, there is no reason to make it illegal.

A Day Without Gays

As one of their mottos goes: 

"A day without gays would be tragic because it would be 

a day without love."


This just in via email:

A Day Without Gays



Start Time:  Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 12:00am

End Time:  Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 12:00am

Location: Across the 
United States

Street: 
Main Street



Description

We are calling for a nationwide strike and economic boycott by all Gays