Two women, both professionals, have taken the lead in forming a Movement of Non-Fasters during Ramadan in Morocco. The group, called MALI مالي؟ :
Mouvement Alternatif pour les Libertés Individuelles (Alternative Movement for Individual Liberties),
[which is also a jaunty acronym spelling the Moroccan darija phrase meaning "what's wrong with me?"] used everyone's* favorite social-organization platform,
Facebook**, to set up a small protest at the train station in Mohammedia, (a somewhat middle-class sleeper community on the Atlantic coast near Casablanca).
Zineb El Razhoui y Betty Lachgar, the spokeswomen of MALI.Armed only with savory bocadillo sandwiches and a belief in individual freedom, the small group of protesters met with more than 100 policemen and security forces, and of course a mass of press people, at the train station. The cops speedily rifled through their knapsacks and lo and behold! the proof of these malfaiteurs' intention to commit a crime: bread, tomatoes and tuna fish,
avec une bonne dose d'huile d'olive pour le gout. They were immediately rustled up and put on the next train outtathere back to Dar Beida.
Tools of Social Disorder - sans jambon, surely
(eh non, ce serait trop osé quand même!)
It may sound like a joke, but publicly breaking the fast during daylight hours in Morocco when one is evidently Muslim and not in any situation that would clearly exempt one from fasting (namely: too young, too old, frail health, pregnant, nursing, or menstruating women) is a crime punishable by one to six months in prison and a fine, as laid out in article 222 of the Moroccan Penal Code. Not to mention the social ostracism which can be far worse in a country where individual rights are traditionally subordinate to the rights of the group.
MALI's aim was to bring attention to what they considered inconsistencies in Moroccan laws that allow both Code 222 and the freedom of religion guaranteed in the Constitution.
A
communique from the Oulema Council (council of religious authorities) their actions were called: "an attempt at public breaking of the fast by a group of agitators in violation of one of the pillars of Islam, arguing that this is inscribed in the framework of the exercise of individual freedoms. "The country's Oulemas warned against 'the repercussions of these acts upon the life of the oumma".
Another source mentions a case from a year ago, when a man, apparently healthy, was publicly denounced and assaulted in Fez for having drunk some water in the street. A few hours later he was freed after his family was able to prove that he was diabetic.
These events, and the conversation they have sparked
online, demonstrate a growing trend in Morocco of an increasing sense of individualism and personal freedom to behave as one likes, regardless of social norm. Let's check out just two comments on a post at popular Moroccan blogger
Larbi's page [fr]:
Hmida, responding to Larbi's statement that this group displayed a "certain form of courage" responds:
"Do these young people really have a "certain form of courage" as you say or rather an enormous dose of recklessness?
Defying the law, defying society, provoking those who do not ask to be provoked, creating a mess in a society already in a ferment..."
Just after Hmida, "une marocaine" replies:
"This is the first step in a long and hard process. Our societies will one day or another become secular. Sooner would be better. I find these people courageous.
PS: I stand with this group out of principle. Freedom of conscience, for god's sakes! Everyone ought to be free to believe or not to believe. And those who choose to believe ought to be free to believe in what they choose. Amen."
Of course, this demonstration is just a small part of a much larger social rift between disparate groups that can be categorized in a number of ways: the well-educated vs. the un- or under-educated; upper middle class (++) vs. lower class; "Westernized" Moroccans, who speak French, vs. "Traditional" Moroccans, who speak only Moroccan, or else standard Arabic (known as "les francisants" and "les arabisants," respectively); and of course, the [rebellious??] youth vs. the older generations. There are nuances, certainly, to these groups, but on the ground you can feel the schisms that Moroccans as individuals and a society are having to negotiate. on a daily basis One hopes for a happy medium to emerge in the future.
When I first went to Morocco with my husband it was during Ramadan. People told me over and over, "oh, poor you, this is the wrong time to come to Morocco, this isn't how it normally is!" Nevertheless, it was a very special time, with all the stresses and joys of Christmastime in the west (just...a month long...) when most people are both grumpy (read: hungry) but also take a lot of time to enjoy being with their families and friends, and there is a wonderful feeling of generosity. More religious people really do find it to be a time of introspection, spiritual renewal, and setting out again with a clean slate and a resolution to be a better person. I've written about some of this before.
During that trip, total strangers were usually delighted to learn that I was fasting, (even though I hadn't converted), even to the point of effusiveness. But what to make of the people who smoke, drink, and whore all the rest of the year, but during Ramadan tell friends who abstain from such behavior, but choose not to fast, that they're going to hell, while all of their own sins will be forgiven? And what of that oft-quoted line from the qur'an "There is no compunction in religion"? I'm no religious scholar and don't want to get in a debate about interpretations, for which I am imminently unqualified, but I do believe that faith, (as opposed to religion) is an individual affair.
Difficult to say whether this group will really gain any ground, or even if it will become something of moot point in a few days with the coming of
eid el fitr in Morocco.
*Everyone in this case = young folks and tech-savvy people in developing countries...
**It should be noted that many of the members of this FB group chose not to show their profile pictures! So much for taking a stand...Sandwich image courtesy Bocadillos.
Photo courtesy El Mundo.
Though her work speaks volumes, it leaves me speechless.
She combines the art of "women's" henna with what she calls the "masculine" art of Arabic calligraphy in a process that can take weeks to realize, while the artist and her helpers work ceaselessly, applying the henna to fabric, walls, body...
You can "read" her work in so many ways...Words thought but left unsaid, words unspoken but visible to all, women's multi-layered meanings. Outspokeness in societies, both Western and Islamic, that have often silenced women.
Her latest book of art photography, Les femmes du Maroc, is a collaboration with noted (and dear to my heart) Moroccan feminist and sociologist Fatema Mernissi. Just based on some of the images I've seen, I find it even more challenging of orientalist depictions of women, with images imbued with both serenity and confrontation.
