While Arabic countries are drawing global attention with transitional movements, revolutions and civil wars, a Moroccan ambassador said Morocco is on the right track.
Rachad Bouhlal, ambassador to the U.S. for the Kingdom of Morocco, spoke in the Harold B. Lee Library auditorium on Feb. 23 about Arab Spring. He spoke of the special relationship between the two nations, which initiated in 1777, when Sultan Mohammed III of Morocco opened trade with the new republic of the United States.
“This act was the first public recognition of the United States by a head of state,” Bouhlal said. “And we are proud that Morocco has been the first country to recognize the United States of America.”
Bouhlal briefly introduced the history of the Arab Spring, which is a revolutionary movement of demonstrations and protests waving in the Arab world that began by the self-immolation of a young Tunisian vendor in 2010. He then focused on how Morocco has evolved differently from other Arabic countries. He mentioned the four active political parties in Morocco and its constitution, recently amended by a king-led movement, which protects women’s rights, such as voting.
Morocco also has been working diligently to preserve human rights, according to Bouhlal. In 2004, the Equity and Reconciliation Commission composed of 60 people was set up in Morocco, the majority of which were previously jailed for their political standing. There were 20,046 cases filed throughout the nation, and 16,800 were labeled as human rights violations by the committee. The victims testified in national media, which sparked national participation.
“It was very moving,” he said. “Sometimes it was not easy [for victims] to come in front of [live] television to describe what happened, but this was the way … how we could fix it and repair if something has been done to someone, and we [did] what we had to do so this would never happen again.”
Bouhlal’s remark was followed by a half-hour Q-and-A session, where students and faculty participated. The questions varied from Moroccan business advice to Moroccan monarchy and democracy.
Scott Gemmell, a BYU senior majoring in Middle East studies and Arabic, was in the attentive audience. He said the lecture helped him realize Morocco is willing to work with its people, although he felt the ambassador wasn’t giving the whole picture.
“I think Morocco is a success story of the Arab Spring,” Gemmell said. “The government and people were able to come to terms without any or very little amount of deaths. It is probably one of the few countries in this world that holds ‘we love the king’ day, so something has to be right between the king and the people. ”
Omer Malik, a BYU finance major from Pakistan, said he supports the transitional movement in his neighboring countries. Introducing himself as somewhat of a liberal Muslim, Malik said the young Muslims who have taken the revolutions by the hand are telling the world what Islam really is and where it should go. Social media greatly enlarged their voices. He said democracy was already present in early Islam when people voted for the religious leaders after prophet Mohammed.
“To me, Islam is what you make of it,” Malik said. “What western media portrays Islam to be is a very strict cult. In accordance in practicing Islam for my 21 years of life, I found it to be one of the most peaceful religions. It’s a passageway for people to respect a certain person, but there is always great emphasis on equality. In the Koran, which is our holy book, it says that all men are born equal.”
