The two Nichane magazine journalists Driss Ksikes and Sanaa al-Aji received their verdict. They have been fined for writing an article about religious jokes. They have been banned from working for two months and have been given suspended jail sentences of three years. The magazine is to be closed for two months. It was light in view of many compared to the uproar they caused among a large section of the Moroccan society. It also shows that the Moroccan government doesn’t want to be seen as stifling press freedom with an iron fist. In this context both side wants to be seen as winning as there was no effective imprisonment as there was no acquittal. .
They were lucky as they had the support from Moroccan Press Association and Reporters without Frontiers. They got world publicity as their case was tackled on main news organisations like the BBC. Driss Ksikes, editor of the magazine Nichane wasn’t convincing, when on BBC World Haveyoursay last Monday, he said that he was free to publish jokes common in Morocco and people are free to or not to buy this magazine. The question about such jokes isn’t one can or cannot read them, but the impact they can have in society. It’s true that Moroccan tell jokes about religion and monarchy. But they do so in private. When a newspaper publishes such jokes this means the Moroccans can tell them in public loud. Other newspapers can use caricatures on this issue. For the government, not to allow such gate to be widely open is to set Nichane as an example to other journalists not to follow suit.
In Morocco religion is still a sensitive issue. By trivialising it in such a way there is likely to be an open backlash between the modernists and the Islamists. A scenario will be the Islamists attacking pubs and discos in response to jokes about their religion.
As we say one’s freedom ends when the freedom of others starts, it’s better to deal with religion or anything constituting the identity of a nation objectively without seeking to unnecessarily raise emotions.
Morocco seeks to be an open society but the old traditions are still entrenched in people’s mentality despite aspects of modernity and openness. Morocco needn’t be the scene of clashes because of attitudes to religion. Moroccans still have to clash with the causes of their economic and social problems.
Nichane’s journalists know this well about Morocco. It’s true Moroccans accept these jokes but when they are publicized they consider the publisher as making fun of what they are.
Nichane journalists have now got more publicity than they need. It’s better for them in their next issues to continue with their critical, humouristic and sarcastic style of depicting Moroccan society but not to the point of falling from the sublime to the ridiculous.
