CASABLANCA: In Morocco's universities, many students' greatest fear is not an impossible exam, but their own National Union of Moroccan Students, which has become a wing of Morocco's largest Islamist opposition movement. Led by Sufi Sheikh Abdessalam Yassine, the movement Adl wal Ihsan, or Justice and Spirituality, and its hundreds of thousands of members are highly critical of Morocco's monarchy. The government accuses it of trying to engineer the rise of an Islamic state. Last week police launched a crackdown on Adl wal Ihsan activists in several Moroccan cities, briefly detaining 330 amid charges the group is planning an uprising for later this year. Morocco has been on alert against Islamic extremism, especially since the Casablanca suicide bombings in 2003, and is an ally in the US war on terror. Efforts to force people to follow Islamic codes also ring alarm bells in a country generally more liberal and democratic than many others in the Muslim world. Students and teachers at the University of Casablanca say Adl wal Ihsan lobbies for a Quran-based curriculum, takes control of campus mosques and forbids all student activities except its own. They said the students' union behaved similarly throughout Moroccan universities, bullying students into following Islamic codes. Ministry of Education officials could not be reached for comment. While the government has taken steps against Adl wal Ihsan, it has made no visible moves against the student union. Adl wal Ihsan, which calls the student union its student wing, denies the allegations. "They forbid us from doing anything that isn't religious - have parties, go out with girls, and so on," said Mohamed, a science student at the University of Casablanca. He, like most students, wouldn't give his last name, fearing a backlash from the student union. "They have the power here." "The students are terrorized, they are afraid," said a University of Casablanca science professor and human rights activist who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear for personal safety. "The student union is a police force in the heart of the universities." "They prevent us from studying," complained Leila, a science student at the University of Casablanca. She said students are regularly forced to strike in support of Adl wal Ihsan members in other universities. According to the head of the student group's Casablanca branch, Mohamed Belkasmi, Adl wal Ihsan is responding to students' desires. "They are Muslims, but is their religion respected?" he asked. "We insist that our education conform to Islamic conditions." "We provide activities for the whole student body," said Belkasmi, gesturing proudly toward the Law School's central walkway, where tables are piled high with books about Islam. Arabic music booms from loudspeakers and an impromptu mosque has been created by walling off an alcove with hung carpets. Students on their way to the cafeteria pass through a display of posters and leaflets promoting Hamas. Adl wal Ihsan declares itself non-violent, but students and staff describe something else. The science professor recounted a "real punch-up" in January in the School of Letters between Adl wal Ihsan and students who resisted them. In 1994, twelve Adl wal Ihsan students were jailed for the public murder of a communist student. Adl wal Ihsan has disputed the verdict and is lobbying for their release. Nadia Yassine, Adl wal Ihsan leader Yassine's daughter and his movement's public face, denies any knowledge of aggressive behaviour by student union members. "We're a big movement. It's difficult to control everyone at every second," she said. "If these people did what they did it's not because they followed the orders of Adl wal Ihsan." Adl wal Ihsan is barred from political activities, and the sheik spent more than a decade under house arrest before being released in 2000 as part of King Mohammed VI's efforts to relax authoritarianism. Moroccan authorities hem in the movement in small ways, arresting its activists, banning its official newspaper and forbidding summer camps it had organized as an alternative to what it considered the bikini-clad immodesty of Morocco's beaches. Adl wal Ihsan gradually took control of the student union during the 1980s and 1990s in what union members describe as a deliberate strategy to circumvent state repression of the movement. Nadia Yassine insists that the Adl wal Ihsan members are fairly elected to the union, which she calls Adl wal Ihsan's "student section." Students say that all candidates in union elections are Adl wal Ihsan members. - AP
That answers my question about whether or not I'm settling back home : I'm staying where I am until I see if these "kuran thumping" bullies get their way.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2006 10:16 by chelhman.
chargement...
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