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Dealing with
'moderate' Islam
By Ilhem
Rachidi
RABAT - When she declared her
"personal" preference for a republican regime on
her return to Morocco from a trip to the US for a
lecture on democracy and Islam at the University
of Berkeley, Nadia Yassine set off an avalanche of
criticism in a country where the monarchical
system does not tolerate any debate.
But
Yassine received major and unexpected support. In
a statement, the US State Department expressed
concern for "this case, like others, where the
government harms press freedom or freedom of
expression".
In an attempt to appear as a
silenced political leader, Yassine, the daughter
of Sheikh Abdesslam Yassine, the spiritual chief
of the unofficial but tolerated influential
Islamist organization al-Adl Wal Ihsane (Justice
and Spirituality), showed up at her trial with her
lips taped and was cheered by hundreds of
supporters. Yassine was being tried last month as
an accomplice of Abdelaziz Koukas, who ran the
controversial interview with Yassine.
The
judge reported the trial to an unspecified date,
an exceptional move which will surely benefit
Moroccan authorities. The suspension of the trial
was decided under the influence of US ambassador
to Morocco Thomas Riley, according to the local
newspaper al-Jarida al-Oukhra, to avoid further
public US criticism of the Moroccan government, a
major US ally.
"The US would find it
difficult not to be critical of what in Western
terms is a clear restriction on freedom of
expression. One wonders, though, why [Secretary of
State] Condoleezza Rice responded and not someone
much more junior and in a much blander way.
Perhaps the US was trying to send a message," said
Michael Willis, an expert on North Africa who
teaches at Oxford University.
This State
Department declaration, somewhat embarrassing for
the Moroccan government, has nonetheless led
politicians and analysts to comment on what they
see as a US hand pushing for the integration of
Islamist forces in the ongoing democratization
process in Morocco, not a simple defense of
freedom of expression.
This indirect US
support is worrying, said Mohamed Benyahia, a
left-wing member of parliament and former adviser
to former socialist prime minister Abderrahman
Youssoufi. "The US is supporting fundamentalists
in the Arab world, not only in Morocco. It
supports them in Egypt and in Saudi Arabia ... In
all times the Americans have been for Islamist
regimes. They have not changed their policy."
Benyahia, who favors the integration of
moderate Islamists in the political landscape, is
strongly against any US intervention in the
country's internal political affairs. "This must
come from within our society," he said.
Furthermore, he regretted the "let down of
modernists. The Americans have done nothing to
support democrats in Morocco, nothing to support
[the former government led by Youssoufi]. All they
do is tell us we have to compose with the
Islamists. I personally think this is strange."
This latest US "tactic" aims at all Muslim
countries and is not all that new, argued Islam
expert and university professor Mohamed Darif.
"The US encourages Arab governments to legalize
moderate Islamists. But we cannot say the US
government explicitly addressed Moroccan
Islamists."
In the current international
context dominated by the US-led "war on terror", a
fringe of US policy-makers believe that to face
radical Islam and prevent terrorism, it is
essential to deal with so-called moderate
Islamists and legalize them. From Washington's
point of view, their opposition to violence could
be a major asset that could make them possible
political negotiators. Experts say local Islamists
benefit from large support among the population
and therefore see them as a major political force
in the future.
While most local Islamists
are publicly strongly against the US policy in the
Arab world, they are willing to present a positive
image to reap possible benefits of the US push for
democratization. "Justice and Spirituality
probably wants to position itself as a negotiator
of choice with the US," Darif explained. "Their
interest is to present themselves as moderate
Islamists."
Calls for talks with moderate
Islamists recently intensified throughout the Arab
world, under both an American and European
initiative. Lately, Islamist leaders have
multiplied their encounters with Western diplomats
in office in Morocco.
Last May, a
delegation of the official Islamist Party of
Justice and Development (PJD), including its
secretary general Saaddine Othmani, went to Spain
to present its political program to political
leaders there. This visit aimed at presenting "the
real image of the party" and creating bonds with
local parties as well as civil society, but also
at paving the way for an increased participation
in Morocco's political life, two years before
legislative elections. As much as Western
decision-makers bet on their "moderation",
Islamist leaders are putting efforts into charm
operations to present a reassuring image.
Thomas Carothers, the director of the
Democracy and Rule of Law Project at Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, said he met in
May with leaders of Morocco's "largest political
parties, including the PJD" for a research.
"I believe that any political party that
accepts the political rules of the game and
follows the law should be allowed to participate
in the political process. Morocco's PJD clearly
has a legitimate role to play in Morocco's
electoral politics. I also think it is normal for
the US government to develop and maintain contacts
with a wide variety of legitimate political actors
in a country, including those that may not like
some elements of US foreign policy," he said.
But some local Islamists will be difficult
to court by the Bush administration. Mustapha
Ramid of the PJD said he had not met any US
official and that he didn't intend to in the next
future unless Washington's policy in the Arab
world underwent a dramatic shift.
"I'm not
in favor of meeting Americans who are on official
missions. They are killing Muslim people," he
argued, alluding to the US invasion of Iraq. "I am
against any relation with them. If they say they
are going to leave Iraq, I don't have any problem
with meeting them. Our position is very clear. We
don't approve their policy. I don't approve
Yassine's trip to the US. Justice and Spirituality
has a double language. They have to be clear in
their position towards the US," Ramid said.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
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