Testing the Red Lines: On the Liberalization of Speech in Morocco

This article reports on the contradictions, ambiguities, and paradoxes associated with the liberalization of speech in Morocco. It includes analyses of interviews with human rights activists, journalists, and government officials; an overview of media and civil society; and an argument against equivocations of speech with conduct. The authors argue that the constitutional sanctification of the Moroccan monarch and his utterances fosters a magical conception of speech that militates against substantive and enduring democratic reforms. Public discourse that brings monarchical sanctity and legitimacy into question is illegal, but such discourse is essential if democratization is to be finally achieved.