Currents of change in Morocco

The king of Morocco is attempting to forestall the currents of change that have been stirring the Arab world since the revolts in Tunis and Cairo. According to the announcement he made on March 9, after the first demonstrations in the country calling for an end to corruption and for a complete democratization of the regime, the monarch proposes to submit to referendum a new constitution during the month of July.

This is a text granted by the monarch (rather than one imposed on him from the outside), and it is the result of a commission handed by Mohammed VI to a group of experts who, however, have no doubt attempted to reach a consensus with the principal political forces represented in the Moroccan parliament.

The main legal Islamist force, the Justice and Development Party (PJD), has expressed its reservations as to the recognition of freedom of conscience included in drafts of the new Constitution, arguing that it implies an attack on the country's Islamic identity. In the end, the text reaffirms freedom of worship but does not offer the people complete freedom of conscience so that they could, for example, publicly abandon the Muslim faith.

In fact the Islamic identity of which the PJD speaks is more the expression of that party's political plan than a demonstrable social reality. The Moroccan people, like the majority of Arab peoples, are defined more by their nationality than by their religious creed, quite independently of the fact that Islam is indeed the majority religion. It would be unreasonable for the Moroccan state, which already recognizes freedom of religion, to prohibit Muslims by law from changing their religion (apostasy being a capital crime in Islamic law). Nor would it be reasonable to attempt to impose the observance of certain customs which, in many cases, are the result of tradition rather than of the religious creed.

The principal problem inherent in the new Constitution derives from the fact that it is a granted one. It is true that with a parliament made to the measure of the king and not reflecting the unmodified will of the Moroccan people, it was hard to undertake a genuinely constituent process. Such a process will go on being an element of pending business for the further democratization of Morocco, however great a step forward the new fundamental law may be. In the new Constitution, though greater powers have been granted to the government, the monarch is still the decisive center of power in areas as crucial as religion, security and defense.

The advance made in the political sphere addresses only a part of the demands made in the recent demonstrations in Morocco. The remainder have to do with the prevalence of corruption in the administration. If King Mohammed VI does not undertake a determined struggle against corruption, the constitutional changes may momentarily appease the political aspirations of the Moroccan people without ultimately satisfying their desires for a better society.