Hadn’t checked in a few days but to answer your last questions about book access…

I think that, as you said, the reason “controversial” or even “quality” books are so difficult to find is that there is hardly a demand for them. Tangier, for example, is larger than Meknes, and yet I’ve found few books there (in English or French) that I’d be interested in.

In Meknes and Rabat (I live in the former and spend my free time in the latter) I’ve been able to find just about everything I could want (in French, anyway). That said, the two major bookstores in Hamrya (Meknes’ ville nouvelle) have a wonderful selection, but many of the great books have been sitting there for months. On the other hand, when Peter Mayne’s “A Year in Marrakesh” showed up (there were about 8 copies) a few months ago, they were all gone in a week!

As for the examples you posed to Ibn Kafka, I can’t provide an answer to #1, but #2…no, I doubt a novel with sexual scenes would round up much controversy. I don’t think the monarchy is as concerned with heterosexual sex (particularly since satellite TV here garners hundreds of porno channels) as they are with insulting Islam or the King.

My own grandfather had one year of school but understood the value of independent thought as if by instinct. He came to the U.S. from Sicily and was an important role model throughout my youth. He taught himself to read, and also many trades such as tilesetter, electrician, carpenter, plumber, barber—this self-reliance was his most important lesson.

This is the second time I’ve checked out your blog, by the way, and it’s a great discovery! I’d like to recommend it to the others here. This is the first time I’ve heard the music of Matoub Lounès, even though I already knew him by reputation. Do you have more where that came from?

“READING” is the Moroccan cultures in not limited to just deciphering phonetics of a written test. it is way more than that. “Iqra-a” or “leqraya” has many other meanings. read : peace, face, mountain, landscape, holly book, fatiha, the palm (lkeff). and so many other that are not just books.

“iqraa” was the first word reviled to the prophet Mohamed in the Hiraa cave. (!)
My uncle lived all his life in the sahara desert and he has never been to any school. he learned the half the Koran by heart. he learned 4 mu3allaqat. and hundreds of long poems in Hassania and Fus’ha. he never reads but he knows how to share all this with his guests and friends who come to his “khayma” to “read/listen” to all the knowledge he has to share,
Aime Cesaire’s cosmic belief in a poetic knowledge he said “When an old man dies in africa, it is like a library that took fire”.
@eatbees, thank you for opening up this conversation.

@Ibn Kafka—We all know the “three red lines,” and from your telling, it seems that at least one (Islam) and possibly another (the Sahara) can be thoroughly discussed, leaving only personal attacks on M6 or his father off limits—so I’m wondering, is there anything off limits in Morocco at all? Even here in the U.S., as I pointed out in my example of “Huckleberry Finn,” there are books that anger people in some community or other, and if people in conservative communities get upset about certain books, booksellers or librarians in those communities will avoid them even if the Supreme Court says it’s okay. In other words, there is self-censorship of books that are technically legal.

I’m glad to hear that standards are as liberal in Morocco as you seem to imply, but let me refine my examples. 1) Imagine that a Moroccan sociologist writes a book claiming that the monarchy as we know it is not a Moroccan tradition at all, but rather a construction of the colonial era, designed to help the French control the local population. 2) Can books of recognized literary merit with explicit sex scenes, such as Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer or the novels of Jean Genet, be sold in a major Rabat bookstore without causing legal problems?

You’re a jurist, so I’d like to know—are the laws clear? Or are they potentially a trap for an author or publisher who, as in the Nichane case, crosses the line without realizing it? It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that there is still a lot of self-censorship in Morocco, since booksellers and publishers are after all businessmen with families who don’t want to lose everything simply “to make a statement.”

My last point is that more books might be banned in Morocco, if people were actually reading them ;)

But of course, any book relating to the current king or his father is a big no-no…

@ Eatbees, re: provocative books, they’re really not that hard to find. Both of Malika Oufkir’s books are available in Morocco, as are plenty of books which criticize the government (I can’t think of titles, my apologies), as well as several chronicling things like Tazmamart or the assassination of ben Barka (I was shocked to see the “ben Barka cultural centre” in Rabat this weekend). I’ve also found Mein Kampf in Arabic and French. And, the mother of all insulting novels to Islam – “The Satanic Verses” by Rushdie.

Anyhow, there are interesting books available here – the prices are high, I do agree, and so libraries, particularly in schools, are a must for development projects.

- Cherrie Moraga

Even in the U.S., great works of literature have been attacked because some people don’t appreciate their complexity, and think they are endorsing what they portray. For example, Mark Twain’s classic “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” whose moral center is Huck’s friendship for the runaway slave Jim, was banned in some schools for being racist! Perhaps in Morocco, where fewer people read, the potential for misunderstanding is even stronger, and booksellers are more cautious as a result. I would love to know what the actual laws are.

I once read that when Ibn Rushd was a young man, he was called to the court of the Sultan in Marrakech, where he met the writer Ibn Tufayl. Unbeknownst to him, the Sultan and Ibn Tufayl were great friends who loved to discuss philosophy, including some unorthodox ideas, but the public image of the Sultan was as a severe defender of the orthodox faith. When the Sultan asked Ibn Rushd what he thought about the creation of the universe, he answered very carefully because he was afraid of losing his head. Then the Sultan himself ventured an opinion straight out of Greek rationalist philosophy! I think the idea of having one standard in private and another in public still exists in Morocco, and it may contribute to the problem we are discussing….