@Hisham — It’s not just Morocco that is slipping. The wealthy nations are slipping back into a fortress mentality that can’t truly be called democracy on the inside if it fails to practice it on the outside… and authoritarianism seems to be growing in its appeal worldwide.

Development has never been easy in any nation that has achieved it, whether the U.S. or France or Japan. There have always been mistakes along the way. But one of the prerequisites is to have an elected government, answerable to the people, with the authority to change national policy—what M6 called the “grand objectives” in his recent speech. That is what this debate is about. M6 claimed that authority for himself, Benchemsi objected, and he now faces censorship and perhaps prison. Is this fair? When will it be possible in Morocco to discuss the fundamentals that free people everywhere discuss? “Why do we have the system we have? Is it working? Can we imagine a better one?” 230 years ago, Thomas Paine wrote the following in The Rights of Man. I feel that he could have been discussing the Benchemsi case!

“The defects of every government and constitution both as to principle and form, must… be as open to discussion as the defects of [any] law, and it is a duty which every man owes to society to point them out. When those defects, and the means of remedying them, are generally seen by a nation, that nation will reform its government or its constitution…. It is to a nation [i.e., the people] that the right of forming or reforming, generating or regenerating constitutions and governments belong; and consequently those subjects… are always before a country as a matter of right, and cannot… be made subjects for prosecution.”

When it comes to Morocco, I believe that you and I have the same hope, though we may differ on how to get there. For me, what we are doing right now is part of the solution. If only this sort of exchange could be part of every Moroccan’s experience in the classroom, in cafés, or with their colleagues at work. When I arrived in Morocco in 2003 (I’m an American) I sensed a definite chill in public discussion compared to what I was used to. When I left in 2006, the air felt much clearer, and people seemed confident in expressing their views. What I worry about now are “signals” that things are set to go backwards.

When you say, “Countless people dare not say a thing because they know it will be picked up and made a song of by the press. That limits freedom,” it reminds me of an unhealthy facet of the Moroccan mentality, its paranoid or fault-finding side. This isn’t unique to Morocco either, it is part of human nature. But I think Doga is right. Rather than turn away from problems, we must work diligently to solve them. In the arena of free speech, it means defending the rights of others, even when we don’t agree with everything they said. It means exercising our own right to speak, courageously and honorably. No right is given freely, it must be earned, and it grows by example. Our example will encourage others, and before long, Morocco will discover its elusive freedom.

“For a nation to love liberty, it is sufficient that she knows it; and to be free, it is sufficient that she wills it”—the Marquis de la Fayette.