Between Feminism and Islam: Human Rights and Sharia Law in Morocco (Social Movements, Protest and Contention) by Zakia Salime

Author:Zakia Salime [Salime, Zakia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780816651344
Amazon: 0816651345
Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press
Published: 2011-07-04T23:00:00+00:00

It seems as though women joined the Casablanca march under a pretext of internal gender struggles within al-‘Adl wa-l-ihsāne. Nadia Yassine articulated this struggle as “women’s respect for the majority vote” that took place before the march. It is worth noting that the most important decisions in al-‘Adl wa-l-ihsāne are made by the consultative council, majlis alshurā , in which women are consulted but, as I have learned, only informally.10

Similar tensions were expressed by the leadership of al-Tawhīd wa-l-islāh. Bassima al-Haqaoui is one of the organizers, as well as a university professor of education. She is serving a second term as a Parliament deputy and she (p.80) is an active member in al-Tawhīd wa-l-islāh. As a vocal source of opposition to the NPA, al-Haqaoui was frequently portrayed as extremely hostile to feminism by the profeminist press. I met al-Haqaoui in June 2003 in the Casablanca-based office of the women’s rights organization ORWA, which she was directing. Our meeting did not last for the full one to two hours that I usually devote to these interviews, given her new responsibilities in the Parliament and her busy schedule supervising the work of activists in ORWA. But I had additional opportunities to meet al-Haqaoui during other activities scheduled by ORWA, and I was very familiar with her writings in the press. During the interview, she tackled my most controversial questions with impressive, cogent answers. To my question about the gender dynamics during the preparation phase before the march, she responded:

Men were at first very reticent. They were not ready for an open confrontation with the government of alternance. We waited for them to react to the NPA, then we decided to put them before their responsibilities. We told them, “if you do not rise up against the NPA, you may never be able to make your voice heard by this government.” This is a government that is waging a war on so called “obscurants” and “anti-4 forces,” meaning us. This is a government that came through a democratic process of election, but does not practice democracy. Democracy is about inclusion; we were excluded. We are not against women’s rights, but against letting others define them on our behalf.

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