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| US Distressed by Morocco Expulsions |
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| Friday, 12 March 2010 14:37 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The recent expulsion of foreign nationals has overshadowed U.S. praise on Friday for Morocco's recent steps to improve human rights, women's rights and democracy. A charitable group called the Village of Hope, a home for orphaned and unwanted children in northern Morocco, said Thursday that 16 of its workers were ordered on Monday to leave the country. In a statement, Village of Hope described the eviction process as “the most painful situation imaginable,” saying parents had been given just a few hours to pack their belongings. “The Moroccan authorities gathered the children together in the school and told them what was happening in the absence of the parents. After that, parents had to further explain to the devastated children what was about to happen. Some of the children have been with their parents for 10 years and the trauma caused was beyond description.” The group said the authorities had produced no evidence to support the proselytizing allegations, and offered no way of appealing the decision. “VOH has always sought to abide by Moroccan law and recognizes the right of the authorities to enforce this law,” “This is not an issue of Islam vs. Christianity, this is an issue of families torn apart, bewildered and devastated children and heartbroken parents,” the statement said. “We openly and unashamedly appeal directly to the King [Mohammed VI], as a father himself, to act with mercy and help us reach a point of compromise and reunite the 33 children with the only parents they know.” Two American women — Emmagene Coates and Ellen Doran —founded the orphanage near Ain Leuh fifty years ago. Coates died in 1995 and Doran in 2007.
“Representatives of monotheistic religions in Morocco on Thursday reiterated that the kingdom is a land of tolerance, peace and religious freedom and rejected all forms of proselytism,” the official MAP news agency reported Christian groups are allowed to do charitable work in Morocco so long as they don’t try converting Muslims. However, foreign Christians have been quietly spreading their faith in Morocco for years, says Jean-Luc Blanc, head of the Casablanca-based Evangelical Church of Morocco. But in his nine years here, Blanc says he hasn’t seen a mass expulsion like this. “This is a change in policy from the top of the government,” says Jack Wald, who has spent 10 years as pastor of Rabat International Church, a protestant congregation in the capital. “It’s like going to sleep, waking up, and all of the sudden you’re in a different country.”
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An orphaned child...
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Religeous leaders meeting in Rabat , Morocco 
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Interesting Views But Many False Statement... I find it rather disturbing reading most of these posts to this article. Funny how many Moroccans who are living in the US are commenting on something that they themselves have fled. Would you, my fellow Moroccans, want the US or other countries to kick you out for worshipping Allah. I grew up at one of these orphanages in Morocco and yes, it actually is true that my birth mother gave me away and never came back. It's not that our guardians were not allowing our birth parents to see us. Several of the kids that I grew up with had visits from parents whenever they could. The parents that gave kids away were not always from poor berber families by the way. In fact, several prominent families in Morocco have given children away when there was an indiscretion that was kept under wraps. One guy gave his 7 year old daughter away because he could not care for her after her mother left him. The daughter and birth father still have a relationship to this day. Oh, and their last name starts with "Ben." That has been the case for countless of the children that are given away. In my case, my mother never visited me although she lived 20 minutes from where I was raised and workers at the home asked her to come visit. Until you are personally in a situation, it is often best not to comment. If these homes are shut down permanently, where will all of us call home and visit on holidays. Have you thought about that? Is it right that we will not have a home again. By the way, I was raised to respect the religion of others and I myself am Musilma, I have submitted myself to God, and probably know more of the Holy Qu'ran than most people. I respectfully ask you to be compassionate to orphans as the Holy Qu'ran states. Also, please remember that King Hassan II, may he rest in peace, had a heart for orphaned kids and for these orphanages that have been in Morocco since the 50s. He actually made personal visits to them and protected them. While I am sure there were some people that were deported legitimately for proselytizing, the orphanges are a whole different thing. |
Myriam
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No thanks Makhzen and evangelicals: we'll believe and worship as we see fit I have a serious problem with both sides here: the Moroccan government trying to tell its people that they are not aloud to leave the religion of their birth; and the US government not educating its people to understand that trying to convert Moroccans to christianity is perceived by the average Moroccan (yes, even Moroccans who don't typically like their own government) as a supremely arrogant and imperialist action. The Moroccan government thinks we're not adult enough to make up our own minds; the Christian evangelicals think even if we're adults, we've chosen wrongly. Neither one is right, though as a Moroccan I have to say that I would very much like to make up my own mind about religion without the government telling me what to believe and how (or even whether) to worship. |
Youssef in SF
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Re: Anna (Correction) Dear Anna, My question to you is: do you believe that the right of free speech and free exchange of ideas and beliefs are universal and every human being regardless of his/her citizenship is entitled to or do you believe that a government gets to dictate what right we should or should not have? Which is more transcendent of time and space, human rights or governments and their legal systems? Should we share any kinship with the people in Morocco as our fellow human beings or do we view them as mere subjects of their governments who don't deserve these human rights? Which is more important in your opinion? protecting children and families from poverty and illiteracy or protecting a metaphysical belief system from another metaphysical belief system? As readers of this story, are you more attached to a legal system of an authoritarian state or the welfare of actual people, in this case both the Moroccan families and the American workers? Muslim preachers are very active in the US and in Europe. In the US for example, there is hundreds of Islamic centers lively with talks, seminars, community gatherings, and programs that target non-muslims as well as the families of new Muslims. There is also, believe it or not, ISLAMIC UNIVERSITIES such as Zayoutna University in California where programs aimed at spreading Islam are taking place every month. Also, believe it or not, ADVERTISMENT compaigns about Islam such as "why Islam" ( https://www.icnabay.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12:whyislam-billboards-in-sf&catid=12:gevent ) or "Understanding Islam" took place just few months ago throughout the US. How many mosques and Islamic Centers did Saudi Arabia build in europe and in the US? Have we ever take a hard look at how these mosques and Islamic Centers work and the services they provide to the homeless and non-muslim communities in their area? During this recession, my non-muslim friend tried to spend few nights at an Islamic center, and guess what? He was encouraged to "discover" the quran, "try" the Islam way of praying, "participate" in the Friday gathering, and then one day he was woken up at 5:00 am to pray with the group! Now if they did this to 25 year old man living in a democratic country governed by laws in exchange of a space to lay his head at night, what do you think they do to the children in the poor corrupt Philipines for instance? Governments has no business in controlling, advocating, or monopolizing religion, full stop! People of the world have the right to free speech -the sharing of beliefs and opinions with others- without fear of expulsion or jail, full stop! These are universal rights without regard of race, gender, or class, or nationality, full stop! Cheers, Youssef |
Simohamed Wahibi
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well done as a third world u would like to convert us... let s see , let s create islamic conversion groups in the Us or else... what will u call us : terrorists cf what happened lately in Switzerland? |
Morcelli
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For Anna, Dear Anna Ligewood, I respectfully disagree with some of your assessment. I think American guests or otherwise have every right to criticize the Moroccan way of governance. It would be selfish to solely come to Morocco because of its "exoticism". Moroccan authorities listen and listen very carefully to what Americans have to say. We have an enemy next door that chose to align itself with Communism, and Morocco decided that its best interest is to side with America, If America and Morocco are such a good friends as we time and again hear, then Americans have the responsibility to tell Morocco, that due process is a must, that Moroccans are not the enemy of the Moroccan state, Moroccans want to be proud of their way system of governing. The only country that can force Morocco to act as responsible and freedom loving country is the US god bless them. Morocco is the puppet of the US and the least they can do is to force them to update their judicial system, to respect the dignity of Moroccans and others, to spread freedom and to abolish the huge gap between the rich and the poor. The US needs to move away from catering to the dictators of the world, the US needs to look after the regular citizen in the street, Americans enjoy freedom and democracy, they should force countries like Morocco to do the same and in the long run, Americans will have 32 million Moroccans rooting for them, not 32 million Moroccans hating them. |
anna ligewood
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explusion of missionaries justified Dear fellow American citizens in Morocco, I am an American who has lived in Morocco for almost eighteen years, and I have a word to say about the fury that has been generated by the expulsion of the missionaries of Ain Loh. The situation seems from an American view to have been handled with a dreadfully heavy hand. My heart hurts for the children who have been wretched from the people they considered their parents. For these children I pray that those sent to care for them now will be gentle and merciful to them in their time of deep, deep loss. I intend to speak privately on their behalf to those in positions to influence the situation. At the same time, as a visitor in this country, I am asking other guests in this country to remember who we are and who Moroccans are. Several of those persons expelled were using the hospitality of Morocco to convert Moroccans to a religion which they think superior to Islam. They had no place here, no matter how compassionate they were. Morocco is within its rights to expel them. They should never have given those children false hopes, nor should they have expected to take the children away from their own country and its religion (and that most at Ain Loh have done so for decades is a fact). Furthermore, we are guests in this country. We are not Moroccans. In the US when we move from Alabama to California, we have the immediate right to participate in the governance of that state and to criticize publicly the governor of that state. But we are not in the US. Morocco has its own system of governance, which most of us do not truly understand, and especially as guests, we do not have the right—immediate or otherwise-- to criticize publicly what the Moroccan government does in its internal affairs. We are not American citizens in Alabama, California, or Kansas: we are American citizens in Morocco and we should recognize the difference. Moreover, while we all support due process of law, can we Americans really criticize Morocco when we have sanctioned Guantanamo Bay? Where is due process—or at least where was it until the election of President Obama? We are in no position to throw stones at Morocco. |
riffi
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... Every country is sovereign of its land and laws,when I came here 30 years ago I respected the law of this country who is mine now too,and I still do.So to everybody, stop shoving down the throat of other countries the U.S and european laws( myself I like it that's why I am still here),they have their own and we have to respect it.Two years ago I went to Morocco and I saw personally american missionary raising kids from single mothers in country side and converting the little children without the knowledge and consent of their mothers,furthermore they won't let the the mothers visit their children.As you know the poverety forced their mothers not to complain because they wanted the good life for their children.But now that it is getting little better in the berber area thanks to some NGO"s, mothers started to demand their children back.Imagine a couple of muslim going around in kentucky or Mississipi etc opening orphanage and converting christian babies to islam,I am sure you will be chain and drag by huge 4x4 preference F250 ,then Bubba will stop get his shot gun from the back seat of his truck and mess up your face.by the time Sherrif Quentin arrived it is too late and the case will be forgotten and closed.No CNN,FOX,MSNBC or CNBC,may be local news commenting some terrorist came to covert our babies.embassador Kaplan please go back to Minesota ,the law firms are making a killing. Your freedom of speech stop when the freedom of spech of others start |
Moroccan Patriot
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Converting people to another religion in Morocco is against the Law - but Morocco has no respect for the Law The root cause of many of the problems facing Morocco is that Morocco has NO respect for the rule of Law. Everything has an angle or a fix. There are no absolutes. There is nothing that is truly set in stone. In NYC, if you slap and spit at a Detective, you are going to jail. If you happen to be a minority, you are probably taking a trip to the hospital first. In Morocco, someone who commits that same violation could get anything from not being arrested to paying a large bribe to spending a few years in Jail... in other words there is no rule of law. I am not saying that is a bad thing all the time. The US has become something of a facist state over the past couple of decades. The US used to be the land of the Free but most recently has become the land of the oppressed, bizarely enough mimicing morocco and other totalitarian states more than the US of old and adopting clearly undemocratic laws like the Patriot act. The US does not have any legitimacy dictating rule of Law to Morocco, particularly while it stands quiet as Americans are routinely not just deported from Israel, but also sometimes murdered by Israeli police!!! However, I will grudgingly admit that once again, we do not seem to miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity when it comes to showing the world just how little regard we have in Morocco for even our own laws!!! You would think the authorities would have learned something from what happened the last time they violated Moroccan laws when they tried to throw out Haider Amminatou... but no... here we are less than a few months later and these same incompetents are once again showing what nepotism gets you. |
tanger2008
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sure here we go again let me just say this to our Mr embassador of the USA in morocco.if we muslims who reside in the USA ( arizona) when to houses and try to do what these people done in morocco , we would have been shot in the head before we get to the airport , so stop you SB blaming morocco , yes you right if it was up to me , i would have put in jail for 30 years each. but then it is not your fault , it is ours , we have been ovderfiendly to other but to our own ,moroccans should take care of thier own ,thats for sure , then we should ask these people who have choosen morocco for thier activities. why morocco, why not other christians around the globe who suffers more than moroccans ,they are christians in the occupied land of palestines , yes they are christians too , they are chritians in african who suffer more , why morocco? please visit our free site www.abdulslist.com |
Morcelli
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... John, I think the US should lecture and impose on backwards authorities how things should be run and dealt with. The US in this case are saying to Morocco that you cannot expel their citizens and others without giving them the chance to defend themselves. The US values its citizens and defend them wherever they might be. I think you should encourage your country to get involved to eradicate injustice, you should command your leaders for caring about their people. Our Moroccan authorities do not care, if they did we would not have missionaries doing what the Moroccan government should be doing. Everyone knows that the US is biased towards Israel when it comes to the middle east conflict, the reason is very simple , Israel is a democratic country, the Arab leaders are not, they are massacring and starving their own people to benefit the few that are related to them. Unfortunately the US is punishing the Arab in the street and not the dictators. The US need to start evenhandedly deal with Middle east for their own sake. Right now they are giving the dictators a reason to stay in power and in the long run, that's not a good thing for anyone. The US cannot embrace isolationism, when hey did, Pearl Harbor got attacked. When they did not kill Osama and eradicate al qaida in Afghanistan, More than 3000 innocent people died for simply showing up at work, Including Moroccans. Don't look only at the US fighting al qaida, look at the recent earthquake in Haiti, what country was the most caring for the Haitians? Who sent airplane carriers to the region to transport food and medicine? The US is not perfect but at least they will not kick me out without my day in court. In Morocco, If you are Moroccan you can go to Jail for simply holding your girlfriend's hand in the street. Having a girlfriend in Morocco is considered Adultery and prostitution. It is not happening on a daily basis but a Moroccan officer has every right to arrest the two of you if you are holding hands. To get out of it, you have to bribe yourself out of the situation. People there are not free, the Judicial system needs to be reformed, the press law has to change, The poor needs to helped, the rich should be held accountable, they should let people breath. |
Youssef in SF
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Re: Morocco can care less about Islam and muslim. The Moroccan authoritarian regime benefits greatly from keeping moroccans in the islamic faith because religion, especially Islam, subdues people either directly in the case of salafi version, or indirectly as in the Sufi version. We all know that the monarchy - gets a free pass on so many things because it draws its legitimacy from Islam. Introducing people to other faiths undermines this legitimacy and therefore will eventually cause problems to the powers to be. With a diverse religious faiths in Morocco, the focus and main criteria will be CITIZENRY as it is in all democratic countries. It amazes me when I see Moroccan immigrants come to the defense of a system that was a primary cause of their exile to other people's lands. I am also facinated by this thought process that simultaneously converge two contrary beliefs: The enjoyment of having the freedom to chose to practice any religion in the world and at the same time deny that same right to other people. Talk about double standard!! The trauma of internalized oppression followed by the trauma of migration is something worth reading and learning about. Cheers, Youssef |
John Beck
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... Dear Morcelli, I totally understand your point and respect your opinion. As an American, I am familiar with the law and the dew process. However, I am sick to my stomach up with the doublestandars of my own country. I do understand that those people should have had their day in court and that was an error on the part of the Moroccan authorities but how about the hundreds on innocent Gitmo detainees that never had that chance. instead, they were imprisonned for years without a charge and then sent to their respective countries (morocco is one of them) to get their privates slapped and what's left of their pride crushed by their own coutry men. No one here is to blame yet everybody is wrong. My point is, the US should stop lecturing and dictating their will and way of thinking. That was got us all in trouble this past decade. |
T man
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The bottom line. It is Moroccan soi The bottom line. It is Moroccan soil, and therefore anyone can be kicked out without any reason. That is the usual fine print when you ask for a visa or green card etc.... the Moroccan government wanted to avoid any confrontation. It is good for those people, because the "due-process" could actually land them in jail. So, from a US/Moroccan citizen perspective. If I were to commit a crime or unlawful act I should be the sole responsible. Don't blame the others. Have you actually seen the books they used in the orphanage? clearly a Proselytizing campaign. As a matter of fact I think they should proselytize here in the US before going to other countries. |
sam hari
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To Morcelli i read u comment and i felt the urge to respond. yes, i think that everyone is entitled to due process. I think that the Moroccan government should guarantee ALL foreign visitors justice and fairness. i think you are comparing apples with oranges with respect to Morocco's human right record. Morocco's democracy and women's rights record is among the best (if not the best )in the arab world. sure it needs improvements like EU suggested, but don't trash this great progress. it saddens me when i hear something that hurts Morocco's reputation. i like you and other to write constructive criticism not just accusations |
Morcelli
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... Morocco is telling us that these people broke the law (and they did), but did not follow the law when they send these people without a day in court. Morocco is just as guilty and they are getting the wrath of the US and others. |
Taha
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... the last country in the world to talk about law is USA and if they wanna defend their citizens then they shud defend Rachel Corrie, an activist student who was killed by an israeli bulldozer, they crushed her like a rat when she was protesting against the home demolitions. Israel has killed a lot of american and european activists and nobody says one damn word .. Instead, Biden went to israel to support the israeli's settlement on the Palestinian lands in the same time Rachel's family seeks for damages from Israel and guess what he gets in return, A SHOE ON HIS FACE. when the US citizens are killed in israel it's okay but when Morocco is applying the law whithin its territory america opposes just because the law breakers are americans. I don't give a damn to what this ambassador says and he can kiss my toe, for the first time in my life I agree with Khalid Naciri and I hope they don't chicken out and take this decision back. the US is full of homeless and poor people, a lot of people die out of hunger and cold there, they can go help their people instead of taking advantage on poor kids just to convert them. |
Morcelli
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Remember innocent until proven guilty? Dear John Beck, Morocco sent these people home without their day in court. I do not want to be sent home without an opportunity to defend myself. This is not fast food restaurant, this is people's life. Moroccan authorities have been sending people to jail for decades without due process and this has to be stopped. Only the US and France can pressure Morocco to reform their judicial system, When that happen, Morocco will be better and people like these missionaries will take the Moroccan laws seriously. The say way, we in the US takes the US law seriously. As for Israel and Palestine, that's another subject. |
John Beck
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Stop it please.... The US Ambassador can go lecture someone who actually gives a damn. or even better, he can go lecture Israel to stop expulsing innocent palestian families from their homes. Of course that will never happen unless pigs fly and hell freeses over or maybe a combination of the two. I know the ambassador from his days as a fund raiser for the president obama and from his days as a lawyer back here in the US and I have the utmost respect for his views but he needs to be less bias and look at the picture from a whole different perspective. |
Morcelli
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This is good news. This is the best thing that happen Morocco. When Morocco get spanked by the US or France, that is very bad news. The US and France are shielding Morocco when it comes to the Sahara, when you throw their citizens without due process, it is a serious matter that the US or France or any other country should not accept. I am so glad that America gets involved. This will for sure teach the Moroccan authorities that when someone breaks the law, you give them a chance to defend themselves. You do not ship them as if they were some sort animals. For instance , When the US arrest someone who is illegal, they do not just deport them, they need to see a judge and the judge decide if they have a case. Moroccans authorities think that they are dealing with Moroccans that they abuse on a daily basis, that's not the case, the US has been helping Morocco for several years, you not throw their people out like that, can you imagine if you get thrown out from the US without due process? This will certainly teach those ignorant authorities a lesson. They are not dealing with poor Africans who do not have anyone to talk for them, they are dealing with the most powerful country in the planet ( for now at least, China is getting there sooner than we think). Morocco is a human right abuser and the EU just warned them about their practices. This has to stop. I am more thinking about US MOROCCANS what we go through when dealing with the authorities. Hopefully the US will keep the pressure , Morocco will learn from their mistakes and reform their judicial system and respect human rights. |
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