Huffington Post Algérie reports that the rapper L'Haqed went launched a two day hunger strike on August 13, to protest against the humiliating treatment he is receiving in prison.
L'Haqed was sentenced to four months in prison on July 1, for "violence" against police and drunkenness. Completely bogus, trumped-up charges, as he has been the constant target of Moroccan authorities for the last two plus years due to his consistent, outspoken criticism of the regime.
Among L'Haqed's complaints about his treatment in prison: he has been unable to get the writing that he does out of prison, newspapers he receives are torn, he is not allowed to receive the music that he likes, and he is subject to humiliating body searches.
Did El Haqed recently compose and release songs that could have angered the authorities?
“He has just released an album called Walou which means
‘Nothing’ (nothing has changed in the fields of justice, education,
democracy, there is too much corruption and we are living under a
dictatorship, with torture, etc…). The presentation (sic) of the album
has already been banned by the Moroccan authorities. There has also been
several of Haqed’s concerts that have been vetoed.”
How would you describe the current situation for musicians in Morocco?
“It’s simple: If you sing for the governors and the statesmen you are
given the support that you need – money, publicity and the possibility
of performing at festivals and on stage. You can even be decorated. If
you take the opposite stance and dare criticise the current political,
economic and social situation in the country, you run the risk of going to prison and you are banned from playing or appearing in any (official) media.”
.... ...can this album [Walou] can be found in stores?
“No, you can not find this album in stores in Morocco, as Haqed
criticizes the Moroccan political system, no distributor agrees to
cooperate with him, the only option is direct sale to people who are
interested in his music and also via social networks facebook youtube,
and so on, and yes, there were sales using its own means.”
NOTE: go here, on Youtube, for the song "Walou," and it will lead you to all the other songs on the album. Nearly 71,000 views of the song. Let's bump those numbers up!]
... What is the popularity of El Haqed?
“Considering he is banned by all media and official festivals because
of his activism and political positions, EL Haqed finds his popularity
via social media. His songs are listened to by thousands of people on
Youtube. His first arrest was adopted by Amnesty International and
several international and national human rights associations.”
.... What are the political views of Haqed?
“He criticizes the corruption, which reigns the political, economic
and social life. Considering his reputation and sincerity to the
Moroccan people – his voice and his songs disturb authorities more and
more.”
******* Here is a link to a petition to sign in support of El Haqed.
When the interview was done El Haqed was scheduled to appear before the court for a hearing on May 29. Facebook connections now say that it has been rescheduled for June 6. [Update, a few minutes after the original post: Mark Levine notes that the postponement means that El Haqed conveniently will be kept out of public view until the Mawazine festival (see below) is almost over.}
At his first court hearing (he was arrested May 18) he is reported to have said to the judge "Prison won't make me cry. I am free wherever I am. What makes me
weep is the plight of the [Moroccan] people."
Meanwhile, international artists like Justin Timberlake, Ne-Yo, Alicia Keys, IAM and Robert Plant are appearing at Mawazine, the state-sponsored festival in Rabat, from May 30 to June 7. There has been a campaign to get at least some of these artists to at least say something in solidarity with El Haqed, but to date I've heard nothing of such a response. If it were Russia and Pussy Riot, of course, there would be a big international fuss. But even the most progressive artists (seriously, IAM!) seem to think that the makhzen is "moderate" and so shouldn't be criticized. The not so progressive I guess are just happy to get the pay check.
It is not of course El Haqed who is the target of state repression. According to this report from ABC on May 29,
Morocco's most prominent independent rights group, the Moroccan
Association for Human Rights, has been sounding the alarm since March,
saying that many of its young activists around the country face police
intimidation.
Veteran activist Samira Kinani cited the case of Oussama Housne, a
22-year-old activist who, in a video posted online, said he was snatched
by three men, beaten and tortured.
Last month, police arrested 11 young activists who had joined a large
labor union demonstration and chanted anti-monarchy slogans, later
sentencing them to up to a year in prison for illegally protesting and
attacking police.
"It is a campaign of repression against the weakest young members of the
February 20 movement," said Kinani. "Unlike us they did not live
through the dark period of King Hassan II and they aren't scared to
express their opinions against the king for example, so I think they are
trying to scare them into quitting activist circles."
My previous post on El Haqed, with details on his arrest, is here.
Yesterday, May 18, the Moroccan rapper Al Haqed (Mouad Belghouat) and a group of his friends approached by police while about to enter the Casablanca soccer stadium to see a match. The cops targeted Al Haqed, accused him of buying tickets on the black market, and proceeded to beat up him and his brother.
According to the blog of Zineb Belmkaddem, the source for this information, the day before Al Haqed put up a post on Facebook "mocking the fact that the King was going to perform Friday’s
Jumuah prayer, and on his way there, a traditional music group was playing. In
Islam, this would be highly disrespectful given the spiritual solemnity of Jumuah
prayer, and an even bigger mistake to be made by the ‘Commander of the Faithful’
who claims part of the legitimacy of his rule from his religious status."
Who knows whether the arrest is linked to the post, but it no doubt has everything to do with the fact that Al Haqed refuses to shut up about the repressive acts of the Moroccan government, the makhzen.
Al Haqed was supposed to appear before a judge today.
I've posted about Al Haqed and his problems with the Moroccan authorities a few times in the past. And I've also ranted about the fact that Pussy Riot gets so much support and attention in the West, and especially from US artists, while almost no one seems to care about Al Haqed. Consider this another rant. Videos of Al Haqed's most famous song "Klab al-dawla" or "The Dogs of the State" keep getting shut down. Here's another link to it.
Last August I posted a complaint about the vast discrepancy in Western media coverage and popular and celebrity solidarity between the case of Pussy Riot and that of Al Haqed. I've been ranting about the cases below on Facebook. A friend said I should consider asking the legions of Pussy Riot supporters and admirers to pay attention to these cases rather than mocking them for not doing so. So that's what I'm doing: Please, lovers of Pussy Riot (and I include myself in that camp), note these cases and publicize them, if you love music and the freedom of expression.
1. The Moroccan rapper Al Haqed (Mouad Belghouat) was released from prison on March 29, after serving a year's sentence for insulting a public official in his video, "Dogs of the State."
Predictably, not much publicity in the Western media. At least this from Huffington Post.
2. Sandy Tolan has been blogging about the 22 year-old Palestinian singer Oday Khatib, who has been arrested and charged with throwing stones, which could send him to prison for up to 10 years. According to Tolan the evidence is ambiguous. Read about the case here. (The trial keeps getting postponed: the scheduled date is now April 17.) Nicola Perugini also reported on Oday for the LRB Blog.
Check out Oday's singing, backed by Ramzi Aburedwan.
3. Amira Masrour reported on tunisia live that Tunisian actress Sabrine Klibi and cameraman Mohamed Hedi Belgueyed were sentenced on March 21 to six months in prison for defaming police officers and contributing to civil disobedience, through their role in the video "Cops Are Dogs" (Boulicia Kleb) by rapper Weld El 15 (Ala Yaakoubi). Weld El 15, who is on the run, was sentenced to two years in absentia. HipHopDX reports that Tunisian rapper Emino, who was thanked in the credits section at the end of the music video, also received a two year sentence. He's on the run too.
According to, Weld El 15, Masrour reports, the song was inspired by his prison experiences after the 2011 revolution and the treatment he received at the hands of the police. “‘Cops are Dogs’ is a song based on metaphors with which I wanted to
send a message to policemen,” Yaakoubi said. “I wanted them to respect
people so that people respect them.”
How about some solidarity from Ice Cube, a member of NWA? NWA's classic song "Fuck the Police" was massively condemned,
and even prompted a letter of complaint to NWA's label, Priority, from the FBI director of public affairs. Cops throughout the country refused to provide
security at many of NWA's concerts.
Or from Ice-T, whose group Body Count released the song "Cop Killer" in 1992. The song inspired so much outrage, ranging from President George Bush the First to various law enforcement agencies, that Ice-T felt compelled to recall the Body Count album and re-release it without "Cop Killer."
Both the Ice-T and the NWA cop songs are way, way more incendiary than Weld El 15's.
I'm really glad that there has been such an outpouring of support for the three members of Pussy Riot who were convicted yesterday of charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, and sentenced to two years imprisonment each. Everyone is all over this, Amnesty International, the major news media, and US pop musicians are falling all over themselves to express their solidarity. Most notably, of course, Madonna. The fabulous J.D. Samson (Le Tigre, MEN, Peaches and the Herms) was on Democracy Now! yesterday to make the pitch for Pussy Riot, stressing that they are a feminist band.
But why has Moroccan rapper Al Haqed ('sullen/rancorous/enraged one'; born name, Mouad Belghouat) not garnered 1/100th of the attention that Pussy Riot has received?
Al Haqed was sentenced in May to a one-year prison sentence for insulting the Morrocan police. Meanwhile, as Mark Levine has noted, the likes of Lenny Kravitz, Pitbull, Khaled, Mariah Carey, Scorpions, LMFAO, and Evanescence all played the Mayazine Festival in Rabat, Morocco in May. Not one said a word in support of Al Haqed. Joan Baez (!) and Bjork played the Sacred Music Festival in Fez in June. Didn't mention his name.
In July Al Haqed launched a 48-hour hunger strike to protest his conditions of detention. I didn't hear any messages of solidarity from our progressive musicians.
This is not to say Al Haqed's case has not received any coverage. Human Rights Watch has raised his case. Human Rights Watch has covered it, Torie Rose DeGhett has covered the story for The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and so on. And of course most importantly, Mark Levine.
But where are the Madonnas in support of Al Haqed?
Here are a few possible reasons that the likes of Madonna haven't shown up to express solidarity with Al Haqed and outrage at the Moroccan monarch.
1. Morocco's King Muhammad VI is a strategic ally of the West.
2. Muhammad VI has successfully presented himself to the West as a "moderate." We love "moderates." They don't criticize us. They don't criticize Israel.
3. The Moroccan regime has successfully sold itself as a "moderate" government in contrast to those radical Islamist trends.
4. The Moroccan state has very effectively used its massive Festival industry and its tourism industry to sell its moderate image. The Mayazine and the Sacred Music festivals (plus the Gnawa Festival at Essaouira) are key elements in the selling of this image. Levine calls it "art-washing." Aomar Boum recently published an excellent piece on the regime's use of festivals in Middle East Report. Waleed Hazboun in his book Beaches, Ruins, Resorts: The Politics of Tourism in the Arab World shows how Tunisia was able to use tourism in the same way (see my review here.)
5. As Gene Lyons remarked on Facebook, people really seem to get a charge out just saying "Pussy Riot."
6. There is no charge to saying "Al Haqed."
7. Putin isn't our strategic ally.
8. Putin isn't going along with our Syria policy or our Iran policy.
9. Pussy Riot is a feminist band. Al Haqed is an Arab Muslim guy. And he is angry.
10. We can't understand what Al Haqed is saying. Of course, we can't understand Pussy Riot's Russian either, but it's been widely translated. And people like JD Samson can read their lyrics on Democracy Now! (Of course, if anyone tried a little bit, they could have found a translation of one of Al Haqed's songs at Revolutionary Arab Rap.)
11. The "Arab Spring" is so over. So 2011.
12. "Arab rap" is so over. Been there. Done that.
13. We love monarchs.
14. The pot is so good in Morocco.
15. Morocco is so cool, man. Didn't Paul Bowles and Brion Gysin and William Burrough say so? Don't harsh on my mellow.
End of rant. You add your own reasons. I leave you with the offending video from Al Haqed. "Klab al-dawla." The dogs of the state. Why doesn't Madonna like this vid?
Professor of Anthropology, University of Arkansas. Author of Memories of Revolt: The 1936-39 Rebellion and the Palestinian National Past. Co-editor of Palestine, Israel and the Politics of Popular Culture and of Displacement, Diaspora, and Geographies of Identity.
