The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today accused the Moroccan authorities of an “exaggerated, disproportionate and absurd” response to an article that exposed how people make jokes over religion, sex and politics. A decision to prosecute a journalist and an editor and to close their magazine over an article on common jokes that Moroccans tell is a threat to press freedom, says the IFJ, and should lead to protest across the region.
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Jan 9th, 2007 at 4:22 am
Hi John,
If we cannot laugh at ourselves, what else is there left to do? Do we have to amble through our existence in a melancholic & stuffy fashion, the whole time?
jb says: OK for you and me, maybe, Susan. But if you’re in Morocco or a few other places in today’s world, better be careful who you tell that joke to.
Jan 9th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
You’re right there, John.
Sticky in Malaysia too.
I always have to be careful here.
Thanks for the reminder.
In fact, our blog content may soon be thoroughly inspected and there is a chance mine may be banned if I continue to write in a liberal vein.
It’s just a matter of time.
Unless I write from abroad and remove my nationality altogether.
jb says: There’s no excuse for this kind of repression. Governments don’t really think that they know better. Not to the extent of incarcerating their own citizens. When governments begin imprisoning people for having an opinion we have governments made up of cowards.