was ten years ago, Mohammed VI. King of Morocco. He is regarded as more reformist bourgeois king. But the road to a liberal society is still far
last shampooed yet the marble floor, the wrought iron fence in the national colors of green, red faced and out on the street curbs repainted. The sumptuous tents had been set up already over a week ago. As always, the "Fete du Trone" everything to be perfect, especially for the 10th Anniversary, the Mohammed VI. today does not celebrate in the capital, Rabat, Tangier, but in his beloved. In a relatively small palace in the suburb of Marshan, von dem man die Meerenge von Gibraltar überblickt. Ganz in Weiß gekleidet, reitet dann der Herrscher der Alawiten auf einem Pferd - begleitet von einem Diener, der ihm einen Sonnenschirm über den Kopf hält - durch die Elite seiner Untertanen: eine Mischung aus islamischen Theologen, Ministern, Abgeordneten und Behördenbediensteten. Sich verbeugend, schwören sie ihrem König Gehorsam.
Altertümliche Traditionen, die eigentlich nicht zum öffentlichen Image von Mohammed VI. passen. Als er 1999, nach dem Tod seiner Vaters Hassan II., die Regentschaft übernahm, galt der damals 36-Jährige als "cooler King". Bekannt war sein Faible für Jetski, Sportwagen, Raï-Pop und die Freundschaft zu US-Rapper P. Diddy or the French old rocker Johnny Hallyday. An image that the monarch to this day can also cost something. Solely responsible for the maintenance of its fleet, mainly Ferraris and Mercedes, he will spend a year six million, as the Moroccan weekly "Telquel" calculated. Mohammed VI. can afford it, he has one of the 15 richest "Royals" in the world. The U.S. business magazine Forbes placed him 2008 to position seven in the standings, ahead of the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait. Estimated assets of the Moroccan king: $ 2.5 billion. Five times as much as he had left his father Hassan II a decade ago. this vast wealth in einem Land, in dem laut CIA Factbook 15 Prozent der Bevölkerung unter der Armutsgrenze leben, nimmt ihm jedoch kaum jemand übel. "Selbst wenn es nicht gerecht ist", meint Said Naji, 34-jähriger Manager einer deutschen Firma in Marokko. "Das gehört zu einem König." Viel wichtiger sei es jedoch, dass im Vergleich zu früher alles wesentlich besser wurde. "Mit Mohammed VI. kam mehr Freiheit, und mit unserer Ökonomie geht es aufwärts."
Tatsächlich brachte der neue Regent, als er 1999 den Thron bestieg, Marokko auf Reformkurs. Als eine seiner ersten Amtshandlungen veranlasste er die Entlassung von Tausenden von politischen Gefangenen, bat im Exil Lebende persönlich zurückzukommen, und vertraute their activities in the redesign of the country. In addition, a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission", initiated by the working up of the human rights violations of the "leaden times" (1956-1999) under Hassan II. The chair was Driss Benzekri, a former communist prisoner. The hearings of the commission were broadcast live on national television. "Compared to other Arab countries," said Abdelhay Moudden, political scientist and former member of the Truth Commission, "was the Moroccan approach an incredible step. None of the rulers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Syria, such a commission would suffer with them."
Another milestone was in 2004 a new Family Code (Moudawana) belonging to the woman gives much more rights than before, and for other Arab countries revolutionary. For Princess Lalla Salma, wife of Mohammed VI., "A prerequisite for the formation of a democratic society." In 2002, the then 24-year-old computer scientist studied had married the Moroccan monarch. As the first wife of a king in the history of Morocco, it was presented to the public - without the veil and headscarf, of course. The princess is committed to the fight against cancer and AIDS, speaks as the representative of Morocco in Paris before the UNESCO General Conference or at a meeting of the Arab Women Organization in Tunis. A clear indication of how the royal family imagines a modern woman in a liberal Morocco.
parallel with the political reform has strengthened the infrastructure of Morocco and initiated economic projects. Today, a 1,500 kilometer highway network (under Hassan II, there were 100 kilometers) all major Moroccan cities. A French TGV express trains with locomotives is planned. Near Tangier was made for more than a billion euros, a new Mediterranean port. To this end a 500-square-kilometer industrial zone, will produce in the Renault from 2013 every year 200 000 new cars.
"The changes since the beginning of the reign of Mohammed VI. are enormous, "Khalid Amine, Professor believes in the University of Tetouan." They are not confined to politics and economics, but also social. "He is referring to the literacy programs for the approximately 40 percent of Moroccans can not read and write can, and the introduction of basic medical care to the poor strata that can not afford a doctor. Or the program for the elimination of slums. So far, 30 cities for "slumfrei" was declared. By the end of 2009 disappear further 50 000 of these hut villages and whose inhabitants are resettled in new buildings. The measures in the urban periphery, however, have not only social behavior. The perpetrators of the bombings in Casablanca in May 2003 that killed 43 people, came from such urban slums. With the end of this district want to take the radical Islamists a recruiting base.
apply the bombs in Casablanca as a turning point on the path of liberalization in Morocco. Only eleven days after the attacks in Casablanca by the Parliament to tighten the anti-terror law adopted. Human rights organizations protested strongly against the amendment, which summarizes much further terrorism and imposes the death penalty for a greater number of offenses. To date, the Moroccan authorities unmasked over 50 alleged Terrorist networks of Islamic militants who are said to have planned attacks in Germany and abroad. In Hassan II as a system populated communist opponents Moroccan prisons, today it is the Islamists.
In recent years, it also repeatedly arrests and convictions of journalists. Even a young person who "God, nation and FC Barcelona (instead of King)" was written on the blackboard, was taken into custody by the authorities. "With a total of 25 years in prison and two million euro fine journalists in the last ten years have been convicted in Morocco," says a report by Reporters Without Borders. Where is not, however, said that some crucial penalties in the second instance have been reduced or even eliminated.
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After 38 years of dictatorship under Hassan II understood some of his supporters does not mean that these rigid era is over. "Of course, Morocco is still no democracy, but it is on the way to do this, although some try to avoid ever again," said Abdelhay Moudden. "The group of liberalization opponents, sabotage behind the scenes, is very heterogeneous. These are conservative monarchists in the judiciary or in other parts of the state bureaucracy. But industrialists and secular military, defending the traditional status quo." We need more reforms, especially a revision of the Criminal Code so no violations of freedom of expression can be made. "But still," adds Moudden added with a grin, "you can feel as Moroccans, compared to other Arab countries, still pretty good."
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