From the November-December 2015 issue of News & Letters

At press time, Maati Monjib, publisher of the Arabic edition of Raya Dunayevskaya’s Marxism and Freedom, is on hunger strike in Morocco. Richard Greeman of the Victor Serge Foundation sends an update. My friend and colleague, Maati Monjib, the embattled Moroccan historian and human rights activist, has once again begun a hunger strike to protest being denied the right to leave Morocco to attend an academic conference, this time in Norway. Prof. Monjib has been under attack since April, when he became President of “Freedom Now,” which defends the rights of Moroccan journalists.

The Maati Monjib International Support Committee was formed under the Presidency of Abdellah Hammudi and scholars from Africa and the Middle East.

Monjib has taught in the U.S. and participated in conferences throughout Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. He is known for his articulate defense of democracy, human rights and internationalism. He is professor of African History at Rabat, and directs the Ibn Rochd [“Averroes” in English] Center.

Monjib has been under constant attack since last April when he and other journalists founded “Freedom Now.” The Monarchy immediately deprived their Association of legal status by simply refusing to process their application, and, as its President, Monjib has been the object of a systematic campaign of outrageous personal and political slander in the press by political parties close to the Throne.

On Sept. 16, he was blocked at the Casablanca Airport on grounds of “National Security” and prevented from flying to an academic forum in Barcelona, whereupon he began his first hunger strike. On Sept. 19, the Ministry of Interior published a denial that Monjib was barred from leaving the country, but accused him of financial irregularities, a blatant attempt to turn a political case into a criminal case!

For the full update and how to support Monjib, see newsandletters.org/support-maati-monjib-update/.