September 19, 2015

Richard Greeman of the Victor Serge Foundation wrote to News & Letters about Maati Monjib. Monjib is the publisher of the Arabic edition of Marxism and Freedom by Raya Dunayevskaya. He also edited it and supervised its translation into Arabic:

My close friend and colleague, the Moroccan historian, journalist and Human Rights activist Maati Monjib, has entered the third day of a hunger strike to protest abridgement of his right to travel and months of government-inspired harassment. Monjib has been under attack since he became President of Freedom Now, which defends the rights of Moroccan journalists. https://www.facebook.com/freenowma/timeline

You can help by sending a message to the Moroccan Ambassador: see URLs and sample message below. Also by posting and forwarding this message to your networks.

Maati Monjib

When Monjib and other journalists founded Freedom Now last April, the government quickly deprived their Association of legal status by simply refusing to process their application. For months Monjib has been the object of a systematic campaign of outrageous personal and political slander in the press of political parties close to the Throne. On Sept. 16, Prof. Monjib was blocked at Casablanca airport by Moroccan security police and prevented from leaving for Barcelona to attend an academic forum organized by the European Institute of the Mediterranean.

Monjib is active internationally as a scholar, having taught in the U.S. and participated in conferences throughout Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, and is known for his articulate defense of the values of democracy, human rights, and internationalism. Monjib directs the Ibn Rochd [“Averoes” in English] Center in Rabat and is preparing an Arabic edition of Victor Serge’s Memoirs of a Revolutionary.

HERE’S HOW TO HELP.

The Monarchy is sensitive to international opinion, and you can put pressure on by writing to the Moroccan Ambassador in London, Washington, or wherever you live. Here’s a sample message you can copy/paste right now:

Your Highness/Your Excellency:

“Scholars and journalists around the world are disturbed by reports of harassment of our respected colleague Maati Monjib. Please reassure us that his right to travel, speak and write freely will be protected by the Moroccan Monarchy.”

Respectfully yours, etc., etc. They’ll get the point.

H.H. Princess Lalla Joumala Alaoui

Ambassador of His Majesty the King of Morocco to The Court of Saint James’s

www.moroccanembassylondon.org.uk/

Ambassador Rachad Bouhlal

http://www.embassyofmorocco.us/embassador.htm