Baraka men sakate: no more silence

"Shabab al-Hifaq", youth from Al-Wifaq neighborhood demonstrate in Casablanca, 2011

“These people suffering in silence and dragging on through the streets, are fed up of hanging around! / And what does HE do? he gathers his men to rearrange the constitution! There’s enough for getting mad at it. / Do they want us to rise up and rip off our rights with weapons? It’s me who has to decide who do I want to sacralize / And if you want to understand it, come and live with us: god, nation, LIBERTY!”. Even just this last sentence could have meant detention for Mouade Boulghade (age 24), moroccan rapper from Al-Wifaq neighborhood in Casablanca, known as “Lhaqed” (L7a9ed), the Angry One, in prison since last september. He changed the last line of the national anthem, singing “liberty” instead of “the king”: a symbolic attack more dangerous for the Makhzen (the absolute power that had been ruling Morocco during the last four centuries) than all the demonstrations and protests of the 20th february movement.

  • L7a9ed’s music [link to myspace] :: A brief explanation of the story on larbi.org [link] (in french) :: Recent article on Jadaliyya [link] (in english) :: Article by Muhammad al Khodayri on Al Akhbar (in english) :: Article by Karim Boukhari, on Tel Quel (in french) :: Videointerviews on the moroccan movement, one of them with L7a9ed (“arteTV”) :: Solidarity webpage for L7a9ed [mail: freemouad@gmail.com]
  • Mohammed TOZY (2006) “La complejidad cultural de Marruecos”. Interview with anthropologist Mohammed Tozy, by  Maria-Àngels ROQUE. Quaderns de la Mediterrànea n.6, p.105-110 (spanish) [PDF]
  • Lahouari ADDI, “Islam re-observed. Sanctity, salafism and islamism” [link]
  • Juan GOYTISOLO, “From arab spring to arab fall”, reportage in El País [link]
  • Mouad L7a9d was set free on jan 12, 2012 after four months of detention [eng][fra]