Morocco: Mohammed VI nude

He lives most of the year in his mansion in the middle of Paris, but on Friday he was Morocco’s prime minister, Aziz AkhannouchWho attended the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games “on behalf of His Majesty”, as the polite press of the Alawite regime said. Mohammed VI He is an absentee monarch who has chosen to delegate his responsibilities, even in the week that marks the 25th anniversary of his father’s death. Hassan II and his accession to the throne.

A journey through his reign, which he knows well Hicham MansouriMoroccan investigative journalist who spent months in prison for his work and today lives in exile. His biography – composed of government persecution and resistance – records the lack of public freedoms that stifle the neighboring country today. “A quarter of a century is a sufficient period to evaluate and assess the career of King Mohammed VI,” Mansouri admitted in the conversation. Independent

. “in my opinion, His reign will be titled ‘The era of lost opportunities’“, the reporter blurted out.

Breaking with Hassan II’s legacy

“First, Mohammed VI inherited a difficult past from his father Hassan II: the years of leadership, the murder mehdi ben barka (a socialist leader was kidnapped and killed in Paris in 1965 in an operation that involved French, Israeli and Moroccan intelligence services) or the economic crisis,” says Mansouri. “Very quickly, Mohammed VI figured out how to turn this legacy into a lever, at least in terms of communication, which is no small matter: it was the birth of the tireless ‘king of the poor’ who tours the country with a well-crafted staging and a rare closeness that breaks with the image of Hassan II. We went from ‘father of the Moroccans’ with Hassan II, an assumed title, to ‘brother of the Moroccans’ with Mohammed VI.”

We went from ‘father of Moroccans’ with Hassan II, a fictitious title, to ‘brother of Moroccans’ with Mohammed VI.

His marriage to his wife also contributed to this closeness to the society struggling with poverty and social evils. Lalla Salma. “This is a break with the reign of Hassan II: the king shared his joy with the Moroccan people; the wedding was televised and the ceremony was a true Moroccan party attended by many musical groups that translated the richness and diversity of Moroccan culture and identity. The king’s wife is no longer an anonymous harem woman, but a public woman who bears the title of princess and dresses in a ‘modern’ way. The description of her simple origins and her engineering career are a plus, so the king’s children will be children of the people. “It’s the story of a fairy tale,” recalls editorial board member Mansouri Orient XXI and associates of The Œil of exile,

The princess became the face of the modernization that Mohammed VI promised. It is a time of hope for change. “The princess joins battles like the fight against cancer. She becomes a public figure, not just the king’s wife. At the same time, the king breaks with his father’s pretentious and iron-clad image: he is an athlete (jet skiing, which earned him that nickname) His Majestic what did the comedian give him Buzzies), travels to Morocco on vacation, driving his own car, stopping to greet people and take selfies.

The king’s wife is no longer an anonymous harem woman, but a public woman who bears the title of princess and dresses in a ‘modern’ manner.

On his travels through Europe, the Alawite monarch offers an even more relaxed style. “The protocol was lightened but without any changes: kissing hands is not systematic but it has not disappeared. If the king is relieved Dris BasriHassan II’s strong man, and open to rectifying the gains of the years with equity and reconciliation initiatives, but without getting to the bottom of things: none of the executioners were convicted, some even remain close to the authorities (benslimen) And the victims – especially the victims of Tazmamart – were not adequately compensated. Many died in poverty and indifference, the survivors continue to suffer. Maudwana (The Women and Family Reform Code) was another lever that boosted Mohammed VI’s reign. Also, press freedom is at its peak…” the journalist details.

The end of the “fairy tale”

These are the first years of his reign. An ideal that began to go wrong in the late 2000s. “Morocco quickly overcomes its demons: first, the attacks that drag the country into the international fight against terrorism. This is the birth of the Temara torture center, the equivalent of Hassan II’s Tazamamart prison. Tensions remain with neighbors: Spain, France or Algeria.The promised takeoff is a long time coming and economic indicators refuse to improve and skepticism is little by little infiltrating the patience and hope of Moroccans.

He Mazen The figures who dominated the landscape during Hassan II’s reign have retired. Other faces take their place. “While the king continues his leisure activities, faces that have gained power are becoming visible: El Himma, Hammouchi, Yacine El Omari… The king is absent: his stays abroad are so long – sometimes even longer than his stay in Morocco – that when he returns to Morocco Moroccans joke: Mohammed VI is on an official visit to Morocco! At the end of the 2000s, there were movements in the new establishment that took power in Morocco. “Between 2008 and 2009, Himma launched his group that became a political party (PAM). If the democratic spring weakened or ended his dream of completely controlling and closing the political scene, it did not spare his prominence, which remained in the shadow. After being Minister of the Interior, he became an advisor to the king, but in the shadow he also assumes responsibility for the ministry and even the Directorate General of Regional Surveillance.

2014-2024: Morocco’s ominous decade

In Mansouri’s opinion, it was the last decade that completely thwarted any promise of regeneration in the Straits. “The period 2014-2024 put an end to all hope: imprisonment of journalists, activists and all voices of dissent under fabricated charges (sex, money laundering, rape or human trafficking…), discredited media, dubious friendships between the king and some boxers with criminal pasts Germany (rumours of his homosexuality in a society and state that criminalises homosexual relationships and even heterosexual relationships outside of marriage) or the normalisation of relations with Israel.

“In almost all scandals and leaks the name of the king and his associates appears. The phrase that he himself said in a famous speech, Where is the luck?, has only had the opposite effect,” denounced the journalist, who is one of dozens of Moroccan victims of espionage Pegasusan Israeli-made software acquired through Emirates mediation that Rabat has boldly used to persecute and blackmail dissidents and to monitor foreign leaders. “From the king of the poor, Moroccans have helplessly witnessed the rise of the rich king and the king of the rich; from the near king to the absent king and so on. The big projects inaugurated by the king have benefited the richest (the high-speed train, the Azur plan and its expropriations for second homes and chalets, the Green plan that has exhausted small farmers…)”, explains Mansouri.

King and his associates are named in almost all scams and leaks

Princess Salma, who was once presented by the media as the epitome of a modern monarchy that had left behind its medieval nature, faced a radical reversal “Damn memorable”. She disappeared into the long shadow of the palace. “The princess, who was loved and respected by the people and the media, was suddenly disgraced without any explanation. She disappeared and rumors even spread that she had been murdered. The palace announced the separation through a foreign media outlet, fueling despair and rumors…”, the reporter believes.

“In a society that remains religious and traditional, the situation is more spiritual than socio-economic,” Mansouri underlines. Some have gone to sorcerers and their most irrational thinking to find some explanation for the darkness that has descended on the kingdom, to the return of ghosts. “We are very far from God (the fate of the king, the normalization with Israel, the relationship with the boxers, a video of the king in which he appears ‘drunk’ but which has not been confirmed, the imprisonment of innocents such as Nasser Zefzafi (leader of the Riffian movement arrested in May 2017 and sentenced to 20 years) or militants of the Palestinian cause…) and that is why it does not rain, some say.

“God punishes us. Unproven facts and rumours have the effect of acid on a rock. Every day one of the most important pillars of the monarchy is eroding. Fear explains the silence, but the fire has been burning for many years,” warns Mansouri. The reign of Mohammed VI is a story whose end has yet to be written.