The Moroccan Justice and Development Party, "moderate", think again

By Olivier Guitta

I was recently on a panel at the Hudson Institute on the "moderate" Islamist parties in Turkey and Morocco.
Here is a short excerpt of my remarks:

Moderates? I don’t think so...
It is a mistake to call the PJD a moderate party. They appear moderate, they look very elegant and very Western and always start their speeches with discussions on universal values, democracy, respect for freedom, etc. But then, they promote retrograde values; they attack women, non-moral festivals, and many other things.

For example, in a pre-election meeting on September 2nd and 3rd, two of the Justice and Development leaders said in a speech that they wanted to: “cut the heads of the deprived.” That does not sound very moderate to me.

Also, the PJD’s unofficial newspaper, At-Tajdid (Renewal), is full of anti-Western and anti-Semitic writings. For instance, At-Tajdid explained the December 2004 tsunami that affected Asian countries as a punishment sent by God because they were not true Muslims. The paper even implied that Morocco might be next for the same reason.

Also, during one of the party conventions, one of the speakers said that Hurricane Katrina was a gift of Heaven.

Please click here for a summary of my remarks.

For more on this topic, please see The Croissant.

TrackBack