When the winds of the spring blew over the Arab countries and the people were mobilized to place the train wagons over the courses of freedom, justice and dignity, all the governments were concerned, watching and scrutinizing the faces of the rebelling crowds, and counting the minutes which they felt were years. All the Arab governments were staring at the gates of the besieged palace with the roaring and shouting of the angry crowds wishing to topple the regime, after they broke the psychological barriers, shattered the meanings of fear, and embraced freedom. The people were advancing tirelessly, shattering the security iron fists, raising slogans demanding rights and condemning the tyrants, oppressors and corrupt. In the meantime, these governments had one of three options: escape, step down or offer rewarding concessions. In Tunisia, the Jasmine revolution eradicated Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali who escaped to Saudi Arabia. In Egypt, Mubarak offered one concession after the other, without this doing him any good after the street tightened its grip and showed its fangs to force him to step down. In Libya, Gaddafi became insane and accused the people of insanity, blasphemy and drug use. But the revolutionaries achieved victory and Gaddafi was killed with the rifle of a twenty-year old young man. In Syria, the battles are still raging and the revolutionaries are persisting and fighting. Today, they are growing closer to Damascus' gates following historical sacrifices. As for the rich Arab Gulf states, they raced to raise salaries, offer social guarantees, increase employment opportunities to contain the unemployment rates and fight poverty, without expanding political and unionist participation. In the Kingdom of Morocco, the crowds took to the streets and were met with a new constitution, setting the foundations for the building of a state of institutions and law, linking responsibility to accountability, expanding popular participation in the authority, establishing equality between all and determining the overall scope of democracy through the participation of all political parties, professional syndicates and civil society organizations without any exception. Many are the progressive clauses worth mentioning and praising in the Moroccan constitution, and I will mention a few of them, namely: the adoption of the Amazigh language as an official language alongside the Arabic one, based on cohesion between the components of the Kingdom's national identity with its Arab-Islamic, Amazigh, African Saharan, Andalusian, Hebrew and Mediterranean offshoots. In addition, the Moroccan constitution recognized human rights and the international charters, as well as equality between men and women at the level of all their rights in the context of the respect of the constitutional stipulations and the country's laws drawn from the Islamic religion. It also imposed the respect of the conditions of fair trials, incriminated torture, forced disappearance, arbitrary arrests and all forms of segregation, and guaranteed freedom of opinion and expression. Moreover, the constitution did not neglect the Moroccans living abroad, thus allowing them to enjoy parliamentary representation once the democratic formula for that end is ripe, but also to vote during the parliamentary elections. It also focused on the establishment of an independent judicial authority to instate an autonomous judiciary, protect its status and incriminate any interference by the powerful or the wealthy, stressing the necessity of providing the youth with an institutional space for expression and debate, through the creation of a youth council allowing them to present their proposals and contribute – via a spirit of democracy and citizenship – to the building of a unified and just Morocco. At this point, I will go over a few important articles in the new constitution of the Kingdom of Morocco: Article 1: Morocco is a constitutional, democratic, parliamentary and social monarchy. Article 2: Sovereignty belongs to the nation and is practiced directly via referendum and indirectly via its representatives. Article 9: Political parties and syndical organizations can neither be dissolved nor suspended by the public authorities, unless based on a judicial order. Article 10: The constitution guarantees for the parliamentary opposition a status granting it rights allowing it to carry out its tasks in the best possible way at the level of parliamentary action and political life. Article 19: Men and women enjoy equal civil and political rights and freedoms. The state will seek parity between men and women and the fighting of all forms of segregation. Article 22: No physical or moral harm shall be caused to any person, under whichever circumstances and by whichever side. No one shall be treated – under whichever pretext – in a harsh, inhumane or non-dignifying way. Article 25: Freedom of thought, opinion and expression is guaranteed for all in all forms. Article 28: Freedom of the press is guaranteed and cannot be restricted in any way. Everyone has the right to express themselves, spread news and opinions freely, without any restraint except the law's clear stipulations. Article 29: Freedom of assembly, gathering, organizing peaceful demonstrations, founding associations and syndical and political belonging is guaranteed, along with the right to stage strikes. An organizational law shall determine the conditions by which this freedom will be practiced. In some Arab countries, the street is still dominated by accusations, conflicts and shows of power. But in Morocco, the new constitution which was ratified in July 2011, was the first to be produced by the Moroccans in the country's history. It defines the authorities, guarantees democracy and cultural and social diversity, and instates actual power transition between the various political leaders and parties, and deserves to be read even if it features some flaws. Indeed, this constitution features real reform, strategic options and the demarcation of the prerogatives and the practices. In addition, it sets the foundations of stability, unity, citizenship, the rule of the law and the building of the state institutions.
