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By Hind Janane
Rabat – The following is a reader reaction to the original article “Moroccan Activists Criticize Benkirane’s Silence on Fatal Beating of Amazigh Activist,” by Morocco World News.
Critical Analysis
This article is about the ‘political assassination of Omar Khaleq.’ Omar is an activist in an Amazigh cultural movement in Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech. The article is not signed, and is probably written by a Morocco World News staff writer. It says that Omar died as a result of an attack by some pro-polisario students.
The author, like so many other bloggers on facebook, criticizes the silence of the authorities. He denounces the double standard attitude of the Head of the Government Abdelillah Benkirane. For last year in a similar incident, Abdelillah Benkirane denounced the crime of killing a student who belonged to his political party. He expressed his condolences to the student’s family and attended the funeral personally.
Even though Morocco World News covered the assassination of Omar, while the majority of media sources choose to ignore it, The coverage of the event was very brief and not very informative. They didn’t dedicate much space to the story. The author didn’t investigate what really happened. He didn’t meet any witnesses or interview any of the friends or the family of the victim. The article is mainly repeating what some Amazigh and human rights activists share on social media especially Facebook.
My Perspective
As a mother and a student at the faculty where Omar used to study, I express my sincere condolence to his family especially his parents. I condemn violence in general and everywhere especially in places like universities. Universities are mainly for learning and enlightening minds.
They are places where we are supposed to be better people intellectually and personally. Violence, racism, and hatred must not have a place in our universities. We are all equal and we can all live together no matter what languages we speak, what religions we believe in, what ethnicities we are, or what political views we have.
Authorities must secure our universities. Our officials should be responsible and sensible in dealing with such sensitive issues. All types of violence should be denounced very strongly whoever the victim and whoever the killer. Finally, I am sorry for some of our youngsters who are so intolerant, racist and violent.
English in Media is a Master’s level course in Linguistics at Cadi Ayyad University. The course aims to increase students’ media literacy and awareness of media bias. It also trains students to simplify their English for better communication with non-native English speakers. Morocco World News is partnering with the students of this course to provide them with a real-life opportunity to use and show what they study.
Hind Janane is a first year Master’s student in the program of Advanced English and linguistics at Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech. This reaction is part of a class on English in Media.
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