“The Islamist threat in Morocco is clearly far greater than anyone has so far been willing to acknowledge. It is no longer possible to ignore or cover up the kind of extremist fury which drove a young fanatic to stab seven tourists and then himself on the beach at Agadir last summer. ‘This kind of assault is not isolated any more,’ says M’Hamed Hamrouch. ‘It is part of an Islamist culture of hate. Moroccans know what the dangers are, they have seen what has happened in Algeria with the growth of Islamism. But for sentimental reasons, or because they do not feel that they are like Algerians, they do not think that it can happen here.’
“The Algerian journalist Hassane Zerrouky is even more explicit, writing in Le Matin: ‘Morocco now is just like Algeria was in the early Nineties. It begins in the social sphere, with people like Nadia Yassine influencing women and the Islamist students in the universities. Then the Islamists begin to ban everything by force they don’t like, from cabaret shows to cinemas to women in swimming pools. This is how they get a grip on the culture.’
“Middle-class Moroccans argue that their culture is rich enough to withstand what they see as an alien culture exported from Algeria and, ultimately, Saudi Arabia.”
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