The Rhetoric of Transitional Justice: Negotiating the Years of Lead in Morocco

Transitional justice refers to the variety of rhetorical practices and discourses (restorative and retributive) that nations engage in during the aftermath of state criminality. While examples of mass political violence abound, this inquiry focuses on the Moroccan experience of coming to terms with the Years of Lead where financial reparations have been the primary mode of redress for victims. The philosophy of Paul Ricoeur contributes to a praxis-oriented understanding of transitional justice. This work advances a rhetoric of symbolic justice that privileges the public memory of victims. Symbolic justice offers hope for the renewal of the community\u27s ethos through public discourse and practices that seek to restore the capacity of citizens within their society

Cyber-Baltagiya in Morocco: A Critical Rhetorical Analysis

In this essay the authors investigate how authoritarian regimes use internet technology to respond to political dissent that has manifested through social media, without taking the internet down or bringing to a halt associated economic activity. Such regimes’ struggle to control information and images about social and economic ills, political events, government actions, state leadership and other domains, successful for decades and even centuries, has never been greater than in its present confrontation with the ICTs it has helped to spawn. Alternative and oppositional networks that transcend sovereign nation-states now vie for legitimate power and influence, as illustrated in Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) during the so-called “Arab Spring.” Activists work to take the power of communicating virtual images and information away from the state and change the political game. The authors provide samples from internet sites that depict how states work to attack and intimidate dissidents in virtual networks, pressing for self-censorship with high profile arrests, sabotage, and blockages. The paper posits and elaborates on paradoxes that result for the authorities who translate tactics from the street into cyberspace, and suggests directions for further research