• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
REPORTING MOROCCO REPORTING MOROCCO
REPORTING MOROCCO REPORTING MOROCCO
  • Home
  • Nation
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Environment
    • Education
  • Art & Culture
    • Food
    • Art
    • Music
    • Fashion
  • Religion
  • Health & Science
    • Public Health
  • Our Student Journalists
    • Spring 2020
      • Anna Mitchell
      • Antonia Knox
      • Aviva Rosenberg
      • Corrine Schmaedeke
      • Elijah McKee
      • Gari De Ramos
      • Harrison Daley
      • Jessica Blough
      • Kathryn Jefferson
      • Marlon Hyde
      • Nejra Kravic
      • Solaine Carter
    • In Other Media
  • Alumni
    • Fall 2019
      • Rachel Berets
      • Chloe Chaobal
      • Ella Feldman
      • Ryley Graham
      • Georgia Knoles
      • Patrick Linehan
      • Mimi Miyamoto
      • Stella Shi
      • Bella Staal
      • N’Kaela Webster
      • Ellie Zimmerman
    • Spring 2019
      • Alexis Broadnax
      • Amelia Keesler
      • Anton Delgado
      • Austin Corona
      • Catherine Brewer
      • Chris Dillon
      • Giulia Villanueva
      • Lauren Goldfarb
      • Lexi Reich
      • Mac Dressman
      • Malaya Nordyke
      • Margaret Dols
      • Mary Bernard
      • Maya London-Southern
      • Michelle Li
      • Shelby Kluver
      • Stephen Higgins
      • Viviana Prado-Núñez
    • Fall 2018
      • Alexandria Saurman
      • Alexis Miller
      • Brionne Frazier
      • Jabari Richardson
      • Jordyn Congelli
      • Kylie Wilder
      • Megan O’Herron
      • Sam Metivier
      • Zoe Buchli
    • Spring 2018
      • Alyssa Kann
      • Anna Bongardino
      • Carrie Boike
      • Emily Vega
      • Erika Riley
      • Hadley Stack
      • Joseph Held
      • Matthew McDermott
      • Molly Keisman
      • Najah Mateen
      • Olivia Lewis
      • Ryan Terhune
    • Fall 2017
      • Andrew Seger
      • Claire Franksen
      • Clara Neill
      • Jeanette Lam
      • Justin Cates
      • Katie Koontz
      • Lara Korte
      • Lars Brady
      • Lars Brady
      • Livvy Fore
      • Olivia Kohn
      • Rita Carmona
      • Sophie Nunnally
      • Sophie Pollock
    • Spring 2017
      • Allie Merola
      • Anisha Wilson
      • Connor Shannon
      • David Fuchs
      • Deborah Katsuva
      • Evan Popp
      • Katharine Milbradt
      • Kesley Cochran
      • Mary Chen
      • Mary Mathis
      • Max Jodoin
      • Micaela Harris
      • Perry DeMarche
      • Regan Reeck
      • Sophie Alexander
      • Tamara Matheson
      • Zakiyyah Maryam
    • Fall 2016
      • Celia Heudebourg
      • DeJah Ault
      • Dewborah Honore
      • Jessica Lartigue
      • Margaret Britton-Mehlisch
      • Phoebe Osterhout
      • Regan Reek
      • Shirley Chan
      • Sonia Mohammadzadah
      • Taylor Burris
    • Spring 2016
      • Amelia Palacios
      • Becca Dewosky
      • Cannon Sullivan
      • Danielle Douglas
      • Daria Etezadi
      • Elaina Zachos
      • Julia Cabrera
      • Kainoelani Lee
      • Kelsey Hanson
      • Mackenzie Ritter
      • Madeline Hughes
      • Molly Mulroy
      • Oly Zayac
      • Savin Mattozzi
      • Shiloh Frederick
      • Viviane Feldman
      • Wesley Lickus
    • Fall 2015
      • Allegra Thomas
      • Christopher Lowell
      • Darren Spirk
      • Hannah Steinkopf-Frank
      • Jennifer Kwon
      • Kayla Dwyer
      • Mitchell McCluskey
      • Nora Kipniss
      • Rob Dozier
      • Rob Dozier
      • Simneon Lancaster
      • Trey Strange
    • Spring 2015
      • Ben Bartenstein
      • Brennan Weiss
      • Emma Sikora Paulus
      • Evan Verploegh
      • Evin Billington
      • Hayden Crowell
      • Julia Barstow
      • Julia Levine
      • Kacie Graves
      • Kiannah Sepeda-Miller
      • La’akea Kaufman
      • Mackenzie Martin
      • Mary Byrne
      • Paris Alston
      • Samantha Weiss
      • Sofie Tapia
      • William Matsuda
    • 2014 Students
    • 2013 Students

Zineb Belmkaddem – Connecting the Battles for Human Rights

March 24, 2014 By Susan Skaza

By: SUSAN SKAZA

RABAT, Morocco – Zineb Belmkaddem, 29, cynically credits the government for her newest job as an English teacher at Euromediterranean University of Fez, a recently established university in Morocco.

“I know the government has something to do with this job,” she said. “They want me off the street. I mean, off everything. My boss told me.”

Due to her outspoken criticism of the local regime, Belmkaddem says the government is trying to restrain her by keeping her busy at the university. In a country where freedom of expression is limited, this Muslim feminist is one of the last prominent human rights activists left in Morocco. Standing up for human and digital rights, she is constantly pitting herself against corruption.

On February 20, 2011, Moroccans took their first steps toward demanding greater freedom. In a push for democracy, thousands of protestors took to the streets to demand a regime change. In an effort to maintain order, the King agreed to draft a new constitution. This new constitution promised more rights and liberties to the people. But, in reality, not much has changed.

In her April 2013 interview with France24 Belmkaddem called these developments “cosmetic” and said, “There have been no steps made toward democracy.”

Nearly a year later, she stands by these words. Although she says a revolution in Morocco would “wreak havoc” and should not be attempted, she doesn’t see any other viable options left to effect real change.

“I am convinced now that there is nothing we can do without a civil war,” Belmkaddem said.

Beyond her involvement with the February 20 movement, she has also been involved in a number of other projects, including a child psychology project, a digital rights summit with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and a crisis intervention translation service for Sub Saharan migrants with Doctors Without Borders.

Belmkaddem realizes her diverse efforts may seem scattered, but said, “It’s really just dealing with different fronts of the same battle.”

For her, all of these causes are united under a single banner: human rights.

Her favorite project, Belmkaddem said, was the child psychology project. As a country coordinator liaison for the project, she helped set up the first child psychiatry unit in Rabat.  Working with licensed therapists during the project, she developed a greater sense of compassion and understanding that completely changed the way she looked at the world.

She reflected on the situation as she pulled over to the side of the road to help a young beggar. The girl was crying, asking for money for her sick brother.

“Most of the time it’s just so easy to be like ‘No, they’re liars,’” Belmkaddem said. “When you have a psychological kind of approach you can never do that. You don’t start by dismissing and saying, ‘No, they’re liars.’”

The experience Belmkaddem received through the child psychology project also helped her when she worked with Doctors Without Borders as a crisis intervention translator for Sub Saharan migrants.

She Recalled stories of rape and other abuses suffered by Sub Saharan migrants that she had to translate.

“The first time was the hardest. But later, I realized that the best way I could help those women was by being professional,” Belmkaddem said, emphasizing the importance of conveying contextual meanings as a translator. “But it’s very hard to translate and not have the words hit you, the meanings hit you.”

Most recently, Belmkaddem challenged her government by helping crowd source a document for Code Numérique, a draft bill in Morocco that has the potential to limit freedom of expression on the Internet. After the public outcry regarding this bill, Belmkaddem and her colleagues thought it would be a good way to give concerned citizens a chance to productively voice their opinions.

Belmkaddem attributes her independent attitude to her childhood, particularly her father.

“He would always say, ‘My daughters’ place is not in the kitchen,’ and that really stuck with me,” Belmkaddem said, admitting that she hates to cook.

Her father died when she was 15 and she says she was essentially on her own by 16.

But she wasn’t always the fierce feminist we see today. Her strength of character developed, in part, from a darker portion of her life. After moving to America at age 19 to live with her husband, she soon became pregnant. It was at this time that the domestic abuse started. Her husband, she explained, was abandoned by his mother at an early age and Belmkaddem’s pregnancy reminded him of it.  Eventually, she could put up with it no longer and, in 2006, the two divorced.

Still, Belmkaddem is able to say, “I love love. I’m always open to love. I have no regrets about that marriage.”

It was her daughter, she says, that got her through it all. Her daughter and her faith.

Having experienced such a trying and brutal marriage, to the point where she had to be hospitalized, Belmkaddem is able to empathize with other mothers who fear bringing an innocent child into this unjust world.

“I understand now – and I know this is a horrible thing to say – but I understand the mothers that kill their children,” she said, confessing she once considered it herself. “I thought, ‘[My daughter] doesn’t deserve to come into this.’

But her belief in God, she said, helped her realize things can get better.

Although very spiritual, Belmkaddem is able to criticize her religion as well as her government, both of which are taboo subjects in Morocco.

“We’re finally at the generation that realizes that…man’s laws are shit and God’s laws are shit,” Belmkaddem said.

Due to her open criticism of the government and activism, Belmkaddem has run into danger on a number of occasions.  She shared one story about a time when she was in a car chase for taking videos of police trying to run over some protestors.

“Oh, it was awful. I took the risk. I was going into very narrow streets,” she said. “Narrow streets are interesting because you can lose them. But if they found you, you are dead.”

She is constantly moving – around the world, from one project to the next, even during an interview. Zineb Belmkaddem hates when things begin to feel stagnant.

A woman with an active mind, Belmkaddem desires to explore how everything is connected in life and said, “Moving allows me to work and discover more.”

“I’m fighting it,” Belmkaddem said, referring to her urge to move. “Since 2005, I’ve been moving every six months.”

She admits that if it wasn’t for her daughter she could pick up everything and move tomorrow.

Politics Tagged With: activism, feminist, human rights, Moroccan Politics, Morocco, Profile, Susan Skaza, Zineb Belmkaddem

Reader Interactions

Anna Bongardino

News of the Day: March 9, 2018

ONCF Launches Final Stage of LGV’s Trials   Dakhla Honors INDH Women Leaders on International … Read Full Article

Featured

Photo of the Day: May 3rd, 2016

A man stands facing a group of volunteers at a beach clean-up event in Casablanca … Read Full Article

Art & Culture

Renowned French Artist Exhibits at Marrakesh’s Biennale

By DANIELLE DOUGLAS, KELSEY HANSON, and OLY ZAYAC Photos by WESLEY LICKUS MARRAKESH, … Read Full Article

Primary Sidebar

FOLLOW REPORTING MOROCCO

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Handprints in Oudayas

More Featured Photos

ALUMNI JOURNALISTS

Alumni Spotlight: Ben Bartenstein

SIT Students Visit Alum Perry DeMarche at Dar Si Hmad

Moroccan families mourn drowning of 45 who used risky migration route to Spain

Photo by WBUR

A reporter for Boston’s unheard voices: Spotlight on MOJ alum Paris Alston

More Alumni Posts

The Program

Reporting Morocco is produced by U.S. university students on an SIT Study Abroad program called Morocco: Field Studies in Journalism and New Media. They are mentored by veteran journalists from The New York Times, The Associated Press, and Round Earth Media in a program applying technology and global consciousness to produce high-impact journalism on vital social issues.

Reporting Morocco strives to be a reliable resource for news and information about Morocco.

Learn More

SIT Logo

A pioneer in experiential, field-based study abroad, SIT (founded as the School for International Training) provides more than 60 semester and summer programs for undergraduate students in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as comparative programs in multiple locations.

Morocco: Field Studies in Journalism and New Media is a program of SIT Study Abroad.

  • The World Learning Inc. Family:
  • experiment.org
  • https://studyabroad.sit.edu
  • worldlearning.org

Footer

  • Academics
  • Admissions
  • Apply
  • Alumni
  • Alumni Connect
  • Give
  • Media Center
  • Request Info
  • SIT Stories
  • School for International Training

    1 Kipling Road • Brattleboro, VT 05302 • 802 257-7751 • 800 257-7751 (toll-free in the US)
    SIT is a private nonprofit institution of higher education.

  • Explore SIT Graduate Institute

    © Copyright World Learning, Inc.