Say No to the dissolution of Racines

The civil court of first instance of Casablanca pronounced, on December 26, 2018, the dissolution of Racines, at the request of the governor of Casablanca-Anfa acting for the Interior Ministry. The association is charged with “(…) organizing activities falling outside the scope of the objectives mentioned in its statutes”, by providing its premises for the filming of “The saga of the nihilists”, 7th episode of the satirical web program called “1 diner, 2 cons” (1 dinner, 2 fools).
 

The civil court of first instance of Casablanca pronounced, on December 26, 2018, the dissolution of Racines, at the request of the governor of Casablanca-Anfa acting for the Interior Ministry. The association is charged with “(…) organizing activities falling outside the scope of the objectives mentioned in its statutes”, by providing its premises for the filming of “The saga of the nihilists”, 7th episode of the satirical web program called “1 diner, 2 cons” (1 dinner, 2 fools).

This unique judgment against a moroccan civil society organization sparked a wave of indignation and support in Morocco and internationally. Thus, a call for solidarity with Racines has won the support of more than 200 Moroccan and foreign personalities (artists, intellectuals, academics, journalists, activists …) including Ken Loach, Noam Chomsky, Achkar Gilbert, Mounia Bennani Chraibi, Amazigh Kateb, Leila Slimani, Omar Balafrej, Fouad Laroui, Mathieu Kassovitch, etc.

Many national and international human rights NGOs have also denounced this judgment and called for its annulment : Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, PEN America, Artists at Risk Connection, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, The association for Human Rights in Morocco (ASDHOM), ATTAC Maroc, the Forum for Modernity and Democracy (FMD), Democracy and Freedoms collective,  Alternatives Morocco Forum, E-Joussour, The associative collective for the observation of elections, Action Jeunesse, Citizen Alternatives, the Moroccan observatory of fundamental freedoms, the institute of training of development agents, the national federation of amazigh associations, the Amazigh network for citizenship – Azetta, etc.

You can also join the solidarity campaign:

• by signing and sharing the petition launched by Mohamed Sammouni and Youssef Mezzi to say “no to dissolution” of Racines
• by sending your pictures to share on the Facebook page of solidarity, using the hashtag  “#ISupportRacines #CultureRemainsTheSolution  in the language of your choice. This campaign was initiated by the photographer Fayssal Zaoui
• by contributing with your testimonies regarding the work of Racines, to the platform of citizen expression Site-in launched by the association within the framework of the Taqafa Mouwatina project (texts, photos, videos, etc.).

Your photos and testimonials must be sent by email to: [email protected]

Racines appealed against the judgment of 1st instance.
Because of the sentence’s unenforceable nature at this stage, the association continues its activities and its commitments towards its partners.

Useful links

Racines’s press release
Racines in numbers 2019
Press review (from 27/12/2018 to 18/01/2019)
Press review (from 18/01/2019 to 13/02/2019)
Campaing sings