First, it's a stupid phrase. Second, it identifies opposition to censorship with opposition to the King. That is very, very dumb branding. While I enjoy Ibn Kafka, no marketer is he.

Articles like the following: The Nine-Percenters: A Moroccan micro-blogging mutiny are almost as annoying I should add:

The nine-percenters' Facebook group has boomed since a week ago Sunday, amassing 535 members and 145 wall posts by late last week [the first one is a plea: "If the poll gets published in Le Monde, please scan it and send it around ;)]. It was founded by Ibn Kafka—"Son of Kafka"—a pseudonym, he said in a phone interview, that he chose because "In Morocco, sometimes you feel like you're in The Trial. You don't know why you're being sued or confronted by the administration. The only thing you know is that you're not getting out of this labyrinth easily." The group hosts commentary in French, Arabic, and English. Many of the members have changed their profile photos to the movement's logo.

That a tiny little clan of .... cosmopolitans as it were (to use that old Bolshy phrase with a degree of irony) have signed up says fuck all about reaction and indeed impact. Twitter-storm is mostly of interest to Western journos and commentators for easy commentary (and easily accessible, cheap via internet).

I should add that for statements like the following, I am convinced that Benchemsi is a preening git, as there was absolutely zero surprise in the generally unsupportive popular attitude to the Moudawana reforms, bloody hell it's been obvious in other sources for ages. It was merely a confirmation of the generally obvious:

In an interview with Rue89, Ahmed Benchemsi, publisher of TelQuel and Nichane, called that result "the big surprise" of the poll.

"The people also believe that the king is too feministic," he said. "Aside from those critiques, our poll about the king didn't have much of note."

On a last item Benchemsi is right, the poll did not have much surprising in it, although one might observe that this was doubtless due to the relatively decent transparency of recent years.

Now, as to our least favourite minister of the moment, first a degree of credit must go to Naciri and the Government for this late demarche calling for a "dialogue": Moroccan government calls for dialogue on press issues (Magharebia.com) [TITLE]

Morocco needs a national dialogue on press issues, according to government spokesman and Communications Minister Khalid Naciri, who recently censored the magazines TelQuel and Nichane for publishing a poll on King Mohammed VI.

Journalists and the government should talk in 2009, Naciri said in an appeal covered by local media on Saturday (August 8th). No date was immediately set for the dialogue, which Naciri also called for last November.

"The current atmosphere of tension and sterility cannot continue," the minister told Magharebia on Monday. Citing "dysfunction surrounding the idea of freedom of expression", Naciri said he hoped the dialogue would lead to joint recommendations to guarantee press freedoms and preserve journalists' rights

It might very well produce something, although a statement of the sheerest optimism. On the other hand to be fair with Naciri, there is a fine real line to walk between Makhzen sensibilities and Telquel.

However, the deeper colours of the old Makhzen are rather clearer in this (Fr) interview with Jeune Afrique which is not yet online. I shall update this when I have a moment to type up Naciri's quotes, which unfortunately rather more deeply ressemble the old langue de bois than one would have hoped.

On the other hand, the fact Naciri is actually forced to give to Moroccan journos some degree of "justification" is generally better than most of the MENA region in applied practice (and far better than the Maghreb comrades).