Angels of Satan
I saw a great film in Marrakesh earlier this week. It’s about a hard rock group in Casablanca who are accused by the state police of worshiping Satan, merely for having a different taste in music. They eventually get arrested, after being stalked by police and investigation officers, and get trialled for their supposed “crimes” (their crime being, loving hard rock music.) Activists in the country run to their rescue by leading various protests, writing petitions, and targeting various media outlets, stating that these kids’ only crime is loving and playing a certain type of music. They didn’t find enough evidence of what they were being accused of (alcohol, drugs, homosexuality) even though some police officers went to the extent of claiming that they’re guilty of all of the above by making them sign false statements through threatening to torture them or rape/abuse their girlfriends. Both of the girls who played the girlfriend parts were Western.
The lyrics of this hard rock band were un-Islamic, they sang a song titled “Apocalypse Now” which the judge held against them, and wore shirts with burning crosses and phrases such as “kiss my ass.” Thus they were accused of preaching Satanism and ruining the reputation of Islam.
This film is apparently based on a true story, which is why it’s worth watching. The ending was profound because it primarily highlights not only the importance of activism, but the fact that Islamic states in general are barely targeting the actual criminals (violent Islamists.) As for the importance of activism, if it weren’t for the consistent efforts of the people who wrote petitions, articles, attended protests, then the state wouldn’t face as big of a pressure to free these young individuals.
What was even more absurd was the fact that after these 14 young musicians were freed, 14 Islamist suicide bombers bombed various cafes and night clubs. At least 45 people were killed as a result. This proves how the liberal activists and musicians whose only crimes are practicing non-violent freedom of speech are the targets of the state even though Islamic terrorists and radical Muslim preachers who promote hatred and violence are the ones who actually commit the crimes.
So who are our states really protecting? In the end, nobody. They arrest and target the ones who actually want to contribute to a positive difference, while the real murderers are roaming around freely in every corner waiting for the perfect time to kill innocent civilians randomly and for no apparent reason, claiming that it’s “Islam” when the correct word to use to excuse this is “stupidity.”
Here’s another scary part: how the audience reacted. I expected people to be generally welcoming of this film’s theme, but people took it the wrong way. They were applauding when the Islamist was talking about how these young people are an embarrassment to Islam, and how we mustn’t forget that for as long as we live in a Muslim state we must obey what the Koran states, and apparently our religion is against human rights, democracy, and freedom of expression through any medium, which is painfully inaccurate. But almost everyone in the cinema applauded this claim, and cheered “correct!” which is admittedly really scary. When one of the lawyers of these young rockers made the statement that Islam doesn’t limit us when it comes to choices of music and how we express our opinions, it was only me and one other person who clapped (yes, apparently you can clap in Moroccan cinemas.) When an activist spoke about human rights and lack of justice in Morocco, people booed at her. Can’t say that’s anything other than nationalistic. Deep inside I’m sure they all know that what she’s saying is true but like many other Arabs and Muslims, they fear criticism.
At the end of the day, the audience was mainly for the Islamists rather than the human rights activists and the musicians who expressed their opinions freely. Even though the average viewer should be thinking about the terrorist attacks of 2003 in Casablanca and how the Islamists they are in favor of caused it. I hope they realize their mistakes and stop taking this as a joke, laughing it off and booing at anyone who criticizes these violent terrorist tactics.
In any case, the next morning after watching this film I spotted one of the actors walking past me here in Marrakesh. I took a picture:
Here is the preview for the film -
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=xs0MDss03Vw[/youtube]
Join the Conversation
It’s funny that Muslim conservatives and Christian conservatives seem interested in the same type of censorship and moral authoritarianism. I would have thought the two would have gotten along better. Anyway, I’m glad the people protested and all.
You might like the Activism Forums.
Yes, I definitely agree that there are extremists representing other faiths who are guilty of things just as bad as this if not worse. The only thing is that our laws are also Islamic (supposedly) and that makes our political culture more religious. However many laws that are labeled Islamic have nothing to do with Islam, the faith is just being used as a political tool to further certain causes.
Cool forum, thanks for the link.
Goths/ metal-heads are so misunderstood in the Arab world as satanists and anti-God! I hate that!
haha but at least this is what we want …
Keep on hoping. But I fear your new begin will be a rather violent overture. The attitudes and habits mentioned over there are simply too deeply rooted… you’ll never have the millions of millions in your streets whom you need to change something
Iblis, no need to be so pessimistic. Change already took place thanks to activists throughout our history – did you forget what happened to women in many Islamic Arab countries? Did you forget what happened to free speech (believe it or not, we have much more democratic values now than we did in the past), did you forget what happened to many thinkers who were freed due to public pressure and international concern?
Don’t lose hope. With your attitude, of course change won’t happen. No one said it’s going to take place overnight. But I do have much hope in our youth, and I see the change happening every day thanks to more liberal educational systems flowing across the region.
It goes without question that no bad ideology or mentality will die, there are some of the least liberal people living in the most liberal countries like Denmark, Sweden, or the U.S. Bad and stupid people exist everywhere. Our aim is not to eliminate all of them. Our aim is to contribute to the positive change that is already taking place in our nations thanks to our collective efforts.
If we target the youth and the manner in which they are educated in, we save ourselves a lot of headache. But again, whoever says it’s impossible is just saying it out of sheer pity and lack of hope, an irritating attitude to have.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” (Edmund Burke)
Pingback: Mideast Youth - Thinking Ahead » Blog Archive » Lost messages