JIL’s program : Debat on individual freedom


Menassat for Research and Social Studies has launched the activities of JIL’s program in its second version between April 20th & 22nd, at the Novotel- Mohammedia with the heading : « Challenges of Individual Liberties’ Laws : the Social, the Political and the Religious »

                                                                                

On the second onsite meeting subventioned by Hanns Seidel ; the German Foundation, effective presence was assured by prominent figures of the civil society, political actors, academics and experts in several disciplines that were invited by the scientific board of Menassat in the name of its executive Head : Pr. Aziz MECHOUAT.

 

The first day of training started with a ten-minutes speech of Pr. Aziz MECHOUAT who gave the lowdown of these two-days program, reminded of previous trainings especially those related to the initiation on policy-briefs production. Here, he gave the floor to Samira TAZROUT, a previous trainee who expressed her gratitude to Menassat board for all the valuable training they endowed her with as JIL program represents a great opportunity for scientific learning and exchange.

 

The program aims at instilling public speaking skills within the participants whose representatives, during this first day session, were invited to present their policy paper in no more than ten minutes. In this respect, Pr Mustapha ELMNASFI, expert in the field, was responsible of checking participants’ mode of work (drafting, and oral performance). Participants have capitalised on different published articles (statistics, Menassat last empirical study) that turn around the same theme : Individual Freedoms, in their relation with main concepts such as : body, sexuality, and belief.

 

To conclude the first day training, a workshop was moderated by Pr. Mustapha ELMNASFI where he highlighted on main components of a successful policy paper for skills concrete reinforcement.

 

The morning session of the second-day training has started by the intervention of Aicha LABLAQ ; member of the parliamentarian group : PPS around : « Legilative debate on Individual Liberties ». Followed by, Touria ELOMARI, an expert in Gender and Communication for Advocacy who gave a lecture on « Feminist movements and the Challenge of Individual Liberties Initiation »

« Which legislation for which free society ? » was the intervention’s title of Mohammed TAMALDOU, writer and founder of Network of Arab Liberals (NLA). After alloting time for debate and discussion, a brainstorming workshop was organised where participants restituted their notes and their diverse policy-briefs aspects to formulate questions that were respectively posed to the three intervenants according to each one’s area of research and/or work.    

 

In the afternoon,  Ahmed ASSID,  teacher of philosophy and political militant focused on  « Today’s Reality of Debate around Individual Liberties in Morocco  » and the different challenges that circumvent this debate.

 

Mohammed Abdelouahab RAFIKI, expert in Islamic thought, tried to show where both lines of research : Individual freedoms and religion can intersect in an intervention entitled « Religion and Individual Liberties». This second-day training session ended with some participants comments regarding the latter intervenant lecture.

 

The morning session of May 22nd, participants of JIL Mohammed Sabila were due to the anthropologist Abdelbaki Belfakih who is in turn a professor at the University Hassan II of Casablanca, with a presentation on :« The Question of Individual Liberties between Mentality et Intrusion in Person’s life ».

 

This last day training has been object to interactive workshops. A learning occasion to initiate the participants of JIL Mohammed Sabila on the administration of an interview guide, and different  codes of ethics that may hinder the elaboration of this qualitative survey tool if not taken into account.The objective here is to fill trainees and PhD researchers needs coming to better usage of a semi-directive interview guide. It is therefore good to know that these latters are being prepared, to take part in the conduction of the second phase, i.e the qualitative research around individual freedoms initiated by Menassat.

 

To recall, a first quantitative survey has been elaborated in the framework of the first version of JIL’s program in 2021, focusing on a sample of 1323 moroccans who have been interrogated on their perceptions and representations around individual freedoms. The results of this first-part research have revealed many paradoxes and cleavages between moroccans discourse and practices. For this reason, a qualitative survey seems relevant to scrutinize the unclear points of issue of the given research.