Thursday, April 01, 2021

Moroccan artist uses MeToo label for more valid purposes

France 24 tells of a lady artist from Morocco who's using the #MeToo movement hashtag for promoting comics with more sincere purposes than what US counterparts have been to date, although the channel covering this - wouldn't you know it - omits a certain Religion of Peace from the narrative:
Young Moroccan cartoonist Zainab Fasiki draws on a whiteboard in a Casablanca studio where she is holding a workshop that mixes art with a homegrown illustrated #MeToo campaign.

"We are here to change this rape culture, which says the victim deserves what they get while the criminal is innocent," says Fasiki, 26, her eyes flashing with indignation.

A dozen students and professionals have joined forces with Fasiki, a pioneer in comics and illustration in Morocco, in response to a web series titled #TaAnaMeToo that depicts women's real-life ordeals.

As part of the series -- "Ta ana" means "Me Too" in Moroccan Arabic dialect -- she illustrated the harrowing testimony of a 22-year-old woman who for years was raped by her brother, to the indifference of her parents.

Unlike in the broader #MeToo movement, the Moroccan women who have agreed to share their stories for the campaign have preferred to remain anonymous.

Series producer Youssef Ziraoui says rape victims in Morocco not only have to deal with a sense of "shame" and the risk of being cast out by their families, but can face charges for sex before marriage under Moroccan law if they go to the police.
But why no mention of the Religion of Peace, and how the verses in the Koran influence this kind of behavior? Do they really expect to change anything if there's no knowledge to ensure defense? The sad part of this news, much like the TV station's own political correctness, is that "codes of silence" on ideology are what make it difficult to cease rape culture in an Islamic country, if nobody's willing to acknowledge the belief systems that led to this. In fact, is anybody in the US backing the MeToo campaign even willing to acknowledge news like this from north Africa? Probably not, because unlike what's happening now in the US, where half the allegations made against certain individuals have been false or exaggerated, the cases involving Islam have a lot more validity.

I think the webcomic series the Moroccan artist came up with is a good idea in itself, but if she hasn't acknowledged Islam's indoctrination leading to such culture, then it's bound to be more of a failure. Evil acts don't just simply come out of nowhere; they have to stem not just from bad education but also from bad ideologies. And that's why, while this Moroccan artist's work makes better use of the MeToo label, it'll still fall way short of its intended goals if there's no mention of the Religion of Peace.

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