Overview
On 30 September 1999, two months after his accession to the throne, the new Moroccan king, Mohammed VI, announced his decision to permit political dissident Abraham Serfaty's return to the country. After 17 years of imprisonment, torture and isolation in a Moroccan prison and eight years' exile in France, the most celebrated political opponent of the recently deceased king, Hassan II (1961-99), became a free citizen. King Mohammed VI allowed Serfaty to return from exile, a gesture his father refused to make, just two months after he acceded to the throne. It was an important poltical act, a powerful symbolic gesture, and a precusror of other, equally spectacular political decisions, beginning with the new king's dismissal of Driss Basri, interior minister for 20 years and dreaded strong man of Hassan II's regime. This is a story of ""homecoming"", beginning with Christine Daure-Serfaty's accounts of friend's re-found after many years, of places in memory brought back to life, of remembrances resurfacing to sweep over her emotions and overwhelm her consciousness. Her husband, Abraham Serfaty, is honoured, celebrated and invited to travel throughout the country as a hero. But for her, bits and pieces of the past suddenly and unexpectedly appear, bitter memories of lives lived ""before"" haunt her, memories of the prison, of the ongoing struggle to let the world know, memories of the injustice of their imprisonment,and of the waiting, always the waiting. Daure-Serfaty also discusses contemporary Morocco, analyzing the most significant problems that face Mohammed VI if he is to retain the good will of Morocco - a politically stable nation with a strong economy and a well-developed social structure. Finally, she addresses some of the more basic issues that may play themselves out in the Morocco of the future: democratization, the status of women, poverty and finally the ""Morocco of the past"".
Full Product Details
Author: Christine Daure-Serfaty ,
Christine Daure-Serfaty ,
Edwy Plenel ,
Paul Raymond Cote
Publisher: Michigan State University Press
Imprint: Michigan State University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 14.00cm
, Height: 1.30cm
, Length: 21.60cm
Weight: 0.172kg
ISBN: 9780870136870
ISBN 10: 0870136879
Pages: 132
Publication Date: 31 August 2003
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General/trade
,
Undergraduate
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Author Information
Christine Daure-Serfaty taught in Morocco for fifteen years. In 1986 she married Abraham Serfaty while he was in prison. She is the author of Tazmamart, une prison de al mort au Maroc (1992) and, with Abraham Serfaty, La mémoire de l'autre (1993), She also as written a novel, La femme d'Ijoukak (1997).
