Crossing Borders in Cyberspace

Chatting in the internet is the most popular cyberspace activity for young Moroccans. Ines Braune has been talking to them to find out what they get out of the internet.

You can't talk about the future of Morocco without using two terms: information technology and youth. The country places much of its hopes on both.

But the large number of young people (70% of the population is under 30), many of whom find themselves marginalised in society, could be a cause of serious social conflict. Little is known about what young people in Morocco think. What does the internet mean to them?

The situation of young people in Morocco

In their daily lives, young Moroccans often find themselves coming up against borders and restrictions. They are not yet part of the adult working world, they live at home, and don't have the money to marry or to fulfil other dreams

For religious reasons, there are restrictions on contacts between the sexes. Premarital relations are still forbidden, even though young people feel the need for uncomplicated contacts with the opposite sex.

And then there's the impenetrable geographical border with Europe and North American. Many young people feel that they have no future in their home country. They look abroad, especially towards French-speaking countries. But they can't get visas.

The arrival of the internet

The internet was officially introduced into Morocco in 1995. The young king Mohammed VI supported the introduction of the young technology and proclaimed an "education decade", during which every school in the country would be connected to the internet by 2008.

The internet in Morocco, unlike in other Arab countries, is scarcely subject to censorship. Cost is also scarcely a barrier, since the internet is available cheaply in internet cafés.

Internet cafés, with names like Friendship, London Cyber or Al-Baraka (the blessing), are the most visible aspect of the rapid growth of internet use, at least in the cities, where over 50% of the population live. The internet is an urban privilege.

The rise of the internet café

The first internet cafés were set up in the wealthy modern city centres. For example, the first internet café in Fez was opened in 1998 in the Sheraton Hotel, and an hour of internet cost then 50 dirham or five euros.

Now city-centre internet cafés charge eight dirham or eighty cents, and since 2000, new cafés have opened in both the wealthy and less wealthy residential areas, offering prices of four dirham and longer opening hours.

Many are open 24 hours a day, which is useful for contact with North America because of the time difference. In addition, for many young people, the local internet cafés save travel costs because they are closer to home, and it's easier to get home late at night.

Lots of communication

Internet cafés are so popular mainly because most private homes still do not have a computer, let alone an internet connection. And even though the number of private internet connections is rising, the cafés are still popular among the young.

They enjoy sitting with their friends at the computer, or even just hanging around without logging on. And there's always someone there to help with technical problems.

Girls and young women often don't want to use the internet at home anyway, since they would then lose what is in many cases their only chance of getting out of the house.

They take advantage of the fact that it's considered respectable to sit in an internet café, even though it's not respectable to sit in a normal café.

Internet cafés in Morocco are designed with the focus on the internet, rather than on the café. And that's reflected in the fact that an internet café in Morocco is simply a "cyber."

Crossing borders

Young people meet other young people in internet cafés, but they also meet themselves, in a double sense. They create their "personality", not only in their contact with their friends, but also in their contact with the foreign ideas they find in the internet.

They can ignore social, religious and geographic limitations and experience new things, especially while chatting. That's by far the favourite internet activity of young Moroccans.

Nineteen-year-old Mohammed uses the internet to get round social restrictions. He chats with his girlfriend, who lives in the same part of town. They arrange to meet somewhere they won't be recognised. They couldn't meet in their part of town, since they're not married.

Twenty-one-year-old Fatima wears a headscarf, but she's breaking conventions. She describes Islam as an important part of her identity, but she enjoys using the internet to chat with men.

She doesn't question traditional differences between men and women, but she wants to learn more about how men think. She enjoys being able to conduct conversations independently, she can even start conversations, and break them off if she doesn't like them.

Twenty-three-year-old Latifa wanted to go to Canada to continue her studies. But she didn't have enough money for a visa. Now she chats to Canadian friends whom she has met in the internet and enjoys feeling like she's almost there. She's hoping that one day she'll win a US Green Card.

Coping with daily life over the internet

Cyberspace is used by young people in Morocco to overcome the limitations which are otherwise built in to their lives. The internet cafés are the base stations for their global journeys.

The young people have taken control, and have occupied a place where they can renegotiate the terms of their existence, whether by ordering a visa, finding a job, or finding a foreign marriage partner ... or just by moving out into the worldwide web.

But it's still unclear what influence online experience will have on the offline world. One thing is certain: the internet brings young Moroccans closer to the places they dream of. It alows them to take part in the (post)-modern world, and to keep up with Europe and North America.

Ines Braune

Ines Braune has studied Arabic, and wrote her doctoral thesis at the University of Leipzig on internet usage by young people in Morocco. During several visits to the Moroccan city of Fez between 2002 and 2004, she carried out 240 online interviews and 80 personal interviews, from which the examples given above are taken.

Translation from German: Michael Lawton