1. Theoretical debate: Overview
5.1 Reasons for the use of the Internet by Islam-oriented movements
blockade imposed on Al-Adl Wal-Ihsan. It also gives the opportunity for communication and dialogue. The surfer will have a set of material and content, which give him an idea about the methods, the positions, the programs and the activities of Al-Adl Wal-Ihsan”.152 Interviews with the spokesperson of Al-Adl Wal-Ihsan suggest that his organization values its online presence, which it views as breaking the “informational closure”.153 In addition, the use of the Internet helps to bypass the boundaries of the national information system and to bring Moroccans into contact with new political content, forms and symbols.
For unmediated political communication, Islam-oriented movements have been quick to capitalize on the opportunities that the Internet makes available. Even the most senior officials in the hierarchy of both organizations supported a quick implementation of the Internet-based new methods of distributing information to secure positions in the emerging information system. This universal acceptance allowed for timely efficient incorporation of the Internet in the communication strategies of Islam-oriented movements.
The regime has excelled at monopolizing the diffusion of information (Eickelman, 1999). Being consigned to the periphery of the national information system, deprived of both equal resources and access, Islam-oriented movements have traditionally been rapid and keen adopters of new information and communication technologies to overcome the monopoly of the regime (Entelis, 1997). Against this background, they have turned to the Internet as an efficient means of diffusing political information and establishing contact with people.
5.1.2 Economic reasons
A second reason for the quick implementation of the Internet by Islam-oriented movements is their limited financial resources. Limited technical and financial recourses pushed Islam-oriented movements to put a premium on a heavy use of the Internet. The Internet has proved to be a highly cost-effective means of communication for resource-poor political organizations. The cost of developing, hosting and maintaining a fully-functioning website
152 http://www.aljamaa.info/ar/detail_khabar.asp?id=3594&IdRub=22.
153 http://www.aljamaa.info/ar/detail_tasjile.asp?id=172.
is far less than to establish a newspaper or a magazine not to speak of radio and TV stations. This economic consideration functioned as a catalyst for launching various websites. As Abdallah Baha said:
“Due to the low financial threshold of establishing a web presence, the Internet is an ideal communication tool for our organization to make our political and religious views more accessible for a large segment of Moroccan society”.154
With a few technical skills Islam-oriented movements created many professional looking websites utilizing the free shareware and web-hosting facilities that are available online. There are currently no dedicated full-time employees working permanently to maintain Islam-oriented websites.155 Some of these websites use hosting facilities in North-America and Europe. Technically skilled volunteers and enthusiastic supporters based in North America and Europe set up the websites.156 In the case of Al-Adl Wal-Ihsan, the volunteers were dedicated members of the organization and were integrated into the communication team, the seven section of the organization. The volunteers who designed the websites for Al-Adl Wal-Ihsan were highly trained computer experts. The reservoir of such voluntary workers is potentially great and far away to dry, since the majority of Moroccan students abroad show Islam-oriented tendencies.157 Jon Anderson has observed that some highly educated segments of Arab emigrants are among the creators of Internet technology and among its first users (Anderson, 1999: 66). As Mohamed Yatime stated:
“The virtual presence of our organization and newspaper depends in terms of technology expertise to a certain extent on students and professionals living in America, Europe and Japan”.158
The critical factor is not necessarily money but dedication of young professionals to work for Islam-oriented movements. Another factor is the ability of Islam-oriented recruiters to mobilize people to serve these organizations under the banner of Islam. The
154 Baha, personal interview.
155 The only exception is the daily At-Tajdid which has recently hired a full time webmaster.
156 Abdusamad Fathi, editor of the weekly Risalat Al-Futuwa, personal interview with the author, May 11,
157 Recent events and reports have showed that many Moroccans were activists in Islam-oriented organizations in Belgium, USA, Germany, Italy and Spain.
158 Yatime, personal interview.
Internet is the most financially viable method of large scale communication for those Islam-oriented movements without enough financial resources.
5.1.3 Modernization mark
Owing a website in Morocco has become a symbol in the minds not only of the regular Internet users but also for particular groups of people, such as professionals. It connotes awareness of the future and an ability to adapt to innovations. And it symbolizes that the organization or the political party is current with the times.
Islam-oriented movements are acutely aware of this new fact. They want to be identified with cutting-edge technology to counter the impression that they are not technologically progressive as they are often portrayed in secular party press and French-language mass media. As mentioned in chapter 3, Islam-oriented movements are targeting young people, who are often the most computer literate and are likely to surf. They are acutely aware that their power is on the rise, particularly among high schools pupils and university students. In terms of public relation, they are conscious of the utility of the Internet in promoting their image among young people. In terms of technological understanding and use, they aim to present a modern picture and that they are keeping up with the latest technological developments.
Being online is trendy for Islam-oriented movements. They feel that having a website is necessary, if they are going to portray themselves as organizations of the future and pioneers for the new century. As Mohammed Lachibe puts it:
“We use our websites as a way to send a signal about our commitment to technological development and modernity. The implementation of the Internet may also counter the perception associated with Islam and technological backwardness”.159
In that sense, the use of websites is not only a medium to propagate a message, but enbodies the new message . In an age when the use of the Internet has become a key arena for political rivals and adversaries struggling over symbolic capital, they had to build a reputation, a “good name” in the eyes of Moroccans upon whose support they would
159 Lachibe, personal interview.
depend. This is to endorse the idea that Islam-oriented movements are committed to innovation and the development of the information and communication technologies.
Presenting itself as a technology aware organization can be regarded as symbolic politics.
Fathallah Arsalane shared the opinion by stating:
“The failure to have a website would be viewed as an inability to adjust to the future. But the most distinctive contribution of the Internet to our organization is instrumental rather than symbolic”.160 On his part, Abdusamad Fathi, editor of the weekly Risalat Al-Futuwa, does not acknowledge the symbolic dimension associated with the use of the Internet. He regards
“the use of the Internet not as a mode to secure symbolic values, but as a communication necessity.
True the communication necessity has played a significant role in making the organization seek alternative communication channels such as the Internet, but the symbolic dimension associated with the use of a new technologiy was evident when Al-Adl Wal-Ihsan announced that it launched its website in a press conference. Also the multiple revamp of the organization’s websites and the high-tech design of its websites can be regarded as a means to shape Internet users’ image of the organization.
5.1.4 Combating stereotyped representation
Islam-oriented movements face another core communication problem with the main mass media and particularly secular print press. They accused the mass media’s coverage as
“inappropriate, negative and cynical”. They claim that the gatekeeping functions in public service broadcasting offers no air time to their concerns. For them, the mass media coverage focused on stereotypes and spectacle. In addition, they believe that their images, their political and religious discourses have been subject to a systematic framing and de-framing, because they cannot make the media publish news about them the way they want it to be made. As one Moroccan journalist puts it:
160 Fathallah Arsalane, spokesman of Al-Adl Wal-Ihsan, personal interview with the author, May 10, 2001, Rabat, Morocco.
“For too long, political and religious messages of Islamic movements have been subject to reinterpretation and to linguistic distortion from the print press”.161
It is against this background that Islam-oriented movements use the Internet as a communication medium to by-pass the conscious deficiencies of the national information system. To convey their own political and religious message content and image without being misinterpreted and misrepresented, they used their websites as sources of information. They see that supplying Moroccans with first-hand information gleaned directly from their websites - and thus without being distorted - will guarantee a presentation of their political and religious agendas.
Through the Internet, Islam-oriented movements hope to stop the biased coverage of Islam-oriented movements’ affairs in print media. The Internet can be expected to facilitate opportunities for Islam-oriented movements to gain visibility rather than via the traditional mass media. It is true that a clever use of the Internet can help overcome some of these negative stereotypes and can provide a more positive modern image.
Communication scholars in Morocco believe that the representation of Islam-oriented movements in the media will change as they start to produce their own media. Thus, Islam-oriented movements have grown attentive to the potential of the Internet. By using the Internet, they are creating additional communicative channels to add to the more traditional avenues such as books, cassettes and face-to-face interactions and exchanges.
Islam-oriented movements were not the first in using the Internet. But they were pioneers in using the Internet strategically as a mass media tool for distributing their political, religious and social messages. This puts Islam-oriented movements increasingly in control of their own news reports, which they can produce and distribute with the same technologies employed by conventional media. The Internet provides alternative communication spaces in which information can develop and circulate widely with few of the filters of the traditional press. Islam-oriented movements hope to provide national and international audiences with a representative picture of themselves and the work in which they are involved. Islam-oriented movements were engaged in framing their activities, actions and practices by shaping the ways these issues were conceptualized and
161 Fatima Bouterkha, senior official with the Moroccan Press Syndicate (SNPM), personal interview with the author, March 30, 2001; Berlin, Germany.
understood. Through the use of the Internet, the gatekeeping capacity of the traditional press has been weakened. As Fathallah Arsalane said:
“We create our websites as part of our public persona. The Internet has offered key benifts because it has for instance allowed us to control our messages and images in the public. We are keen to be presented to the public in the way that fits our political-cultural identity. It allows us to craft and deliver our message unimpeded by gatekeepers”.162