Je suis un 9%

TelQuel (French) and Nichane (Arabic) magazines were taken off Moroccan newstands by the Ministry of the Interior on August 1st after they published an opinion poll in conjunction with France's Le Monde newspaper about the reign of King Mohammed VI, despite the fact that the results stated 91% of Moroccans approved of his first ten years of rule. In addition to the seisure of the total circulation of both publications (some 85,000 magazines), an edition of Le Monde published later that week was also banned by the Moroccan government and all imported copies of the newspaper were confiscated at the airport on arrival.

A protest campaign quickly gained momentum under the banner of "Je suis un 9%" (I am a 9%), referring to the 9% of those surveyed that did not approve of the North African monarch's first ten years of rule. Since the week of the censorship, the Twittoma, as the Moroccan Twitter community like to call themselves, has been using the hashtag #9pcMaroc, Moroccan blogger Larbi published the poll results on his blog and bloggers such as Annous criticised the governments move and helped or organise a social media campaign. The Je suis un 9% Facebook group has secured 860 members (at time of posting) in just nine days.



The Je suis un 9% campaign is running across Twitter, Facebook and the Moroccan blogosphere, whilst the government's action itself has been roundly condemned by Committee to Protect Journalists, International Federation of Journalists and other international organisations.

Campaign URLs
Facebook: Au Maroc, je suis un 9%
Twitter: @9pcmaroc

Friends, fans and followers
Facebook: 860 members (11 August 2009), 1,137 members (28 August 2009)
Twitter: 48 followers (11 August 2009), 56 followers (28 August 2009)

News stories
AFP: Moroccan magazines seized after king opinion poll (1 August 2009)
Global Voices: Morocco: Bloggers React to the Banning of Magazines (11 August 2009)
Online Journalism Review: The Nine-Percenters: A Moroccan micro-blogging mutiny (11 August 2009)