Who want an antidote to the photographs of police beat demonstrators and girls dying in the streets of the Iranian capital have to go through the streets of the Moroccan capital. You can see protesters, but they are not targets of attacks.

Girls can be seen on the street, but they are not targets of snipers. And they either look like their Iranian counterparts, although they head scarves, long jeans are much in fashion, many of these women would not appear to be displaced in New York or Paris.

Welcome to the kingdom of Morocco, a place that, when considering what happened in the last two weeks in Iran, should be the focus of several minutes of reflection.

Unlike Turkey, Morocco is not a secular state: the king claims to be a direct descendant of the prophet Mohammed.

The result is not what one might call a liberal democratic paradise. But with regard to at least one factor, Morocco stands out in fact: the government of Morocco was the only region to admit that political crimes committed in the past and create a “Truth Commission” similar to South American and to South African initiatives. Since 2004, the commission investigated crimes, was transmitted by television audiences and paid damages to about 23 thousand victims and their families, victims of state repression.

The transformation from authoritarianism to democracy is possible, even in a largely Islamic state, even with an ethnically mixed population and the presence of radical jihadists.

And, the most important is that you can recognize and discuss human rights in that culture, as well as elsewhere. Just because much of the Arab world lacks the political will to change that does not mean that change in all circumstances is always impossible.

Via: The Washington Post.