Meet Ahmed Assid.

The man is quite possibly the most courageous intelligent secular and Berber activist in Morocco. He is also a philosopher by trade. Even as he is working tirelessly to protect Morocco against the deadly effects of Islamic fundamentalism or Salafism, Ahmed is being derided by most of his fellow citizens as a dreamer howling in the wind or by educated folks as totally unrealistic. This is how it is with short-sighted people.  In one interview, Assid used the concept of “Morocanness” to critique Middle Eastern and Western influences alike. All imported experiences, he seems to say, have to accommodate themselves to existing realities on the ground, which, in the case of Morocco, include the indigenous culture of the Berbers (the Amazigh). Few, if any, realize that his call for privileging nation first is the well-tested formula for the badly needed development Arabs and Muslims crave. This is what Mustafa Kemal Ataturk of Turkey did early in the 20th century. He relinquished the pompous and destructive claim for the Caliphate in favor of a narrow but well-defined form of ethnic nationalism. It worked. Turkey now is a success story exploited by a bunch of crypto-fundamentalists. If I edited  a magazine comparable to Time, I would name the guy “Man of the Year." 

Here is Assid in translation: