Plotting terrorism: Mahi Binebine's Les Etoiles de Sidi Moumen (2010)

The article problematizes the multifaceted implications (social and psychological) of the thin line separating worldly and sacred dreams, 'terrorism' and 'political dissidence'. Set against the temptation to cut off the past from the present, Binebine's novel imposes a cyclical vision of history that points to the potential re-surfacing of the past with similar or greater violence. Despite the fact that the novel is inspired by the real events of the 'May 16 Casablanca attacks', it nonetheless does not aspire to supplant the official version of the attacks, nor to construct a textual memorial for those who committed them. The novel attempts to imagine the human circumstances and motives behind the attacks. To do so, Binebine sets himself the difficult task of imagining the world of a 'dead terrorist' in order to tell his and his friends' story.