Washington / Morocco Board News Service ------ To their surprise, the Spaniards are waking up to new geopolitical realities in the Iberian peninsula and North Africa , especially their relations with the neighbors to the South. For too long, Morocco’s uncreative diplomacy was marked with weak, flimsy and anemic foreign policy approach in dealing with Spain. Be it the issue of the Western Sahara, the final political status of the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla or Spain’s civil society anti-Moroccan stands, Moroccan successive governments showed inaction and weakness in addressing Madrid’s intransigence.
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Moroccan American Producer / Director Mohamed El Hajjam of AV Actions Recently released a documentary about how Moroccan Expats experience the Month of Ramadan in the US. The documentary was shot in New York, Philadelphia and Washington.
Washington / Morocco Board News Service According to the Moroccan government, the UNDP (United Nation Development Program) “ Lacks rigor and professionalism”. Yes, Ladies and gentlemen, It makes sense, in this regard, considering the fact that “ the multidimensional index of poverty” (MIP) is a different and new tool of measurement which the University of Oxford had developed, and that the UNDP will find itself compelled to inevitably accept as a tool of research.
Do we accept the MIP study, which asserts that 28% of Moroccans live under the threshold of poverty, or the Moroccan Government social and economic strategists and policy planners who only see 9%?
Officially, the Kingdom of Morocco and South Africa have not much of a relation.
Unofficially, even though the Moroccans have little chemistry with the new generation of ANC leaders, links have been established by both sides with the hope of turning the page of a chapter that is represented by former South African foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who was known, for a over decade, by her anti-Morocco views and positions.
Washington / Morocco Board News Service - Morocco's Central Bank - Bank Al Maghrib - governor Abedellatif Jouahri presented the Bank’s Annual Report for 2009.The aim here is not only to provide a digest, but also to bring its figures together with those other facts and figures.The two would ultimately give an insight of how the Moroccan economy is likely to perform for this year.
First, the Bank’s report has a different “flavour”, if I may say so, from the other reports. 2009 was indeed a year of recession and economic difficulties, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit of ambivalence when I read the following lines about the national economy’s performance:“Cette évolution reflète la forte contraction de la demande extérieure, notamment de la zone euro, adressée à certaines branches industrielles, ainsi que le ralentissement dans le secteur du tourisme et du transport”. The evolution here is that of non-Agricultural GDP (a near-zero growth of 1.4% over the year)
Washington / Morocco Board News Service - It seems evident now that to nudge the Moroccan collective psyche out of its narcosis and get a goading message through to the lower stratum of society, one has to use toons or Middle Eastern soap operas and stream them through satellite television feed to circumvent Naceri’s censorship. The forceful indignant reaction and public clamoring for a tough governmental action in response to what is perceived as a gross affront to Morocco’s honor by the “Bu Qatada and Bu Nabeel” animated series, Egyptian television drama, and Saudi Arabia’s age restriction on Moroccan women traveling for ‘umra so incensed me. It is not as though, all of a sudden, the Moroccan public realized that the reputation of Moroccan women in the Gulf countries has putrefied. The public and the government both have known about it for decades, but they’ve always opted to look the other way.
Anouar Boukhars Washington / Morocco Board News Service - In North Africa trade between all five countries ranks among the lowest of any region in the world. The establishment of the Arab Maghreb Union in 1989 was supposed to jumpstart a promising regional partnership. However, the lack of leadership and the deep-seated animosity between Morocco and Algeria deprived the region of an estimated $3 billion in foreign investment and instead caused a loss estimated at 2 percent of average annual GDP for each country.
Washington / Morocco Board News Service - The civil service is vital for any society. With the level of complexity the post-modern societies reached -including ours- the need for a group of individuals devoted solely for public service is increasingly compulsory. I am sorry I have a bias for the civil service, even though I suffered, like many other fellow Moroccans (and foreigners, when those had the unfortunate opportunity to deal with the ‘idara) who didn’t need a paper for their everyday business? Who hadn’t had enough from long queues, rude civil servants and stupid remarks regarding their applications? But the work of government, the ultimate cement holding society together, has to be carried out. I know the red tape can be of invaluable help when it is rightly and properly managed. My piece here argues some ideas on the issue.
Dubious currency Exchange Practices at Moroccan Banks: A Need for Reform Washington / Morocco Board News Service - To transfer funds to Morocco from an American bank to pay for merchandise, buy an asset, start a business or help family members, the first words you will hear from the local bank clerk is that Morocco is on the A List of Slow-to-Pay Countries. It has always seemed bizarre that this is true.
Moreover, given the world economic crisis, Moroccan banks should provide a friendly business environment to the Moroccan Diaspora , and to foreign customers who bring in badly needed hard currency.
Sadly, experience with banks in Morocco shows the opposite.
Washington / Morocco Board News Service - Everyone is alarmed and concerned: it seems Moroccan girls are prostitutes. How interesting!
It’s nothing new to me, I mean I heard many comments about this throughout the years, but strangely enough; it only came from Moroccan girls themselves. As a journalist, I traveled a lot; met people from the 6 continents (are they still 6?) but no one ever addressed the subject with me. I would always hear remarks like “Oh, I love Couscous”, or “I know how to say Choukghan.”
I personally never met a Moroccan prostitute abroad; I saw most of them in Blvd Mohammad V in Casablanca, in a very narrow street in Laayoun and in some other Moroccan cities. Is there anything strange about that? Nope, I’m sure every country in this world has its very own prostitutes.
Jim Dunnigan September 7, 2010 ------ Al Qaeda is using cash, and coercion, to increase its power in the area south of Algeria. This can be seen in how al Qaeda arranged the release of one of their members (Omar Ahmed Ould Sidi Ould Hama) from a Mauritanian prison last month. This was apparently part of a secret deal to get two Spanish aid workers released by al Qaeda. Hama was aided by the intercession of UN recognized rebel group Polisario, and officials in Mali (where Hama was expelled to) who looked the other way as Hama promptly disappeared. Malian officials and Polisario have both been seduced by al Qaeda cash. Hama had been convicted of masterminding the kidnapping of three Spanish aid workers in late 2009, and sentenced to life. Now he is free again.
Why Must We Not Cross the Line? MOSTAFA_CHTAINI
The donkey politician who called my God a monkey has crossed the Line!
For the last 500 years, monsters like him controlled our lives’ destiny and design,
A lot of abuses since the Inquisition to keep us and the Have-Nots behind;
The Donkey, Jones, Graham, Gingrich, Palin, Keller are a real bad sign.
They deny that Church, Synagogue, Temple and Mosque are all divine.
Why must We not cross the line?
New York/ Morocco Board News Service - The laughable tale of the Islamic Cultural Center far from Ground Zero had ballooned into a considerable bulge of a foot ball before it transmuted into a microscopic bubble of foam that was pushed to fade away under the effect of the stirring storm of the media circus and the reprimand of striving politicians rummaging around for a prompt backing of constituency.
Among the prime players in this unimposing tale, or preferably this game of culture war, are the recent tea baggers. Their fresh off shooting out of the conservative, Republican Party, and the libertarian one compelled them to fight on all fronts in the political battle with the aim of gaining notoriety among electors. In their endeavor they combined social, economical and political issues all at once, and like the jack-of-all-trades, they spared none of the issues from the squeeze of their hand-grip.
Washington / Morocco Board News Service - On August 27, 2010 , at its seventy-seventh session, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CRED) examined the reports submitted by Morocco in accordance with Article 9th of the UN Convention.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CRED) of the United Nations has issued the following requirements from Morocco.
1 – To provide information on the composition of its population, the use of mother tongues, languages commonly spoken, and other indicators of ethnic diversity, and any other information from targeted socio-economic studies, conducted on a voluntary basis, in full respect of privacy and anonymity, so that the committee can evaluate the situation of the Moroccan population economically, socially and culturally.
Today I woke up with a BBC Tweet that says “Arab Drama continue to depict a negative image of Moroccan women during Ramadan series”. I am not surprised by this attitude as I have been facing it since I started travelling in the Middle East many years ago, but this time I decided to do a small test. I took my phone and call randomly 10 different Arab friends from different countries to ask one simple question:
Friend N˚1 Egypt: “You know in Alexandria we love Hash and everyone knows that the Moroccan Hash is the best. I always dream to go to Morocco to try it firsthand, and off course you have very very beautiful liberal girls (very liberal in Egypt mean Prostitute)”
Jordan, Egypt and Syria have Special Treatment for Moroccan Visitors Saudi Arabia is not the only ones discriminating against Moroccan visitors, Jordan, Egypt and syria also have special treatment for Moroccans
Here are their laws regulating treatment for Moroccan Visitors:
Jordan National Morocco (MA) / Destination Jordan (JO)
visa on arrival at the airport, free of charge (extension possible at the nearest police station). However, females between the age of 17 and 35 years of age require prior approval obtained from the Ministry of Interior, except if accompanied by their husband, father or brother, or they are a member of an official delegation or they are a daughter of high ranking personnel.
In banning Moroccan women from a pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia is failing in its Islamic duties...
We all like to stereotype. Whether it's about different regions in a country or other countries, we all indulge in a bit of reductionism and comic typecasting. The British laugh at the French, Europeans poke fun at Americans and it is all reciprocated in (mostly) harmless badinage.
In the Arab world, we have our memes too: the Sudanese are lazy, the Egyptians are jokers, the Lebanese are flamboyant, etc. Arabic TV is replete with comedy shows that paint wide brush-strokes (in some cases, quite literally, as actors are "blacked up" to act the roles of African Arabs) at the expense of different Arab nationalities.
Washington / Morocco Board News Service - I don’t think this month is holy any more, nor does it still bear some genuine religious significance to the people. It is, I must point out, a subjective point of view. Indeed, Moroccans (at least those I saw in Casablanca or Rabat or today in Marrakesh) are ostensibly reading the Koran in public places. I noticed the mosques were never so full of faithful as they are this time of year. But on the whole, it does not feel like Moroccans get in touch with their spirituality. It does however look like more of a parade of spirituality, and it is going out of proportions. There is this stereotype I hold on my fellow citizens as being hypocritical, but surely it was nothing like that.
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