Thursday, 17 May 2012
 
 
Moroccan American News, Views and Opinions
SARAH ZAAIMI
In Principio Erat Verbum” (In the beginning was the word), is the first sentence of the Bible. “Bismi Allah ” (In the name of God), Is the first sentence in the Coran. Both Holy Scriptures gave an important place for the Word/Name, which mean that positive change may come through words. The writer of this notes is an Ordinary Citizen, with an eye on daily life’s details, an eye on global world issues and a third eye illuminated by the Polar Star’s light. This Citizen believes that Words detain Power-Knowledge, which can contribute in the creation of a better world.


Morocco: Kissing The Young Prince's Hand PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
Saturday, 28 January 2012 21:39

Cairo  / Morocco Board News--In Egypt and Sudan female circumcision is still practiced, in Tibet, we are told, one can be cut in pieces  and have the pieces thrown to birds, in East Africa some tribes slice their phallus, in India there are still instances of widows burning, and in Kuwait men shake noses instead of shaking hands… Yet, to be politically correct, some people say ‘’it’s cultural!’’!  But when it comes to a Moroccan overly solicitous general kissing the hand of the young crown prince, no one thinks it’s cultural and many Arabs get to criticizing Moroccan affairs!

 
Egypt: The Islamist and the Stripper PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
Friday, 02 December 2011 11:27

Washington / Morocco Board News--      If you think I am too vulgar, too bold or too shocking, you can blame it on my 8 months pregnancy hormones if it can make you digest better what I have to say. That been said, let me tell you how much the system in Egypt thinks you are cheap with your dreams of change, to the extent that they deprived you from a real revolutionary orgasm after January 25th revolution, and preferred to gently masturbate your 58 years of military frustrations and propaganda by giving you fake fantasies of a glorious Egypt, while nothing has changed for the past 9 months.

 
Refrendum? I am Going to The Beach PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
Sunday, 03 July 2011 10:26

 Morocco Board News--    I was never good in mathematics, but when it’s political mathematics I don’t mind trying. So 98,5% of Moroccans voted YES, only 1,51% voted NO, 73% participated, and the other 27% probably boycotted the Referendum, went shopping during the sales at Zara, went bronzing in Dar Bouazza, or are part of the confused X% to which I belong!

 
What if the US invades Libya? PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
Sunday, 13 March 2011 13:57

Washington / Morocco Board News-    Who would have thought that a country like Libya who was a geopolitical Terra Nullius for the past 40 years, would become at the very centre of international debates and strategies? Libya is a very ancient civilization which enjoys a strategic position in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, rich with its generous oil reserves. Yet, Kaddafi erased Libya from the maps since 1969 with two decades of isolation, embargo, dictatorship, absence from the Union from the Mediterranean, and caricatural political positions.

 
My name is Sarah, I am Moroccan or is it Arab? PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
Wednesday, 16 February 2011 15:54

Washington, Morocco Board News----   My name is Sarah, I am a Moroccan girl, and I spent  a quarter of a century trying to prove to myself and to the others that I am not an Arab, that my country is different, that my culture is different, that my race is different, that my language is different, and that I am more European than Middle Eastern. Today I have these primitive tribal fervent feelings that I can’t explain whenever I see an Arab flag, here an Arabic song or see and young Arab demonstrating in a square. That’s why I would like to apologize and to admit that I was wrong about who I am.

 
I am a Prostitute, a Witch and a Drug Addict PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
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)”
 
Egypt: Mubarak as the Fourth Pyramid PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
Monday, 05 July 2010 15:09
In an after party in a bar on the roof of the Odeon hotel in Cairo, the discussions started getting political as usual, when suddenly a bourgeois boy who was with us said proudly “We should thank our honourable president Hosni Mubarak because it is thanks to him that we are free in this country and that we can still party, club and drink alcohol with our friends” and he lifted the bottle of his flavoured Vodka and proposed a toast to Mubarak. Indeed, Egyptian youth from rich classes are the biggest defenders of the Pharaonic system of Mubarak. You will hear them say the same sentence “we have lots of external enemies and it is thanks to Mubarak that we are living in peace and stability”, as it is what they grown up hearing from their parents who are the first beneficiaries of the regime.
 
The Educated Prostitute PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
01/30/10 (Morocco Board News Service)--  On that morning, I was heading to the newspaper with no new stories or article projects in mind when my editor-in-chief called me to ask whether I’ll be interested in interviewing a very special person, and to publish her memories on a daily basis in the newspaper. This very special person was a young student who became a professional prostitute. The editor-in-chief of course was only interested in raising the sales, because the golden rule in journalism is that “When there is no news, you should create the news”. And what’s better than dealing with one of the society’s prime taboos to make the news. I only had one answer to give: I’ll do it!
 
A Letter To My Belly PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
Sunday, 08 January 2012 18:49

Washington  / Morocco Board News--     Only one week before your birth, only 7 days before you become an autonomous human being. I am feeling insomniac and stressed like never before. It’s worse than waiting for an exam results, a feedback on an interview or a message from a loved one. This is the countdown for LIFE. So I decided to do what I do best: writing therapy. Yet, it feels much more difficult and serious than writing an article for a newspaper or a note for my blog. This is writing a letter for an unknown being inside my belly, my son.

 

 
The Farmer, The Warrior, The Merchant, The Lazy & The Whore PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
Wednesday, 24 August 2011 15:13

Washington / Morocco Board News--    Algeria   In another life when I was studying at Al Akhawayn University I had an international relations professor called Dr. Kalpakian who told us once this: ‘’there was once a father who had 4 sons, the elder became a farmer and moved to Morocco, the second became a warrior and settled in Algeria, the third became a merchant and went to Tunisia, and the last one was so lazy that he remained at his father’s house in Libya’’. I remembered this tale now that we are living the time of harvests of the Arab Spring and would like to revisit each brother to see how they’ve been doing!

 
Confessions of Ali, a Revolutionary Opportunist PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
Friday, 27 May 2011 22:26

Washington / Morocco Board News--      Revolutions are made of some few idealistic, committed and honest people and thousands of opportunists who go with the crowd, seize the moment and mobilize a noble fight for their personal sick materialistic or psychological interests. These specimens are often misunderstood and hiding their intentions in the shadows of their dark minds. I will be enjoying today doing the autopsy of Ali, a revolutionary opportunist from the Arab World.

 
Protest: The 20 Moroccan wonders PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
Monday, 21 February 2011 11:54

Washington, Morocco Board News--       I am someone who is pro Feb20 movement, who thinks my country deserves dignity and real structural reforms and that it is a real revolution to see the Moroccan youth reinvesting the political sphere. Yet, it is very important at this level to do some self-criticism and to give some explanations about the standard Moroccan attitude in politics, life and in demonstrations. You may consider this an auto-flagellation of a Moroccan young person who dreams of change.

 
Why I Quit? PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
Tuesday, 21 September 2010 11:57
Washington / Morocco Board News Service -      I have seen old TV presenters not going on vacations because they fear being replaced or fired.

I have seen opportunists surrounding [king's Friend and current head of PAM Party] Fouad Ali Alhima -who was still the second man of the Ministry of Interior at that time- in nights where alcohol marries miniskirts and hypocritical laughter.

I have seen checks signed by Moulay Hisham for Corrupted Journalists for whatever conspiracy he was planning against the monarchy.

I have seen these same journalists becoming national heroes, professors in the Journalism Institute and famous newspapers owners.
 
Sufi States Inside The State PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
Friday, 23 July 2010 11:37

 

A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal

Washington / Morocco Board News Service -   A state is a political body which has well defined boundaries of its sovereign territories. A state must also have effective administration to rule its citizens, legal and defense structures to apply its laws as well as a taxation system to cover its expenses. In opposition to tribes and chiefdoms, states are the only sociopolitical systems which are not based on kinship but on citizenship. Archaic and modern states have different models, which have specific structures.
 
Sorry "Brother" , I Speak Darija PDF Print
SARAH ZAAIMI
Monday, 28 June 2010 22:57
“Labas ki dayrin? twahachtkoum bazaf” that would be the Moroccan way to say “how are you? I miss you so much”, and that’s the sentence I would like to say to my friends in the Egypt whenever I meet them, but I know they will not understand me. My friends in the Middles East assume that Morocco is an Arab and Arabic speaking country, what they don’t know is that we’ve been doing so many efforts to understand their dialects for the sake of Arab Nationalism and Unity, and that now that the notion of Umma Al Arabia is old fashion, it’s their turn to do some effort to understand my language: Darija.
 
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