Jamal Elabiad is a Moroccan writer and teacher. He has been writing since 2006. Most of the articles he has written till now revolve around Moroccan political issues. Criticizing his country does not mean he hates it. He criticizes his country simply because he loves so much. For him, shedding ink is better than shedding blood. His weblog address: www.jamalelabiad.blogspot.com.
Washington / Morocco Board News Service - It’s no secret that journalists who toe the Moroccan government’s official line are a majority in Morocco. Many reasons lie behind that, one is that most journalists who dared to trespass the red-lines were sent to prison or banned from practicing journalism. Think of Ali Lamrabet, Driss Chatane, Taoufik Bouachrine, and Abou Bakr Jamai.
One of the questions I ask myself whenever I watch a disappointing match of our national soccer team is why some players, though they are among the best players across Europe, seem as if it’s the first time they played football, and sometimes you doubt if they are playing for or against Morocco!
“…Let me recall that it was a success with Homane and Bamous in 70 ; Baba et Faras en 1976 , Bouderbala , Krimau , Khairi in 1986 ; Bassir ,Camacho and Tahar in 98 and there is no reason why the 2009 generation will not succeed,” Said Hassan Moumen, coach of the Atlas Lions, when asked why the results remain negative despite the involvement of many high-calibre international players, including Marouane Chamakh, Mounir El Hamdaoui, and Youssef Hajji.
In the past, there was across the Arab and Muslim world a kind of poets who received great sums of money soon after the sultans and emirs read the lengthy poems in which they praised them to the skies. And seldom did those poets praise for free. Money-making was their sole intention behind writing praise-poems about the royal family, including sultans and emirs. I think there is nothing immoral with this. But some poets usually wrote poems full of lies, not praises. For example, there were poets who praised emirs as brave though they were coward. There were also poets who praised sultans as “democrats” though they were dictators and butchers. “ The Palace Poets” is among the different names that were given to the poets in question.
One of the key features of biased journalism is that it gives voice only to those who support its editorial line. By this I mean that it invariably excludes people with different views from commenting on a particular topic or story. Added to this, sponsors and advertisers are considered “red lines” which should never be trespassed. That’s why seldom are reporters and journalists working for a biased section of media brought to trial !
Poverty is a key factor of success. I came to this idea shortly after reading on the web a moving short story whose protagonist reminded me of the story of a student called Salma, and of all the poor around the world who managed to turn their poverty into success. It is undoubtedly difficult, yet it is not impossible.
So much has been written on the undemocratic decision of the Swiss to oppose by referendum the construction of new minarets across the country.
Soon after reading many articles on the subject, I reached the conclusion that comparing Saudi Arabia with Switzerland as far as democracy is concerned is a fallacy which a slew of Western writers who lately commented on the decision of the Swiss people to ban minarets from their skylines are ignorant of or just pretend to be so. Most of them see no difference between the Swiss people’s decision and Saudi Arabia or Kuwait’s ban on building churches.
Whenever I come across a book or an article shedding light on the Amazigh question, I remember the demands of the Amazigh movement in the North African monarchy. Among the movement demands are “the teaching of Tamazight at all levels of education, the recognition of the Amazigh language as an official language, the re-writing of Moroccan history, the use of Tamazight in public life, and the authorization of Amazigh names.”
Doubtless Amazighs will sooner or later realize all their demands, excluding that of teaching Tamazight at all levels of education, or as some Amazigh activists put it, “Tamazight must be like Arabic or French at Moroccan school.” Truth be told, this is a pie in the sky.
Immediately after the Bush Administration and its allies waged war on Iraq, millions of Muslims and Arabs across the globe staged protests, shout slogans, and burned American flags in solidarity with the people of Iraq. Similar protests were held the world over because of the Israeli massacres in Gaza city. But have these means of protest worked? In other words, Do you think that holding demonstrations and burning the Israeli and American flags can lift the blockade against Gaza and prevent Israel from committing more crimes against the Gazans?
Officials are not above the law in democratic countries. They receive awards when they succeed; and punishments when they go wrong. Unlike undemocratic countries, including Morocco no one has the right to bring officials to court despite the fact that they frequently failed to do what was expected of them. The following are examples of the facts I depended on to make such a decision.
Are writers born or made? For me, only very few writers are born, but the majority are made. And made writers can be divided into two main categories. Those who have been to a writing school and those who have never been there. The latter don’t write because they want to, but because they have to. I really consider myself one of them. The following are the people lying behind my putting pen to paper: My father who departed this life in hospital due to negligence! My mother who toiled for more than twenty years only to provide books and food for me! My English teacher at high school who observed, after reading my essay, that “there is a writer sleeping inside you.”! The writers whose works I read more than twice; e.g., Mohamed Choukri, Mohamed Zafzaf, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, Noam Chomsky, Mahmoud Darwich, and Ahmed Matar. The writer who claimed that “not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims.”!
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Jamal Elabiad is a Moroccan writer and teacher. He has been writing since 2006. Most of the articles he has written till now revolve around Moroccan political issues. Criticizing his country does not mean he hates it. He criticizes his country simply because he loves so much. For him, shedding ink is better than shedding blood. His weblog address: www.jamalelabiad.blogspot.com.
One of the questions I ask myself whenever I watch a disappointing match of our national soccer team is why some players, though they are among the best players across Europe, seem as if it’s the first time they played football, and sometimes you doubt if they are playing for or against Morocco!
Are writers born or made? For me, only very few writers are born, but the majority are made. And made writers can be divided into two main categories. Those who have been to a writing school and those who have never been there. The latter don’t write because they want to, but because they have to. I really consider myself one of them. The following are the people lying behind my putting pen to paper:
Hassan Masiky
Hamid Mernissi
Maryam Montague
Jillian York
Mohamed Benchemsi
Dr. H. Ben Kirat
Farah Kinani
Sarah Zaaimi
Matt Schumann
Nora Fitzgerald
Mostafa Chtaini
My Adil Naji
James Zoghby
Norman Greene
Elizabeth Blackney
Suzanna Clarke
Karim Kadiri
Zouhair Baghough
Lydia Beyoud
Lahcen Achy
Driss Benmhend
Jalal Nali
M. Benfadil
Yasmine Hasnaoui
M. El Younsi
Duncan De Lafeld
Rekia Ennaboulssi
Jamal Elabiad
Hisham G
Mohamed Brahimi
Belkhayat Ph.D.
Alison Lake
James Liddell
Anouar Boukhars
Fadwa Massat
Mr. Saïd Bellari
Jack Rusenko
Marina Ottaway
Mr. Doug Davis
Hellen Ranger
Mostapha Saout
Mr. Younes Tihm
Ms. Sarah Tricha
Najat F. Kessler
Driss Temsam
Ahmed Taibi
Mustapha Azayi
Derek Workman
Nabil Arrach,PHD
Z. Ettamymy
M. Ghambou
Anas Bouslamti
Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir
Sarah Alaoui
