In spite of the diplomatic intimacy and geographic proximity between Spain and Morocco, King Juan Carlos of Spain insisted to consecrate the status quo of occupation of the two Moroccan towns Ceuta and Mellila by his official visit with Queen Sofia. The strange thing is that the Spanish monarchs have chosen ironically the date of 5-6 November when Moroccans celebrate their 1975 glorious Green march to restore Morocco’s Southern provinces, to baptize their royal attachment to the two peninsulas.
The avuncular tears of monarch Juan Carlos upon the death of late King Hassan II and King Mohammed VI reverential affection towards King Juan Carlos calling him “ Uncle Carlos” in one of his first interviews with the Time Journalist Scott McLeod are becoming good evidence of the ever-changing temperatures of the Moroccan-Spanish better-sweet relationship due to the contrast of the two country’s national interests. Only in 2002, the Island of “ Leila” generated a great political crisis that led to a state of brinkmanship and belligerency between the “distant neighbours” as Spanish Journalist Ignacio Dale preferred to call them in his book, as Spain arrogantly promulgated its de-facto sovereignty over the Island . Read rest of article

The Woman with and the red cap and the hair braids

Driss Benmhend

I was still recovering from an acute sore throat infection on the day of the 5K Race for the Cure. In spite of not feeling good, and not having done any physical workout for a week, I decided to run. I was under the impression that 5K should be a walk in the park for someone who runs 12 to 15 miles a week. I was wrong!

The race started as a walk for the first few hundreds yards, then the big crowd started breaking up, giving who ever needed it some room for speeding up a bit. Not me! I was comfortable with the pace of my run (a quick walk actually). Suddenly, someone bumped into my back and passed me, as if she were saying:”get out of the way! I have a race to finish!”. It felt as if I was awakened from a nice dream. I realized that people were passing me on the right and the left like rushing water around someone standing in the middle of a river. The woman who bumped into me had long braids and was wearing a red cap. She was already a dozen yards in front of me making her way through the crowd of slow runners. Suddenly, I started running, and decided to catch up with her, even passing her. I started running faster and faster, getting closer and closer to her. Then, I passed her, Hooray, I won, I won.

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On Religion & Faith
Karim Kadiri

The month of Ramadan is meant to be a month of reflection, dedication to faith and atonement to a certain degree. On my first night of the Muslim holy month I certainly did one of those things extensively. I have thought and reflected at length on the various questions of blind faith we are supposed to endorse.
Indeed all three of God’s religions are said to ask for not only faith but rather full blown blind faith (as per human literal interpretation in many instances).
We’ve all had our moments where we dissected the issues and questions about our very existence. Naturally our imagination and intelligence do stop very quickly when pondering such mind bending concepts.

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Do Right Right!
By Jamal Laoudi

 It is no surprise that the Moroccan community in the US, like any other community, discusses and talks about Morocco and its issues at many levels.  At times, it seems that people shy away from criticizing any aspect of Morocco for fear of being labeled as a non-patriot or what have you. 

When we criticize a certain aspect of Morocco, our land, or Moroccans, ourselves, it is not because we are bitter, or pessimistic, or we don’t care, on the contrary. 

Most of us are doing well and could go on living just fine, but we don’t.  There is something inside of us that aches our hearts when we hear something negative about Morocco or Moroccans, and that fills it with pride and joy when we hear of good news from/about the motherland. 

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What Happened in Sefrou?
Driss Benmhend

For the first time in years, my beloved hometown made the news.  Everyone has heard or read about the violent unrest recently in Sefrou over the Moroccan government’s latest increases in the price of basic food commodities.  A march was called for and organized by the local chapter of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights.  I was shocked to see protesters clashing with police, cars torched, buildings damaged, and people injured and being arrested. We are accustomed to seeing these kinds of demonstrations in the big cities like Casablanca, Rabat, or Fez, but not in my sleepy hometown.

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A.M.
Karim Kadiri

By AM I certainly do not mean after midnight or morning, I am most definitely referring to your radio dial and the supremacists, fascists that rule the airwaves.

If you have not been listening, I am here to tell you that it is American fundamentalism of the first kind that permeates the air. Your options of stations and talk show hosts are many and the topics very few; it is but a parade of loud speaking, self absorbed, self righteous, overpaid, pompous, arrogant sounding agitators with the sole purpose in mind of deifying America!

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Faith or fate?
Karim Kadiri

It occurred to me as I was pondering and questioning everything within my soul concerning my belief systems, that very few of us ever stray away from our creed, religion and the things we were told to identify with and believe in as children.

 This line of thought prompted me to ask myself whether these choices were really our own or just things we have been unwittingly brainwashed into adopting.

Starting with the most important facet of this puzzler, namely religion, I began to see what was technically very clear, and that is that if we are born Christian we will most likely believe in Christ for the rest of our lives and the same goes for Muslims with Mohamed, the Jews with Moses not to mention all the other faiths with their respective Gods and prophets.

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VISION
By Driss R. Temsamani

Every now and then a group of people have a vision, a small idea that extends beyond each one of them but together they could reach.

Our journey would lead to a destination if we have something in common. We got together in Washington DC and it did not take us long to realize that we love our country. With or without a cause, we wake up and go to sleep thinking about home. What brought us together is an emotion. What made us want to go on a journey together is passion.

It is difficult for a group of people to agree. There are differences that we must admit and put aside before we hold hands and march toward a common goal. Trust is gained not imposed and for each one of us to look at the other and say "count on me", its a combination of verbs not words.

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Out of sight out of focus
Karim Kadiri

Am I the only one who in a deeply cynical mind believes that the

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Buying time
Karim Kadiri

For months now we have been hearing President Bush defend his Iraq policies and more alarmingly tout his supposed successes in that country. Said successes he would suggest are the elections that took place without a hiccup and the “heroism” as he put it of the Iraqi people who came out in droves to have their voices heard.

This same President is now refusing to recognize the overwhelming calls of his own people asking for change in his war policy. He is also choosing to ignore the deep meaning of the mid-term election results. This is of course but another case of hypocrisy and double talk, hailing the virtues of one election and dismissing the results of the other?

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Dead Nation Walking
By Driss R. Temsamani

I run as fast as I could from this topic. I tried hiding in my busy schedule to avoid seeing the images. I thought about other issues hoping to clear my mind from the horrible stories. Exhausted I had to give up and surrender to the facts.

Here I am now, facing this blank page of paper. Angry and scared I open the door to unleash my thoughts. A combination of sadness, fury, shame and confusion is pushing me to ask the question, are we a schizophrenic nation? But wait, as I dialogue with myself, I doubted the validity of the word and I decided to look it up.

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Ego Buster
By Karim Kadiri

Well a bipartisan commission has deemed this war “unwinnable” and our right wing friends simply do not like or agree with this finding!

 If you’ve been listening to folks like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others you must certainly have enjoyed the name they have given the ISG; they are of course calling it the Iraq surrender group instead of its rightful name “the Iraq study group”.

 I think that we all now what is happening at this stage of the game; the most fervent wing of the pompous right is having a hellish time hearing the dreaded words, America lost or is losing.

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All March Forward
By Jamal Laoudi

As a Moroccan, my heart fills with pride and enjoy when I hear about the progress and the serious work Morocco is undertaking to better living conditions and to move the country forward.  It is undeniable that much progress has been made and that we are on the right path.  With consistency and perseverance, we will achieve our goals.

The government is keen to involve all Moroccans in the process, including Moroccan communities abroad. One way it goes about that is by sending high government officials to hold talks and discussions with various Moroccan communities abroad and to provide an opportunity for them to directly interact with the decision makers.

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Morocco's Jewels
Najat Fares Kessler

Going back to my native Morocco after five years absence was quite an experience this past year. I left as a corporate employee, single, glamorous and ambitious and I came back a healer, not glamorous, caring much less about ambitions and much more interested in the realms of love.

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