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.

On that spirit, a senior government official visited the Moroccan community in Washington DC recently, and held direct and open discussions with some of its members.

The turnout surpassed expectations.  This shows the community’s interest and thirst in hearing news from Morocco and in partaking in the process of moving forward.

There was a question-answer session where the attendees asked some very good questions.  The answers to some of them left me scratching my head trying to make sense of what was said.  I found myself battling confusion.

A question was asked about the illiteracy rate in Morocco and how it is 50% and what is being done about that.  The answer was that that figure of 50% is “wrong” and that it is actually 45%.  5% difference is supposed to make all the difference?  Ok! According to the CIA Fact book, it is 48.3 by 2003 estimate.

 Now, here is where it gets very interesting, the answer continued by revealing the startling fact that 100 percent of kids in urban areas in Morocco are in school.  We all know that‘s not accurate.  My American friend, who I proudly invited to attend this event with me, whispered to my ear “there is no urban city in the world where 100% of the kids attend school”.

When some of the questions had a concerned tone, this senior official replied by saying that the tone is pessimistic and cynical and that is ok because that’s a post colonization effect that we have not fully recovered form.  I will leave this one at that.  Lewis Black came to mind.

In his commentary regarding the Moroccan economy and how it is improving, he cited how International Gnawa Concerts and festivals are now held in Morocco among other international concerts, and that’s an indication that the economy is growing.  What I was taught is that it is the growth rate of the economy, the increase of percentage of services in GDP, the increase in foreign investments among others are indications and measures of how the economy is doing.

This senior official had the best intentions in mind no doubt.  He tried his best to show a good image of Morocco to the community.  That said, the community needs to know how it could help.  It has its own sources of tracking the state of Morocco and its economy.  We know the government does not hold a magic stick.  The community needs to know how it could join hands and how it could best contribute.  We want to all march forward.

Its heart longs for Morocco! Its heart beats Morocco!

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