Gibbon on Morocco in his Time and the Time of the Romans

The genuine Mauritania, or country of the Moors, which, from the ancient city of Tingi, or Tangier, was distinguished by the appellation of Tingitana, is represented by the modern kingdom of Fez. Salle, on the Ocean, so infamous at present for its piratical depredations, was noticed by the Romans, as the extreme object of their power, and almost of their geography. A city of their foundation may still be discovered near Mequinez, the residence of the barbarian whom we condescend to style the Emperor of Morocco; but it does not appear, that his more southern dominions, Morocco itself, and Segelmessa, were ever comprehended within the Roman province. The western parts of Africa are intersected by the branches of Mount Atlas, a name so idly celebrated by the fancy of poets; but which is now diffused over the immense ocean that rolls between the ancient and the new continent.

Edward Gibbon - The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire Volume 1

Solidarity

Sexual Threats Stifle Some Female Bloggers - washingtonpost.com

The Washington Post today ran a story on women bloggers being targeted with harassment and threats of violence:

As women gain visibility in the blogosphere, they are targets of sexual harassment and threats. Men are harassed too, and lack of civility is an abiding problem on the Web. But women, who make up about half the online community, are singled out in more starkly sexually threatening terms -- a trend that was first evident in chat rooms in the early 1990s and is now moving to the blogosphere, experts and bloggers said.

Beyond the obvious revulsion against threats of sexual violence against anyone, there are several additional reasons why this story is particularly disturbing. Not only are many of the attacks quite graphic, but also the perpetrators are often able to remain anonymous on the Internet. While one's first sympathies go to the victims, the consequences for the blogosphere are also likely to be severe. I would venture to say that a majority of the high quality blogs that I read regularly are written by women, and for women in the Maghreb the Internet seems to have been a particularly liberating opportunity for public expression. It would be a shame for the criminal actions of a few sociopaths to shut down access to free expression on the Internet for over half of the population. Finally, if my daughters want to blog when they get older, I want them to be able to do so without fear.

Gung Ho for the Maghreb

Stars & Stripes: Iraq-bound Marines get a taste of Morocco

“When I first got here, I thought that this could be California, and we could do this training at Twentynine Palms, so why come here?” Espinoza said. “It costs a lot of money.”

For all the Marines see of Morocco, they might as well be in California. Apart from the fact that the Moroccan medics had a trick or two to show the Americans, the deployment in Morocco for training appears from the Stars and Stripes article to be wholly gratuitous. The article does not indicate that there is any significant contact with the Moroccan population. Even if there were, it is hard to see how such contact would be helpful to preparing the Marines for Iraq. It might be helpful for the Marines to learn a little Arabic, but Morocco, with its significantly different dialect, is not likely to be much help with respect to language, either. So what are the Marines doing in Morocco,anyway?

Can Our Government Do Something Positive in the Arab World?

U.S. Commemorates 50 Years of Partnership in Morocco - Standard Newswire

On April 2, 1957, the United States initiated a program of economic and technical assistance to Morocco. Since then, the American people have invested over $2 billion in the human, economic, and institutional development of Morocco.

The answer may be yes, but it would appear to have more to do with sustained good relations and long-term investment than arms buildup and military action.

Let the Bigotry Begin

Even before the identity of the shooter at Virginia Tech was known, people were speculating that he was a Muslim in the comments to the New York Times story online. However, there were positive comments in the Times condemning knee jerk racist and xenophobic comments, and one person linked to a statement from the Virginia Tech Muslim Students Association.

A Grim View

Everything Morocco: The Two Sides of Fez Medina

Everything Morocco has a grim view of the face of Fez that is too seldom seen:

Right now, today, in 2007, Fez is also a ghetto in every sense of the word and most of its inhabitants are barely eking out a miserable subsistence living. Too many are uneducated, drug-addicted, criminals, and even worse, children of these people caught in a devastating self-defeating cycle of destruction. Bidonvilles surround the area and most foreigners probably walk right past them never imagining what kind of hell exists in a place like that.

Muslim in America

Not by a long shot was every Moroccan I met during my two-year stay interested in (a) converting me to Islam, (b) arranging a marriage to a Moroccan woman, or (c) enlisting me to obtain a visa to America, but on some days it seemed that way. I always assumed that such propositions were made in good faith, and I declined as politely as I could. And I confess, that when I was asked to describe life in America to my Moroccan friends, I never felt that I did a very adequate job. Moreover, the reality of life in America for a native-born American may be quite different than for a Moroccan immigrant.

One reason I found Paul Barrett's American Islam: The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion so fascinating is that it opened a little window into what life in America means for some Muslims. Particularly compelling I thought were portraits of former Black Muslim leader Siraj Wahhaj and Muslim scholar Khaled Abou El Fadl. The portrait of El Fadl, especially, limned a particularly humane and tolerant vision of Islam, one that made me eager to read some of El Fadl's work myself.

If there is a theme to Barrett's book, it is the contrast between a narrow traditionalism, propagated with Saudi Arabian money and espoused by many, but not all, immigrant Muslims, and a broader, more tolerant vision of Islam that comes to terms with secular American values, even if it does not always agree with them. Or course, in a book this rich, there are many additional tensions and contrasts, for example, those between Arabs and South Asians, those between African Americans and immigrants, and those between women and men. All in all, well worth reading for an insight into the contradictory lives of some Muslims in modern America.

(Disclaimer: I am an acquaintance of the author.)

British Council Morocco

When I was in Morocco, the British Council Bookstore was one of the few sources for books in English, particularly books for students of English. The books were good, but not cheap, and I used to lend them out to my students for a few days at a time. I wonder how much has changed.