Global Voices Online » Morocco: An Introduction to Peace Corps Bloggers

Global Voices Online has a roundup of Peace Corps blogs. We've clearly come a long way from the day when the only blogs were pen and ink. Clearly the blog is a much more effective way in most cases to promote the Peace Corps' third goal: communicating the Peace Corps experience to the American public. One wonders, however, to what extent the Moroccan countryside has kept pace with the technological revolution.

Backsliding

The two journalists from the weekly newspaper Al Watan Al An, Mustafa Hormatallah and publisher Abderrahim Ariri were convicted by a criminal court in Casablanca for "concealing items derived from a crime."

VOA News. The conviction of two journalists for apparently violating Morocco's version of the Official Secrets Act, is the kind of prosecution that before the Bush Administration would have been laughable in the United States. Ironically, it would appear that, with its support for secret detentions and torture, the Bush Administration's effect on press freedom and human rights in Morocco has been generally malign at a time when the Kingdom has become more liberal generally.

De Luxe

In a country where most people do not even own a car, Laraki Automobiles may seem like an extravagance. Morocco has always produced luxury goods, however, and clearly Laraki Automobiles is producing luxury goods for the 21st century.

Go figure . . .

Since I found out that a great many of the people who find my the a la menthe site are looking for the song of the same name, I have included links to the song and the lyrics in the upper right corner of the site. So how come nobody is clicking on them?

Depression

Other than the fact that I deplore the suppression of TelQuel and NIchane and the arrest of editor Ahmed Benchemsi, I am too depressed to say much. For a comprehensive description of this latest outrage to freedom of the press in Morocco, see Eatbees.

Cars Kill

Magharebia.com reports:

In Morocco, 24 people were killed and 1,194 injured last week in 927 road accidents, MAP reported. A police statement attributed the accidents to loss of control over vehicles, negligence of pedestrians and drivers, speeding, violating road rules, and driving under the influence. Road accidents in the country have increased by 3% yearly over the last decade, causing enormous economic losses, especially for the tourism sector. Losses are estimated at $1.2 billion a year, or 2.5% of GDP. (Ech Chourouk, MAP)

It is enough to make one think twice before taking tne next grand taxi ride. I assume that the buses have a somewhat better record, since they are bigger, although I have vivid memories of the rusted wreckage at the base of the High Atlas. Bad as the roads may be, for much of the country — as for the United States — there is no good alternative.

Site issue

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Wine Dead in Taxi Accident

The death of Rabbi Sherwin Wine, a prominent fixture of the Detroit area for many years, in a taxi in Morocco is a grim reminder that there are too many deaths on the roads in Morocco — and in the United States.

Slow Boat from Morocco

Simply Moroccan has a great post — complete with pictures, lyrics, translations, and music video — on Reda Taliani's song about sailing to a better life.

Mofongo in Paradise

One of the things I have always liked best about Robert B. Parker's mystery stories is that urban(e) tough guy Spenser is regularly cooking some delicious gourmet dish when he is not out roughing up the bad guys. Parker is quite detailed about the mouth-watering meals that Spenser cooks up and then usually washes down with good beer, so much so that one could almost imagine doing the cooking oneself.

So it is that I try new food as much as I can; life should be a culinary adventure. Finding myself in Puerto Rico a little more than a week ago for a conference, I escaped from the lavish Rio Mar resort long enough to sample "Mofongo," a mashed plantain dish, with octopus and conch at a local restaurant. Much to my surprise, I was the only person in the restaurant, a fact compensated for by a magnificent view of the island.

The beauty of the island was in stark contrast to the rather grim reading I brought along. After much searching, I had obtained a copy of Mohammed Choukri's For Bread Alone, and I read it in the evenings after seminars. Choukri recounts his brutal upbringing in a novel that is also very much about food, because there is never enough of it. In one vignette, Choukri jumps off the pier in the harbor to retrieve a crust of bread discarded by a fisherman, only to discover that he is swimming in a sea of shit. (Milan Kundera would no doubt find the novel vulgar but not kitschy.) Choukri's novel counterpoints between desire and disgust, the torments of appetite in a world where there is never enough of anything and a cruel and ignominious death hovers constantly in the background.

The Slow Death of Morocco's Cuisine and Community

While others (whom I respect) have described as heartwarming the New York Times' recent article on Assilah and the role of the community oven (ferrane) as a foundation of Moroccan cooking and a center of community life, I found the article rather poignant. Unlike many places in the world, in Morocco it is still possible to find communities that bake their bread (Khubz) — a staple of Moroccan cuisine — in a community oven, an institution which &mdash like communal steam baths (hammam) knits communities together. In addition, farmers sell fresh produce in the souks, and chickens are bought freshly slaughtered from the butcher. As a friend of mine put it, in Morocco, it's all organic food. The Times, however, notes an ominous trend toward factory farming, mass production of food, and supermarkets, at least in the larger cities. In light of our soil-exhausting monocultures and the cruel overcrowding and massive doses of hormones and antibiotics to which we subject our livestock in the United States, I am seriously skeptical that Morocco will gain by following our example. Would anyone say that Americans eat better than Moroccans? Thought not.

Speaking Truth to Power

Nesweek reports that Syrian Ammar Abdulhamid and Egyptian blogger "Sandmonkey," who recently went underground, are teaming up with an initiative to protect Arab bloggers from political repression. Via Myrtus.

Little hope in the Western Sahara, says USIP

A recent briefing by the United States Institute of Peace reaches the depressing conclusion that nothing is likely to change in the conflict over the Western Sahara in the foreseeable future. The briefing suggests that the Baker Plan, with its plan for a referendum, was the last best hope, and that since then, the parties have become too locked into opposing, and incompatible, positions to be able to reach a deal. In light of the United Nations' passivity, little is likely to change the positions of the parties.

Western Sahara - How to Create a Stalemate by Anna Theofilopoulou: USIPeace Briefing: U.S. Institute of Peace

Songs and Solidarity

Xoussef's comment on Hind's "Give me a sign" — that the song is "banal" but the video is "wonderful," seems to me to be right on. Several other points struck me. One was that I don't see that many Moroccan (or Moroccan inspired) songs in English; pace Marrakesh Express. The other is the degree to which the video is orientalized, from Hind's dress to the images of her mysterious hooded lover to the dance scene at the end. I would be very curious to know how this song speaks to Moroccans — to me it seemed to play very much to a European/American fantasy of Morocco, but perhaps my own view is too crude and stereotyped.

I was also very struck by Xoussef's reasons that he won't blog for a Maghreb Union: to me, the proposed Union seems a noble aspiration but not a political possibility.

Routing Around Moroccan Censorship

The Morocco Report calls upon the Blogoma to rise up in protest of Morocco's decision to block access to YouTube, joining the likes of China, Syria, and Iran as Internet censors. Fortunately, an attack on the Internet is often defeated by the Internet itself, and there are a number of suggestions online for circumventing such censorship: see for example, Blogspot Blogs Banned in India and How to Access Blocked Sites. Unfortunately, since I am not in Morocco, I cannot personally verify whether any of these methods work, although I would certainly appreciate feedback from anyone who tries them.