BO18

People who know me irl, know that I can be very, very lazy.
Now it's time that you know that as well!

I promised to respond to this post at eatbees' blog and to the question in general of why I'm afraid of the PJD coming to power.
I made that promise a long while ago. Sorry!
Anyhow, better late than never. Right?

First of all, I have a firm believe that religion and politics should be separated. That no religion or religious community should gather and form a political party. Hence my allergic reactions when somebody mentions the CDA, CU or SGP or confesses to be a member of it. (CDA, CU and SGP are the Christian parties in the Netherlands. Combined they have 49 parliamentary seats out of 150)
Those parties have an ideology based on the Bible. They strife to implement their ideology and policies on a national level. Thereby, indirectly, enforcing a (moderate) religious lifestyle on the rest of the population.
And I don't digg that. I want abortion, condoms, prostitution, blasphemy, homosexuality, premarital sex, divorce and euthanasia for all.
If you have moral objections to it, fine, but as a mature individual you are perfectly able to follow your religious lifestyle without needing laws to help you with it.
Of course, a religious party isn't per se repressive on all those subjects. The CDA has homosexual MP's, showing that there are gradations in religiosity between religious parties. And not all non-religious parties are in favor of a free lifestyle.

Now, let me get back to the PJD. In my opinion the PJD is a party that is heavily and totally influenced by religion. It's a wolf in sheep's clothing.
The party really tries to give itself a moderate image. Some members even try to compare the party to the Turkish PJD and claim that we shouldn't be afraid.

But are they really that moderate? I don't think so.
Let me give you some examples of some radical, xenophobic, homophobic and fanatic rants of the PJD. And then you can decide if you want to call them "moderate"

• 2000: Abdellilah Benkiran verbally abuses a female journalist who dared to wear a t-shirt with short sleeves in parliament.
• Editor-in-chief Lhassan Sarrat of the Attajdid newspaper, close to the PJD and considered as a mouhtpiece of that same party, sees the Asian tsunami as Gods punishment for homosexuality, sex tourism and child trafficking
• In 2005, MP's of the PJD claim that a music festival held in Marrakech is used as a pretext to convert people to Christianity
• March 2003, the PJD, its mouthpieces and other islamist nutjobs launch a witch-hunt against everyone who wears heavy-metal shirts and listen to heavy metal music. They are considered to be devil-worshippers
• 2006: PJD asks the government to ban the movie Marock because of obscenity (Marock depicts the on-the-ground reality of upperclass Moroccan youth)
• 2003: The PJD wants the government to control foreign cultural centres so that they can not spread "immoral values" (later this statement is changed into: "we want the cultural centres to implement islamic principles".)
• In 2004 PJD hotshot Ahmed Raissouni claims that music festivals are "sites of debauch and homosexuality"

Morocco and the Maghreb in general are a bit in the spotlights now since the attacks of last week.
Which of course, results in lots of articles in the printed media and on the web.
Some of those articles are good, some are bad. Today I'm going to highlight a bad one.
Not that I'm a nagger, its just that the post on the good ones is going to take a long time.

But anyhow, let's highlight a bad one. The next article is written by Marc S. Ellenbogen, columnist for UPI and chairman of the Global Panel Foundation.
The article can be found here.
The article is about the supposed crucial role of Morocco for Europe and the USA and actually just gives a short resume of Morocco's recent history.
And that's the main problem of this article. Ellenbogen's history of Morocco seems to be a little bit out of touch with reality.
People reading the article will, most likely, come to the conclusion that Morocco is a kind of economic and democratic miracle.


Ellenbogen pays solely attention to the little bit of progress made by the king and government. The (reforms, the FTA (although some will not consider that as progress), the life expectancy (!) and the co-existence of Muslims, Jews and Christians. (I never understood why people include Christianity since Morocco never had a substantial, indigenous Christian community)
So far the progress of the country. But he fails to mention that Morocco isn't really progressing but more or less stagnating.

Democratic reforms are just a façade, the king still overruns and diminishes the power of the government.
Economic progress has still to be proven. Poverty and unemployment are still rampant. Implementing reforms is one thing, seeing those reforms actually wórk is another.

But the most bizarre view he has, is about the upcoming election and the PJD's role. Ellenbogen mentions the 30% of the votes in the past, but he lets the readers know what would happen if the PJD would fall under 20%. That would be a sign that reforms are actually working!
It's a mystery to me, why he even draws the line of 20% and why that line actually shows that the reforms are working. (I see no relation between those two, do you?)
And besides that, why does he even mention a situation where the PJD would loose? The chances are far more bigger that the PJD will gain more votes than in the previous elections. Even with the recent attacks. (the last PJD-victory was achieved after the 2003 attacks in Casablanca)

The whole article is actually one big shenanigan. The man has a distorted view of the reality in Morocco.
The weirdest thing, and maybe also a bit scary, is the fact that this man's organization (The Global Panel Foundation) heads the Morocco Strategic Initiative. An initiative to promote good governance and investment in Morocco.

The lovely Esra'a of Mideast Youth has just posted a very interesting podcast where she interviews Moroccan students from the slightly elitist Al Akhawayn University.
The interview is about the recent terror attacks in Casablanca.

Knowing Esra'a of her other interviews & the podcasts of Mideast Youth I'm sure this will be an interesting listen.
You can download it here or, if you're like me and at work with a stupid boss and a pc with no sound, just visit Mideast Youth for other interesting articles/podcasts/interviews

They're like cockroaches.

2 suicide-bombers have sent themselves to hell today after exploding in the center of Casablanca.
According to the police there were no other casualties.

I have to say that I'm happy that Moroccans are such amateurs in suicide-attacks.
Lets keep them that way.

Update: According to Aljazeera, the bombers blew themselves up to hell close to the American Cultural Center.

Head over to "The View from Fez" for a superb photo-diary of the Sidi Ali ben Hamdush moussem (festival held in honour of a saint)

The photos show a part of Morocco which you usually don't see in non-moroccan newspapers or holiday-brochures.
I kept on watching and stuyding the pictures during worktime. They're really amazing.

Thank you View from Fez!

Part 1 and Part 2 of the photo-account

Copyright Photo: Suzanna Clarke

And another eruption of violence.

And again, one of the terrorist bastards blew himself up when he figured out that he failed miserably.
Why won't they just combust spontaneously during one of their beard-trimming secret meetings?

No seriously, its getting a bit out of hand. Don't you think as well?
And according to some, it will only get worse as Morocco is slowly becoming fertile ground for sophisticated militant groups.
(which kind of says that the ones we experienced until recently were just amateurs)

Well according to As-Sabah that is.

2 men held a traditional marriage-ceremony at the tomb(?) of Sidi Ali bin Hamdoush. Complete with henna-ritual, dades and ululation (that has to be the funniest word ever btw).
I bet you 2 takshitas that the story isn't true or that its exaggerated.

The article is in pdf-format and there is no direct link to it.
But I did manage to make a screencapture of the first part of the article.
I love the main picture btw. A feminine gay ( I assume) in a market. Nothing to do with the actual marriage but good enough to enforce the stereotype. Long live Moroccan journalism


Update: I think I'm a bit sloooooooow today. There is of course a direct link to the 1st page of the newspaper (otherwise I couldn't make the screencapture, duh!)
Here it is: Link (PDF!)

Well, they deserve it. Right?

Anyhow, first this little piece of women-news. The Moroccan government is going to create a council (the 637438th one) to discuss the situation of Moroccan women abroad.
According to Magharebia.com "Moroccan officials want to learn about the real needs of migrant women in order to help improve their day-to-day lives. Although their situation has improved over the years, the reality of life in their host countries can still sometimes fall short of their expectations."
I mean now the position of the Moroccan women in Morocco is 100% super and ok, its now time for the Moroccan women abroad......
Another goal of the council was the creation of the, already mythical, Council of Moroccans Living Abroad.
This is going to be council number 637439. The 14759th and the 548976th council share the same goal and are also working on the creation of council 637439.
I predict that the three councils are going to merge and form the 174th supercouncil that will preside over the creation of the 637439th council. But we need another council for that, to see who's going to be a member of the supercouncil.

The other news article is about the value of Moroccan female labour in the eyes of the European governments. The value tends to rise when the Moroccan women have children.
The Spanish are recruiting Moroccan mothers to work as temporarily labourers in Spain. They get a contract for a couple of months, earn money in Spain and go back to Morocco. (because they will miss their children and stuff)
This is a new kind of migration, called "ethical migration". The term is coined by Socialist mayor Millán, who says "Immigration is the foundation of development, when they return they will take not only money but a lot of education."

Ok, this is very strange.
From MEMRI:

Sometimes, somehow I get this craving for Moroccan food/products.
I think that my parents implanted me with this chip that activates my cravings once every month or so.

So in order to relieve myself a bit from these cravings, I decided to share it with you.
OK, most of the following products aren't exactly Moroccan products, as in manufactured and owned by Moroccan companies.
But they are being sold everywhere in Morocco and are part of my MSFD (Moroccan-Summer Food Diet)





First is Sidi Ali! It could've been easy Sidi Harazem, I really don't taste the difference. But the logo of Sidi Ali is aesthetically more pleasing.



And then we have Kiri!
Mmmm. Kiri is/was the most convenient beach-food! (if it didn't melt in our bags that is)
And somehow, it was also the main food product if you were sick. Kiri, Sidi Ali and chorba (soup), for a healthy living.



Another favorite beachfood was bocadillo. (we always stayed in Tetouan or Cabo Negro, hence the spanish products)
Especially the ones where they chucked everything in. Chicken, fries, peppers, sardines, olives, lemon, all in 1 sandwich! And sometimes it had a little bit of sand in it!



Oh and Tide! Ok you can't actually eat this and you can buy it practically everywhere (except most European countries) but the Tide-commercials were Morocco at its best! They were so cheesy and if we were bored we used to make our own Tide-commercials
And they used Tide for doing the dishes, laundry, cleaning the windows, washing their hands and even their hair!(in rural areas that is)


And of this one I couldn't find any pictures on the net. But it's a big chocolate bar called Maruja (I think it was Spanish). It was wrapped in red paper and Maruja was wriiten in white golden borders. It was filled with nuts and sooo delicious!



Cola Cao! The chocolate drink. Oh that was so unhealthy yet so delicious and addictive. (just grab a spoon and start eating the powder)

So thats it for now. Water and bread is waiting for me on the kitchen table

According to this article, the birth of Princess Lalla Khadija will be marked with feminist celebrations.

I first read it in my feed-reader, so I immediately thought of hardline feminist like Nawal El Saadawi and Fatima Mernissi leading the celebrations with speeches, slogans and chants in front of the Moroccan masses ( Liberty! Armpit hair! No more kitchens!!!!)
I was already planning to hitchhike my way to Morocco.

But then I read the article, its just a normal celebration. As in, they will spend the same amount of money and time as they did when the prince was born.
Bummer.

M6 and beautiful redhead Lalla Salma just added another member to the royal family.
Yesterday (Wednesday) Princess Salma gave birth to Princess Lalla Khadija!
Congrats!!!!!

Oeh I hope she's beautiful. In other words, I dont hope she has the same ears as her father (and grandfather)
But I bet she's beautiful!
Oeh she must be a redhead, please let her be a redhead!

Btw, Myrtus are you a psychic? You reported this 2 weeks ago already! Do you have sources within the royal palaces? If so, can I have their phone number?

Some Moroccan politicians do have brains and guts to approach Israel normally.
The Mayor of Marrakesh for instance. He signed a trilateral accord with Marseille (Fr.) and Haifa in Israel. He didn't sign it directly with Haifa though. Everything went through Marseille, which is the sister-city of both Haifa and Marrakech.
But the mayor did go on a picture with Haifa's mayor:


(Moroccan mayor is on the right, the Israeli one on the left)

The accord is nothing special really, it "provides for tourism training for students from Marrakesh and Haifa in Marseille".
But it's still remarkable.

But ofcourse, Morocco also has its share of Israel-haters and religious wackos. The local PJD threatened the mayor with an "intifada" against this scandalous decision. How dare they normalize ties with a zionist city! Bad mayor, bad mayor!

(via MEMRI)

Last week I read this most touching story on Israellycool about a Moroccan guy who ended up living in Israel.

You can read the story here.
To summarize the whole thing, Fayce from a Casablancan (poor) suburb ends up studying in Israel. In Casablanca he went to a Jewish school and from there he succeeded in entering an Israeli university.

Now this story is very remarkable, since it is quite unusual. When I read it I was astonished by the simplicity of the story. How "easy" it is to adapt in Israel, to enter Israel and succeed there, even as a Moroccan muslim.
It also shows how normal everything actually should be.

In the article Fayce is quoted saying that Tel Aviv and Casablanca are two sides of one large Mediterranean culture.
In my opinion, he couldn't have said it better. Without trying to sound as an überhipster, but I did my share of travelling in the Middle East. And the 3 most remarkable cities are Tel Aviv, Casablanca and Beirut.
All three share a thriving Middle-Western community, as I like to call it.
People claim that Istanbul is the main East-West gateway, but personally I think that that title should go to these 3 cities.
Walking around in Beirut, Casablanca or Tel Aviv makes you feel like you're in Europe but in a "Middle Eastern" way.

But still, the 3 cities are divided by political and psychological borders.
Borders that shouldn't exist. I'm of course talking about the fact that Morocco and Lebanon are not recognizing Israel as a state.
I can't talk about the whole Israel-Lebanon thing, thats a problem between those 2 countries.
But Morocco-Israel is a different story.

It's kind of a known fact that the ruling elites in both countries are pretty close.
Something Morocco should be proud of.
A lot of times people claim that, as an "Arab" country, Morocco shouldn't foster good relations with Israel until the Palestine-question is settled.
Well up yours and nonsense. The Palestine-question shouldn't play a major role in how Morocco defines its relationship with Israel.
I would like to note here that European countries, who dó recognize Israel, have done more for the Palestinians then the so-called Arab brethern states.
Recognizing Israel doesn't mean that Morocco neglects the Palestinian cause or wishes to see all Palestinians driven in to the sea.
In fact, it means that Morocco wishes to act as a responsible state and wishes to look for a responsible solution.
Not recognizing Israel is a childish, easy way of acting and a disgusting way of pretending that Morocco cares about the Palestinians.

So no half-hearted liasion-offices and semi-official relations but the real thing! I want to see a Moroccan flag in Tel Aviv and an Israeli flag in Rabat.
And I hope and expect that soon it will happen.

To finish my previous entry on my nationality and the (lack of) rights coming with it.

The reason I wanted to give up my nationality is that I don't do anything with it. I don't need it and usually we throw stuff away we don't need, right?
Of course my actions were also triggered by the discussion in the Netherlands concerning the dual nationality of the (junior) cabinet-member Ahmed Aboutaleb (about whom I blogged here)
Rightist politicians are questioning his loyalty. Is he loyal to the Queen of the Netherlands or to the King of Morocco? Of course this whole discussion was based on fear for the Other. It was surrounded with hatred and distrust of everything thats not 100% Dutch.
Ahmed Aboutaleb already proved himself to be a loyal Dutch politician.
Some people who initially complained about the dual nationality of Aboutaleb backed down when it came out that our future queen Maxima, an Argentinian, has a dual nationality herself. She can't give up her Argentinian nationality as well, just like the 315.000 Moroccans in the Netherlands

But nonetheless, I kind of understood where the rightist politicians were coming from. It is weird to have a politician in your government who has two nationalities.
It ís different than a politician with only 1 nationality.
But this discussion wasn't my main motive to give up my nationality. Something else motivated me. A discriminating law from the Moroccan state.


Just to clarify things, the Moroccan state won't let you give up your nationality. Even if you took your Moroccan passport to your local embassy and whiped your tuches with it in public, you would just get a new one.
So all the Moroccans living, and probably born, outside Morocco are still Moroccan nationals.

Some people would say where the harm is in all this? In one of the comments in the previous post somebody asked if it bothers me in my day-to-day life.
My answer would be that it doesn't bother my day-to-day life. But it does bother me on ideological, personal and political level.
The thing is that although I have my Moroccan nationality, I'm not allowed to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Morocco.

I see this as unfair. There are around 4 million Moroccans living outside of Morocco, approximately 12% of the population. Most of those Moroccans work their asses of to send money back to Morocco. They keep the country floating. We invest in the country, we spend our holiday-money there.
Every year the Moroccan state receives between 3-4 billion dollars from the Moroccan immigrants., thats around 10% of the national GDP.
And yet, the Moroccan state doesn't allow us to vote. We have no right whatsoever to have a say in how the money is being spend. Or how the country should be run.
We are Morocco's "greatest resource" but we are kept silent.
In a way, we're second class citizens.

If I'm forced to be Moroccan, why not let me vote? And if I'm not allowed to vote, why not let me give up my nationality?
Isn't this profiting from your own citizens? I know Morocco does that all the time (and to some extent, all states do that) but at least the citizens ín Morocco get to vote in half-rigged elections.

If we are the "greatest resource" of Morocco, shouldn't you take our opinion in consideration? We're not money-making machines. We are your citizens. Most of the Moroccans living outside Morocco care about their country. The first-generation suffered a lot so that they can build up their country and the lives of their relatives in Morocco. Is this how you repay them? By telling them to shut up, be Moroccan and send money back home? Is this your gratitude?

I just don't get it! Why are you afraid of letting us vote or letting us give up our nationality?
Taking away a piece of paper doesn't take away the sense of cultural and financial loyalty most Moroccans have towards the country.
Letting us vote doesn't turn us into beasts trying to manipulate the country.

If Morocco pretends and tries to be a civilized, reforming country then it should let us vote or let us give up our nationality.
But don't tie us down.

This week I tried to give up my Moroccan nationality. Without success.

I went to the consulate and the embassy and asked them to "un-nationalise" me. I told them that I threw my moroccan passport and carte nationale away and now I wanted them to completely revoke my Moroccan citizenship.
The personnel gave me weird looks and said that it was impossible to do so. I was Moroccan forever. From the day I was born till the day I die, I'll be a Moroccan.

I said that it was OK, but as a Moroccan citizen, I want to excercise all the rights given to me by the Moroccan constitution.
They said that they can't because Moroccan law doesn't allow me to excercise my rights.

Of course I got pretty mad and explained them that every country that cares about it citizens, especially the ones keeping the country from falling into extreme poverty, allowed them all their rights.
I told them that what they're doing now was humiliating and actually a form of national imprisonment.

I hissed that they were hypocrites and left.

More details and longer post later.

I was just reading this article on BBC about the art of story-telling in Morocco and how it was disappearing.
Most young Moroccans don't care anymore about story-telling, they just love all those south-american telenovellas like the one of Maria-Guadaloupe! She was so cool!
A couple of summers ago when I went to Morocco all the market-ladies were selling t-shirts with the imprint of Guadaloupe's face on it!

Anyway, the BBC-article ends with saying that the Moroccan government blocked Google Earth in Morocco!
I know this happened in Bahrain but I never heard of a block in Morocco.
I tried googling it but couldn't find anything.
Does somebody know more?
And it is blocked in Morocco right? So that means that the maps of the palaces are not blurred? Its just that the whole device is blocked but the maps are still normal and there?

Update: Oh oops, I couldn't find anything on Google because I misspelled Morocco.....
Anyway lets change the subject quickly, can somebody tell me where all the palaces are located? I know in which cities but where exactly?