“I am loving every minute of my time here in Morocco. Really, every day I wake up and I still have to pinch myself to make sure that I’m not dreaming,” says Kalyn Campbell of Missoula, shown above hiking in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Campbell is visiting the country on a nine-month language scholarship from the U.S. Department of State. Courtesy photo

* “Morocco has shown me that it isn’t the place you are at that makes you happy, but it’s what you make of your time that creates an amazing experience… I’ve realized that it’s imperative to embrace every experience, regardless of whether it is positive or negative. You’re alive, you’re human, you have the ability to be anything you want, and that is a beautiful thing.” *

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The Missoulian, by Kalyn Campbell (December 29, 2013) — First of all, let me say that I am loving every minute of my time here in Morocco. Really, every day I wake up and I still have to pinch myself to make sure that I’m not dreaming. There are times when I have to stop and take a second to ask myself how I got so lucky to be here, and I keep falling more and more in love with Marrakech every day.

“It’s exciting and a little bit intimidating to pack up your life for something totally foreign and alien,” says Hellgate senior Kalyn Campbell, spending her final high school year in an exchange program in Morocco. Photo: Michael Gallacher/Missoulian

One of the best parts about my experience thus far has been my host family. I live in a riad, which is a typical Moroccan-style home and is open to the sky and built around a central courtyard.

I am with a family of six: my father, mother, aunt, older sister, middle sister and my younger brother, all of whom have been incredible. Not only have they welcomed me in as their daughter, but they are a traditional Muslim family and it has been so interesting to be able to explore Islam through them.

As for highlights, where do I even begin?

I have met so many people and heard so many wonderful stories, many of which will stay with me for the rest of my life. Connecting with others is a beautiful experience, and being able to exchange cultures is a powerful thing.

My Arabic studies have been incredible. I had no idea that learning a language could be this engaging and stimulating, and because of this my language has really progressed. I feel very comfortable speaking the language, and a majority of people here are surprised to learn that I am from America and not Moroccan! Just today, I had a Moroccan ask me for directions and they had no idea that I wasn’t from Marrakech!

Also, I was given the name “Salma” by my host family upon my arrival, as Kalyn doesn’t roll off the tongue easily. In Arabic, it means peace and safety, and it is also the name of the queen of Morocco.

I have experienced little to no culture shock and the transition to life here has been painless.

Furthermore, I haven’t been homesick at all: There is no doubt in my mind that this is exactly where I’m meant to be.

***

While my experience thus far has been perfect, Morocco itself is not. Keep in mind that it is still a developing country and therefore experiences the same issues that all Third World countries do.

For me, the biggest issue has been dealing with sexism and harassment. I cannot walk down the street without being harassed in some way, but fortunately it has never been physical. Every girl here receives it, whether she is dressed “Western” or wearing a veil. But the worst part is that no one is doing anything to combat it, and it frustrates me to no end that this has become acceptable in the eyes of their society.

While I believe that America is far from gender equal, I feel grateful that I can walk down the street without having to ignore someone’s rude comments and gestures. Regardless, I have never felt unsafe here and have yet to experience anything truly negative within this country.

There have been countless interesting experiences, but one of my favorites was getting traditional bridal henna on my hands and feet. A woman came over to my house and I sat still for seven hours as she made my skin into a living work of art. Also, celebrating Eid al-Adha was an amazing experience. Besides Ramadan, it’s the second largest holiday in the Muslim calendar, and it was really beautiful to be part of such an incredible tradition.

While I wish I could go into detail about it, let’s just say that it involved sacrificing a sheep and eating said sheep for months after.

The adventures have been endless; I’ve been locked on a roof, watched a full moon crest the dunes of the Sahara, gotten lost for hours only to wind up exactly where I started and, of course, I’ve eaten my fair share of street food, which is an adventure within itself.

“There have been countless interesting experiences, but one of my favorites was getting traditional bridal henna on my hands & feet.” Kalyn Campbell, The Missoulian

The average day for me goes like this: After a commute of about 30 minutes (I take the bus every day; suffice to say it doesn’t run on a schedule), I start class at 9 a.m. and end at noon. During these hours, I study Arabic Fusha (Modern Standard Arabic) with four other American students who are on this program with me. My teacher is absolutely incredible, and it’s hard to believe that I’ve learned so much in such a short amount of time.

After class, I have a break until 3 p.m. and electives go from 3 to 5:30 p.m. I am studying calligraphy and cooking once a week, and I take belly dancing lessons twice a week, all of which have been a great way to deepen my cultural understanding of Morocco.

After electives, I either have a free afternoon or an English class. I will receive my Teachers of English as a Foreign Language certification soon, and I will then be teaching a class twice a week at my language center for students who come from poor backgrounds and are otherwise unable to study English. Currently, I am volunteering at the Amal Center, which is a center that supports disadvantaged women by providing them with training, work experience and, now, education (http://hope-amal.org).

I teach English twice a week in the evenings to a group of four women, and it has been such a blessing for me to watch them grow. To see people who have a genuine desire to learn is a beautiful thing, and something that I think most American students take for granted. I stay really busy here, but in my free time I love exploring everything this city has to offer. I’ve gotten very good at bargaining, so traversing the souks within the Medina (the old city of Marrakech) is always a lot of fun.

I love spending time with my friends, and Moroccan teenagers are the same as their American counterparts in most ways. Every day holds something new.

Morocco has shown me that it isn’t the place you are at that makes you happy, but it’s what you make of your time that creates an amazing experience.

It’s hard to describe an experience like this, and it is even more difficult to describe how it changes you.

[Continue Reading…]

Editor’s note

The Missoulian featured Kalyn Campbell in a story last August, just as the Hellgate High School senior was leaving for Morocco on a nine-month, all-expenses-paid scholarship from the U.S. Department of State. “It’s exciting and a little bit intimidating to pack up your life for something totally foreign and alien,” Campbell said at the time.

Campbell was one of 10 students chosen for the immersion education program, and one of 625 students who are participating in the State Department’s National Security Language Initiative for Youth in 10 countries around the world. She is living with a host family, studying Arabic, taking cultural lessons, and teaching English to people in her community. Missoulian reporter Betsy Cohen caught up with her by email and asked her to share what the experience has been like so far.

The post Montana High School Senior Learns Language and More in Morocco – Missoulian appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

Miguel Villagran/AP Images

* From Rabat, Morocco: The pros & cons of an internship program that tries to teach students about class divisions *

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The Atlantic, Michelle Sutherland (Rabat, Morocco, January 2, 2014) — Sawsene Nejjar is a student at L’Ecole de Gouvernance et d’Economie, a private college in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. The summer after her first year at the school, she prepared for an unusual aspect of her education: an internship selling furniture at KITEA—think French Ikea.

“I had my nail polish, my hair done, my makeup done. I felt good, but everyone was looking at me like, ‘Who’s this bourgeoisie coming here? Why is she talking in French every time she’s talking on the phone? Why is she always smiling?’” said Nejjar, who is currently in her third year.

Her co-workers were different than she was. Mostly members of the middle class, they did not attend private school, if they attended post-secondary school at all. They didn’t talk to each other in French. (The official language is the Moroccan dialect of Arabic, though private school teaches French at a young age and public school teaches it a few years later.) The way they spoke the Moroccan dialect of Arabic was different, too.

“Sometimes when I talked in Moroccan dialect at first they were laughing because it’s this strange accent for them,” said Nejjar.

Nejjar’s internship did exactly what it was designed to do—expose her to people different than she is and teach her about power dynamics along the way.

* * *

L’Ecole de Gouvernance et d’Economie is a small private school that costs 68,900 dirhams, or about $8,400, a year to attend. (Public schools, on the other hand, are free.) The school’s 200 students spend their first three years as undergraduates, and their third year is required to be spent abroad. They return for their fourth and fifth years to specialize as master’s students, training to be leaders in government, diplomacy, academia and non-governmental organizations.

The post What If Wealthy College Kids Were Required to Do Low-Wage Jobs? – The Atlantic appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

Amazighan women with thir children are pictured in Anfgou, High Atlas mountains, on January 11, 2013. AFP Photo/Fadel Senna

AFP (Rabat, Morocco, January 11, 2013) — Thirty months after winning official recognition for their ancient Amazigh-language in a new constitution, Morocco’s Berbers are pushing for January 13, when they celebrate their New Year, to be made a public holiday.

Festivities are planned in several cities around the North African country, including the capital Rabat, said activist Mounir Kejji, with Monday marking the first day of year 2964 for the region’s indigenous pre-Arab inhabitants.

The other gatherings will take place mainly in parts of the country with concentrated Berber populations, such as Agadir and Tiznit in the southwest.

But more than just a celebration and a way of reaffirming their cultural identity, it will also be a chance for the Amazigh community to demand that this day is given its proper place in the national calendar, said Kejji.

In 2011, in response to Arab Spring protests sweeping Morocco, King Mohamed VI introduced a new constitution which acknowledged Amazigh as an official language of the state alongside Arabic, a major achievement for a tongue that was once banned in schools.

But the Islamist-led government has yet to pass the required legislation to implement the initiative, which would see Amazigh integrated into teaching and other areas of public life.

A decade earlier, the king had signalled his support for Morocco’s indigenous Berber culture in a historic speech in the northern town of Ajdir.

Morocco hosts the largest numbers of Berbers, who live in scattered communities across North Africa — including in Algeria and Libya — but there are no official estimates of the size of the population.

A census taken in 2004 showed that 8.4 million Moroccans spoke an Amazigh dialect daily, or around a quarter of the country’s total population.

In Morocco “we want the Amazigh New Year to be considered a public holiday, following the example of other calendars,” Meriem Demnati, another activist, told AFP.

“With the constitution’s recognition of Amazigh, this is a legitimate demand,” said Ahmed Boukous, director of IRCAM, the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture, which was founded in 2001 and spearheaded the campaign to have the language recognised.

Anthropologists say the possible historical roots of the Berber New Year, known as Yennayer, are difficult to establish with any precision.

“Some historians link it to the enthronement as pharaoh of the Amazigh king Chachnaq after defeating Ramses III,” believed to have happened in 950 BC, said archaeologist Mostafa Ouachi.

“For others it corresponds to what is known in Morocco as the agricultural calendar, celebrated around January 13,” said the Rabat University professor.

Boukous said that the New Year celebration is a “festival that marks the reaffirmation of some important aspects of agrarian society, a return to the land”.

It’s a way for the Amazigh to “refresh their collective memory,” he added.

Ahmed Assid, an academic and activist who supports calls for a “national holiday,” said the traditional Berber New Year celebration had developed into a political cause.

“If the 1st of (Islamic month of) Moharram is a holiday in Morocco, and the 1st day of the Christian calendar is a holiday, why shouldn’t the 1st day of the Amazigh New Year be also?” he asked.

The head of IRCAM says that for the moment, in the absence of any proposal to “formalize” the event, “there is no official position on the subject,” leaving the activists to push on with their campaign.

The youth wing of the Amazigh Network for Citizenship (Azetta) launched a petition earlier this month, according to Moroccan newspaper Liberation.

The daily said that around 100 groups are expected to celebrate Yennayer around the country.

The post Morocco Berbers Mark New Year, Call for Public Holiday – AFP appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

Sfenj, from Morocco — The ring shape of these Moroccan treats might be similar to the classic American doughnut, but instead of being smooth-edged, sfenj are quite rough-hewn. The yeast dough used for sfenj is sticky and unsweetened, and the doughnuts are often sold by street vendors. Sfenj can be enjoyed plain or dusted with sugar, for breakfast or with a cup of tea. Photo: Flickr/megan.chromik

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* For doughnut lovers, there’s a whole world of variations out there to the classic American doughnut. From Morocco to Mexico, these delicious treats take on many different names.  But it’s clear that fried dough in the shape of a ring has legions of fans around the globe. *

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USA Today/TheDailyMeal.com, by Elsa Säätelä (January 12, 2014) — Fried dough is a universal delight, and can be found in all kinds of shapes and flavors – from round and thick and filled with just about anything, to stick-shaped, to thin to flat. The style of preparation also differs depending on the region, and while all doughnuts are fried (or it wouldn’t be a doughnut, right?), some are cooked in oil while others are simmered in ghee.

In Italy, the Tuscan treat bombolone is a sugar-coated and often custard cream-filled masterpiece, which – different from a classic Boston cream doughnut – gets its filling piped in from above (instead of the side) and is left with a visible cream-top. In Northern India, Pakistan and Nepal, you can bite into the delicious flaky-on-the-outside, creamy-on-the-inside balushahi, a yogurt-filled doughnut fried in ghee (a type of clarified butter).

Similar to the stick-shaped and widely known churros, youtiao, also known as Chinese oil sticks or Chinese crullers, is a lightly salted Chinese doughnut. But instead of dunking it in hot chocolate like the tradition with churros, these “oil sticks” are dipped into rice porridge or soy milk for breakfast.

To get a more in-depth scope of what fried dough treats look like around the world, look through the slideshow above of doughnut variations from North Africa to Nepal.

Sfenj

Morocco

The ring shape of these Moroccan treats might be similar to the classic American doughnut, but instead of being smooth-edged, sfenj are quite rough-hewn. The yeast dough used for sfenj is sticky and unsweetened, and the doughnuts are often sold by street vendors. Sfenj can be enjoyed plain or dusted with sugar, for breakfast or with a cup of tea.

 O O O O O

Jalebi

South Asia, India and the Middle East

Jalebi, common in South Asia, India and the Middle East, are delicate “loops” of dough resembling thin funnel cakes. The batter for these sticky sweets is fermented, and after frying, the jalebi are soaked in syrup. Like most pastries, these treats are best eaten hot.

  O O O O O

Youtiao

China

Youtiao, also known as Chinese oil sticks or Chinese crullers, are lightly salted Chinese doughnuts. But instead of dunking them in hot chocolate like is the tradition with churros, these “oil sticks” are dipped into rice porridge or soy milk for breakfast.

  O O O O O

Sufganiyot

Israel

Sufganiyot — fried, jelly-filled doughnuts — are a popular Hanukkah treat in Israel and in Jewish communities around the world. Different countries may call desserts like these by different names (in Russia, they’re ponchiki; in Poland, paczki), but wherever they’re found, sufganiyot are deep-fried in oil and filled with some type of jelly.

  O O O O O

Balushahi

Northern India, Pakistan, Nepal

The flaky-on-the-outside, creamy-on-the-inside balushahi are doughnuts made with yogurt fried in ghee (a type of clarified butter), and they’re enjoyed as a traditional dessert or snack in parts of northern India, Pakistan and Nepal.

  O O O O O

Oliebollen

The Netherlands

In the Netherlands, ball-shaped and deep-fried oliebollen (literally translated as “oil balls”), are typically filled with raisins, and enjoyed around festivities like New Year’s Eve.

 O O O O O 

Bombolone

Italy

In Italy, the Tuscan treat bombolone is a sugar-coated and often custard- or cream-filled thick doughnut, which — different from a classic American cream doughnut — gets its filling piped in from above (instead of the side) and is left with a visible cream top. Jelly variations are also quite common.

  O O O O O

Tulumba

Turkey

Made from an egg-heavy dough, the Turkish treat tulumba resembles crullers or profiteroles in texture, but with a crunchier outside shell. The small batons are piped into hot oil from a tube, and soaked in syrup after frying. Tulumba are also popular in other Mediterranean countries such as Greece and Croatia.

  O O O O O

Churros

Spain, Mexico

Churros have become popular in several parts of the world, but they’re often connected with Spain or parts of Latin America. There, churros — fluted wands deep-fried in oil and dusted with cinnamon and sugar — are often eaten for breakfast (or as a late-night snack) dipped in cafe con leche or thick hot chocolate.

 O O O O O

Koeksisters

South Africa

When looking for a sweet and deep-fried treat in South Africa, turn to koeksisters. These “braided” dough sticks are sticky and crunchy on the outside, and moist and syrupy inside. After frying, these treats are soaked in a sweet syrup flavored with cinnamon, ginger, and lemon.

 O O O O O

Sel Roti

Nepal

Nepalese sel roti are both a breakfast food and special-occasion treat, enjoyed during the Nepali religious festivals of Dashain and Tihaar. These ring-shaped doughnuts are made with rice flour, and fried thin and crispy.

 O O O O O

Munkki

Finland

Finnish munkki are similar to classic American yeast doughnuts, but much heavier and doughier. The batter calls for butter, eggs, milk, flour and salt, and the doughnuts can be found both ring-shaped or round and filled with strawberry jelly. If you ask for a “possu” (especially common at truck-stop cafés and other local bakeries), you will get a quite flat, almost square-like version of this same jelly-filled doughnut. The name “possu” means pig, and is referring to the ambiguous “pig shape” of the doughnut.

The post 12 Delicious Doughnut Variations From Around the World – USA Today appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

Amazigh youth in Rabat, Morocco on January 12th called for the government to make the Amazigh calendar official. Photo: Hassan Benmehdi

Magharebia, by Hayam El Hadi in Algiers, Yasmin Najjar in Tunis and Hassan Benmehdi in Casablanca (January 13, 2014) — Festivities began across the Maghreb to mark Yennayer on Sunday January 12th. Also known as “Amenzu n’Yennayer” or “Tabburt u Seggas” (door of the year), the Amazigh New Year remains one of North Africa’s most popular festivals.

Algerians mark the New Year

Algerian Amazighs on Yennayer celebrate their attachment to their and ancestral traditions. Across the country, preparations began several days earlier to organize the sumptuous festivities marking the start of 2964.

On New Year’s Eve, a gargantuan family meal is prepared so that the whole year will be placed under the sign of abundance. In Constantine, roosters are traditionally sacrificed on this occasion. They are used in a favourite local dish, trida.

“Yennayer with its culinary traditions, ritual practices and particular colours, continues to mark time as a perennial event and always an integral part of all constituent traditions of the cultural identity of Algeria, but also all Maghreb countries,” said Mohamed Ziane, a professor at Mentouri University of Constantine.

In Ouargla, festivities celebrating the new Amazigh year began a week in advance. Exhibitions were organised on the traditions of Amazigh culture, conveyed through traditional bridal dresses such as Melhfa and traditional silver jewellery.

“This festival is a great opportunity to reaffirm the sanctity of national unity,” said Houaria Mehmel, a mother of two children. “The entire region is experiencing difficult times. Attempts to sow discord are dangerous. Such a feast recalls how, we are one people with the same traditions regardless of the place where we live.”

The New Year celebration shows “the richness of Moroccan identity with its many tributaries Arab-Islamic, Amazigh, Hassani and other forms of expression, including Jewish rituals,” said Ahmed Sabir, dean of the Faculty of humanities of Agadir. Photo: Reuters

Moroccans celebrate ‘Idh Yennayer’

In Morocco, particularly in the region of Souss, festivities for “Idh Yennayer” are steeped in history. The New Year recalls the day of the enthronement of the Amazigh king Chachnaq in ancient Egypt.

The celebration also shows Amazigh culture as an essential component of the Moroccan identity, said Ahmed Sabir, dean of the Faculty of humanities of Agadir.

It shows “the richness of Moroccan identity with its many tributaries Arab-Islamic, Amazigh, Hassani and other forms of expression, including Jewish rituals,” he said.

People speak fondly of local traditions.

Mustapha Addaz, waiter in a Casablanca cafe, told Magharebia: ”In our region, a village situated between Agadir and Essaouira, we prepare tagoulla, a mash made from barley or corn.”

Tunisians partake in celebrations

The Tunisian capital hosted a special Yennayer event. “Lam Shaml” and the TOUIZA associations organised Amazigh Cultural days in Tunis to mark the Amazigh New Year.

“The resilience of the Amazigh in establishing their identity and culture through such celebrations is very important,” Tunisian student Moez Zouari told Magharebia.  ”We talk, dress, and eat in an Amazigh way,” he added.

History professor Samir Khribich told Magharebia, “Many development projects in Tunisia have failed because they ignored the national Amazigh heritage.”

“Celebrating the new Amazigh year remains a date for rooting this heritage,” he said.

“We must re-imagine a new concept of development and invention of new strategies capable of taking into account the civilizational and historical character of the Tunisian people both culturally and socially,” he noted.

The post Maghreb Celebrates Yennayer 2964 – Magharebia appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

The world’s tallest minaret is in Casablanca reaching 210 meters. Photo: Getty

* January 14, 1943, saw the beginning of the Casablanca Conference at which Winston Churchill, Franklin D Roosevelt and Charles de Gaulle met in Morocco to map out a strategy for ending the Second World War. *

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Express/UK, William Hartson
January 14, 2014

1. By a curious coincidence, January 14 was also the date on which Humphrey Bogart, star of the film Casablanca, died in 1957.

More than 2.2 million passengers rode Casablanca’s new tramway line in November. MAP, MOTM

2. Roosevelt’s flight to the conference was the first time a US president had flown in an aeroplane.

3. ‘Casablanca’ means ‘white house’, so you might say he went from one White House to another.

4. The film Casablanca had six entries in the top 100 quotes of the American Film Institute in 2005.

“Casablanca has the world’s second-largest swimming pool, the Orthlieb saltwater pool.”

5. Not only did Bogart not say “Play it again, Sam” in the film but Dooley Wilson, who played Sam, was a drummer faking the piano playing.

6. The world’s tallest minaret is in Casablanca.

7. Casablanca also has the world’s second-largest swimming pool, the Orthlieb saltwater pool.

8. Ingrid Bergman was a few inches taller than Humphrey Bogart, so Bogart stood on boxes or sat on pillows in their scenes together in the film.

9. The demand for “unconditional surrender” for Germany and its allies was one of the terms that came out of the Casablanca Conference.

10. The population of Casablanca is 3.4 million, more than twice that of Rabat, Morocco’s capital.

Morocco’s biggest commercial center, Casablanca is playing an increasing role as financial hub for the region. It’s modern new tramway line carries hundreds of thousands of Casablanca commuters daily. Photo: MAP, MOTM

The post Ten Top Facts About Casablanca – Express/UK appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

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 * “The Al-Quds Committee — which is chaired by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI and supports Muslim claims to Jerusalem and the upkeep of its Islamic holy places – will hold its annual gathering in the Moroccan capital Rabat later this week. This year, there are grounds for hope the Committee will make a meaningful contribution to peace efforts in the Holy Land…” *

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Ahmed Charai, publisher of weekly Moroccan newspaper L’Observateur

Ahmed Charai, Huffington Post
January 15, 2014

The “Al-Quds Committee” (Jerusalem Committee) is an offshoot of the Organization of the Islamic Conference dating back to 1975. Chaired originally by Morocco’s late monarch, Hassan II, and now led by his son, Mohammed VI, its member states — all Muslim-majority countries — cover the Arab world, sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, and the Far East. The stated purpose of the group is to support Muslim claims to Jerusalem and the upkeep of its Islamic holy places, together with the welfare of the Palestinian population and their aspirations to a state with Jerusalem as its capital. The Committee will hold its annual gathering in the Moroccan capital Rabat this week.

In the West, policymakers traditionally have not viewed such multi-government bodies in the region to be particularly helpful: Their public statements are often hijacked by the most strident members, such as the Islamic Republic of Iran. The so-called “rejectionist camp” among Muslim countries blocks calls for a negotiated settlement between Palestinians and Israelis based on a two-state solution, and typically calls for the destruction of the “Zionist entity.” But this year, there are grounds for hope that the Al-Quds Committee will make a meaningful contribution to peace efforts in the Holy Land.

To begin with, despite the constraints long imposed on the Committee by its most belligerent members, King Mohammed VI has consistently tried to work through the group to foster the circumstances necessary to enable the parties to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to achieve a peace accord. These measures include philanthropic projects to build hospitals and schools for the Palestinians and offers to oversee the maintenance of Muslim holy sites during periods of heightened acrimony. The monarchy is trusted by both parties to play this role: Not only have successive kings been outspoken in support of the Palestinians’ legitimate claims; they also maintain a historic bond of trust with the global Jewish community, from the principled stand against Nazism taken by the late King Muhammad V in the 1940s, to quiet political and security cooperation with the Jewish state ever since.

A rare glimpse of how the present king has attempted to use the Al-Quds Committee to constructive ends was provided by U.S. diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks in 2010: The monarch is described by American diplomats as trying to work to Israelis’ and Palestinians’ mutual satisfaction on the restoration of one of the Old City’s historic gates, then in need of repair. The cables also report that the king explicitly referred to the two-state solution as an end goal he would like the Committee to serve.

There are indications that the forthcoming gathering in Rabat will begin to make public what the king has long sought to do in private. In addition to the traditional presence of Islamic states at the conference, the group’s hosts have arranged for important non-Islamic bodies with moral or political clout to participate as observers, and perhaps to add their own voices to the discussion as well. These include the Vatican, representatives of the European Union, President Obama’s special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and United Nations Security Council member states. The “internationalization” of the conference introduces mainstream positions on potential means for a resolution — such as the possibility of establishing Jerusalem as a shared capital for a Palestinian and an Israeli state with international sovereignty over the holy places, with the leaders of each faith responsible for the sites most holy to them. The international presence at the conference can in effect bolster the standing of the moderate camp among the Al-Quds Committee’s longstanding members and help isolate extremist voices. Finally, it creates a framework for Western parties to build on the conference, by asking moderate members to put their words into action and publicly prompt movement in the long-stalled peace efforts. In Israel and Palestine, US Secretary of State John Kerry’s campaign to foster a settlement is nearing its home stretch, with an urgent need for greater regional support. This conference, if effectively steered and supported, can help to provide that support.

The meeting may also prove significant as far as the “rejectionist camp” is concerned. Amid direct high-level negotiations between the United States and Iran over the latter country’s nuclear program, the eyes of the world are on Iran. It faces enormous pressure to show flexibility on issues where its position has been intractable since the 1979 Islamic revolution. A comprehensive agreement between Iran and the United States will necessarily entail Iranian concessions on Hezbollah and Hamas, the militant proxy groups it has long used to attack the Jewish state. It would also require serious rhetorical concessions, whereby Tehran signals a retreat from its stated objective to destroy Israel. These considerations mean that Iran will be closely watched at the Al-Quds Committee conference this week. Will it maintain its obstructionist role or will it abstain from blocking conciliatory moves? Will the language of its pronouncements remain the same or will it demonstrate some positive evolution? The conference presents a test to Iran — and it is in the regime’s interest to achieve a passing grade.

During his White House meeting with President Obama late last year, King Mohammed VI and the American leader saw eye to eye on the importance of achieving a permanent settlement to the conflict over Jerusalem. There are high-level hopes that this week’s meeting in Rabat will prove to be one of the first fruits of that understanding.

The post The ‘Jerusalem Committee’ Reconsidered – Huffington Post, Ahmed Charai appeared first on Morocco On The Move.

Moroccan theatre troupe DABATEATR presents the theater-concet ”Hadda,” telling the story of a tortured woman’s life. Daily Star

The Daily Star, by Chirine Lahoud (Beirut, Lebanon, January 15, 2014) — Theater-makers from Lebanon, Syria, Morocco and Tunisia will gather at Tayyouneh’s Sunflower Cultural Space (aka Dawar al-Shams) this week for the first edition of “Agora 1,” a platform for theater dialogue and a laboratory for experimentation. Theater performances and open forums have been scheduled with the aim of supporting young Arab dramaturges who undertake, as organizers put it, “a syncretic process of experimentation, critical thinking and creativity.”

Agora is a nonprofit association focusing on the development of culture and arts. “It considers that each citizen has the right to move, express and discuss freely in public spaces,” Agora’s organizers say. “The total absence of a cultural policy in Lebanon, and in most Arab countries, is a big concern in everything we are doing,” said Hanan Hajj-Ali, veteran thespian and Dawar al-Shams co-founder.

The events scheduled for Agora are meant to pinpoint “what are the problems, the differences and the perspectives” of these young theater-makers.

All the works scheduled for the event are quite different from one another. The participating troupes all share common “practice, concepts and orientations,” Hajj-Ali added, as well as notions of “how and why they relate to society.”

Beirut’s Zoukak Theater will present their “Lucena/Obedience Training,” a new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s “Emperor and Galilean.” Daily Star

Agora begins Thursday evening with “Lucena/Obedience Training,” a new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s “Emperor and Galilean,” by Beirut’s Zoukak Theater Company. Founded in 2006, the troupe’s stated goal is to seek continuity in theater practice, as a means to position themselves “against marginalized systems.”

Hajj-Ali explained how Zoukak had been chosen in a competition to work on Ibsen’s writing.

“This text is hardly known,” Hajj-Ali said. “Ibsen talks about the different layers in the relationship among power and society, religion and politics. There is theater within theater,” taking up the power the autocratic stage director “has on the actors.”

Moroccan theatre troupe DABATEATR presents the theater-concet ”Hadda.” Daily Star

With their play “Hadda,” Morocco’s DABATEATR theater troupe investigates the notion of a “theatrical laboratory” in slightly different terms. DABATEATR mingles pedagogy and dramaturgy, focusing on issues of public space, Agora’s organizers say, using “educational tools to reach those who face multiple barriers, hindering their social and professional integration.”

At the center of this poetic and adventurous one-woman show is the eponymous musician, Hadda (Jamila El Haouni), a tortured woman telling her life story. This theater-concert places Haouni at the center of a stage, while a mingling of animations and other videos and music are projected around her.

Hajj-Ali said that when she saw this play for the first time, she was very impressed by Haouni’s talent.

Damascus Theater Lab will present Oussama Ghanam’s “It Happened Tomorrow,” which assembles three parts from different plays. Daily Star

Damascus Theater Lab will present Oussama Ghanam’s “It Happened Tomorrow.” Created in 2010, this play assembles three acts of three different plays: “Requested Concert” by Franz Xavier Krotz, Dario Fo, Franca Rame’s “Monologues” and an episode from the English play “Shopping and Fucking.” Although Ghanam has written more recent plays, Hajj-Ali explained, this one was by far the “more interesting in terms of experimentation.”

The idea of laboratories is fairly common nowadays. Laboratoire d’Art’s Cabriolet Film Festival, for example, offers a yearly screening program of short film meant to open audiences’ minds to different views of cinema. A similar objective is evident in Agora 1. It hopes to promote discussions of the objectives and novelties of experimental theater, emphasizing the importance of diversity of opinion and provoking onlookers to consider new perspectives.

One of Agora’s driving principles is freedom of expression, and an open forum will draw the curtain on the debut edition of the event. Members of the contributing troupes will discuss their latest productions and shares their experiences trying to create independent theater in their respective countries.

The event will close with a discussion of the Tunisian Theater Lab’s performance of Moez Mrabet’s “Striptease.” Daily Star

The Tunisian Theater Lab spokesperson Moez Mrabet will be on hand to introduce the staging of the troupe’s new work “Striptease.” Hajj-Ali promises that several other special (and secret) guests have been chosen to grace Agora’s final forum, to add depth and further layers of experimentation to the discussion.

In addition to allowing thespians to share their work with the Beirut public, the closing forum is will provide a space for lab participants to address fundamental questions about theater practice and the public – such as how laboratories like Agora can keep developing despite lack of national cultural policies, and how progressive thespians can bridge the gap between theory and practice.

“Agora 1” will run at Dawar al-Shams from Jan. 16-19. For more information, please call 01-381-290.

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“We will do nothing to rock the [economy's] boat,” Moroccan Finance Minister Mohamed Boussaid said on January 8th. AFP/Abdelhak Senna

* “The Moroccan economy is on track,” Finance Minister Mohamed Boussaid said on January 8th regarding the current state of the Moroccan economy and its prospects for growth. *

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Magharebia, by Siham Ali (Rabat, Morocco, January 16, 2014) — Morocco needs to achieve 6% GDP growth in order to reduce the jobless rate, Employment Minister Abdeslam Seddiki said this week, confirming that plans are in place to realize that goal.

Moroccan Minister of Employment and Social Affairs Abdeslam Seddiki

Growth of 1% guarantees some 30,000 new jobs, Seddiki told L’Economiste on Monday (January 13th). The minister stressed the need to balance innovative investments and those in traditional sectors.

He also pointed to the importance of infrastructure investment in stimulating both indirect and direct employment.

Earlier, Finance Minister Mohamed Boussaid spoke reassuringly about the current state of the Moroccan economy and its prospects for growth.

“The Moroccan economy is on track,” Boussaid said January 8th, despite the difficulties of the current economic climate and some negative indicators.

Admittedly, budget and current account deficit figures are in the red, said Boussaid, but urgent steps will be taken by the government to reverse that trend.

“We shall approach 2014 with calm and optimism, and will do nothing to rock the boat,” he noted. The measures contained in the finance bill, he said, would enable targets to be met.

Moroccan Finance Minister Mohamed Boussaid

In employment, for example, the government is banking on the introduction of a special tax regime for the self-employed to promote employment, particularly among young people, and to counter the informal sector.

Some 10,000 young graduates will be trained for recruitment into private teaching.

The economy and finance minister is clearly optimistic and priorities have been established for the next three years. They involve the gradual re-establishment of macroeconomic balance, the restoration of confidence, and the introduction of a plan to re-launch the economy, speed up structural reforms and improve governance.

Economist Noureddine Chamili said it was very important for the government to provide reassurance to create a climate of confidence and stability and thus attract investors, both from Morocco and abroad.

It will also be necessary to find an alternative to agriculture to promote growth and thus employment, the economist noted.

“We have to develop other sectors to increase growth. Morocco is on the right track where sector-based strategies and the development of world’s newest business activities are concerned,” he said.

Many citizens are hoping for a real recovery of the national economy in order to improve the lives of Moroccans. Chihab Maaroufi, an employee, said that if the Moroccan economy does well, the situation will have a positive impact on the social front, starting with jobs.

He added that while he hoped the optimism of the finance minister was accurate, “There is a close correlation between the growth rate and job creation. To have a good growth rate, you need to boost the economy at all levels.”

For her part Samiha Faraji, a nurse, noted that the last two years have been difficult for citizens who have had to endure because of the economic crisis and several measures such as the hike in fuel prices and some food products.

“We hope from the bottom of our hearts for an improved Moroccan economy so that our daily lives get better,” she said. “The government should meet its commitments at the social level in order to restore confidence among citizens,” she added.

The evolution of the Moroccan economy should result in the improvement “of the purchasing power of Moroccans, which was eroded over time. The middle class has also suffered in recent years and needs to be strengthened”, she said.

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Morocco’s government adopted a bill to regulate Islamic banks and sukuk issues, said the country’s communication minister. Photo: Reuters

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Al Arabiya, Reuters (Tunis, Tunisia, January 16, 2014) — Morocco’s government on Thursday adopted a bill regulating Islamic banks and sukuk issues after months of delays, paving the way for a final vote by the parliament of the North African kingdom later this year.

Approval of the law will be the last step before establishing full-fledged Islamic banks in Morocco, be they subsidiaries of Moroccan banks or foreign rivals, a measure which may bring more Gulf Arab investment into the country.

Morocco has been seeking to develop Islamic finance for about two years, partly as a way to attract Gulf money and fund a huge budget deficit. But the sensitivity of the Moroccan political elite to Islamism has repeatedly delayed its plans.

Last year, Moroccan deputies approved legislation allowing the government to issue sovereign sukuk, but it has not yet taken steps to raise its first Islamic bonds.

“We have adopted that law today and we are sending to the parliament,” communication minister and government spokesman Mustapha Khalfi told Reuters by telephone.

The minister said it was difficult to estimate how much time parliament would need, but experts expect it will vote before the end of this year.

Morocco’s central bank has started talks with a body of Islamic scholars on establishing a central sharia board to oversee the country’s fledgling Islamic finance industry, an official from Moroccan central bank told Reuters in April.

The board, composed of scholars and financial experts, would rule on whether instruments and activities complied with sharia principles.

Islamic banks will be called participative banks under the Moroccan legislation.

In 2010, Morocco began allowing conventional banks to offer a limited set of Islamic financial services, which obey principles such as a ban on the payment of interest.

The country’s Islamic finance drive accelerated after a moderate Islamist-led government took power through elections in late 2011, and as the Moroccan economy has been hit by the euro zone debt crisis.

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Morocco’s King Mohammed VI delivers address to members of the al-Quds Committee in Marrakech Jan. 17-18 to advance Middle East peace process. Photo: MAP

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* Speech to al-Quds Committee backs two-state solution, warns against using Jerusalem to fan violence, terrorism *

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Washington, DC (January 17, 2014) — In a speech opening the 20^th session of the al-Quds (Jerusalem) Committee of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), held today in Marrakesh, King Mohammed VI praised President Barack Obama’s and Secretary of State John Kerry’s initiative to revive the Middle East peace process, and reaffirmed Morocco’s support for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.

“I would like to commend the untiring efforts exerted by the US Administration under the stewardship of President Barack Obama and the supervision of Secretary of State John Kerry,” said King Mohammed VI. “These efforts have given fresh, constructive momentum to the peace process.”  Today’s meeting in Marrakesh, he said, was “an ideal opportunity to develop common stances which can effectively contribute to the peace process.”

The King underscored his support for an “independent Palestinian State” that would live “in security, peace and concord with Israel.” In this vein, he also urged fellow Arab states “to remain vigilant and to join efforts in order to foil the schemes of extremist, obscurantist groups which seek to exploit the lofty cause of [Jerusalem] so as to fan the flames of violence and terrorism in the region.”

King Mohammed VI accompanied by Prince Moulay Rachid and  Mahmoud Abbas, President of Palestine, at exhibit of Moroccan efforts to support Palestinians and actions of Bayt Mal Al-Quds for Maqdessis. Photo: MAP

His words echoed those in a Joint Statement released following the November 22 meeting between the King and President Obama at the White House, in which the Moroccan sovereign “commended the continuous commitment of the President and the efforts of the Secretary of State to advance Middle East peace. The President acknowledged the contribution of His Majesty, Chairman of the al-Quds Committee, to the efforts aiming to achieve a two state solution.”

The al-Quds Committee was established in 1975 by the OIC under the chairmanship of Morocco’s King Hassan II, with a mission of seeking a political solution to the issue of Jerusalem‘s status in order to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Morocco has played an active role in advancing the Middle East peace process for decades, often alongside American diplomatic efforts. From 1994-1999, the late King Hassan II worked with Israel’s then-Foreign Minister David Levy (who is of Moroccan origin) to bring the parties together; and following the signing of the Oslo Peace Accords, King Hassan was publicly honored by Israeli Minister of Defense Yitzhak Rabin for Morocco’s efforts to further the negotiations.

Morocco has long shown an interest in Jerusalem and the well-being of its residents, funding up to 80% of OIC’s philanthropic projects in the Holy City, including building schools and hospitals and maintaining holy sites. In his speech this morning, the King announced that the al-Quds Committee’s philanthropic arm—the Bayt Mal al-Quds al-Sharif Agency—has developed a five-year plan for 2014-2018 to “promote education and training, namely through the conservation of educational institutions and the purchase of buildings which are then converted into schools, and also by encouraging child enrollment in schools.”

The King said that “the Agency has been promoting sustainable income-generating economic activities and job creation, in addition to the rehabilitation and fitting-out of health facilities, the implementation of housing programs and the provision of socio-cultural facilities, especially for young people.”

The Committee will hold its closing session tomorrow.

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI with members of the al-Quds Committee. Photo: MAP

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“Our meeting today sends out a message to the world, saying that we are a nation committed to peace and to the alliance of civilizations and cultures,” said King Mohammed VI, Chairman of Al-Quds Committee, at closing session in Marrakech. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas seated at panel to King’s right. Photo: AFP

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*“The road to peace is as long as it is arduous. It requires tremendous sacrifice on all sides. It also calls for consensus, realism and courage to make crucial, painful decisions, allowing reason, wisdom, hope and the quest for life to prevail over hatred, extremism, despair and aggression, for the benefit of the peoples in the region.” *

– Morocco’s King Mohammed VI

Maghreb Arab Press (Marrakech, Morocco, January 18, 2014) — King Mohammed VI, Chairman of Al-Quds Committee, delivered remarks on Saturday at the closing session of the 20th meeting of Al-Quds Committee, convened in Marrakech January 17-18 to contribute to the renewed Middle East peace process and build on the recent US initiative to advance negotiations.

Yesterday, the Morocco sovereign commended “the untiring efforts” of the US Administration under President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, which has “given fresh, constructive momentum to the peace process.”  King Mohammed underscored Morocco’s longstanding efforts in support of Jerusalem and its residents, and for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.

The Al-Quds Committee meeting wrapped up today, with remarks by its members and a communiqué.

Here is the full text of the King Mohammed VI’s closing remarks:

“Praise be to God

May Peace and blessings be upon the Prophet, His Kith and Kin

Your Excellency Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority,
Your Excellency Mr. Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation,
Your Highnesses,
Your Excellencies,

As this twentieth session of the Al-Quds Committee comes to a close, I should like to commend the spirit of constructive consultation and sincere, brotherly frankness which has characterized its proceedings.

I also want to say how much I appreciate the keenness shown by all Committee members in the final communiqué to ensure the protection of Al-Quds al-Sharif and achieve strong mobilization to uphold the just cause of our Palestinian brothers.

I should like to take this opportunity to reiterate my determination to support the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to a fully sovereign, independent State, with Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital.

The achievement of this foremost goal requires unity of ranks, effective action and the highest degree of solidarity and commitment.

As Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, and consistent with the pledge made to our Palestinian brothers and to their legitimate National Authority, under the guidance of brother Abu Mazen, I promise to pursue my efforts to support the steadfast struggle of the Palestinian people and to push forward the peace process, whose key element is a fair settlement of the issue of Al Quds al-Sharif.

The road to peace is as long as it is arduous. It requires tremendous sacrifices on all sides.

It also calls for consensus, realism and courage to make crucial, painful decisions, allowing reason, wisdom, hope and the quest for life to prevail over hatred, extremism, despair and aggression, for the benefit of the peoples in the region.

Seen from this perspective, our meeting today sends out a message to the world, saying that we are a nation committed to peace and to the alliance of civilizations and cultures.

Our deep commitment to the identity of Al-Quds does not merely stem from the holy city’s status as the First Qibla and the Third Holy Shrine. In fact, we want Al-Quds to remain what it has always been: a rallying symbol of the monotheistic religions and a haven of coexistence between its inhabitants, in an environment of peace and concord.

Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh.”

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI in Marrakech with members of the Al Quds Committee. Photo: MAP

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Nassiby Min Paris (My love from Paris) by: Ahmed El-Madini, Cairo: Al-Dar Al-Masriah Allubnaniah, 2014. 280pp Ahram Online

*The latest novel from the famed Moroccan author reflects on love, writing and other Arab authors in 1960s Paris *

Ahram Online (January 18, 2014) —It seems that nearly every author passed through Paris in the mid-20th century. The ones we hear about, though, are mostly European, or American, those coming from points further west. So what about those coming from the east, the Arab authors who also flocked to the City of Light, looking for the same thing as all the others: love, or inspiration, which can add up to the same thing when it comes to being a writer.

This is the premise of Moroccan author Ahmed Al-Madini’s latest novel, Nassiby Min Paris (My Love from Paris), recently published by Al-Dar Al-Masriah Allubaniah.

It tells of the author’s love affairs and friendships in Paris, the city he considers a fundamental experience of every Arab author during the 1960s.

Interestingly, Al-Madini spares us the accounts of the friendships he made with the French. Instead, he focuses on the other Arab writers he met there – Iraqi author Shaker Nouri, Egyptian poet Ahmed Abdel-Moati Hegazi, the Jordanian-born Saudi author Abdelrahman Munif, whose five-part sprawling novel Cities of Salt was banned in the Gulf kingdom for its honest portrayal of the Arab peninsula succumbing to the temptations brought on by the discovery of oil.

The novel begins with his birth into a religious family in Morocco, and then follows his journey to Algeria and finally Paris.

An accomplished author who was awarded Morocco’s National Book Award in 2003, Al-Madini has published eight short story collections, eight novels, two poetry collections, and five volumes of cultural essays, one in French.

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“We call on the parties involved (in the Middle East peace process) to strengthen trust between them, abstain from any provocative act which might derail the peace process and to show a sense of realism and a spirit of compromise to make sure the negotiations are successful,” said Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, who is the chairman of the Al Quds Committee. North Africa Post, Photo: MAP

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The North Africa Post (Marrakech, Morocco, January 18, 2014) –Morocco has stressed the need to foster trust between the parties to the Middle East peace process and urged these parties to show the much needed sense of realism and spirit of compromise in order to push forward the peace process.

The call was launched by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI during the opening of the 20th session of the Al Quds (Jerusalem) Committee held in Marrakesh this January 17-18.

“We call on the parties involved (in the Middle East peace process) to strengthen trust between them, abstain from any provocative act which might derail the peace process and to show a sense of realism and a spirit of compromise to make sure the negotiations are successful,” said the king who is the chairman of the Al Quds Committee, an offshoot of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The King urged all parties to be aware of the looming dangers and to join efforts to counter extremism and obscurantism.

“We have to remain vigilant and to join efforts in order to foil the schemes of extremist, obscurantist groups which seek to exploit the lofty cause of Al Quds so as to fan the flames of violence and terrorism in the region,” he said, pointing out that to deal with the situation, “we must consolidate Arab and Islamic joint action, close ranks and adopt innovative measures to effectively contribute to substantiating the desired peace.”

After he called for a pragmatic, efficient strategy, in which the Al Quds Committee would play a crucial role as a permanent mechanism of the OIC, the Committee’s chairman warned that “we cannot defend the holy city against Judaization schemes nor support its steadfast inhabitants through empty slogans or the exploitation of this lofty cause for pointless outbidding purposes.”

The Moroccan ruler insisted that Jerusalem is the core issue of the Palestinian cause, and that no peace is conceivable without an agreement on the final status of East Al-Quds as the capital of the independent Palestinian State.

For peace to be achieved, he added, Israel must fulfill its obligations, especially with respect to the Road Map adopted by the International Quartet and endorsed by the Security Council, as well as the prospects opened up by the Arab Peace Initiative.

After he recalled that this 20th session of Al Quds Committee is being held amidst an increasing international consensus on the need to show greater support for the peace process, the king paid tribute to the “untiring efforts” made by the U.S. administration to push forward the peace process, under the stewardship of President Barack Obama and the supervision of Secretary of State John Kerry.

The Jerusalem committee meeting is actually taking place while the US administration is making a new attempt to broker a peace deal between Palestinians and Israelis.

Secretary of State John Kerry who visited the Middle East region several times over the past few weeks in this context submitted to the two parties, during his latest visit on January 6, a draft “framework agreement” outlining the broad lines of a final settlement on pending issues. It is however widely thought that his chances of success are not very high.

For Morocco’s king, these efforts have without any doubt given fresh, constructive momentum to the peace process. However, he said, the success of this dynamic hinges on the adoption of a comprehensive approach in which all final settlement issues are addressed on the basis of a clear frame of reference and within a specific timeline.

King Mohammed VI then stressed the need for this meeting of the Jerusalem Committee to come up with innovative measures to confront the aggressive policies endured by the steadfast Palestinian people, as well as the settlement policies and the violations perpetrated against Al-Quds al-Sharif and the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque.

[Continue Reading…]

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Moroccan actress Zineb Oukach talks about working with Martin Scorcese on the new film she stars in, The Wolf of Wall Street, and about her next project – entitled I am Morocco – which she is set to produce and star. HeyUGuys

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HeyUGuys/UK, By Amon Warmann (London, England, January 17, 2014) — Zineb Oukach has only made a handful of movies but she’s already worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. The Moroccan actress and model was first seen in 2007′s Gavin Hood vehicle Rendition, and she can now add Martin Scorcese to her CV after working with the director on his latest film, The Wolf of Wall Street.

We had an opportunity to chat with the up and comer on her career thus far and her aims for the future. Additionally, she tells us a little bit about her next project – entitled I am Morocco – which she is set to produce and star.

You’ve made five movies and already you’ve worked with Meryl Streep, Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, and now Martin Scorcese. What’s your secret?!

I am dedicated to my craft. As an actress, I’m constantly focusing on my work, doing the research and learning as much as possible. Even when I’m not working on a specific project, I’m always in acting classes trying to better my craft.

Talk us through that phone call offering you the part in The Wolf of Wall Street. It must have been an easy decision…

Funny Story!! I was actually at a Spa when the news broke. I was there for the majority of the day and when I finished which was around 9pm, I turned on my phone to see I had a ton of missed calls, voicemails, and emails from my manager. I got nervous and thought something was wrong so I called her back immediately. When I called, she said “I have great news.” I was actually up for another role at the time, and thought I got that project instead. So when my manager said I booked the role in Wolf, I was in shock. I called my mom who lives in Morocco at 3am in the morning, as I couldn’t contain my excitement. Given the opportunity to work with Martin Scorcese, is truly an opportunity of a lifetime, and something you can’t turn down.

What’s Martin like to work with?

Working with Marty was probably the highlight of my year (in 2013). He gives you freedom to create which is a blessing for any artist.  Not to mention, in between takes he is so funny and sweet, which made my overall experience absolutely wonderful.

Your character has been described as the symbol for the lifestyles of rich and famous. Now that you yourself are rising in stature and wealth, what’s something you like to indulge in that you couldn’t before? Alternatively, what’s something you still like to do regardless of where you find yourself now?

I would say it’s more of an ability, than a tangible thing. The ability to express myself through my craft is honestly the biggest indulgence. All of these wonderful opportunities have taught me so much, but have also given me the time and space to truly express myself, and I am so grateful. I am now able to work on my own projects, and explore new opportunities which is a luxury in my opinion.

What sort of research did you do for the role?

I watched the show “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” and actually met with the original hosts of Jordan Belfort’s yacht, to help me prepare for my role. Also listening to Marty and his thoughts on my character really helped. On set, I just went with my instinct encompassing everything I learned in my research, and was able truly embody my character.

You’ve spoken before of your love for action movies such as Crouching Tiger: Hidden Dragon. Are there any current action franchises that you’d love to join?

I’d actually love to see I am Morocco become a franchise. If people respond to it well, we would like to take it to the next level where it turns into something like the Bourne film series but with a female lead.

What can we expect from I am Morocco?

I am Morocco has something for everyone. It’s a fun ride that girls will resonate with and guys will enjoy.

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Asmaa Sarah, 19, was crowned Miss Amazigh 2014 in Agadir. Al Arabiya

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Al Arabiya News (Agadir, Morocco, Saturday, January 18, 2014) — Asmaa Sarah, 19, who hails from the Amazigh ethnic group, was crowned Miss Amazigh 2014 in the Moroccan city of Agadir on Friday.

The Amazighs are a group of people who inhabit the area extending from the eastern Siwa Oasis to the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the south of the Sahara.

Contestants in the beauty pageant. Photo courtesy: Hespress website

The contest also came during the occasion of the Amazigh New Year.

Held at a university in Morocco’s southern city of Agadir, the contest judged the beauty queens by their mastery of their ethnic language, and the quality of their cultural dress.

A group of 10 women aged between 18 and 25 have been selected to line up for the beauty pageant.

Apart from their age criteria, the women were expected to master their Tamazight language, a family of Berber dialects spoken in North African countries. A third judging point was related to their ethnic clothing.

More than 50 percent of the event’s proceeds went to a local charity association.

“I am very happy to win the pageant and be able to help local charity organizations, especially the ones that will be held next month in the Berev province of Agadir,” newly-crowned Sarah told a reporter from Anatolia News Agency.

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Assia Bensalah Alaoui,
Professor, International Law, Mohammed V University

Assia Bensalah Alaoui
Silobreaker
January 20, 2014

RABAT – Three years after the Arab Spring revolutions, the democratic world appears more confused than ever about how to respond. US Secretary of State John Kerry has re-launched American mediation efforts in the Middle East at a time when his country’s most reliable partners are estranged: Egypt’s military rulers resent the West’s early support for the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi in his presidential tenure, and Saudi Arabia fears that an Iran that talks to the US may prove to be an even more ambitious regional hegemon.

It was against this background that Morocco’s King Mohammed VI recently convened a high-level meeting of the Al Quds Committee, which he chairs. The Palestinian Authority’s president, senior diplomats of the countries involved in the Palestine-Israel peace process, and the secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation all attended the two-day summit. Taking place at a critical moment for this sensitive region, the meeting constituted an effort to contribute to the renewed negotiations and build on Kerry’s efforts to revive the peace process.

Morocco is an ideal setting for regional diplomacy. Its strategy of gradual reform, economic modernization, and social development has made the country an oasis of stability in a region rife with violence and strategic rivalries – and thus a reliable partner for Europe and the United States as they seek to influence events in North Africa and across the Middle East. Indeed, with Morocco’s proximity to Europe making it a gateway to Africa, its full economic and geopolitical potential has yet to be realized.

By contrast, the Egyptian government’s struggle to suppress the banned Muslim Brotherhood is fueling seemingly endless turmoil. And Tunisia is still without a prime minister to head a caretaker government, further delaying the “national dialogue” that the Tunisian General Labor Union has agreed to mediate. Three years after the start of their revolutions, neither country has been able to draft a broadly acceptable constitution.

Meanwhile, Algeria is preoccupied with the presidential election in April, in which the incumbent, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, will stand again. Mauritanian politics is polarized, with the government unable to restore confidence. Libya stands on the brink of civil war and de facto partition. Farther afield, Syria is experiencing only bloodshed and sorrow.

Morocco’s evolutionary approach to improving the country’s well-being – quietly and resolutely building on the political, economic, and social reforms launched more than a decade ago – is backed by an overwhelming majority of citizens. A new constitution, proposed by the king and adopted in a referendum in July 2011, has already generated robust political competition. Meanwhile, a new National Initiative for Human Development is helping to end poverty and social exclusion among Morocco’s most vulnerable citizens, especially women.

Rising living standards and a broad political consensus have provided the stability needed to allow the economy to grow strongly and diversify. Slowly but surely, national income is becoming less dependent on agriculture, thereby reducing Moroccans’ vulnerability to poor rainfall and failed harvests. The country is developing a strong processing industry, especially in fertilizers, based in part on having the world’s largest phosphate reserves. And the textiles industry, recovering from a slowdown caused by the European crisis, is penetrating new export markets. A similar story can be told about tourism.

Indeed, Morocco can be proud of its export strategy. Despite the weak global economy, Morocco sells its goods worldwide, with strong exports to France, the US, Brazil, the Gulf states, and China. The country has free-trade agreements with Europe, Turkey, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, and – unique in the region – the US.

Morocco boasts solid infrastructure, a robust banking system, sound public finances, low inflation, and manageable unemployment. Despite capital flight from much of the region, foreign investment continues to flow in.

Clearly, Morocco is benefiting from being a stable country in a combustible region. But its longer-term interests lie in having politically stable neighbors that embrace similar economic reforms, thereby opening the way for a free-trade area that would benefit the entire region.

This regional perspective has been promoted ever since Mohammed acceded to the throne in 1999. One important part of his strategy has been to encourage intra-African economic relations. Morocco already provides expertise in finance, telecoms, energy, agriculture, and food security across the continent; indeed, it is now Africa’s second-largest investor, after South Africa.

The king’s familiarity with the region’s cultural and spiritual life makes him an invaluable adviser, especially regarding the role of Islam in a modern society. For example, Morocco helps train imams in a form of open Islam, which currently is helping Mali move on from its recent bloodletting. This principle of regional solidarity extends to Morocco’s deployment of military hospitals not only in Mali but also in other conflict zones, such as one in Jordan that serves Syrian refugees.

Morocco is well positioned to promote security and development across northwest Africa and beyond. Its political stability, open economy, and balanced international relations are increasingly aligned with the regional interests of the US and Europe. Moreover, Morocco is a loyal and longstanding US ally. The West would do well to start cultivating a natural partner in such a dangerous and complex region.

Assia Bensalah Alaoui, Professor of International Law at Mohammed V University, co-chairs the High Level Panel of the European Union on Dialogue between Peoples and Cultures in the Euro-Mediterranean Area, and is Ambassador-at-Large for King Mohammed VI.

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On foot in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco.  The Daily Beast, Photo by Joanna Eede

* “ ‘Morocco to me was a revelation,’ wrote Churchill decades ago. I wonder, now, if he’d been to M’goun.”

“Time expands on a trip like this… As you walk, you remember how to savor the present moment. It’s something many of us have forgotten to do in our daily lives, and it’s deeply good for the soul.” *

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Joanna Eede, writer and author.

Joanna Eede, The Daily Beast
January 22, 2014

There’s nothing like a remote trek through Morocco to help you find freedom and peace of mind…especially when the day ends with Berber whiskey and a delicious lamb tagine.

It had taken the camels and their black-turbaned Berber herders four long days to walk from the Sahara. When we met them, the dromedaries’ panniers were being loaded with everything we needed for a three-day hike in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains: blankets, wicker stools, water drums and—bliss—an endless supply of Moroccan pastries.

Our guide, Mouha, glanced up at the trail that disappeared far into the ochre uplands. “Time to start walking,” he said. “Yella! Let’s go!”

The sun was lowering over the peak of Jebel M’goun and a two-hour hike still lay between our camp, a lamb tagine, and us. So, I followed this fleet of the desert along an old mule path, out of the Valley of Ikamdoulen and up into the M’goun massif.

Camp on the Tatarart pastures, High Atlas mountains, Morocco. Photo: Joanna Eede

The M’goun massif lies between Morocco’s central plateau and the dunes of the Sahara desert. It is a far cry from the high-energy souks of Marrakesh and from the well-trodden hikes of Jebel Toubkal, the country’s highest mountain. M’goun, by contrast, is empty. This is the place to come for enormous skies and towering rocky bluffs, for Berber nomads, walnut groves, and a soaring sense of freedom. M’goun is wild, remote country where wolves still roam the mountain ridges and vultures drop bones on the flanks.

In Marrakech, I had met up with Vanessa from Natural High, a wilderness travel company that specializes in inspiring journeys away from the crowds, and which has joined forces with Mouha to create this remote trek. We made a five-hour drive south across Morocco’s central plateau, an almost Biblical landscape of verdant oases and fruit-tree groves, wadis lined with date palms and dark red kasbahs, some with soaring minarets, others crumbling like giant termite mounds.

We stopped for lunch near Ouazazarte—a town at the crossroads of old caravan routes that is now the film capital of Morocco—and, from there, we turned east, bumping through villages of boxy pisé houses with blue doors and wrought ironwork windows. We headed for the Valley of Roses, where Damask roses have been grown for hundreds of years. (It is thought pilgrims originally brought them to this area from Mecca.) This is where we would begin our trek.

There was something rather theatrical—surreal even—about walking into camp accompanied by a camel caravan later that evening. Mouha’s advance crew—Brahim, Brahim, and Lhoucine—had already pitched our white tents for us on the Tatarart pastures, a sweep of high ground strewn with broom tussocks where Berbers graze their sheep in the summer months. They greeted us with a glass of sugared mint tea, called a “Berber whisky”, poured from high above out of a silver teapot.  The aeration is important for developing the flavor.

“Even better, we experienced their [the Berbers] country just as they have done for centuries: on foot, freely and slowly.”

“We say a cup of mint tea without bubbles is like a djellaba without a hood,” said Mouha.

Camels can only carry so much, so our A-framed tents were simple, stylish and comfortable: a mattress, warm blankets, hot water in an old-fashioned wash-stand, and a bathroom tent with a chemical loo and shower.

As the sky turned lilac, we sat at a low circular table and looked out over the palm groves of Skoura. Somehow, at 9,000 feet above sea level, our cook, Brahim, had created a delicious tagine with fresh vegetables. For three days, in fact, he produced nutritious Moroccan dishes that always began with harira, a tomato and lentil soup, and ended with fruit from the Atlantic coast.

Slimane makes a fire with artemesia wood. Photo: Joanna Eede

Later, I fell asleep to the sound of Lhoucine gently coaxing his camel and faint ululating from a distant stone cottage. Then came the still, thick silence found only in the middle of nowhere. Just before dawn, I woke to hear Mouha quietly reciting the night prayer.

The following morning, I realized I’d found the perfect formula for shedding the stresses of city life: waking to Moroccan mountains flooded with golden light and breakfasting on Berber pancakes, fresh orange juice, and sweet almond pastries dripping with honey. And nothing on the day’s agenda but walking and talking in a beautiful place.

The Berbers—or Imazighen, meaning “free men,” as they call themselves—are the indigenous people of North Africa. A proud, semi-nomadic group, they have successfully resisted invading forces for thousands of years. Some, like the Ait Atta nomads, still migrate throughout the year. The Ait Atta’s ancestral land is the desert plains of the Jebel Sagrho, and they say their love for their homeland is akin to a horse tethered to the Sagrho by a long rope; however far from the plains they wander, they always return.

Mouha, our charming guide, is from the Ait Atta and was born in a black goat-hair tent in the Saharan dunes. As we walked that morning, he told us about the cycles of his life as a child.  In the summer, when the Saharan heat became unbearable, his family would move their goatherds to the foot of M‘Goun; when winter arrived they would walk south to the Jebel Saghro. Some Ait Atta have now settled in villages—Mouha’s grandfather was one, though he likened a static life to a jail sentence—but others are unable to quit the nomadic life they have always known.

Slimane and his mule on lower slopes of Jebel M’goun. Photo: Joanna Eede

“They love the freedom too much,” Mouha explained. “You could offer them money and a house in Marrakech, and they still wouldn’t go.”

Mouha was a mine of information, telling us about the properties of plants, interpreting bird calls, and showing us a stone pen the Ait Atta had built under an overhanging crag. This was where they corralled their livestock at night, and where the warm smell of animals still lingered.

Life seemed pretty perfect that day: cobalt blue sky, loosened limbs, wheeling eagles, and a whirling-dervish mind stilled by the meditative rhythm of walking. We were only a three-hour flight from London, and yet we were tracing the steps of nomads who had been walking these paths since the 14th century.

As we moved deeper into the empty mountains, I felt a lightness and a sense of freedom that I thought I’d left behind in childhood. We had a lot of ground to cover, but there was no rush. Mouha repeated his Berber mantra at times, “People in a hurry are already dead.” Alex Edwards, Founder of Natural High, agrees with this slow-burn philosophy. “Time expands on a trip like this,” he told me. “As you walk, you remember how to savor the present moment. It’s something many of us have forgotten to do in our daily lives, and it’s deeply good for the soul.”

To reach our next camp we followed the Amskar river that rushes in a series of cascades through a gorge bordered by cinnamon cliffs. Mouha told us that we were among only a handful of Europeans to have ever walked through the canyon. After an unplanned, and slightly hairy, scramble up a slope crumbling with sandstone shale, we arrived on a sweep of grassland at the foot of Jebel M’goun.

As the crickets chirped and the camels settled on their leathery knees for the night, we helped Brahim make Aghroum-n-Tikinte—a traditional flatbread—on the fire. The last rays of sun gleamed rose-red on the snow in M’goun’s gullies, and I recalled Winston Churchill’s words to [Franklin] Roosevelt during a WWII summit in Casablanca: “I must be with you when you see the sun set on the Atlas Mountains.”

Later, when the night sky curved wide over the mountains, I felt reassured by the strong cradle of rock around us, the sleeping camels, and the low chatter of the Berber crew. There was no one else around; it was as beautiful and as remote a place as I’ve known.

Lime-green barley terrace of lower valley, M’goun massif, High Atlas mountains, Morocco. Photo: Joanna Eede

It’s not easy to commit the colors of the High Atlas to memory. As we walked down into the Valley of Roses the following day, I tried hard to capture its palette: the reds and coppers of the arid upper slopes, the greys and mineral greens of the shadowy lower folds. The landscape at lower altitude was no less beautiful: lime-green barley terraces and apple orchards with frothy white blossoms contrasted with the desolate mountainsides.

It was our third day walking, and still we had met no other tourists. We came across men in loose djellabas riding tiny donkeys, and others scything by hand, leaving piles of barley under olive trees. We exchanged greetings with a father-and-son team planting potatoes, and nomadic women with kohl-lined eyes and blue velvet dresses driving their animals up from the Sahara. Mouha talked about the generosity and solidarity of Berber communities. “In the mountains, if you need some cumin or potatoes, you just knock on a door,” he said. We walked through shady villages where children plied us for pens before running after us, giggling and curious.  They watched us from a distance as we dozed on kilim rugs after lunch.

Dusty paths lined with flickering orange lanterns led us to our final camp, a slice of dramatic Arabian luxury. Our large black-and-white Caidale tents were pitched above a fast-flowing river alive with croaking frogs. Each tent had silver mirrors and proper beds with cotton sheets, which were perfect for collapsing into after we had joined our Berber friends in song and dance around the fire, while they beat out a tempo on goat-skin drums.

In the morning the camels walked on, and all too soon we were in Marrakech, back in the world of speedy boarding. It had been an immense privilege to gain an insight into the cyclical ways of life of a generous people who still live in tight communities and intimately know their lands. Even better, we experienced their country just as they have done for centuries: on foot, freely and slowly.

“Morocco to me was a revelation,” wrote Churchill decades ago. I wonder, now, if he’d been to M’goun.

Joanna Eede is a writer and author who specializes in indigenous peoples, natural history, and travel. Her work has included tracking chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Mahale rainforest, the migration of Nenets’ people of Siberia, and the Moken sea gypsies of the Mergui archipelago.

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Dana Elemara: ‘There was a risk because argan oil is more expensive than olive oil, but I was fascinated. It has been part of the Berber diet for centuries.’ London Telegraph. Photo: Luisa Whitton

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* Dana Elemara, former Goldman Sachs analyst turned businesswoman entrepreneur, went to Essaouira, Morocco to partner with a local producer, and now is introducing argan oil, known for its cosmetic uses, to British kitchens *

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London Telegraph, by Emma Love (January 23, 2014) — For centuries Berber women have picked the fruit of the argan tree to turn it into oil for cooking and for nourishing their skin. The oil contains three times the vitamin E of olive oil, has been proved to lower bad cholesterol, and is used in products ranging from body lotion to anti-frizz haircare.

Dana Elemara, 28, launched Arganic in 2012, selling culinary argan oil. ‘I didn’t focus on the health benefits at first because I didn’t want to scare away chefs who want something that tastes good,’ she said.

The idea for Arganic came in 2010, when a family friend told Elemara about the argan oil that she had bought in Essaouira, Morocco. Elemara had already left her job as an analyst at Goldman Sachs and was looking to set up her own business (‘I thought, why waste my energy on someone else’s business?’).

Arganic virgin argan oil. Photo: Luisa Whitton

She could speak Arabic (her parents are from Iraq) and was intrigued by the oil, so she flew to Essaouira to find out more. ‘I loved the fact that the oil tasted so good but also had medicinal properties,’ she said. ‘I knew there was a risk because argan oil is more expensive than olive oil, but I was fascinated by this ingredient that has been a part of the Berber people’s diet for centuries.’

While juggling a series of temporary jobs Elemara spent two months shadowing Petros, an olive-oil producer in Britain, at the same time trademarking her company’s name and seeking advice on the food business. ‘It was a daunting task because there are a lot of legal issues around bringing food into the country,’ she said. She found a consultant to help with importing issues and made three more trips to find a producer.

She is now the British partner of Sidi Yassine, an argan-oil producer in Essaouira, which employs 500 people. The fruit is collected by hand in late summer and left to dry before the outer layer is removed and the inner shell is cracked open using a stone to reveal the seed. For cosmetic oil seeds are pressed immediately; for culinary oil they are lightly toasted first. It takes 15 hours and 30kg of fruit to produce one liter of argan oil, culinary or cosmetic.

Elemara used her savings to buy her initial order of 10 litres in 2011, which she sold at a Christmas event at the London restaurant the Dock Kitchen. Her company officially launched in January 2012 and stockists now include Ottolenghi’s online deli, Planet Organic and Selfridges. Arganic has won several awards, including, most recently, a Smarta 100 award as one of the 100 most inspiring small businesses in the UK. Elemara imports about 400 bottles of culinary oil a month, plus 80 liters of cosmetic oil, which is sold straight on to cosmetics companies and online.

She has recently started supplying cosmetics companies with another Moroccan ingredient, ghassoul clay, mined in the Atlas mountains. Elemara usually visits Morocco three times a year, except when she has to make an emergency dash for supplies, which is what happened just before Christmas.

‘I had a big order and couldn’t wait for my next delivery, so I flew out and brought two suitcases of oil back with me,’ she said. ‘I didn’t want to let anyone down. Sometimes you have to go to extreme measures, but it’s fun to live on the edge.’

A 100ml bottle of culinary oil retails for £15 to £18 (myarganic.co.uk)

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Majorelle Garden in Marrakech, Morocco.  Serenity in the Garden

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* “The air is laden with sugared fragrance and songbirds’ chirping… My Blue Heaven.” *

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Serenity in the Garden, by Jan Johnsen (January 23, 2014) — The Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech, Morocco took French painter Jacques Majorelle (1886-1962) forty years to create. Behind high earthen walls, shady walks meander though exotic plants and burbling streams and pools filled with water lilies and lotus flowers.

The air is laden with sugared fragrance and songbirds’ chirping fill the air. My Blue Heaven.

Jan Johnsen

Serenity in the Garden is a garden blog about plants, gardens, landscape design ideas and more. I share my 40 years of design and horticulture experience with my wonderful readers!

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