December 2005 Archives
The High Atlas Foundation held its annual meeting and announced a number of new initiatives to further development in Morocco.
In the Heart of Paris, an African Beat - New York Times
The Washington Post's review of Moroccan restaurants in Paris has everything to do with wealthy Parisian chic and almost nothing to do with North Africa. No wonder people of North African descent are alienated in Paris.
The Post describes the scene at the restaurant 404 as follows:
"She" is a young woman in black who is celebrating a birthday in official 404 fashion: by gyrating on top of the bar with her shirt halfway raised in an attempt at belly dancing. Throughout the stylish restaurant-lounge - a perennial hot spot done up with casbah-cool décor - tables of media and fashion types abandon their bottles of Algerian Château Tellagh red wine, take out their digital cameras and mount the banquettes.
The "Arabian" scene in Paris sounds like nothing so much as post colonial French self indulgence.
The Rock Star's Burden - New York Times
Paul Theroux suggests that the history of Ireland is instructive on the path to development in Africa. "Ireland may be the model for an answer. After centuries of wishing themselves onto other countries, the Irish found that education, rational government, people staying put, and simple diligence could turn Ireland from an economic basket case into a prosperous nation." See also Blackprof.com.
The Washington Post reports that Morocco's Truth Commission announced yesterday the disappearances of 600 people and the deaths of 500 more over the four decades from 1956 to 1999 colloquially referred to as a the "years of lead."
If you try to comment and find that the comments are STILL not working, please send me an email at blogger [at] williamsonday [dot] com. Thanks!
I finally clued in to the fact that a rogue plugin was effectively disabling my comments. I believe that I have fixed the problem, and I hope to hear from you.
Unemployment : Twenty jobless burn themselves alive in Rabat :: moroccoTimes.com
Protesters underscored the seriousness of unemployment in Morocco by attempting to burn themselves alive in front of the Ministry of Health in Rabat. The Morocco Times article does not give much context either about the identity of the protesters or their rationale for this pathological demonstration.
The Morocco Foundation has announced that it has been granted tax exempt status by the IRS, and gifts are now fully tax deductible.
The View From Fès is among the latest in a growing number of high quality English Language blogs about Morocco. In light of the polished prose, stunning photographs, and steady stream of content, it is no surprise that this is a website produced by professionals — novelist and broadcaster Sandy McCutcheon ("Samir") and his wife, photographer Suzanna Clarke ("Zany"). McCutcheon and Clarke are in the process of renovating a "riad" or traditional Fassi house that once belonged to the notorious qaid Thami El Glaoui, who ruled southern Morocco for most of the French Protectorate but was spectacularly humbled upon the return of Mohammed V from exile in 1956. See Gavin Maxwell, Lords of the Atlas. The View from Fès is not merely a first class blog on Morocco, but a first class blog in its own right.
In Morocco, One Man's Oasis Is Another's Watering Hole - New York Times
The Sahara, the world's second largest desert (after Antarctica), covers 3.5 million square miles, nearly the size of the United States. Only one quarter of it is sand; the rest is rocky plains, steppes and volcanic mountains. I wanted to experience not just the desert's moonlike isolation - Saharan dunes can rise to a thousand feet and stretch hundreds of miles - but also its lush aberrations: oases.
A Times reporter takes a trip to a desert oasis but returns disillusioned by the local tourism business.
Unemployment Will Force More Youths to Flee Africa - New York Times
Events last month in Morocco, where troops deployed to stop hundreds of African youths storming Spanish enclaves, would ''pale into insignificance compared to what we could witness in 20 years time,'' the U.N. Office for West Africa said in a study.
The New York Times identifies unemployment among youth as one of the greatest threats to the region's stability.
