August 2007 Archives
The Washington Post showcases Taste of Morocco's bastilla.
A message of hope from the Morocco Foundation.
Driss Basri, formerly head of the Ministry of the Interior and chief architect of political repression during the "Years of Lead," has died in Paris at the age of 69. Via Laila Lalami. (Morocco Time reprints a popular joke about Basri's demise.) The BBC has more.
More on Peace Corps Bloggers in Morocco.
A free press is a more delicate creature than people in America might suppose. Supported by the First Amendment and buttressed by a strong history of liberal Supreme Court decisions, the press in America is in an enviable position. Even here, however, the Plame prosecution, the AIPAC spy scandal, and recent free speech rulings of the ultra-conservative Roberts Court suggest that that the press cannot take its position for granted.
Just how dependent press freedom is on strong laws to curb the power of the government is evident in the recent struggles of the Moroccan press to maintain its independence in the face of harsh prosecutions by the government. Magharebia reports, however, that the press is using the law to fight back, as it contemplates a suit against Communications Minister Nabil Benabdallah for his role in trying to manipulate public opinion over the investigation of journalists for Al Watan Al An accused of illegal possession of classified documents. In an interesting legal twist, the two journalists were prosecuted under the criminal law for illegal possession of the fruits of a crime rather than under the press law for publication of state secrets.
Global Voices Online has a roundup of Peace Corps blogs. We've clearly come a long way from the day when the only blogs were pen and ink. Clearly the blog is a much more effective way in most cases to promote the Peace Corps' third goal: communicating the Peace Corps experience to the American public. One wonders, however, to what extent the Moroccan countryside has kept pace with the technological revolution.
The two journalists from the weekly newspaper Al Watan Al An, Mustafa Hormatallah and publisher Abderrahim Ariri were convicted by a criminal court in Casablanca for "concealing items derived from a crime."VOA News. The conviction of two journalists for apparently violating Morocco's version of the Official Secrets Act, is the kind of prosecution that before the Bush Administration would have been laughable in the United States. Ironically, it would appear that, with its support for secret detentions and torture, the Bush Administration's effect on press freedom and human rights in Morocco has been generally malign at a time when the Kingdom has become more liberal generally.
In a country where most people do not even own a car, Laraki Automobiles may seem like an extravagance. Morocco has always produced luxury goods, however, and clearly Laraki Automobiles is producing luxury goods for the 21st century.
Karima in Fez has a short series of striking photos of the old city.
Since I found out that a great many of the people who find my the a la menthe site are looking for the song of the same name, I have included links to the song and the lyrics in the upper right corner of the site. So how come nobody is clicking on them?
Other than the fact that I deplore the suppression of TelQuel and NIchane and the arrest of editor Ahmed Benchemsi, I am too depressed to say much. For a comprehensive description of this latest outrage to freedom of the press in Morocco, see Eatbees.
