Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
April 8, 2006

American magazine features 19 Moroccan poets.
US-based Morocco Foundation supports children suffering Down syndrome.
Millennium Challenge and Morocco.
NEF Educational Reform in Rural Morocco Obtains Funding to Build Upon Advances Made in Cooperation with MEPI.
Morocco ranked 68th in environmental performance index.
OFFPT centers to host 400,000 trainees by 2008.
Fifteen days to fight autism in Morocco.
New Gender Law Upsets Everyone.
BERBERS SEE SIGNS THEIR LANGUAGE WILL BE RECOGNIZED.
Archaelogists take up research on Essaouira Island
Morocco commemorates 600th anniversary of Ibn Khaldun's death.
US rapper 50 Cent shoots film in Ouarzazate.

American magazine features 19 Moroccan poets.
By Oumnia Guedda. 4/3/2006

The American literary magazine, Aufgabe, features for its 5th edition the work of 19 Moroccan poets who represent the major facets of modern Moroccan poetry. Since its creation in 2001, the American magazine has published the poems of young and emerging writers, with an emphasis on experimental and innovative poetry. It has published new American poetry, essays, reviews and talks. Its issues featured the translation of worldwide poetry, namely French, German, Mexican and Japanese poetry.

For this edition, Aufgabe proposes various poems written by little known Moroccan poets to give a glimpse of the breadth and richness of contemporary Moroccan poetry and encourage further exploration. The featured poems were translated from Arabic by the Moroccan translator Hassan Hilmy and from French by Guy Bennett, in collaboration with the Moroccan poet Jalal El Hakmaoui, who works to make the Moroccan culture and poetry known worldwide.

In so doing, El Hakmaoui gave this edition a historical overview about the contemporary Moroccan poetry, presenting to the American readership the contemporary Moroccan literature which is far from being well known in the US. The Moroccan participants in this issue are Mahmoud Abdelghani, Mehdi Akhrif, Ahmed Barakat, Ahmed Belbdaoui, Rajae Benchemsi, Mohammed Bentalha, Omar Berrada, Jalal El Hakmaoui and Mohamed Hmoudane. Wafaa Lamrani, Mohamed Loakira, Rachida Madani, Zohra Mansouri, Mohamed Meimouni, Hassan Najmi, Mostafa Nissabouri, Abdel-Illah Salhi, Abdelkarim Tabbal and Mubarak Wassat are also among the Moroccan guests of this edition.

Commenting on the old friendship relations between Morocco and the US, Bennett wished that by shedding light on the Moroccan poetry, the already existing friendship would extend into the literary arena. Aufgabe aims at fostering poetic interaction and dialogue not only in the States but also, through translation, across international boundaries. Translation in this field plays a vital role in spreading knowledge and culture specificities worldwide. Though the difficulties faced by translators to convert the same meaning and image into another language, the challenge is arisen to make of poetry a universal pleasure shared by people from different culture and speaking different languages.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/Paper/article.asp?idr=49&id=13871 
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US-based Morocco Foundation supports children suffering Down syndrome.
By Oumnia Guedda 4/4/2006

The US-based Morocco Foundation (MF) followed the US model of "Big Brother Big Sister" and launched a project, based on funds raising in the US and Morocco, to help Moroccan children suffering from Down syndrome. The foundation is working with a class of 10 children, aged between 6 and 13, diagnosed with Down syndrome, which is a congenital disorder, caused by the presence of an extra 21st chromosome, in which the affected person has mild to moderate mental retardation, short stature, and a flattened facial profile. The children in question are in Kenitra and receive daily quality education thanks to their unpaid volunteer teacher Nadia.

The implementation of this humanitarian project started on Feb 2006 by providing those children with necessary tools to have educational courses like normal children. The children have already been donated various needed supplies by MF members. But they still rely on donators to respond to their insisting needs, notably providing them with glasses, wheelchairs and clothes. The foundation's members have already delivered a computer for the children, who will also have access to the internet in order to communicate with their Big Brothers and Big Sisters in the US, Morocco Foundation's board members, said the Foundation. "The aim of this initiative is to build a true communication and bridge between the two parties and allow the children to fully utilize their language and computer skills, as well as develop self-confidence and strength," said the members of the foundation.

Morocco Foundation is a non-profit organisation established and introduced in the US by a few ambitious Moroccans in September 2004. The vision of the organisation's founders is to work for a better future for Moroccans. They aim at realizing projects to help reducing poverty and illiteracy by improving the availability and quality of services for the most vulnerable individuals, including orphans and handicapped children.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=11&id=13891 
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Millennium Challenge and Morocco.

With hundreds of millions of dollars becoming available for Morocco through the new US foreign aid initiative, Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), millions of Moroccans can potentially be engaged in a development process that generates significant socio-economic benefits for them and their communities. To achieve this vital goal, however, a flexible implementation strategy needs to be put into practice - one that responds to the range of priority needs that are commonly expressed by local communities across the nation.

A "flexible" development strategy pursues development projects that local men and women determine during community-wide meetings. When community members come together in meetings that are facilitated in a participatory way and together decide their development goals, they sustain the projects that result because they directly address their self-defined needs and interests.

Rather than defining the specific forms of projects that MCA will support, a process Moroccan and American officials are currently engaged in, a better strategy is to fund locally-designed projects that are in partnership with government and non-government agencies - whether in agriculture, health, education, gender empowerment. If, however, a flexible strategy is not adopted, then there is likely to be a disconnect between MCA projects and the needs prioritized by Moroccan communities.

Indeed, there already appears to be some disconnect. For example, rural tourism is among the projects that MCA is intending to support. Even in rural areas that see thousands of tourists every year, such as the High Atlas valley that leads to Mount Toubkal, the tallest peak in North Africa, according to the local commune only 10% of the villages in the area actually benefit from the passage of tourists. Even if this were increased to 20 %, it would not benefit rural families nearly as much as modern irrigation and drinking water projects, which impact every household and which local people rank among their top priorities.

Projects that promote rural tourism are rarely, if ever mentioned by the local people as a priority need because they have less tangible outcomes than other more critical opportunities for self-reliant development. In May 2005, Morocco's King Mohammed VI launched the National Initiative for Human Development to promote decentralized development projects. Fortunately, MCA's commitment to the National Initiative provides a framework to advance the kind of flexible strategy that is needed.

The National Initiative and MCA should together pursue a two-pronged strategy that will advance their shared goals and the goals of Morocco's
communities: first, train rural teachers, government officials, NGO personnel and citizens in facilitating group activities that help community members determine priority projects and develop plans of action to achieve them; and second, fund the projects catalyzed by the newly trained facilitators in the field.

The National Initiative already recognizes the importance of such training; it now needs to be broadly implemented. Since communities across Morocco face different sets of challenges and opportunities, the projects the regionally diverse communities come to express as their priorities will span a broad range of areas. There is, however, consistency among the projects Morocco's rural communities determine for themselves; these include irrigation, drinking water, education, women's cooperatives, tree planting and fisheries. MCA is already intending to support some of these areas.

Implementing a flexible development strategy will generate far-reaching socio-economic benefits beginning in a matter of months. A community planning their own development is a local democratic process that leads to the creation of civil associations and inter-community collaboration. The National Initiative and MCA should seriously consider implementing a pilot of this strategy. The Province of El Haouz is a particularly viable target area, since it is the first province in Morocco to have created a federation of its more than 1,300 indigenous NGOs, thus creating a foundation for broad-based mobilization. Ten million dollars will generate transformative benefits for 50,000 people, and create a national model for the National Initiative and a powerful international example of the positive effects of MCA.

Jason Ben-Meir is president of the High Atlas Foundation ( www.highatlasfoundation.org ), an American non-profit organization founded by former Peace Corps Volunteers who served in Morocco and dedicated to rural community development.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/Paper/article.asp?idr=22&id=13857 
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NEF Educational Reform in Rural Morocco Obtains Funding to Build Upon Advances Made in Cooperation with MEPI.
04 Apr 2006 Rabih Yazbeck, Near East Foundation (NEF)

Near East Foundation (NEF), in collaboration with the US State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), has been working for more than a year to promote schooling for girls and to encourage educational policy reform in Morocco's High Atlas Mountains. Our gender-sensitive, participatory approach has significantly increased enrollment and retention of village children in primary school during the project's first year.

Some facts of which NEF is very proud:

School enrollment of boys has significantly increased and that of girls risen--in some villages from zero to nearly half of all children enrolled.
And they have stayed in school. Retention rates have increased for both boys and girls.

Large numbers of adults, particularly women, have taken advantage of NEF's adult literacy classes and special extracurricular learning activities.

Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) have been developed, providing a very important outlet for community involvement supporting both national educational policies and local initiatives.

Following a review of progress made, happily MEPI has decided to continue and expand its support. Along with an additional $80,200 from NEF and its partners, MEPI's decision will increase project resources by almost $450,000, allowing for expansion to virtually two entire rural Moroccan communes.

A total of 12 satellite schools will be served in the second phase along with an additional seven mother schools. This covers virtually the entire primary education system in the area's two rural communes, providing a strong case for educational reform based on lessons learned. Further, the NEF project will focus additional attention on documentation and sharing approaches that work to build upon the advances achieved so far. The intention is to assure that enrollment and retention rates in phase one schools continue to increase, community involvement expands, and closer cooperation among local communities, school administrators, and teachers is encouraged.

According to NEF Project Director Abdelkhalk Andam, "This additional year will provide the project with critical time to reinforce and enhance learning among those involved during the first year. Participation in project activities was a 'first' for many villagers--something different and challenging. They now need time to internalize lessons learned from this experience. "Sharing what they have learned with new project participants will not only help the project," he continued, "but also is a significant step forward for those now involved. We can only be excited about the potential emerging from these efforts."

PHASES 1 & 2
In the first year NEF focused on
* forming and developing PTAs;
* increasing community involvement and support for primary education;
* expanding the role of rural educators and improving teaching and school administration;
* providing classes for adult education;
* renovating school facilities--including access to latrines and potable water.

Now NEF will expand these activities
* developing more comprehensive extra-curricular and summer school activities that encourage continuing interest in education;
* providing participating schools with small libraries;
* expanding adult education classes;
* working with PTAs on income-generating activities capable of sustaining local financial support for primary education.

This income will provide a base for a broader program of local economic development to further underpin education, reinforce citizen participation in community decision-making, and encourage policy reform at governorate and commune levels. During this next phase, NEF also plans to initiate formal discussions with the Moroccan Ministry of Education to encourage further application of the new approaches to teaching, administration, and educational supervision arising from the project. PTAs involved in phase 1 will be available to encourage education in these additional, new communities and to support the development of PTAs and other programs. And particular attention will be given to involving local women, in significant numbers, and in ways that substantially support girls' education.

"It's hard to overestimate the importance of this opportunity for women and girls in these isolated rural areas," says NEF Project Field Coordinator Hafida Agouze. "The project has lifted many women and girls from virtual obscurity and given them an opportunity not only for education, but in many cases helped communities to appreciate and support these efforts. This has positive implications not only for women, but for the community and society as a whole. Society is changing and we at NEF, as I'm sure those at MEPI, are proud to be a part of this tremendous process."

HEAT IN THE HIGH ATLAS
Earlier in preparing for winter, three schools in the Ghessate and Iminoulaoune districts that experience the harshest cold weather, received gas heaters. Their warmth improved conditions conducive to learning for 100 students and their teachers. The enterprise was launched in November with contributions from NEF and from the schools' PTAs, part of matching shares in the MEPI project and providing important local participation.

BACK IN JULY 2005
NEF organized a visit by a group of urban, French, middle school students, accompanied by their director, to three of these mountain communities. It was a completely foreign experience for most of the students and they learned about a world very different from their own; getting to know village pupils, their way of life, traditions, and gain some familiarity with the Moroccan educational system and how it works in rural areas.

Not incidentally, these student visitors brought school furniture with them for distribution to the communities. Also other urban-based, Moroccan nongovernmental organizations have provided the NEF project with school supplies and clothing to help some of the poorer families whose children otherwise would be unable to attend school.

OUTREACH & TRAINING
More recently training was provided for PTA members about school administration and financial management. PTAs have learned how to encourage school attendance and reduce dropout rates by involving community residents in education and prior to the beginning of the school year. Techniques included Friday speeches in mosques by the Imams and holding events for the entire community--men, women, children--promoting greater awareness of the importance of education.

Also consultations have been held with school staff to prepare and post promotional materials in villages. Additional training has been provided to women leaders with 18 recently participating in sessions focused on increasing their know-how and involvement. Using slogans like "schooling is the base for human development" and "all for encouraging education,"
awareness programs were organized in mother schools. They provided an opportunity to evaluate proposed PTA action plans developed during earlier training on community organization. PTA members, Imams, Sheikhs, local Mouqadem, women leaders, and elected officials participated in these activities.

They are some of the ways seven communities experienced an intensive awareness building during the NEF project's first year--and changed, leading to significant increases in the involvement of women in their communities and the enrollment of girls in school along with more boys and fewer dropouts all around. Schools were better equipped, staff better trained, and parents better able to manage their community schools and ensure quality education for their children.

During the coming year, NEF now has the wherewithal to strengthen and expand this progress made in cooperation with its partners. The U.S. State Department's Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) provides tangible support to reformers in North Africa and the Middle East so democracy can spread, education can thrive, economies can grow, and women can be empowered. It has committed more than $293 million in four years to advance freedom and opportunity in the region. www.neareast.org
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ] http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/nefusa/114415791891.htm 
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Morocco ranked 68th in environmental performance index.
By ANDnetwork .com April 6, 2006

Morocco ranked 68th out of 133 countries in the environmental performance index developed by the Center for Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. The Pilot 2006 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) provides benchmarks for current national pollution control and natural resource management results. It provides a powerful tool for improving policymaking and shifting environmental decision-making onto firmer analytic foundations.

A release of the Ministry of Territory Development, Water and Environment said the report notes some positive points in Morocco's environment, including recourse to renewable energy and air quality where Morocco is well above the average of groups of the same geographical category or with the same GDP level. In biodiversity, natural resources and health, Morocco scored an average performance.

However, the north African country came at the last rank regarding water resources, said the release, commenting that this ranking should be considered a call for a swift change of Morocco's water policy and for a better management of natural resources.
The EPI centers on two broad environmental protection objectives, namely reducing environmental stresses on human health and protecting ecosystem vitality. Environmental health and ecosystem vitality are gauged using sixteen indicators tracked in six established policy categories: Environmental Health, Air Quality, Water Resources, Biodiversity and Habitat, Productive Natural Resources, and Sustainable Energy.
http://www.andnetwork.com/app?service=direct/1/Home/$StorySummary$0.$DirectLink$1&sp=l28304 
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OFFPT centers to host 400,000 trainees by 2008.
Settat, Apr. 6

The Office of Vocational Training and Labor Promotion (OFPPT) will expand the capacity of Morocco's training centers to host 400,000 trainees by 2008, announced, here Thursday, OFFPT Director General, Larbi Bencheikh. Since 2002, OFFPT has provided training for 320,000 persons, said Bencheikh on the occasion of king Mohammed VI's inauguration of an institute specialized in applied technology (French acronym ISTA) in the town of Ben Ahmed, Settat region (160 South-East from Rabat). The number of training institutions has risen from 150 in 2002 to 219 in 2006, and it is expected to reach 243 next year, he pointed out.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/offpt_centers_to_hos/view 
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Fifteen days to fight autism in Morocco.
Rabat, Apr. 4

"Léa pour Samy, la voix de l'enfant autiste" (Léa for Samy, the autistic child voice) is a 15-day action to fight autism, organized by several Moroccan universities, on June 3 through 17. The program dubbed "Autisact," aims to "acknowledge and make known autism in Morocco, as well as to set up an early and adapted care," said organizers. The World Health Organization statistics have documented some 30,000 to 50,000 autistic children in Morocco.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/fifteen_days_to_figh/view 
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New Gender Law Upsets Everyone.
Abderrahim El Ouali
CASABLANCA, Apr 6 (IPS)

A new family law intended to promote the rights of women seems to have pleased neither men nor women. The new family law, which has been in effect two years now, has given women several new rights, particularly with alimony, but less than those provided for under an earlier plan. On the other hand, many men say they do not have the means to pay alimonies being granted under the new provision. The new family law came into effect in 2004 as a compromise solution after Islamists strongly opposed the earlier National Plan for Women's Integration in Development (NPWID).

The NPWID was introduced in 1999. It forbade polygamy, gave women equal inheritance rights, and provided for equal division of property between husbands and wives in the event of divorce. Under the 2004 family law, Moroccan women can get more alimony, have the right to marry without family permission, and the right to divorce on equal footing with men. But unlike the NPWID, the new family law has not forbidden polygamy, and has not given women equal inheritance rights.

"The new law has not brought anything for Moroccan women," Nezha Daiz, journalist and civil society activist told IPS. "The new family law was a way to make a political compromise, not to provide more rights for women.'' Daiz said that "women are an interesting human force in Morocco and, therefore, they are also an interesting voting force. The new family law came within this context." But many are looking at the progressive part of the law. "Before the new family law, women were subject to great social injustice", social researcher Abdelali Ouali told IPS. "The new law has brought equality for women."

The law was drafted by a royal committee set up by King Mohamed VI after Islamists led strong opposition to the NPWID. "It was a political success," Ouali said. "International observers think that it is the greatest exploit during the reign of King Mohamed VI." But Ouali acknowledges that the law by itself will not change social ways. "The great majority of Moroccan citizens live in difficult conditions. Therefore, what is needed is not just a new family law. We should also consider personal rights such as salaries and social security cover." Such needs have become an issue in view of the alimonies courts are ordering under the law.

On Dec. 28, 2005 Abdellah Fallah appealed against a decision by the family court in Casablanca. The court had ordered him to pay his wife a monthly alimony the equivalent of almost 50 euros. He said he had a disposable income of only 31 euros monthly. "This does not allow me to have anything to live on, and pushes me to the poverty line," he wrote in his appeal. "They should have taken my low income into consideration but they did not," he told IPS. "I will die of starvation." The guaranteed minimum wage is about 155 euros monthly, but this is not always respected. Monthly rent is around an average of about 55 euros a month for a single room in a central area.

More than eight million in a population of 30 million live below the poverty line. More than six million are unemployed. The impact of the law is not easy to gauge; statistics on marriage and divorce cases since the new law came into force are not available. Earlier, alimonies were particularly low. They were worked out in proportion to husbands' salaries and would usually add up to less than 10 percent of his income. But few doubt that the new law is hard on poor men. "When the new family law is applied against a rich citizen it is not the same as when it is applied against a poor one," said Ouali. "What we lack is the spirit of law and to economically ensure that citizens would interact fluently with new laws."
(END/2006)
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32788 
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BERBERS SEE SIGNS THEIR LANGUAGE WILL BE RECOGNIZED.
By Abderrahim El Ouali
CASABLANCA, Mar. 7, 2006 (IPS/GIN)

When king Mohamed VI opened the international book fair in Casablanca last month, he entered the stand of the Royal Institute of the Amazighe Culture (IRCA) and took from it a book on learning Tamazight, the language of the "Berbers." "The king said he was going to teach Tamazight to the crown prince using that book," an official source told IPS. The king's words have been understood by leaders of the Amazighe movement as a sign that Tamazight will be officially recognized through an amendment to the constitution expected in 2007.

The Amazighes, commonly known as "Berbers," are believed to have been in the Maghreb region for close to 5,000 years. Morocco has been an Arabic country for more than 1,335 years. The Berbers are believed to be the first people to have lived in North Africa. They were nomads who came to this region from what are now Syria and Yemen. "Amazighe" is thought to derive from their first recognized ancestors, "Mazighe," but some other studies say the word means "free men" because they were nomads.

There are thought to be nearly 20 million Amazighes in nine countries: Tunisia, Morocco, Niger, Mauritania, Mali, Libya, Egypt, Algeria and the Canary Islands. The Amazighes do not have the same language either within Morocco or in the other countries. There are many dialects all considered to be Tamazight.

The Amazighes have no constitutional position in Morocco or in any other country, but their culture is more recognized in Morocco than elsewhere. The creation of the IRCA and the king's visit has given the Amazighes new hope. "Officially recognizing Tamazight is actually the main demand of the Amazighe movement," Abdelaziz Bourass, member of the Amazighe association (Amrec, the Association Marocaine de la Recherche et de l'Echange Culturel) and member of the International Amazighe Congress, told IPS. "Such a measure is the only way to make Tamazight active in community life."

Amrec was founded in 1967 in the Moroccan capital Rabat. Five years ago, on Oct. 17, 2001, the king gave a speech in the small Amazighe town of Ajdir in which he announced the foundation of the IRCA. "Promoting Tamazight is a national responsibility as no national culture can renounce its historical roots," the king said then. But since then the IRCA "has been producing means and tools to introduce Tamazight in education, media, and administration, but in vain," said Bourass.

The government is led by an Amazighe prime minister, Driss Jettou. "But no measures can be taken by the government unless there is legislation by the parliament," Bourass said. Constitutional recognition of Tamazight is necessary because "we should have a democratic constitution based on equality."

Arabic media in Morocco have increased four-fold since the IRCA was founded, while "Amazighe demands have been on the table for more than 40 years without being met," Bourass said. In 1994, state-owned television began airing a daily news bulletin in the three Amazighe dialects. That is not enough, Amazighe leaders say. Some extremist Amazighes have demanded the expulsion of Arabic language and Islam from Morocco. The demands have led some to fear a growth of sectarianism. The Amazighe Democratic Party (PDA) has already appeared, though it is not officially recognized.

The PDA was founded in 2005 by the Amazighe lawyer Ahmed Dgharni. Dgharni had then explained the creation of the PDA as "a historical necessity." In an interview June 10, 2005, with the Moroccan weekly Al-Moustaqil (The Independent), Dgharni said the Amazighes should "carry the responsibility (of governing) instead of contenting themselves with presenting demands to others." All known members of the PDA are Amazighes. Amazighe leaders are hoping that recognition of their language will do something to check any rise in sectarianism.
http://globalinfo.org/eng/reader.asp?ArticleId=42427 
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Archaelogists take up research on Essaouira Island .

A research programme for the study of the island off Essaouira has just been launched by the Moroccan National Institute of Archaeological Sciences (INSAP) and the departments of the German Institute for Archaeological Research in Bonn and Madrid, MAP news agency reported. Thanks to archaeological research undertaken in the 1950s, a great deal is already known about the ancient occupation of the island. Phoenician merchants established a trading counter there in the 7th or 6th century BC, followed later by more temporary stays on the island during the reign of theMauretanian King Juba II.

According to a statement made to the press by Abdeslem Mikdad, co-director of the current research programme, the Romans were also present on the island towards the end of the 3rd century AD. The programme also envisages prospections in the Essaouira region, in order to discover the places that were occupied in the past and, consequently, to define the aspects and nature of the relations that the local populations had with the incoming Phoenicians and Romans.

The scientific team is made up of eight specialists, four of whom are German. In addition, two geomorphologists have worked for 15 days on the island, which has been classified as a Site of Biological and Ecological Interest (SIBE) since 1980. The Morocco-German research programme is scheduled to last five years and is renewable. Starting from next year, Moroccan and German students will join the archaeological team as part of their training.

Commenting on the scientific and historical importance of these excavations, the provincial delegate of the Ministry of Culture, archaeologist Abderrahim El Bertei (who is also a member of the team), stated that this programme will also allow the potential and archaeological heritage of Essaouira to be highlighted. He recalled that culture and tourism make up the main elements for the town's development.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/Paper/article.asp?idr=49&id=13404 
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Morocco commemorates 600th anniversary of Ibn Khaldun's death.
By Oumnia Guedda

The Moroccan Ministry of culture is dedicating the year 2006 to celebrating the 600th anniversary of the death of the greatest Arab historical thinker, Ibn Khaldun. To commemorate the great achievements of Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) in terms of sociology and history, the Moroccan ministry will organise several events where historians and thinkers may gather.

The conferences are divided into two series. The first one will take place from April 5 to May 19 and the second from Sep. 13 to Nov. 8, in many Moroccan cities notably Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech, Tetouan, Fez and Meknès.  Many Moroccan historians and thinkers will attend the conferences, including Ali Idrissi, Bennacer Baâzati, Bensalem Himmich, Mounira Chaboutou, Abdeslam Cheddadi and Mohammed Naciri. As part of the same celebration, the re-publication of Ibn Khaldun's book is also scheduled.

The Moroccan spiritual city, Fez, will also host an exhibition highlighting the period when the Arab historian spent six years in the kingdom.

Ibn Khaldun was well known for the various offices he held under the rulers of Tunis and Morocco. In 1363, he served as ambassador of the Moorish king of Granada to Peter the Cruel of Castile. In 1382, he went to Cairo where he spent the rest of his life as a teacher and lecturer. He also served as a judge in Egypt. In his work, the Kitab Al-Ibar (Universal History), he attempted to treat history as a science and outlined a philosophy of history, setting forth principles of sociology and political economy.

For the same occasion, a cultural meeting was organised last weekend in Burbank (California) under the theme: "To build a bridge between nations and cultures." Initiated jointly by the Moroccan American Association of South California and the Grove of Hope Foundation, the commemorating event brought together about 500 members of the Arab and American communities. The meeting aimed to pay tribute to the eminent Maghreban sociologist and first theorist of civilisations' history, Ibn Khaldun.

The director of history at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), Professor Mahmmod Ibrahim, talked about the life and work of this researcher and philosopher of history who, had left an important heritage to the Arab world, namely The Muqaddima "Prolegomena". This talked about Berber, Arab and Persian history and scientifically analysed the troubled politics of the Maghreb at that time.

Ibrahim also spotlighted the important achievements of the Arab thinker in the human sciences and his openness to other western cultures and civilisations. He underlined that Ibn Khaldun made a science of history, governed by social laws with all their political, cultural, economic, demographic and sociological aspects. "I have seen in this Arab thinker, Ibn Khaldun, a message of Maghreban union," said the Professor.

The president of the "Grove Of Hope" Foundation Kamal Oudghiri, which carries out cultural and educational projects for Moroccan children, said that "This eminent Tunisian historian and sociologist undertook a multitude of political, diplomatic and judicial functions in Tunisia, Seville, Fez, Tlemcen and Cairo." Oudghiri pointed out that this meeting is linked to a previous event organised in Los Angeles in 2004, to commemorate the greatest Moroccan traveller and geographer, Ibn Battouta. Those initiatives aimed to spotlight Arab cultural and scientific heritage and the contribution of Islam to humanity and universal civilisation.

In this respect, the professor of ethnic musicology at the University of California in Los Angeles, Ali Jihad Racy and the regional representative of the national air company Royal Air Maroc (RAM), Mohammed Salem Ammagui were paid tribute to in Burbank (California) for their contribution in shedding light on Arab and Islamic arts in the US. "The tribute paid to Racy and Ammagui is a deep recognition of the Arab communities for their contribution in representing the Middle East and North Africa's arts in the US," affirmed Oudghiri.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=49&id=13962 
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US rapper 50 Cent shoots film in Ouarzazate.
By Oumnia Guedda

The studios of the southern Moroccan city Ouarzazate are hosting the shooting of Irwin Winkler's full length film "Home of the Braves", starring the American rapper "50 cent" and the "Pulp Fiction" actor Samuel L. Jackson. Winkler, who already directed "Life as a House" and produced the saga "Rocky", deals in his new film with a wartime drama set against the backdrop of the war in Iraq. The US intervention in Iraq has become more and more a reflection subject for many filmmakers and authors.

Written by first-time screenwriter Mark Friedman, the story will picture three soldiers who return home from the Middle East and face difficult readjustment. Samuel L. Jackson has been cast as a middle-aged doctor who is surprised to discover that his tour of duty at home is even more daunting than the one he has just finished in the Middle East. The film's shooting started in Morocco this month with a budget of USD 12 million. It will also be shot in Spokane, Washington. 50 Cent, who recently made his acting debut in the semi-autobiographical drama "Get Rich or Die Tryin' " , is attempting to play a fully fictionalised character. The 30-year-old hip-hop superstar is joining a rare attempt by Hollywood to address the war in Iraq.

About the role he is playing, the hip hopper said in an interview with bangkokrecorder.com "My character is 22 years old. The film is showing the effects of war. That's what's exciting to me about it, because it is totally relevant to what's going on right now." "It shows not just what happens to a person after killing, but what happens when there is a lot of death around you. How your spirit changes," he added.

The artist, who has an opinion on what is going on around him, as he displays in his songs, said "I am not supportive of the war, but I am definitely supportive of the soldiers. A lot of people go to Iraq while they were just trying to get a college education."

Samuel L. Jackson seems at last to have accepted the idea of rappers becoming actors. Last year, Jackson was approached to star in "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" but turned the role down. He said "I like listening to 50 Cent and I can groove to his music but I don't want to groove to him on screen, just yet. Maybe if he does five movies and he shows some talent." It seems that Winkler's film offer was so seducing that Jackson could not wait for 50 Cent to prove his talent in four or five films. "Home of the Brave" is already considered as the first military drama to address the war in Iraq.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=49&id=13481 
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