Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
July 7, 2007

Moroccan tourism up by 7% this year.
04/07/2007

Morocco welcomed 2.26m tourists between January and May 2007, up 7% over the same period last year, MAP cited Department of Tourism figures as saying on Tuesday (July 3rd). Marrakech remains the country's most popular destination, and the number of visitors there increased by 12%, followed by Casablanca (9%) and Agadir (3%). These three cities account for the majority of the increase in the number of tourists. French citizens topped the list of tourists during the period in question with 873,000, followed by Spaniards (479,000), Brits (175,000), Belgians (96,000), Italians (95,000) and Germans (91,000). Only the Belgian and Arab markets posted a decline in terms of tourist nights during the period. Morocco has launched major tourism development projects, including the $2.4 billion Mazagan project which is part of Vision 2010, a co-ordinated effort to attract 10m tourists by 2010. Tourism receipts remain a main source of government revenue and foreign proceeds, and they were up 8% to 19.8 billion dirhams in the first five months of the year.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2007/07/04/newsbrief-04
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Award-winning Moroccan-American film opens in Morocco.
By Imane Belhaj 04/07/2007

A critically acclaimed Moroccan-American film produced in the Hollywood style has come to Morocco. Ziad Ahmed's "Real Premonition" tells the story of a young Moroccan who finds trouble when he moves to the United States. Moroccan cinemas recently began screening "Real Premonition", the first feature-length film by young director and producer Ziad Ahmed. The Moroccan-American film earned Ahmed the 2006 Outstanding Achievement Award from the Florida Motion Picture and Television Association.

The film brings together American actors and Moroccan actors Aziz Maouhoub, Ahmed Saari and newcomer Charaf ben Affan as the film's star. It tells the story of a young man who dreams of immigrating to the US. Too impatient to wait for a visa, he seeks the help of a witch doctor, for which he is ridiculed by his friends. However, when Samir realises his dream and goes to the States to study, he falls into the hands of a gang that wish to use him to smuggle money to Morocco. Shot on location in Florida, Casablanca and Rabat, the film is packed with adventure and suspense of Hollywood proportions – including action sequences and police chases. Ahmed employs all the means of action and excitement that characterise American movies.

Moroccan and American film stars showed their support for Ahmed during a preview at the Megarama Cinema Complex in Casablanca. Several American filmmakers have expressed their readiness to collaborate with Ahmed and other Moroccan actors and producers. At the end of the screening, young star Charaf ben Affen was met with prolonged applause for his performance. Speaking at the event, Ben Affen, who currently studies acting in the US, said "I did not expect my part to enjoy such success, and I am very grateful to director Ziad Ahmed, who placed all his trust in me."

Co-producer Ray Nelson, also representative of the Florida Motion Picture and Television Association, said work with Moroccan film-makers will continue, a fact confirmed by the turnout of American actors at the Moroccan premiere. Ziad Ahmed advised young Moroccans seeking their fortunes in the United States to avoid falling into trouble and listen to the advice of those who have gone before them. "I noticed many young Moroccans losing their way because they did not behave properly – just as happens to young Samir, who changed his name to Sam and joined the gang, and Ziad who tried to get him out of the problems by various means, but without success."

Ziad Ahmed valued greatly the co-operation of local authorities in Florida, who offered him complete support and facilities throughout the filming on public streets and in a major airport.

The film’s premiere was marked by the Florida Motion Picture and Television Association’s honouring of Moroccan actors Aziz Maouhoub and Ahmed Saari, who used the occasion to express their pride to be acting for a young Moroccan director. They said their parts in the film, although short, had artistic value nonetheless, and they were pleased to work alongside international actors. They said that they will be happy to offer support to any young actor or director who asks them to do such work, and urged Ahmed to go to Morocco, which is in need of directors like him to promote Moroccan cinema.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/blog/2007/07/04/feature-02
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Rayssa Fatima Tabaamrant, Taghlaghalt or the Echo of the Atlas. ( Institut du Monde Arabe/Harmonia Mundi) Robin Denselow  Friday June 29, 2007  The Guardian

Rayssa Fatima Tabaamrant is a raissa, a traditional itinerant female singer from southern Morocco, who performs in town squares, bars or weddings, and whose lyrics deal with anything from local to international affairs or social issues of the day. She is also a quite astonishingly rousing performer, with a declamatory style and the ability to improvise that make her sound like a traditional answer to a great blues or rock performer.

This may look like an album for ethno-musicologists with its erudite sleeve-notes, but the lady deserves a wider audience. Backed by a stomping band using hand drums, cymbals made from car-wheel rims, lutes and fiddles, she tears into this live set with a 15-minute track that constantly changes direction and ends up as a furious workout against a driving, insistent riff from her musicians. Exhilarating.
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Language and identity in Morocco.

The everyday language of Moroccans, Darija – a mix of Arabic, Thmazight (Berber), French and Spanish – has become a point of controversy in Morocco, according to Reuters. While Darija may be spoken by almost everyone, it is not the official language, which is Arabic.
During the era of Pan-Arabism in the 1970s the Moroccan government tried to eradicate the use of colonial words – words from French and Spanish. For example, schoolteachers were forbidden to communicate in Darija with their students.

“This is the language of the people in the street, that [is] the language of Morocco and our target is the youth,” said Yunis Lacak, a DJ and a producer at Hit Radio in the Moroccan capital, Rabat. “This is the language they speak. This is why we use it so that [we] can get the message straight to them.” Some also see Darija as a protest against the pure form of Arabic being taught at Quranic schools in the country.
Despite the popularity of Darija, there are still some problems for those who suggest that it should be the official language – there is no written form of Darija.
By The Media Line Staff on Thursday, July 05, 2007     Have comments? Email editor@themedialine.org.
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=18194
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New report discusses child abuse in Morocco .
05/07/2007 By Imane Belhaj

Moroccan organisation COCASSE has released a report on child abuse in the country including its current state, causes and potential solutions. The group criticises the Moroccan government as being too lax in prosecuting sexual crimes, and calls on legislators to stiffen mandatory sentences. Child abuse has increased 50% over the last year in Morocco, according to a recent report by the Coalition against Sexual Abuse of Children (COCASSE). The report concludes that approximately 80% of child abuse cases involve sexual exploitation, and 75% of the perpetrators have a familial relationship with their victims. Most victims of sexual exploitation are children under age 10.

Khaled Cherkaoui Semmouni, Co-ordinator of COCASSE and President of the Moroccan Centre for Human Rights, said in a statement to Magharebia that COCASSE, an alliance of more than 40 Moroccan and foreign associations, works to examine root causes of abuse and advocates legal reform to punish crimes of abuse more harshly, in accordance with international norms.

Semmouni said the report contains anecdotal figures. "We relied on the complaints we received, what is published in the press and what is presented to the courts – in an attempt to assess the gravity of the phenomenon, to search for means of curtailing its danger to our children, and to direct our recommendations to the government and parliament primarily." In its report, COCASSE also criticizes the way victims are treated during trials, causing children further trauma and psychological distress. The Coalition recommends a psychologist be present during trial.

The report explores the origins of sexual exploitation. Most stem from blatant violations of children’s socio-economic rights —the right to a respectable standard of living, the right to education, the right not to work, the right to play — but also from a lack of sexual education and awareness at schools. Poverty appears to be the decisive factor pushing children into prostitution alongside factors such as the break-up of the family unit, mistreatment within the family and the absence of a national action plan delineating a strategy for preventing violence against youth.

Despite the efforts of human rights and child advocacy organisations, Morocco still suffers from judicial inefficiencies that allow sexual criminals to evade punishment. Groups like COCASSE push the government to intensify the legal pursuit and punishment of perpetrators of rape and molestation, and call for adherence to Morocco's Penal Law, especially section 485, which mandates a punishment of 10 to 20 years imprisonment, with child rapists receiving no less than 12 years.

In reaction to media criticism, Moroccan authorities have begun efforts against sex tourism with a series of arrests in Agadir, Marrakesh and Casablanca. Moroccan authorities also detained a number of foreign tourists implicated in child molestation and pornography cases. Nevertheless, Semmouni condemned the judiciary's shortcomings in pursuing perpetrators. "We find the punishment for raping a child does not exceed five years, whatever the act or gender of the attacker."

The report presents several examples of child sexual abuse cases, such as the case of a French man detained in Marrakesh who was arrested with 17,000 photos and 140,000 video recordings on his personal computer that he was sending to pornographic sites. In this case, the report claims, "the appellate court reduced the sentence from four years imprisonment to two years, and then he earned amnesty, enabling him, after one year, to leave."

The COCASSE Co-ordinator said national laws governing children’s rights need further reform to bring them in line with international human rights standards. "Stipulation of this crime against children remains ambiguous in Moroccan laws, which lack clear terms, such as ‘sexual harassment’ or ‘sexual assault’ at a time when we find only the terms ‘rape’, or ‘disgrace’ applied to a girl or woman," Semmouni told Magharebia.

"The problem requires a realistic approach on which educational institutions rely to protect against all forms of violence, whether physical or sexual, within the school arena," said Latifa Fayad, President of the Oubour Association for Moroccan Residents Abroad, emphasising the necessity of providing legal, social, and psychological aid to victims of sexual abuse, given the dangerous psychological effects these crimes have on victims.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2007/07/05/feature-02
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Morocco Q1 GDP growth slows to 1.9 pct year-on-year.
Mon 2 Jul 2007. RABAT, July 2 (Reuters)

A slump in agriculture meant Morocco's gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 1.9 percent in the first quarter from 6.7 percent a year earlier, the country's High Planning Commission said on Monday. Farm production fell by 18 percent in the first three months of 2007 compared to the same period a year earlier, the HCP said in a statement on its Web site, while non-agricultural growth was 4.7 percent. Construction and public works grew 9.3 percent, underpinned by a state-backed infrastructure and housing drive. The hotel and restaurant sector expanded by 8.1 percent as more tourists visited the kingdom.

Growth of GDP in the trading sector slowed to 4.3 percent from 6.9 percent a year earlier, the HCP said, without giving a reason. Farming accounts for up to 17 percent of Morocco's economy but the figure varies widely because of cyclical droughts. Last year saw the best grain harvest in 10 years. The HCP has forecast growth of 1.6 percent this year, down from 8.1 percent in 2006, proving Morocco still has far to go to free its economy from the uncertainties of farming. With poverty and unemployment rife, the government is trying to create more jobs by expanding existing industries such as tourism and textiles while pushing into new areas like back-office outsourcing. http://africa.reuters.com/country/MA/news/usnL02659019.html
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Agricultural production in Morocco represents 15% of GDP, official.
Casablanca, July 2

Moroccan agricultural production, including cattle and vegetables, has tripled over the last 50 years to stand at 15% of GDP, revealed, here Monday, the Higher Commissioner for Planning (HCP), Ahmed Lahlimi. "Despite a strong urbanization, agriculture still represents15% of national wealth and has an important growing impact on national economy," said Mr Lahlimi at the opening of a workshop themed "which agriculture for Morocco 2030?" "The social dimension of agriculture is central, as this sector employs 46% of the working population," the Moroccan official added, noting that its evolution is a determining factor in rural society balance.

In a related issue, the Moroccan agriculture minister, Mohand Laenser, and the HCP officials presented a summary of the "Prospective-Agriculture-2030" study. The latter revolves around three main scenarios:"Undergone opening" which stresses the need to widen agricultural dualities, "Accelerated opening" which is marked by the government's withdrawal to enable economic actors and international competitiveness prevail in taking agriculture –related decisions. The third scenario touches on the “controlled opening” which takes into account factors such as qualifying the human factor as well as the agricultural potential, managing natural resources and liberalizing the sector.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/economy/agricultural_product/view
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Mythical Morocco.
By Nigel Andrews.   Published: June 21 2007

I came here for the waters,” says Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. ”Waters? What waters? We’re in the desert,” his police-chief friend Claude Rains points out. ”I was misinformed,” Bogart wryly responds. There you are; and there we have been through most of screen history.

Morocco in western cinema is a place of the mind. It is a place that film buffs love to the point of folly: which explains why folly - heedless, blithe, almost wilful - distinguishes so much of the foreign moviemaker’s perspective on the country. It explains why nearly every character in classic feature films set in that land (Morocco, Casablanca, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Sheltering Sky) gets the place wrong, in some large or small way. It also explains why scarcely any Hollywood, or non-African, film set in Morocco is ”shot” in Morocco. Backlots and studios are just as good (goes the conscious or unconscious thinking) if you are inventing your own deserts and kasbahs, if you are brainstorming your own saloons and intrigue-infested gambling dens.

By contrast - the other side of the paradox - out of the dozens of films that were shot in Morocco, nearly all are set somewhere else. The north-west corner of Africa provides good settings, cheap production costs, proximity to Europe. Where better to shoot Palestine in The Last Temptation of Christ, the Ottoman deserts of Lawrence of Arabia or Cyprus in Orson Welles’s Othello? Today, top director Ridley Scott has one foot permanently planted in a Morocco of many roles (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven), while his other leg, like a compass, arcs back and forth across the finance-and-production world between London’s Pinewood studios and Hollywood.

Morocco is a place of beautiful landscapes and increasingly made-to-measure location facilities. It is also the land of mirages, so any one thing can be made to look like another. A few hey-prestos on the computer allow the Atlas mountains to be a backdrop for Tibet (Kundun) or the sands of the western Sahara to do for eastward Egypt (The Mummy).

But ”Morocco-for-somewhere-else” is the mere minor cousin of ”somewhere-else-for-Morocco”. That is the real deal in movie iconography. That turns the first principle topsy-turvy. What it says is: ”The real Morocco may be good enough for other countries. But it is not good enough for the true, the mythical, the fabulous screen Morocco.” Photo-reality, however scenic, however gobsmacking, is not the stuff of make-believe.

So when Josef von Sterberg fashioned a desert romance starring Marlene Dietrich as a German singer in Africa, who gets entangled with foreign legionnaire Gary Cooper, he called it Morocco although it had nothing to do with the geographical country and was all shot in Hollywood.

Why? Because it was Morocco the dream. It was kitsch with sand. It was a high-camp tale of camp-following. (See the finale with singer-turned-soldier’s-girl Dietrich shucking her stilettos as she starts her all-for-love slog into the desert.) It was Morocco in the sense that it imagined, without going there, a place where Europe, crossing the tiniest of seas, could gatecrash the old world and create a collision or collusion between civilisation and exoticism, between the bright forward gaze of the west and the dark atavistic gaze (so supposed) of the east.

Casablanca repeated the formula with extra oomph. Most of the film’s audiences in 1942 and probably several of its actors (on first reading the script) hadn’t a clue where the title town was. Warner Brothers egged this on by making it seem as if Casablanca was Marrakesh: an inland desert town, a waterless oasis, where you could only escape by a plane-hop to Lisbon. Barely anyone mentions that the real Casablanca is on the coast.

No wonder that when Bernardo Bertolucci filmed the greatest Moroccan novel of all by a non-Moroccan, Paul Bowles’ The Sheltering Sky, it seemed a revolutionary step to film it in Morocco. Here were Debra Winger and John Malkovich touching down in the Sahara. Here was cameraman Vittorio (Apocalypse Now) Storaro unpacking all the colours in his palette. The screen was a mile wide. The gold of the sand dunes was so beautiful it could hurt your eyes. And yet - you guessed it - the film bombed.

We know why. Audiences might as well have shouted it out: ”We don’t want Morocco to be played by Morocco, even at its most gorgeous. It has become a place in our brains. It’s a fantasy of the soul.” Babel, again shot in Morocco itself, where key scenes were set, likewise failed to create queues round the block, though it got ”coos” from critics.

Morocco was, and is, too powerful a reality to be contained by realism, however resplendent. We have to make poetry of it, otherworldly poetry. And poetry is a thing of notes and chords and shapes in the brain, not projections of what actually exists.

Bob Hope and Bing Crosby got it right in their musical comedy The Road to Morocco, the best of their ”Road” series. ”Like Webster’s Dictionary, we’re Morocco bound,” they warbled in the main song. A much-loved country, or the much-loved myth of it, was and for many remains a piece of beautiful material in which to wrap our beautiful thoughts and imaginings.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/1a8543b6-1e10-11dc-89f7-000b5df10621.html
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