Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
September 15, 2007

Over Seven million students begin new 2007-2008 school year.
Rabat, Sep. 14

Over seven million pupils and students started on Thursday their first school day for the year 2007-2008. According to a press release of the Ministry of Education, some 698,298 pupils have joined pre-school education (a 9.5% increase compared with last year), while 3,983,940 students have been accepted in Morocco's primary schools (+1.3). High school education counts some 1,486,777 students (+6.4).

In the year 2007-2008, the overall student body in Morocco's post-high school education has reached 289 thousand students against the 267 thousands registered last year (+ 8%). This is due to the increase of the newly enrolled students whose number is estimated at 90 thousand. Around 51 new schools, 155 educational units and 99 high schools have been built , as part of the efforts to strengthen infrastructure in primary and secondary education, the press release said.

At post-secondary level, a new university has been set up in Beni-Mellal (center) as well as four new faculties specialized in business, engineering and technology in the cities of Fes (center), Mohammadia, Khouribga and Berrechid (west), the same source added. This year marks the integration of the Amazigh (Berber language spoken by more than half of Morocco’s population) into primary education (fifth grade), the ministry noted.

Enrollment in certain disciplines was higher than usual this year in order to meet the needs in qualified human resources in engineering (training 10,000 engineers by 2010), social work (train 10,000 professionals by 2012), and medicine (training 3,300 doctors by 2020). http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/box3/over_seven_million_s/view
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Thirty-four women elected in Morocco’s parliament.
10/09/2007

Thirty-four women were elected to Morocco's Parliament during the recent legislative elections, Moroccan press quoted the Interior Ministry as saying on Sunday (September 9th). A government quota of 10% of Parliament's 325 seats reserved thirty places for women on a national list, and four women were elected on local lists. In 2002, five women were elected above the 10% quota. http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2007/09/10/newsbrief-03
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The Passage
Bottom Line: Morocco-set pic begins as quiet travelogue, ends as thriller, isn't satisfactory as either.
By John DeFore     Sep 11, 2007   Toronto International Film Festival

A shaggy-dog tale with a borderline-xenophobic punchline, "The Passage" begins promisingly but falters in the end. A tough sell that doesn't fit well into marketing niches, theatrical prospects are limited.

Set near the Atlas mountains in Morocco, the picture centers on Luke, a Westerner trying to forget lost love on a months-long vacation with best mate Adam. The pair are mismatched as travelers, with Adam out partying every night while Luke gets up early to haunt bazaars and digest the sights. Out one evening, he meets Zahra, a beautiful woman who's happy to translate for him and offers to take him to one of her favorite places in town -- which is just down this maze of twisting alleys...

The pair are mugged, but our initial assumption that Adam's being scammed is discouraged when they get away unharmed and with wallets intact. In the aftermath, Zahra insists that Adam let her demonstrate that her country isn't all bad by taking him up to a perfect spot in the mountains -- the only catch being that, if they want to see the unimaginable colors of an Atlas sunset, they'll miss the last bus back and have to share a hotel room together. Come to think of it, that's not so unappealing.

But one thing after another goes wrong in the mountaintop village until, in the middle of the night, Adam stumbles onto a labyrinth of tunnels. An effectively tense mood overtakes the film, with Adam and Zahra trying to navigate the darkness with a pocket full of candles and, when those run out, bursts of the flash from his camera. Effectively silent at first, then enhanced by subtly creepy music, the sequence works well.

Trouble is, it comes halfway through the film. If "The Passage" is sold based on the idea that what awaits in those tunnels is a horror film, genre fans will be bored to tears by the time the characters get there (and will be underwhelmed at what awaits). If sold as an artsier tale that takes a dark turn, viewers will likely find the final act a cheap shot.

The movie's split-personality frustrates, especially since cast and crew do their jobs perfectly well. As Luke, Stephen Dorff projects the kind of introspection we want in a personal-journey travelogue; director Mark Heller and crew create a look and feel appropriate to that. The difficulty lies in the structure and tone employed by first-time screenwriter Neil Jackson (who also plays Adam), who has taken a nugget of an idea and tried to stretch it into a feature it doesn't fit.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?JSESSIONID=GTXwGlGbS9rD1J72nXxvH6rFjNZfNXn6pTBz9LhgnL1VYDLT0Q15!2119460625&&rid=9789----------------------------------------------------------

Stew from Morocco is a favorite for holiday.
Honey, spices flavor Rosh Hashana treat
Wednesday, September 12, 2007     By Lisa McKinnon

The Jewish holiday Rosh Hashana begins at sunset today, marking the start of a new year and a period of reflection. It's also a period of eating. A Rosh Hashana meal might feature honey to denote hopes of a joyful year to come, a fish cooked and served with its head still attached to symbolize abundance and being at the "head" of things, and a pomegranate or other fruit that celebrants have not yet eaten that season.

Todd Aarons, executive chef at Tierra Sur, the kosher restaurant inside Herzog Wine Cellars in Oxnard, will bring several food traditions to bear when he celebrates Rosh Hashana with wife Nava and their four daughters, ages 8 months to 7 years, at home in Los Angeles.

On the menu: a whole red snapper baked in a thick crust of salt and egg whites that acts like a clay pot to steam the fish, and a dumpling dish called a tagine. A tagine is a type of Moroccan stew traditionally cooked in a conical clay pot of the same name, Aarons said. He's more likely to use a saute pan when making it, but it still gives more than a nod to tradition.

"Because of the use of honey and spices such as cardamom with apples, this has become a favorite recipe for my family on Rosh Hashana," he said.

Chicken and Veal Meat Dumplings With Apple Tagine
For the dumplings:
1 cup of French baguette or other rustic hearth-baked bread, crust removed and cut into 1-inch cubes
4 ounce soy milk (full fat, 4 grams or higher in fat content)
6 boneless chicken thighs, about 1 pound total
1 pound veal stew shoulder meat
4 cloves garlic
1/2 medium-size Spanish onion
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
Spice seasoning:
1/2 tablespoon ground green peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon ground coriander seed
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 teaspoons of Kosher salt, plus more to taste
2 tablespoons pure olive oil or canola oil
For the apple tagine:
2 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil
1 cup baby cipollini or pearl onions, peeled and whole
6 Braeburn, Granny Smith or similar firm, tart apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup Baron Herzog sauvignon blanc
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon of fresh thyme or sage leaves, chopped
Sea salt to taste
To make the dumplings: Saturate the crustless bread in the soy milk. Set aside.
Grind the thigh meat and veal through a medium plate, or have your butcher grind it for you. If you are grinding it yourself, send the garlic and onion through the grinder after the meat to help clean out the inside. Otherwise, mince the onion and garlic by hand.

In a mixing bowl, combine the ground meat, minced garlic and onions, and the spice seasoning mixture, except for the salt. Give the meat a good preliminary mix with your hands.

Put the meat, soaked bread and any soy milk that has not soaked into the bread into the bowl of a KitchenAid mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on a medium speed.

With the mixer running, add the egg and egg yolk and 2 teaspoons of salt. Turn the mixer up to high and whip the mixture for 2 minutes. The mixture should be stiff and homogenous.

Take a small sample and cook in a skillet. Taste for salt level and adjust seasonings if needed.
Roll the meat mixture into 1 1/2-inch- to 2-inch-diameter balls. Add oil to a skillet and brown the meat dumplings, but don't cook them all the way. Place on a plate and set aside.

To make the tagine: In a large saute pan (one with a lid), heat the oil and add the onions. Saute until onions begin to brown. Add the apples. Continue to cook over a medium flame until the onions and apples are both caramelized. Be attentive and continuously shake and stir your contents, or the sugars may burn on the bottom of the pan.

Add the sauvignon blanc and simmer for 30 seconds. Add the honey, vinegar, chicken stock and chopped herbs, and allow to cook uncovered on a low flame for 5 minutes. Add the dumplings to the pan and cover; cook for an additional 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning with sea salt. Serves six.
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/sep/12/stew-from-morocco-is-a-favorite-for-holiday/
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Letter from Tangier: Preserving the music of the Jews of Morocco.
By Vanessa Paloma         2007-09-14

At 6:30 a.m., I was walking toward Sha'ar Rafael, the synagogue on Boulevard Pasteur, the central drag in downtown Tangier. It is the last synagogue in this community of fewer than 100 Jews, the last one left in this Northern Moroccan port city that at its zenith housed 22 synagogues, had 100 cantors and 50 kosher butchers.

The city was still sleeping; few people were out. The cafés were open, men were sitting at sidewalk tables looking toward the street; veiled women were wearing jalabiyas and hurrying on their errands and a few older Jews were going to Selihot services. As I crossed the street, I met Rabbi Avraham Azancot, president of the Tangier community hurrying up the synagogue steps.

I am in Morocco for five months on a Senior Fulbright award from the State Department and the Moroccan government, researching Judeo-Spanish songs from Northern Morocco for their connection to liturgical poetry and kabbalistic practices. I arrived just two weeks ago and have installed myself in Tangier. Selihot, led by Rabbi Azancot, was very moving, with a piercing shofar that brought tears to my eyes. Later, over breakfast of homemade bread, argan oil and biscuits with coffee, Rabbi Azancot described for me the particulars of the Tangerine community's prayers for the High Holy Days, especially Rosh Hashanah. The Achot Ketana, a piyyut (liturgical poem) welcoming the new year and sending off the old, follows a different order in Tangier than in the traditional prayer book: They sing Achot Ketana first, then the psalm for Rosh Hashanah and finally the Kaddish, to maintain the integrity of saying Kaddish over the holier text, which is the Psalm.

Some of the siddurim, published in Livorno, have both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur prayers together; full of piyyutim sung with Andalusian melodies. Listening with Western ears, the music sounds Arabic, but this music was brought to the communities of Tangier and Tetouan by the Jews exiled from Spain -- with lilting melodies, counter rhythms and many flourishes.

The first wave of Spanish Jews came to Morocco after the riots of 1391, and the larger group came during and after 1492. The expulsion brought scores of people, and later others followed who had thought a nominal conversion to Catholicism could be an easy solution to the persecution but then learned otherwise. Many of them moved to these communities in the North of Morocco, returning to Judaism. The community that predates the Spanish Jews has been here since the time of the First Temple.

Tangier's community is very international and educated, situated at the door between Africa and Europe. Many Tangerine Jews are also Spanish and French citizens, and everyone speaks at least French, Spanish and Arabic; conversations often flow between all three languages. Last Shabbat, at Rabbi Avraham and Ester Azancot's, our conversation was in French, Spanish and Hebrew, and though there was always one odd one out -- I don't speak French, someone there didn't speak Spanish, the others didn't speak Hebrew -- we always had one common language in which to communicate, it was just not always the same one!

Rabbi Avraham's cousin, León Azancot, is a great singer and was a professional cantor when he was in his 20s. He is now 80 years old and an expert in Tangerine prayer. I visited him in his insurance office on a second floor at the entrance to the socco/souk (the medina of Tangier), where he told me about the wonderful community that existed here during the days of the Protectorate.

The Azancot's grandfather, Rabbi Yehuda Azancot, corresponded regularly with Yeshivat Bet El, the Yeshiva of the mekubalim (kabbalists) in Jerusalem. This is one of the reasons this community has deep connections to kabbalistic practices in prayer and ritual. León told me their grandfather passed away on Simhat Torah exactly at the point when the last parasha was read. He was moved to tears when he remembered the funeral of this great rabbi who helped imbue Tangier with kabbalah.

Kabbalah and the kavanot (intentions) behind the prayers as well as the order of the prayers are crucial elements in Tangier liturgy. The forefathers are mentioned many times in the selihot prayers in order of the sefirot (divine emanations). We remind God of our forefathers and how in their merit He should have mercy on us, not corresponding to their chronology, but to the sefira that corresponds to their personality. Abraham is kindness, Isaac is discipline, Jacob is beauty. Josef should follow, being that he is Jacob's son, but he represents sexual purity (foundation) so he is preceded by Moses (endurance) and Aaron (thanksgiving) and followed by David (kingship).

León Azancot, between cigarettes, sang some of the liturgical prayers from Rosh Hashanah, with a special love for the ones written by Yehuda Halevi, the poet of the Spanish golden age.

The prayer that has me especially curious is the blessing of the king on Yom Kippur. Moroccan dignitaries are invited to the synagogue, where Rabbi Torjeman will say a misheberach (prayer for healing) in Hebrew and Arabic; they will open the Ark and say a blessing for the king; his son, the prince; and the Moroccan army.

Even though this community is small and growing older, there is a wealth of information, beautiful music and a depth of connection to Judaism that is truly wonderful to be part of. I am most impressed with the respect for the integrity of the liturgy and tunes (los aires/la tonada). I am looking forward to a sweet and wonderful beginning to the year with Tangier's Jews!

Vanessa Paloma sings and plays harp with the Los Angeles-based Sephardic/Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) Folk Music group, Flor de Serena (Siren's Flower).
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=18192
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Our senses are tuned to overload in Morocco.
by Luke Traynor, Liverpool Echo Sep 11 2007 LUKE TRAYNOR visits Marrakesh and finds it a whirl of colour and noise

AS far as markets go, it beats St John's hands down. The Jemma el Fna is a huge sprawling square in the centre of Marrakesh, the No 1 attraction for the hordes of tourists who descend upon this north African city. The stalls go up from midday and activity becomes increasingly frenetic up to sunset when the area becomes a sea of exotic animals, bewitching smells, intoxicating piped music and stalls packed to the limits with local wares.

After checking in to our hotel, we made a beeline straight for this thriving hub, also known by locals as La Place. We chose to walk instead of braving the taxis and their non-existent tariffs until we were more acquainted with the city. Strolling around the Jemma el Fna, we were constantly beckoned by traders, each battling for custom, and even had a snake draped unwelcome over our shoulders.

You've got to have your wits about you. Any photographs of the dancing monkeys or the snake charmers, and their colleagues are rushing over and demanding some financial reward for their trouble. It’s an experience you’ll probably never find in Europe, a madcap atmosphere that amazingly manages to stay well-ordered, despite the exciting feeling that it could go off the rails at any moment.

Our trip to Marrakesh, courtesy of ThomsonFly, now offering cheap and quick flights from Manchester, saw us staying in the Ryad Mogador.

It’s located on Avenue Mohammed VI in the Hivernage quarter, a 15 minute walk from Jemma el Fna. This is a new hotel with spacious rooms, a spectacular reception area and a pool to cool off in. Mogador was one of a number of “dry Ryads”, which essentially means no alcohol is served within the building. But that was OK, as the heat often makes water the drink of choice.

On one occasion, we hailed a cab and asked to be taken straight to La Place, only for the enthusiastic driver to take us on an impromptu city tour. It was an eye-opener, treating us to sights off the beaten track, like sleeping donkeys on the roadside, and the sobbing relatives on a rudimentary funeral cortege. The reason for our driver’s keenness, however, soon became apparent, as we were led to his friend’s tannery workshop, and quickly ushered into the Moroccan’s version of the World of Leather.

It all began promisingly with informative information about how the material is made, a tour of the foul-smelling pigeon guano pits (we were handed mint leaves to alleviate the stench) and a glimpse into the Aladdin’s den of treasures made with the leather. Ten minutes later, however, a major hard-sell was upon us, as we were forced to inspect piles of carpets and vastly-overpriced jewellery by increasingly clamouring assistants. After eventually impressing upon staff that we were not in the market for leather or even rugs, we were shepherded out of the shop, not without an exasperated Moroccan muttering or two.

Highly recommended in Marrakesh is venturing into the souks. These are covered market streets which coax the visitor deeper into its bosom, but nevertheless take you further and further away from the relative sanctity of La Place.

There’s so much to see here, with craftsmen producing lamps, chests and textiles of every shape and size. It’s not a relaxing pastime, with persistent cries from traders of “just for looking”, and you should be prepared to haggle as if your life depends on it.

For those wanting that piece of quintessential Moroccan culture, the souks can’t be missed. Everybody’s out to make a quick buck from European visitors, including the giggling schoolboys who offer lost-looking shoppers an invitation to follow them with a potential escape route out of the dense labyrinth of tiny streets.

Maybe you can trust them – or maybe they’ll just lead you straight to their father’s tannery business. Back in La Place, it’s at night-time when the square comes alive. Many visitors opt to take a front row seat up high in the cafes and restaurants that surround the Jemma el Fna, with a cup of mint tea in hand.

It’s a memorable experience watching dusk turn to dark, the lights of the stalls piercing the gloom, and the steady stream of smoke coming from the barbecued meat stalls heading towards the skies. For remarkably low prices, you can sit down and order a selection of cooked meats in simple bench and table surroundings.

It’s the rough and ready experience that gives you a front-seat glimpse of Marrakesh life. Our itinerary wasn’t fixed, so we visited the usual sightseeing haunts – the imposing 65-metre high Koutoubia Mosque, a landmark minaret that calls worshippers to prayer with calls that echo throughout the city.

Other buildings that emphasised the cultural significance of Marrakesh were the royal burial place the Saadian Tombs, the Bahia Palace, and the Menara Gardens where hundreds of locals visit at weekends to enjoy the cool temperatures around the olive grove-surrounded pool.

One of the major positives of Marrakech, and Morocco generally, is the way European influence has rubbed off on its culture.

You forget sometimes that you’re actually in the continent of Africa, a brief four hour journey away from home. English is spoken by some, but with French the local language, most travellers have no problem being understood. A trip to Marrakesh is an overload for the senses, a whirl of colour and noise where the locals are never too afraid to express themselves.

My abiding memory was being incessantly hollered at by five freshly-squeezed orange juice sellers in unashamed, shrill tones to buy their drink which cost about 10p. Life is for the living for the Marrakshis. It’s why the city is known as Morocco’s pleasure capital.
< http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-life/travel/2007/09/11/our-senses-are-tuned-to-overload-in-morocco-100252-19770170/
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Berber language gets an airing.
By Ahmed El Amraoui in Tetouan

Killing off the language of the conquered has been a priority for invaders since mankind graduated from the mere exchange of grunts and signs. The Berbers of North Africa found themselves at the receiving end when Arabs overran their turf in the seventh century. Their Amazigh tongue fared no better than countless other languages driven underground by defeat on the battlefield. While some languages and nations are erased over time, some persist and live on the margins. Such is the case of the Berbers and their language.

Who Are the Berbers?
The North African coast was known as Barbary (from the Latin word for foreigners), and its inhabitants were the people now known as Berbers. Today, they number about 20 million and call themselves Imazaghen, which means "free and noble men". Spread across Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and, to a lesser extent, Libya and Egypt, they were conquered during the Arab invasion that started in the seventh century.
Despite the conquest, Berbers retained their distinct culture, in which women have more freedom than among Arabs, and decisions are made communally.

In later centuries, Berbers stubbornly resisted domination but were eventually put down by the French, who ruled most of Morocco from 1912 to 1956. Through the centuries, Berbers have mixed with so many other ethnic groups, notably the Arabs, that they are now identified usually on a linguistic rather than racial basis.

Berber languages form a branch of the Afro-Asiatic linguistic family and comprise about 26 closely related languages, including Tachelhit, Central Atlas Tamazight, and Kabyle. Many Berbers are bilingual in Arabic .

At least 30 per cent of the country's population still considers one of the three Berber languages their mother tongue.
Despite this, the Berbers are treated like a minority by members of the dominant Arab culture when it comes to promoting their culture and language. Berbers are mostly Muslim, ethnically mixed and spread across the country - from the Rif mountain range in the north to the Atlas mountains, and the desert in the south. For this reason, language is all-important to the Berbers, uniting their pluralistic culture.

Berber calls to re-examine Moroccan society have grown louder since controls on political expression were loosened by the ascension of Mohammed VI to the throne in 1999.

And the effect: After decades of ignoring the existence of Amazigh, Morocco has of late begun to pay it some attention. The king has promised to set up a body to preserve the Berbers' language and culture to "strengthen the pillars of our ancestral identity", bearing in mind "the need to give a new impulse to our Amazigh culture, which is a national treasure".

While this change in attitude has been welcomed, there has been calls against viewing the issue through a political or racial prism. "Talking about Amazigh is talking about history, culture, race, people, language and politics," says Jamal Benaissa, a Moroccan history researcher. "If you consider it from the perspective of language, culture and history, it adds value to Moroccan diversity. But if seen from a political or racial angle, it can become a curse that threatens the unity of our society."

Demands for the recognition of Amazigh have been derided in the past as a colonial plot to divide the Arab country. And not surprisingly, the opening of the airwaves to the Berber language has not found favour with everyone.

Across the air waves
Abderrahman Adawi, chairman of Radioplus, which broadcasts both in Arabic and Amazigh, says: "The use of this language is mainly to be as close as possible to the listeners and be sure that the messages are well understood by every category of the population among which an important part does not speak or understand Arabic."

Adawi's 24-hour radio station dedicates 10 hours a day to Amazigh. "We try to balance between the two languages, yet we are criticised by audiences for both," Adawi says. "The Berbers accuse us of not doing enough and want more time given to Amazigh. The Arabs blame us for giving too much time and attention to Amazigh."

The station is one of the 10 private radio stations that have taken advantage of the government's move to liberalise the broadcast media.

Based in Agadir, the capital city of the Berber-majority Souss region, Radioplus programmes deal with local issues such as education and the environment. Seventy per cent of its employees are Berbers. Working in the media for the first time, they had to be trained by specialists in Casablanca.

But elsewhere in the broadcast spectrum, Amazigh is still a weak signal. One government-affiliated television channel, 2M, broadcasts in a mix of Arabic, French and Amazigh. The other, RTM, broadcasts predominantly in Arabic, with only five to 10 minutes a day of news in Amazigh.

Dubbing the use of Amazigh as a colonial plot can be traced back to Arabic's loss of influence during the French colonial period. But after Morocco gained its independence in 1956, the Arabic language rode the waves of nationalism, to come back with a vengeance. In the 1970s, the government launched a campaign to impose stricter standards for the use of Arabic in place of French in government and education.

'Arabisation'
Berber activists say the "Arabisation" of Morocco has led to discrimination and has marginalised their people. They blame Arabisation for the high illiteracy rate in Morocco. More than half of its citizens cannot read because Berber children often drop out when confronted with teachers who speak only Arabic. Even in schools in predominantly Berber areas, lessons are taught in Arabic. Government jobs are off-limits to those who speak only Amazigh.

In a speech in 2001 to mark the second anniversary of his accession to the throne, Mohammed VI spoke of integrating the Berbers into the education system. But many Berber organisations denounce the education charter. They point out that only two of its 100 articles deal with the question of Amazigh in school. The first article says Amazigh could be used in primary school, but only to "facilitate the learning of the official language", Arabic. The second says that certain universities would have the means to study Amazigh and Berber culture.

Not all Berbers are in agreement on the push for identity. "After the creation of the Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture, some Berbers have gone too far in their demands. Some hardliners now say that Arabs are not the indigenous people of Morocco and hence want Amazigh to be the official language of the country," says Benaissa. Moderates worry that calls by hardcore activists for a political party exclusively for Berbers would be seen as separatism and could harm their movement. They fear that it may lead to a confrontation, such as the incidents that took place in Kabyle, Algeria in recent years. "In Berber-majority cities, Arabs who do not speak Amazigh feel discriminated against because most Berbers insist on talking to you in their language though they speak Arabic," says Benaissa. "God forbid, we don't want Morocco to become another Iraq or Sudan."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A99236D2-6067-479E-9DB3-4A478B033F60.htm
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Women's rights fail reality check.
By  Ahmed El Amraoui in Rabat

Of all the issues dominating the parliamentary elections in Morocco, few are as important to the kingdom's international image as women's rights and education and their role in politics. As of now, the voice of Moroccan women is feeble both in politics and society, despite the achievements of a few individuals. But even critics of the government admit that attempts are being made to set right gender injustices through legislation. In the September election, at least 10 per cent of those elected will be women. A system now ensures that 30 of the 325 seats in parliament are reserved for women.

Changing fortunes
The legal landscape for women really began to change after 2004. In January that year, Morocco introduced important amendments to the family code that gave women the same rights as men, instituted divorce by mutual consent, enhanced children's rights and reinforced family ties. Known as the Moudawana, the law has raised women's minimum marrying age from 15 to 18, tightened rules regarding polygamy and granted both spouses the right to file for divorce.

The law is seen as one of the most progressive in the Arab world and an important advance in human rights in the sense that it placed families under joint responsibility of both spouses. Separately, women have been given new responsibilities in mosques, principally in teaching.
Called the Murchidates, they will now instruct other women about Islam, answer questions relating to religion, provide legal guidance on family law, and help promote literacy.

Below potential
Despite the reforms, rights activists say the new laws are failing to achieve their full potential as many women remain unaware of their existence. These activists say true women's emancipation will be achieved only if awareness campaigns are intensified, noting that coping with life's daily burdens is itself a struggle for the vast majority of Moroccan women.

"In terms of women's rights law, some progress has been made recently, especially concerning the Moudawana. But we believe that the new family law has failed to achieve full equality in rights between men and women," Khadija Riyadi, president of the Moroccan Human Rights Association (MHRA), said. "The promoters of the new law have ignored recommendations introduced by us and other women's rights campaigners. Equality of rights remains an unfulfilled promise. There's also a lot of work to do in terms of the new laws intended to protect women against all sorts of violence."

Education challenge
Education is another challenge in Morocco. Despite impressive advances, there is still a lot of ground to be covered, particularly in the area of schooling for girls. Women's rights activists say the new laws will have little impact as long as they remain unenforced. The intended beneficiaries lack the minimum education that would give them the confidence to ask for their rights. Riyadi says: "It's a fight against discrimination at all levels ... And this discrimination is quite endemic when it comes to economic, social and cultural rights.

"Here I'm talking about the right of little girls to go to school and for all women to get a decent job if they want. Thus, as a human rights activist and as a woman, I still have a lot of issues to fight for." The challenges can hardly be overstated. In rural regions, old customs persist, with girls still being married off below the legal age.

Tradition-bound
Most women's lives remain bound by traditions that are thought to have rural and sometimes tribal roots. Furthermore, wives are beholden to their husbands for their livelihoods, putting them in a position of weakness that is vulnerable to abuse. Riyadi says that for measuring improvements in women's conditions, the MHRA uses universal human rights as the reference point, her primary goal being to make sure they are implemented in Morocco.

"We do not consider international laws dealing with human rights as a Western diktat. We consider them to be legislation for all humanity cutting across political boundaries, because those laws have been established by people from different countries around the world," she says. "I am talking about the principle of universality - the universality of women's rights as stated in the international law, regardless of country, origin or religion.

Compliance gap
Riyadi says the MHRA's main task is to monitor the government's compliance with the international laws they are formally committed to uphold. "Of course, the level of implementation differs from country to another. In Europe, for instance, women's conditions are by any measure far better than those of women in Africa.

"And then there are also different levels inside the Arab world. For instance, the family law in Tunisia is a landmark compared with the rest of the Arab countries. "In Morocco, as I said before, some progress has been made. But the problem remains the compliance of the national laws with international laws."
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5AD57AEB-81D8-448F-9AB9-864A4E229D4A.htm
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