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Morocco Week in Review
January 10, 2015
Amazigh Community in US Celebrates Amazigh New Year 2965.
Monday 5 January 2015 - El Houssaine Naaim Marrakech
The Amazigh Cultural Network in the US is hosting a celebration to ring in the Amazigh new year 2965 in Armory Hall, in Everett, Massachusetts. The event will take place on January 24 from 5:00pm to 10:00pm. Unlike the Christian and Islamic calendar, the Amazigh calendar does not correlate with any religious event, but triggers off of an historic event: the anniversary of the victory of the Amazigh leader Shashank I in the reign of Ramses II over the Pharaohs, and the unification of Libya with Egypt and the Levant.
Since that time (measured as 950 BC in the Christian calendar), the Amazigh people have celebrated annually the triumph of Shashank, the founder of the 22nd Family in the reign of Ramses II. The Amazigh New Year’s Eve corresponds also to the eve of the Agricultural Year in North Africa (a calendar adopted by farmers to determine when they can cultivate their fields according to defined periods.
The celebration provides an opportunity to discover traditional live Amazigh music and dance, from different regions of North Africa, and features an exhibition table demonstrating the close relations of the Amazigh community in the US to its home land, Tamazgha, in North Africa, according to a news release obtained by MWN.
Special guest, singer and Arabs Got Talent star Jennifer Grout, will perform during the celebration.
The organizers welcome all Amazigh and other interested people to attend the celebration and enjoy traditional Amazigh cuisine, including couscous and hot tea with mint.
Edited by Elisabeth Myers
http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/01/148831/amazigh-community-in-us-celebrates-amazigh-new-year-2965/
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Moroccan Prostitute Tells Her Story on BBC.
Saturday 3 January 2015 -
Rabat
A Moroccan woman forced into prostitution revealed the details of her daily suffering to British TV channel BBC. The woman allowed BBC Arabic cameras to explore the room where she lives with her little children who were born out of wedlock.
The woman told the British television about her story and how she ended up becoming a prostitute. “I am a prostitute, I smoke, I drink and I am not a wife material,” she told BBC.
The Moroccans said that her children will grow up without birth certificates. She expressed the fear that her children will ask her in the future why they are not registered in the civil status.
She said that she asks God to fulfill three wishes for her: to bring her a husband who would be willing to accept her and her children, travel to Europe or to have a decent job with a monthly salary that can keep her off the streets.
Clarification
Morocco World News reported on Saturday that this documentary was produced by the British network BBC Arabic, but while BBC aired the documentary “Jewels of grief,” it did not produce it not does its copyright’s.
Jewels of Grief (when there is no hope), was released in 2013 by Moroccan director Mohammed Nabil, who owns the copyrights of the documentary.
The film relates the stories of two destitute Moroccan women who fell prey to their precarious social condition.
MWN has already published a report on the film on August 22, 2013.
Nabil’s documentary sheds light on the condition of single mothers who are mostly from lower classes that are already plagued with poverty and illiteracy.
These women are often rejected by their families and their children are viewed as a social stigma. Consequently, they have to face all hardships on their own and the main challenge for them remains to secure a reliable income to support themselves and their children.
Nabil’s documentary aims to show the life of single mothers and the way they are viewed by law, religion and by different actors in Moroccan society.
http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/01/148734/moroccan-prostitute-tells-her-story-to-bbc/
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Morocco: 10 Years of Promoting Literacy - One Community At a Time
Jean Abinader. By Jean R. Abinader, Matic Moroccan American Center for Policy (Washington, DC) 5 January 2015
Jamila Hassoune, noted Moroccan Bookseller, Takes Reading to Rural Areas. Morocco has a special history of melding together linguistic, cultural, and ethnic groups within its society. While urban areas such as Casablanca and Tangier are highly cosmopolitan, Morocco retains a strong rural presence in all sections of the country, defined largely by the Atlas and Anti-Atlas mountain ranges and the interior desert areas. As in most countries, economic development is dominated by the coastal areas, where there is access to markets and commodities for consumption and export.
In Morocco, the future of rural areas has not been overlooked. After commissioning a detailed study of the country's first 50 years of development, King Mohammed VI launched the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH), a multi-year, multi-billion dollar program to attack issues of poverty, economic growth, health care, education, and infrastructure. The program's success brought a INDH renewal in 2013 benefiting from lessons learned and greater local participation in defining and managing projects.
One of the key instruments in promoting the goals of the INDH is empowering civil society and NGOs to mobilize and take action to promote social and human development. And there is no better example of grassroots, people-centric programming than the work of Jamila Hassoune, the Bookseller of Marrakech.
While her work has broad exposure in Europe, it has received little attention in the US; but it deserves our attention as an example of progressive activism that benefits remote communities by addressing the psychology of development by opening new vistas to marginalized populations, especially women and youth.
Building the Book Caravan
Jamila was inspired by her father, who preceded her as a bookseller in Marrakech. After opening her own shop, she realized that bookselling too often was waiting for readers to appear at the window. In collaboration with noted author Fatima Mernissi, she began Civic Caravans in 1997 through which "representatives from Moroccan civil society could meet with local people and with those working for local and international aid associations based in the villages."
In 2006, this morphed into the Book Caravan project - "a week of meetings organized every year in a distant oasis or village where Jamila and her colleagues would take books and hold discussions and workshops involving writers and intellectuals. The activities were usually held in local schools, for the main aim was to spread and promote book culture in the schools, and to have the students become young ambassadors of the reading in their own communities."
My first encounter with Jamila was in Washington several years ago as she was meeting with potential funders. She described an oral history project that was part of the Caravan, linking largely illiterate mothers with their children to record the family's history. As in all of the Caravans, there is a strong visual component, as well as discussions with authors and artists. Jamila was anxious to recruit English speakers to participate in her programs as few Americans have yet joined in her activities.
She is deeply committed to the value of education as a core component of citizenship. "Here in the Arab world," she explains, "we are talking about citizens, but we don't give much to young students. We have to give them something. We have to teach them if we want them to participate in the decisions of the country, in cultural decisions... For me it was necessary to put those books in the places where you can't find them. So The Book Caravan, it was like a trip, a mobile cultural space."
As a recent article noted, "The Caravan is staffed by various authors, artists, and journalists from Moroccan cities as well as from abroad. Each year, Hassoune recruits different intellectuals to assist in her humanitarian task, which has taken an importance unprecedented by many."
Ms. Hassoune recounted her early experiences and described her long-term vision for her work to an American writer this way, "She wants to build a new kind of school and ecologically sound social enterprise at an oasis in Morocco, which would include a museum about Moroccan culture. It's a big set of goals, but she's pulled off the improbable before!"
This year's Caravan is scheduled April 20-24 in Taghjijt, located east of Guelmim in southern Morocco. Its historical roots go back some 2500 years, and it is both a beautiful palm grove and a region where the two major linguistic groups, the Hassaniya and Amazigh, have coexisted. Volunteers bring their literary and media skills to remote areas to share their passions with local populations who in turn now have special access to a larger world. And it all takes place in an amazing cultural milieu.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201501060738.html
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HM King Mohammed Vi Launches National Solidarity Campaign
HM King Mohammed VI launched, on Thursday at the Ben M'Sick prefecture in Casablanca, the national solidarity campaign, held annually by the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity under the motto "United to Help the Poor".
The annual campaign is held under the chairmanship of His Majesty the King who has set since his accession to the throne, social work as a national priority.
This campaign, to last from January 8 to 16, has become an opportunity for all Moroccans to renew their commitment to the values of civism and patriotism, through their contribution to the actions and projects carried out by the Foundation for needy people in the different regions of the Kingdom.
The National Solidarity Campaign consists in raising funds to finance social projects and implement the action plans that have evolved over the years to meet the needs of targeted populations.
The Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity allocates, in order of importance, the collected funds to projects run by NGOs or directly to the people, including the poor and people in a precarious situation. The Foundation resources are used to finance projects dealing with training, qualification and socio-professional integration of the target population (youth, women, people with special needs), the "Marhaba" operation -held every summer to help Moroccan expatriates spending holidays in Morocco- and food support to the needy during the holy month of Ramadan, in addition to sustainable development projects and humanitarian activities both in Morocco and abroad.
On this occasion, the Sovereign dedicated a center for solidarity micro-enterprises. The 42.6 million-dirham center is meant to support the creation and development of micro-enterprises by needy young entrepreneurs.
The center, which offers free temporary accommodation to micro-enterprises, also seeks to promote self-employment of young people and fight poverty and unemployment among this category.
The center also offers recipients equipment needed to start their projects, working capitals to launch their activities, as well as training sessions to develop their personal, entrepreneurial and managerial skills.
Built on an area of 7697 square meters, the new facility houses 51 workshops for production activities, 29 dedicated platforms to service providers, meeting rooms, a support service for microenterprises, a training room, and other administrative and technical dependencies.
After visiting the new facility, HM the King presented 3 million dirhams in checks to 22 NGOs and cooperatives from different regions of the Kingdom to support them and help them carry out their projects.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201501090766.html
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Activists Call on Moroccan Govt. to Make Amazigh New Year National Holiday.
Saturday 3 January 2015 -
Rabat –
Nekour Center for Culture and Freedom called on the head of the Moroccan Government to recognize the Amazigh New Year as a national holiday. The El Hoceima-based NGO said that all Moroccans must be given a day off in order to celebrate the Amazigh New Year.
The NGO also said that the Amazigh culture and language have contributed in the enrichment of the Moroccan culture and identity, therefore it the Amazigh New Year should be recognized as a national holiday to all Moroccans.
Known as “Yennayer”, Amazigh people across North Africa celebrate the new Amazigh New Year on January 12th.
Yennayer is the first day of the agrarian calendar year used since ancient times by Amazigh people throughout North Africa. Even though this day has not yet been recognized officially in Morocco as a national holiday, most of Moroccans never miss this occasion to celebrate and exchange wishes and prayers during this day, which marks the beginning of a new Amazigh year.
Although Amazigh New Year Event is celebrated by many Moroccans, every January 12, only few people do realize the symbolic and historical implications of this event.
Under different names, Yennayer is celebrated by both Arab and Amazigh speaking communities. The Arab speaking community in old cities referred to this traditional event as “Haguza” or “Aam Alfilahi” (the Agrarian year). However, The Amazigh people, more precisely those dwelling in the south east of Morocco, call it “Id Suggas” (the night of the year). “Id Suggas” is a very traditional festivity on the Eve of the Amazigh New Year.
http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/01/148721/activists-call-on-moroccan-govt-to-make-amazigh-new-year-national-holiday/
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Marrakech Received 4 Million Tourists in December
Saturday 3 January 2015 -Rabat
Marrakech has attracted a record number of visitors last December. According to Acharq al Awsat newspaper, four million passengers used the city’s airport in December, which is nearly three times the population of Marrakech.
Tourists chose Marrakech to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the same source added.
Marrakech attracted tourists from Europe, America, Asia, the Arab World and Moroccans living abroad.
Many celebrities from the fields of cinema, media, arts in addition to political figures and high dignitaries have also visited the Red city during this period.
Among those is former French President Nicolas Sarkozy who attended the game between French giants Paris Saint Germain and Italian side of Inter Milan in the Grand Stadium of Marrakech on December 30.
The same source added that celebrations took place in the city’s famous Jamaa El Fna square despite the cold weather.
In 2014, Marrakech hosted a number of international events in various fields, including the World Entrepreneurship Forum, the International Forum of Human Rights, Marrakech International Film Festival and the FIFA Club World Cup.
http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/01/148715/marrakech-received-4-million-tourists-in-december/
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Morocco to adopt anti-corruption strategy
By Siham Ali in Rabat for Magharebia – 06/01/2015
Morocco's anti-corruption authority will soon unveil a plan to tackle the crisis from all angles.
There's been some good news. According to the Transparency International's 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index, Morocco ranks 80th out of 175 countries - an improvement of 11 spots since last year.
But despite the numbers, progress remains very slow, the president of the Central Authority for the Prevention of Corruption (ICPC) admitted on December 29th at a Rabat forum organised by MAP. "In my personal analysis, the strategic approach is lacking in Morocco. We wanted to do everything and we ended up with just a sprinkling," Abdesselam Aboudrar said.
While successive governments in the kingdom had made efforts against graft, the ICPC head said, no concerted and clear vision had yet been implemented.
Until now.
The strategy that will soon be put in place will consider multiple measures, such as laws to curb corruption during election campaign periods, tougher penalties, campaigns to educate the public and more, Aboudrar said
According to Public Sector Minister Mohamed Moubdii, this approach will bring together all of the measures taken by the government in terms of transparency, equality of opportunity and prevention of corruption.
The programme, which was prepared in a participatory manner, will mark a decisive step forwards in the battle against corruption, the minister added.
Sociologist Karim Chouali says he is pleased that after years of procrastination by officials, the strategy will finally get off the ground. Fragmented steps have not been enough, he says. "We need to change an entire culture. The problem is unfortunately rooted in a society that tolerates small bribes and special privileges. Corruption must be condemned, no matter what form or scale it takes. Families and schools must play a vital role in this," Chouali argues.
Everyone must feel involved and take part in this battle, he adds.
On the economic front, it is vital to simplify administrative procedures and boost the role of audits and financial inspections to establish transparency properly, economist Mohamed Choubi says. Measures to make things easier for entrepreneurs are inadequate in the absence of monitoring, he adds.
Many members of the public hope that government and the judiciary can be cleaned up so that equality of opportunity can be guaranteed for all. This is the view of Karima Redouani, an employee, who says it is time to hold corrupt public servants and judges accountable. "Citizens must feel protected so that they can report corrupt behaviour and take a stand against all corrupt people," she says.
http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/features/2015/01/06/feature-03
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Morocco introduces unemployment benefits
By Hassan Benmehdi in Casablanca for Magharebia – 07/01/2015
Unemployed private-sector workers in Morocco now have a safety net in Morocco.
After 12 years of negotiations, the Job Loss Allowance (IPE) law went into effect on December 1st.
Employment Minister Abdeselam Seddiki told Magharebia that the IPE would be paid for through an initial fund of 500 million dirhams set up by the government for three years. "It's a start that the government will try to improve on over time, but our aim is to get all workers who lose their jobs back into work," he said. "That's why those in receipt of the allowance must be registered with ANAPEC [National Agency for the Promotion of Employment and Skills] so that they can receive guidance and training to help them get back to work."
The IPE is equal to 70% of a worker's declared average monthly wage over the 36 months prior to the date when they lost their job. The amount cannot exceed the statutory minimum wage, which is just over 230 euros per month. "Resignation, voluntary departure or abandonment of one's post do not entitle anyone to receive this allowance, which protects entitlement to medical insurance for both the unemployed worker and his legal successors and preserves the right to family allowances and pensions," according to Said Ahmidouch, the head of the National Social Security Fund (CNSS).
Mohamed Alaoui, a member of the Moroccan Labour Union (UMT), said the allowance was a step forwards but fell somewhat short of workers' expectations. "We mustn't forget that employees are a big issue in Morocco, especially since 80% of employees are not declared and do not benefit from medical insurance or pensions... That's why we're asking the government to do more to protect the rights of Moroccan employees," he said.
Hicham Zouanat highlighted how important this measure would be for employers. "Through this new welfare benefit, Morocco is for the first time complying with the international convention on employment, and we will do our best to help make sure this experiment is a success," he said.
According to Jamal Belahrach, the vice president of the General Confederation of Moroccan Businesses (CGEM), the allowance would encourage the labour market to become more flexible.
Workers also voiced support for the new plan.
Najat Imlahi, an assistant for a company, said the IPE offered "peace of mind in addition to the money".
"It's better than nothing" was how Abdellah Fahmaoui, a courier for an insurance company, preferred to sum it up.
According to the High Commission for Planning, there are approximately 3.6 million private-sector employees in Morocco, but the number of people required to pay into the CNSS – who are the only people entitled to receive the IPE – is just 2.9 million.
Just 59% of Moroccans have state medical insurance and only 33% pay into state pensions, according to the HCP. The agency noted the lack of a social security system for self-employed people, who make up over 55% of the workforce and numbered more than 10.63 million at the end of 2013.
http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/features/2015/01/07/feature-03
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The education system in Morocco: A reform of reforms
Monday 5 January 2015 - Abdellah Taibi Casablanca
Any teacher would be astonished to hear one of the latest statements made by the Minister of National Education, Mr. Belmokhtar, in which he expresses his intention to realize a very promising project that may snatch our education system from the jaws of failure. His idea is to provide an electronic tablet for every pupil all over Morocco.
Without questioning the utility of tablets in revamping our education system, this unrealistic dream surpasses our very modest and humble expectations to eradicate the educational issues in our country. I describe this as dream simply because we all know that our schools are still struggling to overcome even the most fundamental financial problems. Moreover, this unrealistic project undermines the Ministry’s attempts to reduce expenses in education as a response to instructions from the World Bank, which perceives free education in Morocco as squandering of financial resources in an unproductive sector.
Before Mr. Belmokhtar, the previous minister Mohamed Elouafa uttered that “Obama does not have schools like the ones we have in Morocco.” in an attempt to convince us that our schools and education are in good condition. These statements made by our ministers imply their very limited knowledge about the reality of schools and schooling in the rural areas.
We all know that our education still suffers from very complicated issues especially in rural areas where the rates of dropouts are still tremendous due to Geographical, socio-cultural and economic factors. In the event the pupils manage to remain in classes, other issues emerge such as poor quality education due to insufficient supply and quality of instructional materials chiefly in languages and scientific subject such as physics, chemistry, and biology where the instruction is mostly theoretical.
The issue gets more complicated with the language barrier that affects the Amazigh language speakers (the main inhabitants of the mountains). As children of most Amazigh families hardly speak any Arabic the medium of instruction in schools.
In cities where some of these factors are negated, other issues float on the surface related to overcrowded classrooms, lack of enthusiasm and motivation among students. All these factors eventually lead to lack of competitiveness with other countries and lack of practical skills required in labor market.
However, we must be fair: the minister’s idea might be a solution to lighten the little pupils’ school bag as they get rid of the heavy burdens they carry every day to school, such as books, notebooks etc. Apart from that, no one can assure that electronic tablets would generate any glorious change. From a more practical perspective, instead of buying expensive tablets for each student, the ministry could furnish classrooms well and equip them with textbooks, dictionaries and other teaching materials. If the minister’s intention is to eliminate the burden of carrying these heaving materials to school, then tablets could serve as a first step to reforming the educational system in Morocco.
Since independence, consecutive Moroccan administrations and ministers of national education have been thoroughly trying to reform the educational system originally established by the previous French colonizer. However, each reform complicates the issue more as each new generation seems to be less competent than the previous one: the ministry and the decision-makers failed to properly detect the real causes of previous failures, and their analyses were merely enumerations of obvious effects and symptoms of these failures. In the event that decision-makers manage to spot the origin of these failures, the designed interventions work on healing the symptoms instead of uprooting the problem.
Throughout previous reforms, serious research or field studies were never held to design a viable solution and measure its feasibility. Instead, reformers arbitrarily patch the defect as an involuntary reaction to any report made by a foreign organization about the failure of our educational system. The question is: How could an outside organization be the first to detect our problems while we, who are directly involved, have no idea about what is going on?
Moreover, interventions by foreign powers tend to adopt the “copy and paste policy” that has resulted in epic failure on multiple occasions. This comes as no surprise; what works in France, Belgium or elsewhere is not guaranteed to function in Morocco due to many variables such as culture, economy, and history.
Failing to diagnose the nature of this illness that is gnawing at the body of our educational system is worse than the illness itself, as persistent prescriptions of the wrong remedy are aggravating the situation. These failed policies and reforms cost the national treasury a fortune, and as a result the gap between us and other peer countries widens.
Politics has also become an obstacle of progress in the education sector, which often serves as an arena for conflicts where politicians struggle to score points against each other and deviate from their main role. Each administration works on exposing the failure of the previous one as a way to promote and propagate their ideology. Thus, many projects in education and other fields are suspended whenever the government or even the ministerial portfolio-holder changes. Outside the government, instead of playing a strengthening role through constructive criticism, the opposition plays the devil’s advocate to confuse the government’s endeavors by criticizing its work without suggesting any alternative.
In a recent statement, the Supreme Council of Education placed a large portion of the blame on primary school teachers. The council stated that primary education in Morocco produces failed pupils even before they start their educational career. These pupils land in middle schools almost illiterate, then take off to high schools with very limited knowledge and competencies. Many of these pupils can not read and understand properly, especially in French, the pet peeve subject of most pupils.
On the surface, we can discern that there is a very crucial and influential problem in the way primary school teachers are appointed and distributed across Morocco. In general, older, more experienced teachers are crowded in the urban areas whereas younger, less experienced ones are sent to the mountains and remote rural areas.
This seems to be a very logical distribution, but if we examine closer, we notice that older teachers become less motivated and active as they age, and the generation gap that emerges between them and the pupils seems to exacerbate teacher effectiveness. A teacher may teach both a father and his son. For instance, I was taught by a teacher who is currently teaching my sister who is 23 years younger than me. And with the extra years added by the government to save the pension fund, he may teach my kids as well. It is understandable if this “amortized” teacher might fail to communicate with the new generation.
On the other hand, the newly hired teachers in remote rural areas are not satisfied with the living conditions there and may be accustomed to a different lifestyle, especially if they are from big cities. This certainly affects their performance in the classroom and their ability to relate to their students.
However, primary school teachers alone cannot be blamed for the failure of the educational system in Morocco. We cannot even blame any teacher, or student. The whole society is responsible for this failure due to this overwhelming negativity we breathe everywhere. As a matter of fact, students get contaminated with this general negativity and start to get used to it or even relish it. We are all intentionally or unintentionally participants in this failure, and we should thus be participants in finding the solution by spreading positive thoughts and provide a source of inspiration and motivation for future generations.
Getting back to the project of tablets in classrooms; no one can deny that the use of ICT in education has become one of the most worldwide-spread mottos in teaching methodology. The use of Technology in classrooms has become a locomotive force to improve education in many countries. However the use of ICT and tablets would serve as no more than Band-Aid to the problem of our educational system because it is like an iceberg that reveals only its tip. The major part of the problem lies mainly in unrevealed policies and invisible hands that are tampering this fundamental sector. With this persistent failure of reforms, I won’t be exaggerating if I say that some of our decision makers do not have a will to make a real change.
A change can be made only if our decision makers put themselves in the shoes of pupils’ parents and feel their disappointment. It is not fair that those who make decisions for our education system send their kids to study abroad and keep messing up our education. This directly reveals that they, themselves, do not trust the public schooling in Morocco.
http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/01/148766/the-education-system-in-morocco-a-reform-of-reforms/
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Recipe: Moroccan Chicken ala Angela Velez
01/07/2015 11
Video: http://world.einnews.com/article/243081479/3ugOyhFyltPLkn2B
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Recipe: Moroccan Chicken in a Pot.
Makes 8 servings
Harissa:
1 16-ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon EACH: coriander seeds, ½ teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Chicken:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large leeks, trimmed, halved lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
½ pound cremini mushrooms, quartered
1½ tablespoons minced garlic
1½ tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
1 3½-pound whole chicken
3 quarts chicken broth
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
½ pound parsnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
½ pound turnips, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
½ pound white potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
Chopped fresh cilantro or parsley, to garnish
Harissa: In a blender combine roasted red peppers; olive oil; garlic; cumin, coriander and caraway seeds; red pepper flakes, lemon juice and salt. Blend until smooth. Set aside. Can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Chicken: In a 7- to 8-quart stockpot over medium heat, heat the oil. Add the leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
Add the chicken, breast side down, then pour the broth over it. The broth should cover the chicken. If not, add a bit of water or additional broth. Bring the broth just to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, skimming any scum that comes to the surface, for 10 minutes. Cover and reduce the heat to simmer gently for an additional 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the chicken sit in the hot broth, covered, for 30 minutes.
Carefully remove the chicken from the pot and set it on a plate. Let it cool until it can be easily handled.
Add the carrots, parsnips, turnips and potatoes to the broth, then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, covered, until the vegetables are just tender, 12 to 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, pull off and discard the skin from the chicken and remove the meat from the bones in large chunks. When the vegetables are tender, return the chicken meat to the pot and cook gently, just until heated through. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle the soup into soup bowls and top each portion with a spoonful of harissa and some cilantro.
http://world.einnews.com/article/243179653/zI7GQ6gOSYTQPAi5
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A lifeline for Morocco's fishermen
A fish breeding center at a lake in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains is meant to boost dwindling populations and help local communities secure their livelihoods through increased fishing and tourism. A film by Julia Henrichmann More information: http://www.ideasforacoolerworld.org
Video:http://world.einnews.com/article/243534454/-ISR7qMS37UwFCDi
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Moroccan Tagine with Root Vegetables
From corriander to fennel and celeriac root, there are many good things happening in this dish!
By: Jaymi HeimbuchThu, Jan 08, 2015
The list of ingredients might look a little long at first, but every one of them helps make this dish worth the extra effort. (Photos: Jaymi Heimbuch)
The spice and heat of this dish are absolutely wonderful. But if you don't like spicy food, you can make a few adjustments, including using less serrano pepper, or using half a jalepeño pepper instead. You can also use a dollop of yogurt to cut the heat.
This recipe is adapted from one created by Kelly Rossiter.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes
Total time: 75 minutes
Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients
Cooking Directions
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Morocco: In Moroccan Culture Shift, Entrepreneurship Has Become "Cool"
By Jordana Merran
In his famed "a new beginning" speech delivered in Cairo in 2009, President Barack Obama announced the creation of a Summit on Entrepreneurship "to identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world."
"All of us must recognize that education and innovation will be the currency of the 21st century," he had said to the crowd.
This was before the Arab Spring protests rippled through the Middle East and, years later, took on new and--in some countries--sinister forms. But, perhaps even bolstered by these difficult times, President Obama's commitment to using business as a platform for cultural exchange and diplomacy has not wavered, and in November 2014, the fifth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) made its way to Marrakech, Morocco. There, thousands of business leaders, government officials, and entrepreneurs from the region and around the world met for three days of panel discussions, workshops, and networking.
News coverage of the event showed an energetic and welcoming crowd (certainly Vice President Joe Biden would agree--when he mentioned in his keynote address that it was his birthday, the audience of thousands broke into song). But as with all such gatherings, one may wonder how much can truly be accomplished.
Yasmine El Baggari, a young Moroccan entrepreneur, is optimistic. She heads her own startup, Voyaj, which matches people worldwide looking for travel opportunities wherein they can share cultures, beliefs and mutual understanding. Meanwhile, she is finishing her studies at Hampshire College, where she has focused on women's empowerment and entrepreneurship trends in the Middle East and North Africa. Yasmine participated in three panel discussions at GES 2014 (and was even invited to attend a White House Travel Blogger Summit a few weeks later).
"It used to be the case that if you are an entrepreneur in Morocco, you just haven't found a job and this is your last option," she explains. "Now the culture has shifted so that being an entrepreneur is 'cool.' You're being innovative, you're not following the traditional path, and you're adding value."
The Summit "had a very important impact on Morocco because it was the first time that I observed businesses, government and young people together in one place having constructive discussions. We need more of that. We need to organize more round tables and workshops."
One GES workshop of particular interest to her was with Former Kansas Secretary of Commerce Laura Owen on mentoring. We "talked about the importance of mentoring and conducted an interactive activity connecting mentors to mentees," says Yasmine.
"For established business women to be engaging the younger community, especially the young girls, I think that it is extremely important to focus on this concept of collaboration and mentorship.""From personal interviews, Moroccan women are the ones leading entrepreneurship in the large cites. A number of incubators or co-working spaces are led by women. They are doing an amazing job engaging entrepreneurs from around Morocco to involve different communities.""Moroccan women are working extremely hard to be involved in the workforce and to be active members of Moroccan society. I have personally met many amazing women, and I have been amazed by the talent and motivation that we possess."
Yasmine spent two months traveling around Morocco interviewing entrepreneurs from around the country, and establishing partnerships with organizations and universities for Voyaj. While she found that women were often leading the change, she realized, too, "that a lot of people are entrepreneurs, they just don't know it.""For example, if I go to the souk and I talk to someone who's selling olives or selling argan, they are able to use their limited education in mathematics to bargain and sell their products. They're also creating businesses. It might not be technology, but it's still creating jobs for other people and for themselves."
The work of GES and related programs is to support these men and women to grow their businesses. In Morocco, it is well underway.
For further insight from Yasmine and her research on entrepreneurship in Morocco, check out her latest article on the Atlantic Council blog.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201501091533.html
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68% of tourists who visited Morocco in 2014 are satisfied
Saturday 10 January 2015 - Larbi Arbaoui Taroudant
The majority of tourists who visited Morocco in the second and third quarters of 2014 expressed satisfaction with their visit. According to a survey conducted by the Tourism Observatory, 68 percent of visitors were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their stay in Morocco during the second quarter of the year.
The same source added that more than 79 percent of tourists said they were willing to return to Morocco.
The sense of security and Moroccans’ friendliness are the aspects that pleased tourists the most.
It is no wonder that Morocco ranked last third out of 140 countries last year as most welcoming toward foreign tourists.
Morocco’s sense of security received the best rate among the aspects surveyed, with 64 percent of tourists expressing their satisfaction in the second quarter and 74 percent in the third quarter of 2014.
69 percent of visitors were satisfied with their relationship with the Moroccan people in the third quarter, compared to 64 percent in the second quarter of 2014.
However, the survey showed that the Kingdom’s weaknesses were public infrastructure and urban transportation.
Lahcen Haddad the Minister of Tourism, said in December that Kingdom’s tourism sector attracted $2 billion in investments in 2014, “despite a challenging international economic environment.”
http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/01/149161/68-of-tourists-who-visited-morocco-in-2014-are-satisfied/
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Fabulous retreat in Moroccan medina.
Steve McKenna January 9, 2015 The West Australian
Steve McKenna visits Morocco's heartland, where tradition is part of daily life.
In these increasingly globalised times of ours, I often wake up in the morning and wonder where I am. So many hotels look the same the world over.
It's different in Morocco. Over the past decade, this enigmatic North African country has had an accommodation revolution. Uninspiring identikit chains - and scrappy guesthouses - are still here but there are now an impressive number of hotels converted out of creaking old dars and riads, the traditional Moroccan houses and palaces centred on courtyards and gardens.
Dar Attajalli, in Fez, is a fine example. A bewitching hideaway, it sits at the heart of the most atmospheric of Morocco's myriad medinas.
Like many dar-hotels, which blend modern comforts with old-fashioned charms, Attajalli's transformation was financed by a foreigner (in this case, German Kleo Brunn) and restored - and staffed - by Moroccans. Having initially come to Fez to study Arabic, Kleo tells me she stumbled across "a gold rush" of outsiders buying up downtrodden properties.
"I was completely blown away by the beauty of the old houses here," says Kleo, who fell for a property that's believed to be at least 200 years old and was formerly home to descendants of the Alaouites, the Islamic dynasty that has ruled Morocco since the 17th century.
The enterprising German spent three years meticulously restoring the rundown building, living on site and putting her "heart and soul and lots more" into a process that involved the work of more than 100 masons, carpenters and artisans.
The results are spectacular - especially the neck-craning central courtyard, which glistens with dazzling mosaics of zellij (intricate hand-painted tiles).
There's a stand-out mural fountain and a cosy lounge area matted with comfy cushions - a perfect place to read one of Kleo's books about Fez and Islamic architecture. Upstairs, the four bedrooms are decorated with antiques purchased from the medina's spellbinding souks, as well as furniture and objects created by local artisans based on designs that Kleo had drawn up herself.
Studded with lemon trees, Attajalli's roof terrace is irresistible, offering magnificent medina views. I gaze over a seemingly endless ocean of mud-brick rooftops, clustered with satellite dishes and pierced, at various points, by towering green minarets.
Breakfast is served up here - an organic, locally sourced feast, including bread, fruit, dates, olives, goat's cheese and butter and a clutch of Moroccan sweets.
A real energy-booster, it's just what you need ahead of a day exploring the medina's smorgasbord of souks, workshops and majestic Islamic relics. Fez is a place for which the phrase "sensory overload" was invented. It's hard to believe that you can fly two or three hours from Europe and find a place so completely and utterly "foreign".
I get lost countless times in the medina - a dusty labyrinth jammed with workshops and stores teeming with carpets and brass teapots, leather jackets and babouches (slippers), spices, soaps, perfumes, oils and potions, and 1001 other eye-catching and olfactory-heightening things.
I watch as old men in robes (djellabas) clutch crowing roosters and plod past halal butchers, fishmongers and fruit-and-veg stalls, and I dodge donkeys, laden with sheep hides, stomping to pungent-smelling dye pits.
Despite no longer being the capital - an honour now belonging to Rabat - Fez is still seen by many as the country's heartland.
It was established around the turn of the 9th century and flourished as a centre of religious, political and cultural importance.
Relics of its golden age remain, including Al-Karaouine university, thought to be the world's oldest operating institute of higher education.
It's closed to non-Muslims but for a small fee you can enter the neighbouring Medersa el-Attarine, a Koranic college that dates back to the 14th century. It displays the elaborate zellij, sculpting and stucco work that Fez is renowned for.
While atmospheric old Fez is imbued with a somewhat antediluvian vibe, it's flecked with modern touches.
Take Cafe Clock, a trendy "cross-cultural" spot opened by Englishman Mike Richardson.
Expats, tourists and locals flock to this restored 250-year-old building, which hosts calligraphy lessons, Moroccan cookery and etiquette classes, and concerts.
Clock's food is popular; one of its culinary highlights is a "gourmet" camel burger.
There's fast, free wi-fi too, so you can send a snap of this unusual delicacy - plus a "wish you were here" message - to loved ones over cyberspace.
FACT FILE
Steve McKenna was a guest of Dar Attajalli.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/travel/a/25931697/fabulous-retreat-in-moroccan-medina/
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Morocco Riding Arab Jealousy Storms Successfully.
Thursday 8 January 2015 Rabat
Back in the pre-Islamic times, known as Jahiliya, the Arabian tribes in Arabia Desert were often in fierce open competition for political leadership and/or economic supremacy. At times, this competition manifested itself through warring and raids, whereby the strongest killed the men of the other party and took their womenfolk to humiliate them further, in the eyes of the other tribes and confederation of tribes, bearing in mind that the code of honor was the most important cultural attribute of the time.
Pre-Islamic poetry mightier than the sword
The attacking tribe made sure to have in their ranks a well-known poet to chronicle their exploits for eternity. Arabic language and eloquency in this linguistic vehicle was considered by this society as a highly-appraised skill, and excellence in poetry-making was the most valued of social qualities. Poems chanting the exploits of tribes and their courage circulated widely among people and the better they were written, the most they were memorized and the widest they circulated among the desert population. The most famous poems made their way to Mecca and were written in gold and suspended to the black stone ka’ba, the most prestigious of places in the Arabian peninsula, they became a well-known genre referred to as : mu’alaqat “the suspended poems.”
In tribal Arabia, poetry was considered to be mightier than the sword. Apparently, even the tribes that were militarily weak, if they had a good poet to extol their attributes, were considered strong in the eyes of the society. The Arabian tribes congregated yearly to a fair and a festival known as suk ‘oukaad, which was a commercial market and most importantly a forum for reading the best poetry praising the tribes of the region.
Modern day Arab tribal feuds
In the Arab world of today, besides the thin veneer of modernization, most countries are still tribal and very patiarchal, people have not been able to achieve citizenship because of the lack of democracy, they are still considered and referred to as subjects ra’aaya. Women, even when educated, have still to be chaperoned by males and these males could be, at times, their under-age children. In some countries, the females cannot travel on their own, mix with other males than those of the small family, cannot drive, etc. In may Arab countries women are illiterate, therefore unempowered and are in most cases, almost considered like property, no more……
Read more here: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/01/149032/morocco-riding-arab-jealousy-storms-successfully/
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Morocco: Sufi Scholars Combat Extremism
By Hassan Benmehdi
Casablanca
The 9th World Meeting of Sufism wrapped up in the eastern Moroccan town of Madagh on Sunday (January 4th), bringing together a host of intellectuals and devotees.
The participants in the three-day conference were unanimous in stressing the need to promote Sufi culture to protect societies against obscurantist ideologies.
Sufism is now urgently needed, given the dysfunction that has developed in society, particularly with the spread of extremist ideas, said Moroccan writer Fatima Lahbabi.
Kamal Tabghi, a researcher in the field of Islamic thought and a member of the Boutchichiya confraternity, took the same line. "We have a religion that clearly teaches us that peace is a priority, along with tolerance and anti-sectarianism, but thanks to terrorism, people have tried to present Islam as a religion which encourages violence and terror," he told Magharebia, making the point that Sufism was trying to restore the noble values for which the Muslim religion is supposed to be known.
Extremism is a threat to the identity of the peoples, remarked Houssam Sabat, president of the Habous district in Tripoli, Lebanon. He stressed that the response to this issue must be to reclaim the Islamic spiritual heritage.
Meanwhile, Cheikh Zakaria Mohamed Marzouk, from Al Azhar University, noted that "the way in which Sufism speaks to the world today needs to be renewed, with a modern vision," indicating that the revision of certain concepts within the Sufi message would be capable of putting an end to the "spiritual drought".
Alzoubir Azzeddine, from the Chabiba of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces, noted: "Since the terrorist attacks of 16 May 2003, Morocco has committed itself to promoting Sufism to make it into a bulwark against extremism and radical Wahhabism."
Faced with the breakthroughs achieved by the fundamentalist message that promotes hatred and the rejection of those who are different, Sufism is now necessary to educate future generations in the true values of Islam, according to Lemhalli Abdelkder, a member of the Boutchichiyya confraternity.
The young bank clerk from Casablanca told Magharebia that the Muslim religion teaches people to fight for life, peace, dialogue and respect for others: "That's what we try to teach to our brothers and sisters from all cultural backgrounds."
Nezha Messaâdi, a young recruit who joined the Boutchichiya confraternity, said that her experience over the past two years enabled her to see the world differently. "I've learnt how important intercultural dialogue is in helping us move in the right direction," she said.
This world meeting about Sufism was organised by the Tariqa Boutchichiya in partnership with the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for the Study of Present-day Islam (CEMEIA, Paris), to coincide with the celebration of Mouled.
The event was a way to achieve progress both theoretically and in practical terms, and capable of helping deal with certain present-day problems such as extremism, fundamentalism and the spiritual void, said Mounir El Kadiri Boudchich, the meeting's director.
Abdessamad Ghazi, a member of the event's organising committee, stressed that the meeting aimed to highlight the power of Sufi thought in a context where individuals are suffering from problems that threaten and compromise their own futures.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201501091028.html
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Spain's Moroccan enclave: The story behind the picture
NADOR, 9 January 2015 (IRIN)
Late last year an image went viral. In it two golfers, dressed in white on lush green fairways, appear oblivious as in the background around a dozen migrants try to scale a border fence in an attempt to enter Europe.
The migrants were climbing from the sleepy and conservative coastal north Moroccan town of Nador, trying to enter Melilla, one of two Spanish territories inside the North African country. It shone a light on Morocco’s struggles to manage its migrant population and attempts by Spain to further seal its borders.
In many ways the policies of the two countries could not be more different. While Spain continues to seek ever-tougher measures to turn back those trying to enter the enclave, Morocco has actually sought to open up to migrants – with a year-long drive to regularise migrants ending at the end of December 2014.
According to the latest official national figures, of the 21,000 applications received up until the beginning of November, 8,949 were approved, the final numbers are expected to be released in the coming weeks.
Nigerian Goodluck, who only gave his first name, came to Nador with the aim of climbing that fence to get into Melilla and claim asylum from the Spanish authorities there. He made a number of attempts between 1999 and 2008, travelling back and forth to Nigeria in between.
“I saw many people drowning in the sea, and I got beaten up by the police many times”, he said, pointing to a scar on his leg.
Goodluck says he spent at least Euros 3,000 on smugglers’ fees in the process, before eventually giving up. "You could have started your own business in Morocco with that money," Hicham Arroud from Association Thissaghnasse pour la Culture et le Développement (ASTICUDE) a local NGO, gently chastised Goodluck.
ASTICUDE, which started out as a cultural and educational organisation, is helping migrants like Goodluck who have given up trying to reach Europe to apply for residency in Morocco through the regularization process launched by the government in January 2014.
Throughout the year, the government invited certain categories of foreign nationals - including those married to a Moroccan, those with employment contracts and those who had resided in the country for more than five years, to apply for residency.
According to Hicham Arroud, as of December there had been 295 applications for residency in Nador, of which 44 were accepted. All of these were women; the only man given residency in Nador to date is Mohamed Kouassi, an Ivorian football player.
Goodluck told IRIN he was frustrated not to have received a response to his residency application. "I am tired of begging every day," he said.
Spain bolsters its borders
Nador's proximity to Melilla, just 16 kilometres away, has attracted a sizeable population of Sub-Saharan African migrants. According to the latest estimates from Delegación de Migraciones, an organisation affiliated to a church in Nador providing health care support, there are 859 migrants in the 12 camps around the municipality of Selouane (south of Nador). Of those 121 are women, 24 are children, and 30 unaccompanied minors.
There are also five other camps in Gourougou and Farkhana, the forests close to Melilla, though the numbers fluctuate widely due to the recurrent attempts to climb the fence and to reach Spain by boat.
In the 1990s, most of the migrants trying to enter Melilla and Ceuta, a second Spanish enclave, were Moroccans, but now the majority are Sub-Saharan African migrants.
According to Nuria Díaz of the Spanish Commission for Refugees (CEAR), the vast majority are immediately intercepted by border guards and returned to Morocco. “The Spanish government says that when they push back migrants who cross the fence, they’re acting in the framework of a bi-lateral agreement with Morocco. But this agreement says they must have the opportunity to apply for asylum first. But in reality, people don’t have access,” explained Díaz.
Migrant rights groups have long described the expulsions as unlawful. Authorities on both sides have also been accusedof beating up migrants they catch trying to cross the border.
In December 2014 Spain’s lower house of parliament approved an amendment to the country’s public security bill. It is yet to pass through the upper house, but if it does, Díaz says it will“legalize this practice [of push backs] that we know has been happening systematically since 2005.
Rights groups including CEAR, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are vehemently opposed to the move, arguing that it violates Spain’s obligations under international and EU human rights and refugee law.
According to Amnesty International: “As it stands, the amendment does not detail the procedure for ‘border rejections’ or provide any human rights safeguards.
“This failure will deprive asylum seekers of access to the asylum procedure in Spain and could result in refoulement [the expulsion of persons who have the right to be recognised as refugees] by exposing migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees to the risk of serious human rights violations in Morocco.”
Giving up on Europe
But not everyone who comes to Nador is trying to cross into Melilla: Many of the men and youths living in the Gourougou and Farkhana forests do make regular attempts to scale the fence, but some migrants want to settle in Morocco itself.
However due to their irregular status and lack of fixed income, many have no choice but to live in tents and self-made shacks in the forest on the city’s outskirts, and it is common to see people begging on the street in and around the city centre.
Victory, who only gave his first name, is from Nigeria, and arrived in Morocco in 2003. He says he left for economic reasons: “My salary as a university professor wasn’t enough to sustain my family, so I had to find another way,” he explained.
The 37-year-old worked as a cook in restaurants in Casablanca and then Rabat before coming to Nador to live rough in the forest in November 2013. “I had no job and no financial assistance so I had no choice but to go live in the forest,”he explained, blaming his irregular status on his difficulties.
The government in Rabat launched its regularization scheme in response to the increasing number of migrants like Victory deciding to stay in Morocco, as well as to pressures from the EU.
In June 2013, Morocco and the EU signed a so-called “mobility partnership” aimed at harmonising their migration policies. In it Morocco agrees to resume negotiations on a readmission agreement – a convention obliging one state to accept individuals expelled from the other signatory state.
Morocco had for a long time refused to agree to this clause but the EU persisted that the mobility partnership could only be signed if Morocco agrees to the readmission agreement.
According to Stéphane Julinet, program manager in charge of migrant rights and advocacy at GADEM, a Rabat-based association, the EU’s pressures on Morocco are“contradictory”.
“On the one hand the EU is asking Morocco to act as a gendarme, blocking migrants by any means, and on the other hand it requires it to have a pro-human rights legislation in order to justify the EU’s collaboration with Morocco”, he adds. “The EU is asking Morocco to do the dirty work while remaining presentable”, he said.
A long way towards integration
In June last year, a national commission for follow-up and recourse was installed. One of its first decisions was to issue a memo asking local authorities to grant residency to all migrant women who could provide an identity document from their home country, regardless of any other criteria.
“Bureau des Etrangers [Foreigners Offices] have applied this memo differently: some have regularized entire families and others only the women”, explained Julinet. In Nador he said there are several cases of families in which the woman has received a positive answer, while the man hasn’t.
Angeline, 37, who only gave her first name, is one of those who have benefitted from this measure. “It didn't take very long to get my card,” she says. “But the people here are still not used to this,” she says, indicating her dark skin. “People call us Ebola”, she added angrily.
She says she fled forced marriage and female genital mutilation in her home country of Côte d'Ivoire where she worked as a school teacher until 2012, and came to Morocco to start a new life.
IRIN met her in Zghenghan municipality, south of Nador, looking for a cleaning job in a shop or restaurant, the private French lessons she had been giving having dried up. Until she finds a new job, she says she has no choice but to continue living in the forest.
The 2014 regularization, which ended on 31 December, comes as part of broadermigration policy reforms that include the drafting of three new laws to deal with people smuggling; with migrants’ rights; and the granting of refugee status to asylum seekers.
There will also be programmes aimed at better integrating migrants, by giving them access to education, professional training and counselling.
The Commission Nationale deSuivi et de Recours (National Monitoring and Appeals Committee), which is leading the regularization commission is due to meet in early January to assess the campaign and to assess the campaign and establish new decisions regarding appeals.
http://www.irinnews.org/report/100993/spain-s-moroccan-enclave-the-story-behind-the-picture
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Between reality and illusion
Amy Gigi Alexander
On the desert fossil trail in Morocco, Amy Gigi Alexander stumbles into the barren city of Ouarzazate, and traverses through time at its Atlas Studios
At the end of a long arduous drive through the south of Morocco on a journey to collect ancient fossils, I was tired of the view: sand, sand again, sand yet again, and blurred oasis. The heat was oppressive. And yet, even in the middle of it all, one was not alone. In the most barren dust, a man in a brilliant azure Tuareg costume appeared out of thin air, holding a plate of fake fossils for sale, carrying his tray as though offering the finest of desserts. I longed for a place to simply walk and drink in a different scene, cooler air, and be uninterrupted by touts and sun so strong it made me feverish. I needed to linger, savour, wander.
When one is in the same landscape for days, it can scramble the mind. It is hard to know what is real, and the desert, in particular, is relentless in its silence and constant surreal glimpses of happenings around you. A woman, bent against the wind, swathed in black, slowly moving along the side the road against a backdrop bereft of human habitation for 20 miles. The sight of three camels without their keeper, tied together with red ropes and bells, unconcerned that you wait as they cross the road. Ruins made of buff-coloured earth and red clay, half crumbling, small windows pitted out with ancient eyes behind them.
I needed to look upon something different, for the desert, which at first had seemed inviting and intoxicating, wore me out with its repetition. I chose a site just outside of one of the southernmost cities on the fossil trail in Morocco: Ouarzazate. Famous for being a gathering place for fossil hunters, as well as dealers, it had something else that attracted me: the famous Atlas Studios, the largest movie studio in the world. Created in the early 1980s, the Studio stretched across the South of Morocco, spanning 3,22,000 miles, a landscape empty of anything except a few villages and, of course, an endless supply of sand. Ouarzazate is what inspired the idea of the movie Studios: the town was the setting for Lawrence of Arabia in 1962.
I pulled up into the Studio lot. The gates were polished and brassy, the letters ATLAS spelled out in blue, and at the entrance, there were no fossil-selling touts. Instead, I was greeted by men in theatrical costumes: gladiators, soldiers, Greek noblemen in togas, and a mummy. Here was a surreal scene I welcomed gladly, and once inside, to my great joy, there were gardens, lush with fountains and swimming pools, tangerine trees and green everywhere. I could have stayed by that swimming pool all day and waited for a peek at some movie star leaving their hotel room, but I wasn’t there to catch a glimpse of Russell Crowe or Leonardo DiCaprio. I was there to be transported to another place in time. And not just one, but many.
The Studio tour began, and the tour group was led from one film set to the next. We began at The Jewel of the Nile, and I was rushed into the jungle by a rickety plane. Then I was thrust into the world of Babel, where the Studio seemed to have combined crumbling sets with an Egyptian theme and what looked like old-world Greece. Walking through double Tibetan doors of red and pink with saffron scrolls, I found myself on the set of The Mummy, and wandered through halls painted with hieroglyphics as I was watched by a sphinx. Around a corner, there was the set of Gladiator: the arena where battles were fought, the rooms of mud-brick where the gladiators had slept, the cots still standing. I could still hear the shouts of the crowd watching the men fight as I walked off the main sets into what seemed be a wasteland of used sculptures and set props. Suddenly, I realised that this was no junkyard: it was the set of Star Wars.
As I walked back through the set tour, the idea that all of this was out here, in this remote place was difficult to believe: that these structures, buildings and props were actually solid stone. It was then that I touched those Tibetan doors again, and realised they were Styrofoam. I revisited every set, touching each statue and wall, and each time, my fingers gave way to something soft and temporary: jute, paper, plastic. Stairs could not be climbed upon. Doors did not open.
Towns were flat three-dimensional paintings. Statues, which looked to be of fine marble, were foam pitted with sand. None of this was real. These movie sets were an illusion, one built right on top of the other, fashioned out of materials that would crumble and be eaten by the desert itself.
But it was an illusion I needed, at least for an afternoon. Getting back into my car, I felt satiated and ready. The road to Marrakesh awaited me.
Atlas Studio tours are available in both French and English, and are given every 30 minutes from 9:00 a.m. until 6 p.m. daily, when filming is not in progress, or unless there is a sand storm.
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/ouarzazate-in-morocco/article6771830.ece
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ACWA wins $2bn contract for Morocco solar plant
by Utilities ME Staff on Jan 10, 2015
A consortium led by Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power International has won a EUR 1.7bn ($2bn) contract to build two concentrated solar power (CSP) plants in Morocco.
The plants totalling 350 megawatts (MW) are the second phase Ouarzazate project in the southern Moroccan city of the same name, the Reuters news agency said quoting a statement by the Moroccan solar energy agency (Masen).
ACWA Power is already building a 160 MW plant in the first stage of the project.
The winning consortium, which includes Spain's Sener, offered 1.36 dirhams ($0.15) per kilowatt (KWh) for the first 200 MW plant with parabolic mirror technology, while it priced the plant with solar power tower technology at 1.42 dirhams per KWh.
Consortiums led by Spain's Abengoa, GDF's International Power and ACWA Power were pre-selected for the 200 MW (Noor II) tender.
The three groups were also pre-qualified for the 150 MW (Noor III) tender, along with another consortium led by Electricite de France (EDF).
Sources told Reuters that consortiums led by ACWA and Abengoa have bid the lowest to build the two plants.
If Masen decides to combine the bids for the two plants, the ACWA bids overall would beat Abengoa's, the sources added.
The plants, which are scheduled to start generating power in 2017, are part of a government plan to produce 2 gigawatts (GW) of solar power by 2020, equivalent to about 38% of Morocco's current installed power generation capacity.
To finance the plants, Morocco has secured loans of $519mn from the World Bank, $654mn euros from German state-owned bank KfW and the rest from the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Commission and European Investment Bank (EIB).
Coupled with a multi-billion dollar wind energy development scheme, the solar development plan should reduce Morocco's annual imports of fossil fuels by 2.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent and prevent emissions of 9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Masen is expected to announce the two next solar plants, which would be located in Midelt (central) and Tata (south) towns with an estimated 500 MW each.
http://www.utilities-me.com/article-3268-acwa-wins-2bn-contract-for-morocco-solar-plant/
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A Hopeful Refugee Rebuilds her Life in Morocco.
Saturday 10 January 2015 - Rabat
On September 2013, Morocco has adopted a new asylum policy that allows for the regularisation of refugees who were recognised under UNHCR’s mandate and provides them with a Moroccan refugee card and a residence permit. Within this context, Gloria, an Ivorian refugee, got her Moroccan residence permit and hoped for a better integration into a society where she already managed to build a life of her own. Gloria’s passion about hair dressing motivated her to establish a small hairdressing salon with the help of UNHCR and one of its implementing partners in Morocco, the Association Marocaine d’Appui à la Promotion de la Petite Entreprise (AMAPPE). With an unshaken hope and a strong determination, Gloria succeeded not only at having a successful business, but also at sharing her skills with a Moroccan trainee who was interested in learning what Gloria had to teach.
The road to Gloria’s success has not always been paved “my roots, the people I cared about and the only home I knew and loved were all gone when the conflict erupted in my country.” These are Gloria’s words describing how she lived the events of 2010 in Côte d’Ivoire. The country experienced brutal acts of violence following the presidential elections of the same year. The crisis peaked in 2011 as an estimated 200,000 men, women and children sought asylum in different neighboring countries and an estimated one million people were internally displaced in Côte d’Ivoire. However, beyond those numbers lie many stories about struggle and hope. Gloria’s story is one of them. Sadly, and as Gloria expressed it, “my life was turned upside down and I had no choice but to run.” She recalls those painful days with tears in her eyes as she left everything behind and felt and lived that conflict for every following day.
Today, Gloria thanks God for finding the strength to fight for her daily needs. “I sat on a floor in downtown Casablanca and started to braid people’s hair.” In 2013, Gloria established her small hairdressing salon in Temara, where she managed to build a life of her own by doing what she loved most. UNHCR and AMAPPE, who works on promoting small enterprises, helped her through this process. “2013 was a good year for me thanks to this project” she said. However, by June 2014 Gloria started to have problems with some neighbors who were spreading damaging rumors about her and her business. The problems with the neighbors escalated. “They even asked my landlord to kick me out from the house, but I pay my rent and mind my own business, so he and some other neighbors were on my side.”
“Now I can barely manage to pay for my rent because of these rumors, but I knew I had to find other solutions,” she expressed in a determined tone, “so I took pictures and made copies of the hairstyles, the haircuts I could do as well as and of the colors I could dye hair in. and distributed them to a number of hairdressing salons in cities nearby, So now different salons call me whenever there is a client who is interested in my work.”
This way, “some months smile at me, but some others don’t. So I use the savings I put aside to pay for rent and buy the products I need.” With a touching smile and a courageous determination, Gloria continues her daily struggle and says to all Moroccans “accept us please. We are all Africans after all. We don’t ask for too much. Our countries are at war and our lives are threatened there.” Gloria’s determination to live and succeed in Morocco goes beyond these statements; it even drove her to participate to the World Human Rights Forum that was held in Marrakech in November 2014. She took her beauty products and a photo album showing her many hairdressing skills and joined a stand that AMAPPE established in the forum, to say in her own way that success has indeed always been about one thing: the courage to continue.
http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/01/149170/a-hopeful-refugee-rebuilds-her-life-in-morocco/
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A Moroccan adventure: Near the foothills of the snow-capped Atlas Mountains, a few hours from the Sahara Desert, lies a city straight out of the Arabian Nights
Kishore Singh January 3, 2015
Marrakech is a place many of us only imagine because, surely, it doesn't exist outside fable. Or does it? A week in Morocco furnishes us indelible proof of its existence, but how does it compete with imagination? I can recall Jardin Majorelle's cactus garden with its Moorish structure of such vivid blue, it makes my heart ache as much as my eyes did on first glimpse of its Art-Deco interiors. I recall souks where friends bargained over soccer jerseys while we haggled over porcelain plates handpainted in the same vivid cerulean, and a cold azure sky unblemished with clouds. The swimming pool at the Sahara Palace reflected the navy sky but was freezing to the touch. Luckily, there was a heated pool indoors, right next to the hammam, where you could - we did - swim, as though within a conservatory.
So, if someone were to ask, here's five reasons Marrakech made such an impression:
One. It's familiar, almost as though Modi's Bharat were made swacch, and friendly. The old town smells a little like India too - and I don't mean that kindly - but it is, okay, I'll say it, "exotic". And you can walk around without being extorted by touts, though they do serenade you with Bollywood songs. And everyone wants to marry Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
Two. It doesn't have much by way of malls and luxury stores, so the kids stay with you for the mandatory sightseeing, instead of borrowing your credit cards and going off shopping. What's not to like?
Three. Nobody in the restaurants speaks English, so if you don't remember your French, it might be too late by the time you realise that the mince chicken is actually a pigeon pie. That's how we came to eat some impolite things, and parts, that might be too rude to mention here.
Four. Cats. They're everywhere. In souks and riaads, beside long-forgotten tombs and on the streets. Curled up in a hat, or sunning themselves under a bench. And they're friendlier than the natives.
One of the most expensive cities in the world in real estate terms, Marrakech is the playground of the fabulously rich who have built themselves gated villas here, a leap across the Mediterranean from Europe. Miles of these villas stretch in all directions, surrounded by forbidding walls, palm trees and cacti. One can only imagine what they're like inside, though we did manage a peek into two incredible homes. The first was the fabulously plush residence of Jaouad Kadiri and his Indian wife, Priti Paul, done up like something out of the Arabian Nights, reminiscent of the Mughals at the height of their magnificence. The second? Thanks to the Kadiri connection, the King of Morocco extended us an invitation for cocktails, even though he was not present. It wasn't to his palace, as it turned out, but to a hotel that replicates its grandeur, and was incredibly atmospheric.
But it was the square at Medina where we returned on most evenings because the atmosphere is electric. Bands play on a huge stage, street vendors serve up strange snacks - cactus fruit, snails, squid - amidst snake charmers (yes!), bargains on argan oil and carpets. It is also freezing, colder than we had expected. But winter is, strangely, not tourist season. The Europeans seem to prefer coming to Morocco in the summer, when it can be hotter than even India, which is why the hotels are almost empty, and the sightseeing stops aren't yet tourist traps, grateful as they are for any business we bring.
Palaces, mosques, museums, these are swiftly glimpsed, but what we cherish most is a day out to the Atlas Mountains, up along a gently curving road shaping itself beside an icy river coursing through a valley ripe with fruit trees, and Berber houses clinging to sharp cliffs. Up ahead lie the mountains draped in a mantle of snow. Stretching below them is the Sahara desert, arid, spiked with an occasional shrub or cactus. This is a primitive land, yet it isn't hostile. We sit on a sandbank between two arms of the river for a memorable lunch, even though we are by now tired of the inevitable tagine, the ubiquitous couscous. Musicians stop by to play at our "table" and are delighted with the few dirhams we tip them. The tourist storefronts are lined with semiprecious stones, harem pants but, alas, not the embroidered leather boots all of us covet but have yet to pick up back at the souk. It is an afternoon of relaxation and laughter.
Days such as these are rare, and we will cherish this one for a long time. Almost as much as the Moroccan half-and-half coffee, which beats the hell out of Starbucks. As for the hammam - does it live up to the hype? Well, yes and no. If you go in expecting a massage, you'll be disappointed. But if you want a wash and rub of the kind your mother gave you as a child, this one is difficult to beat. Me? I'll settle for the coffee, any day, any time.
Quick tips
Morocco is a long way from India. Etihaad (via Abu Dhabi) and Emirates (vis Dubai) offer connections from Delhi and Mumbai, but airport layovers can be long. From Casablanca airport to Marrakech is three hours by taxi. Pre-book your hotels. Vegetarians will have a tough time with food; and pack a few spices if you don't like your cuisine bland. Sightseeing is easily organised, dining is inexpensive, hotels are not, taxis require you to bargain, drinks are available in restaurants and bars, and English is less widely spoken than you'd imagine.
http://world.einnews.com/article/242449322/6QkNXIufC_rD9LJl
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