Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
October 25, 2008

Blogging Rural Morocco: Peace Corps Volunteers.  
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

Morocco has an active and healthy blogosphere. Bloggers write in Arabic, French, English, Spanish, and Amazigh, covering a wide range of topics and issues. The one negative about the Moroccan “blogoma,” however, is that the majority of its adherents are clustered within major cities (Casablanca, Rabat, Fez) and abroad; little is blogged about the rural areas.

That's where the Peace Corps and Fulbright bloggers come in; as many are stationed in remote areas of Morocco, they are able to paint a picture of the other side of life in the country. And although they are not native to Morocco, they interact daily with Moroccan people and often blog about the issues facing their neighborhoods and villages.

Duncan Goes To Morocco is one such blogger. He recently discussed dental hygiene in his rural community, saying: … Click here for details:
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/10/22/blogging-rural-morocco-peace-corps-volunteers/
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Rabat to host 3rd Conference of OIC Environment Ministers.
Rabat, Oct. 24 (MAP)

Morocco's capital will host on October 29 the third Conference of the Environment Ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The conference will examine environment protection as objective conditions to achieve sustainable development. During the meeting, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) will introduce the draft framework of Sustainable Development in the Islamic World.

The conference will also tackle the Project of the Establishment of the Islamic environment information Center and the project on Setting up the Islamic network of associations working in the field of environment and sustainable development.

The projects are part of "the Islamic Declaration on Sustainable Development”, adopted in the first edition of the conference, which was held on June 2002 in Jeddah. http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/economy/rabat_to_host_3rd_co/view
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over 9k people suffer from kidney failure in Morocco, Minister.
Rabat, Oct. 24 (MAP)

Some 9114 people suffer from kidney failure in Morocco, out of whom 6114 patients are receiving medical care at 160 centers, said on Wednesday, Health Minister, Yasmina Baddou. Speaking at the House of Representatives question time, Baddou underlined that the government aspires to provide health care to the 3000 cases that are on the waiting list, noting that 25 hemodialysis centers have been mobilized.

Children affected by this chronic illness benefit from special treatment offered by specialized centers, she said, adding that the University Hospital Center of Ibn Rochd has the biggest pediatric nephrology center in Africa, with 9 dialysis machines. The center treats children under 15. Touching on the issue of health services reform, the minister said a series of measures were taken in this regard including the creation of local transplant commissions in public hospitals in order to fight corruption and allow patients to enquire about the terms of medical coverage, and setting up a low cost phone line to receive citizens complaints.

These reform measures apply also to private health institutions which are going to be required to publish their service tariffs and the list of practicing doctors. They are also called to promote good governance, upgrade hospital facilities, and adopt modern management mechanisms based on financial autonomy. http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/over_9k_people_suffe/view
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Over half of CNOPS resources dedicated to chronic diseases.
Rabat, Oct.23 (MAP)

Fifty-five percent of the resources of "la Caisse Nationale des Organismes de Prévoyance Sociale" (French acronym CNOPS) were soaked by medical costs of chronic diseases from August 2007 through August 2008, Minister of employment and vocational training said on Wednesday. Speaking at the House of Representatives' (lower house) question time, Jamal Rhmani noted that the CNOPS paid some $ 115,648 (MAD 1 mln) to bear health expenses of 60,000 insured individuals treated for such illnesses.

The national insurance fund provides free medicine to the insured parties treated for 150 costly, long-term illnesses, including cancer and hepatitis, while the insured parties pay only 20 to 10% of the cost of 20 other medicine. Since the entry into force of the Mandatory Health Insurance (AMO), the Fund has mobilized some $ 75.9 mln, he said, noting that CNOPS' medicine purchases stood at $ 34.6 million in 2008 against $ 32.8 mln the previous year.

The number of long-term diseases borne by the CNOPS under the AMO has risen to 31 out of 41 diseases, he went on. Minister of Health, Yasmina Baddou, who also spoke at the Wednesday question time at the lower House, called for establishing a national health charter and mapping out a Bill on the healthcare system and health offers. She also underlined that a draft on the healthcare system and health services is being finalized.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/over_half_of_cnops_r/view
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Morocco made 'important' progress in women's rights, meeting.
Rabat, Oct. 21 (MAP)

Morocco has made important progress to ensure the protection of women's rights, said, on Tuesday, participants in the 50th congress of Feminism Research in Plural Francophonie. The meeting on "Feminism facing Multiculturalism", organized by the faculty of Law at Mohammed V University, and the Association of African Women for Research and Development (AFARD), stressed the importance Morocco attaches to women as key players in society through the Constitution which perceives women and men equally, and through the elaboration of the Family the Nationality Codes.

In a speech read on her behalf, Minister of Social Development, Family and Solidarity, Nouzha Skalli recalled that the Moroccan National Women’s Day reflects Morocco’s will to foster equality and equity as core values of human rights. For her part, Regional Director of the United Nations Development Fund programs, Zineb Touimi Benjelloun underlined that the United Nations Development Fund is to set up regional "excellence centers" for training and exchange of experience in terms of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB). While AFARD Chairwoman, Malika Benradi stressed the importance of the meeting which raises the issue of the relation between human rights and the respect for cultural identity.

The five-day Congress, organized by UNDF, German Foundation Friedrich Ebert, and the National Center for Technical and Scientific Research is expected to reflect on issues relating to "the evolution of feminism", "Feminism in Morocco", and "Gender, Knowledge, and Natural resources".
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/morocco_made__import/view
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Gender responsive budgeting, 'efficient tool' for public administration reform, WB official says.
Rabat, Oct. 21 (MAP)

Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) can be "an efficient tool" for reforming the Public administration, head of the World Bank office in Morocco said on Tuesday. In an address at the opening ceremony of a workshop on "Building Capacities", Françoise Clottes noted that the GRB favors "a more efficient, effective and participative" budget management.

This management principle facilitates the follow-up and assessment of public spending, she explained, noting that the BSG-friendly initiatives, adopted in several countries, "promote equity across the spectrum of development and involve an understanding of the resources allocated to development sectors, including education, health and employment."

On Morocco's experience as regards GRB, Clottes explained that integrating gender in the planning and the implementation of the budget is part of a series of reforms pursued by the Kingdom in recent years in order to strengthen the principles of equality and fairness.

The two day workshop, dubbed “GRB Analysis and Good Practices: Public Policies, Budgets and Sectorial Programs”, aims at becoming acquainted with experiences of other countries, such as Chile, Liberia and Egypt, which have achieved progress as regards the GRB. The workshop is organized by the direction of Studies and Financial Forecasts at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, in collaboration with the World Bank.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/gender_responsive_bu6921/view
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Rural community schools, a pioneer program, official.
Casablanca, Oct.21 (MAP)

State Secretary in charge of Education, Latifa El Abida, described, here Monday, the rural community schools program as a "pioneering integrated education program for sustainable development in Morocco." Speaking at a confab with a delegation of US anti-poverty NGO "Synergos Institute", El Abida hailed the achievements made so far by this program, dubbed "Medersat.com".

By developing new approaches and with the involvement of the local community, this initiative was established as a genuine educational laboratory and comes as a "a pedagogic model enabling children from disadvantaged backgrounds in rural areas to undertake a successful school career," she said.

Despite the efforts made by the Ministry of Education on several levels, rural school continues to face serious difficulties related to the inability to keep school age children until the end of mandatory education," she explained, saying that school dropout deprives children of basic skills to participate effectively in the country's economic and political activities. The Moroccan official also said the concept of the "Medersat.com" program offers solutions to the problems of rural schools and provides the ministry in charge with a model of education that yields measurable results.

This model of teaching, she went on, bolsters the 2009-2012 emergency education program, which seeks to extend mandatory education until the age of 15, promote the gender approach, improve schooling quality and fight against school dropout. Achieving these goals will require, however, an exceptional financial effort to bridge the gaps pertaining to schooling offer in rural areas, El Abida explained, noting that this funding will allow the establishing of school canteens, boarding-schools, purchasing stationery, providing means of transportation to school, building decent housing for teachers and improving school facilities. http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/social/rural_community_scho6205/view
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Giving birth to Gazelles in Morocco.

Morocco obtains an ambitious plan to instigate its SME and to convince the informal sector to join the way of legality. The Moroccan small companies, contrary to the generally accepted ideas, are not so underprivileged in the access to the credit; only 15% of them are denied. Morocco is very well placed compared to the comparable countries of the Mediterranean basin like Egypt, Turkey or Tunisia. Nevertheless Moroccan SME suffer from under capitalization, an unreliability of the financial data and from a weakness of managerial structures.

A vast support site was thus launched by the state, via the national agency for the promotion of SME (ANPME). Equipped with a budget of 52.5 million euros over five years, the project comprises two parts. One of the program attempts to make emerge 300 companies of excellence, at the high growth and export potential thanks to a specialized accompaniment.

The second action plan has the role to stimulate the creation of SME, in the proportion of 5000 new companies per year, and to develop existing SME. One of the measures asked by the employers, and which is not decided yet, consists in lightening the weight of taxes on SME, to convince the abstract structures in particular to join the official sphere. In fact, in Morocco the informal sector would represent 36% of the GDP

Seen in le matin.ma
http://www.franchisekey.com/franchise-franchising/Article/ID/52/Session/1-pSpF5i47-0-IP/guidObject/002190-20080721-115544-01/Giving_birth_to_Gazelles_in_Morocco_.htm
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EU grants "advanced status" to Morocco.
By Naoufel Cherkaoui  2008-10-19

After pursuing "advanced status" relations with the European Union for nearly 9 years, Morocco finally achieved its goal last week in Luxembourg. The EU move rewards the Kingdom for its democratic reforms. Recognising Morocco's "raft of reforms", the European Union agreed Monday (October 13th) in Luxembourg to grant Morocco advanced status relations with the 27-member bloc. The unprecedented measure by the EU-Morocco Association Council is expected to gradually integrate Morocco into EU policies and deepen free trade agreements.

"Morocco is the first country in the southern Mediterranean region to benefit from the advanced status in its relations with the EU," Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, told the council.

That Morocco's reform initiatives contributed to the EU decision was made clear by observers and officials.
"This European engagement on the advanced status is firstly proof of confidence... in Morocco's efforts in terms of political reforms, consolidation of the rule of law, a better justice system, economic reforms, social cohesion and the fight against poverty," Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri told reporters in Luxembourg.

Under the agreement, Morocco is less than a member but more than a partner to the EU.
The status accord paves the way for a "common economic space" based on the rules of the European Economic Area, a deeper free trade agreement covering new areas such as intellectual property rights, capital movements and sustainable development, Moroccan access to European security agencies and crisis management operations and regular political summits between the EU and the Kingdom.

As Minister Fihri put it, the new status gives Morocco "everything except the institutions". Europe has been looking for a model on which it can practice political, economic and human rights reforms, explained Manar Slimi, a professor of political science at Mohammed V University.

"Morocco has been chosen because it is the most advanced country in the Arab Maghreb," he told Magharebia. "It has some sort of economic dynamism, there are political reforms taking place, although they have not yet reached their end, and there is a human rights movement, which, in spite of the criticisms made against it, is the most advanced compared to other countries in the Arab Maghreb."

For most citizens of the Kingdom, the benefit of last week's decision in Luxembourg is easy to grasp; Morocco will be able to attract more European investments and security co-operation will also likely see tangible results. The job for the government, however, may not be as simple."The advanced status is considered a privilege for Morocco, but at the same time, it creates a set of commitments, if not complications. Morocco is now required to introduce a set of reforms." Slimi said. "On the political level, reforms must be introduced into institutions. On the economic level, Morocco is required to show more openness at a time when the world is experiencing a financial crisis."

The status agreement presents another problem, according to the president of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights."Morocco and the EU have signed economic agreements that don't take into consideration Morocco's obligations in terms of human rights," Khadija Ryadi told Magharebia. "In the advanced status granted by the EU to Morocco, the European side failed to turn the agreement into a mechanism with which it makes Morocco acknowledge its obligations, integrate them into its laws and respect them," Ryadi added.

"The human rights struggle will not take place through the EU; rather it is a domestic affair," she said. The Amazigh Democratic Party had also asked the European committee to reconsider Morocco's request for obtaining advanced status, citing concerns that the country does not respect its human rights obligations.
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2008/10/19/feature-01
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Marriages involving minors rise in Morocco.

More than 33,560 marriages of female Moroccan minors, representing 86.79% of the requests submitted in 2007, were approved by judges, a women's rights group has disclosed. The Democratic League of the Women's Rights (LDDF) said its study found that this situation arose because of powers given to Moroccan courts to grant such requests.

The study was carried out after the recent publication of statistics of the justice ministry, which said the number of requests for marriages of minors increased by 28 per cent between 2006 and 2007 from 30,312 to 38,710. This made up about 10.3 per cent of marriages in the North African country. Moreover, it said, more than two-thirds (69.5%) of the authorisations were granted to some 17-year-old teenagers, who are one year younger than the lawful age of marriage approved by the Family Code, which came into effect five years ago.

Morocco has a total population of 30 million inhabitants and most of the applications came from rural areas where such marriages rose by 50.5 per cent during the period compared with 9.4 per cent in the urban areas. "Worse still, on these requests also appeared girls of 14 and 15 years olds. The judges thus approved 159 marriages of 14 year-olds and 1,862 marriages of 15 year-olds," the LDDF said.

The League expressed regret that certain courts "very easily" granted the authorization of marriages of minors, thus encouraging others to make such applications instead of dissuading the parents not to give off their minor daughters. The LDDF also noted with concern the age gap between such couples, citing as an example that a young 15 year-old girl withdrawn from school would be married to a 39 year-old man under the single reason "of preserving her honour".

Under the new family code adopted unanimously by parliamentarians in January 2003, which came into effect one year later the lawful age of marriage in Morocco is 18 years for both boys and girls. The new code also says the family is the joint responsibility of the couple. The young girl who is over 18 years no longer needs a guardian in order to marry, and children of the girl have the right to inherit their grandfather like those of his son, while repudiation and polygamy is subject to severe conditions and consensual divorce is legal.
http://www.afriquenligne.fr/morocco:-marriages-involving-minors-rise-in-morocco-2008102014101.html
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Morocco 'making strides' in modernizing, ambassador says.
Sarah Husk 10/21/08

Though outmoded images can dominate Western perceptions of North Africa, recent political and economic reforms aimed at modernization and democratization may be changing the way the world sees Morocco, the country's ambassador told an audience at the Watson Institute for International Studies Monday.

Aziz Mekouar, the Moroccan ambassador to the United States since 2002, addressed a filled Joukowsky Forum on Monday afternoon, discussing the changing political and economic landscape of Morocco. The main focus of his lecture was contemporary issues facing the country, namely the push toward democratization, education reform, economic changes and increasing the focus on human rights.

Morocco, from its inception as a political state in the eighth century, "grew up in a different way than the other countries" in North Africa, Mekouar said. Of particular importance, he said, were Morocco's religious plurality and the fact that Morocco, unlike its neighbors, was never part of the Ottoman Empire.

Today, a reform-oriented Morocco is making strides, he said. Elections in 2002 and 2007 that Mekouar called "clear" and "transparent" are one sign that Morocco is moving increasingly toward progressive politics, he said. Morocco adopted a constitutional monarchy in 1972, but its progress toward democracy has been somewhat erratic since then. Mekouar said that the current king, Mohammed VI, whom he called "very popular" among Moroccans, had also been very involved in initiatives to expand women's rights within the domestic sphere and to ensure the protection of human rights.

The issue of women's rights, Mekouar said, was particularly notable because it "shows that there is no contradiction between Islam and the equality of women in the family and in the society." "We changed (earlier Moroccan family law) because, I think, we wanted it," he said. "When society is ready, you have to push."

But Mekouar also noted inefficiencies in the country's political process. He said that Morocco has almost achieved democratization, but said that the most recent election's 37-percent voter turnout was troublesome, and indicated that Moroccans may not believe in the political process."The challenge is ... to convince people that they have a stake in this political game, in this democracy," he said.

Education is a big issue for many Moroccans, he said. The current educational system is antiquated, in that it doesn't "match the needs of the business community," he added. He said that there was a lot of work to do on education reform so that Morocco can face the challenges of the world economy. But, he said, "the good thing is that we know what we need to do and we know the challenges."

"There is a will and there is a vision," he continued. Change, he said, is still very possible, adding, "I think it is happening."

On the economic front, Mekouar said that becoming "completely integrated into international trade" was an imperative step for Morocco. An action like opening borders or lowering tariffs, he said, would serve as "a signal from Morocco to the rest of the world and from Morocco to Moroccans themselves" that the country is ready to modernize and enter the global economy. "The time of borders is over," he said.

He said that, economically, Morocco is making gains. The country had a balanced budget last year and has high currency reserves and a growing GDP per capita, he said. Still, he said, "not everything is rosy. If you travel around Morocco, you will see poverty, you will see big differences between the rich and the poor." Ultimately, these reforms simply take time, Mekouar said. It is unwise to "change everything overnight," he said, calling the process instead "an evolution."

Assistant Professor of Political Science Melani Cammett '91 introduced Mekouar, and opened with a brief primer on Moroccan-U.S. relations. She said that the two countries have a "very long history of good relations," noting that Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States as an independent nation.
http://media.www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2008/10/21/CampusNews/Morocco.making.Strides.In.Modernizing.Ambassador.Says-3496918.shtml
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Morocco expects economy growth to slow next year .
Tue 21 Oct 2008, RABAT (Reuters)

Morocco's gross domestic product growth would slow to 5.8 percent next year from an estimated 6.8 percent this year, the government said on Tuesday, amid worries the global crisis may hurt the country's export and tourism key sectors. A draft budget, endorsed on Monday by a cabinet meeting chaired by king Mohammed, envisages the global financial turmoil fallout to slash GDP growth by 1.0 percent in 2009 versus this year's 6.8 percent forecast before a growth rebound of 6.6 percent in average for the following three years.

The government expects an increase in investment, mostly by state companies and bodies, and domestic consumption fanned by government subsidies and tax cuts to underpin growth next year. The draft budget is due to go before the parliament for approval before the end of December. The draft targets a budget deficit for 2009 of 2.9 percent, barely changed from this year, and inflation at 2.9 percent for next year compared to an government inflation target of 3.0 percent this year.

The country's consumer price inflation eased to 3.9 percent year-on-year in September from 4.8 percent in August and 5.1 percent in July, according to official data, mainly on higher food costs fuelled by soaring world commodity prices.

The draft budget expects spending to jump by 23.07 percent for 2009 to 152.9 billion Moroccan Dirhams from the previous as part of the government's policy to shore up domestic consumption to offset expected slowdown of other growth pillars like exports and tourism. Morocco's key textile exports to Europe, its main market, are expected to slow by 4 percent this year and by up to 10 percent next year, according to official estimates.

Morocco's trade deficit widened 64.1 percent for the January-August period to 31.4 billion dirhams, with imports rising 25.7 percent, faster than exports increase of 17.7 percent, according to official figures. The government plans to set up a subsidy fund of 500 million dirhams for 2009 to help exporters improve the country's economy overseas competitiveness.

Tourism growth is expected to slow this year and the next after a record tourist arrivals in 2007, according to industry officials. Last year, Morocco attracted a record 7.4 million foreign visitors as rising numbers of French, Spanish, British and Italians flocked to the country's tourist attractions, according to government figures. The government, which sees tourism as a growth engine, expects the number of foreign visitors to reach 10 million in 2010. Tourism accounts for eight percent of the country's gross domestic product and is its largest foreign currency earner.

The government plans to raise wages by 12.86 percent to 75.5 billion dirhams next year to bolster consumption and ease the impact of price increases, mostly of foods, in the purchasing power of workers and middle class employees, according to the budget draft. (Reporting by Lamine Ghanmi; editing by Victoria Main)
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Life for dancer in Morocco is no cabaret.
By MAX COLCHESTER | The Wall Street Journal  October 20, 2008 MARRAKECH, Morocco

After shutting his cabaret in France two years ago, Claude Thomas is bringing the cancan to a new frontier: the Islamic country of Morocco. "In France, we have killed the passion for cabaret," says Mr. Thomas, citing a crackdown on indoor smoking and labor laws that restrict dancers. "I have come to Morocco to find it again." In June, Mr. Thomas opened a 1,000-seat hall here called "Folie's de Marrakech," where he's adapting authentic French cabaret for a Muslim audience.

Belly dancing and singing are part of Moroccan culture, and the country is considered a moderate Islamic nation. But exporting a Western-style show where performers kiss on stage and women lift their skirts is still a delicate affair. Islam discourages women from revealing skin, and nightclubs with female dancers sometimes raise eyebrows here. "I think this is a big mistake," says Abderrahim Bentbib, director for the regional tourism council. "I don't think we need this kind of spectacle."

On a recent Saturday, Mr. Thomas prepared to put on a show at his custom-built music hall that features a prayer room and a license to serve alcohol. As he waved his hand, adorned with a huge diamond ring, a waterfall sprouted from above the stage. "This," he says, "is show business."

Other entertainers have tried to bring cabaret to Morocco and have been unsuccessful. In the early 1980s, a troupe called the "Bluebell Girls" flew from Paris to dance in a Marrakech hotel, Mr. Bentbib says. The show lasted six months.

The 49-year-old Mr. Thomas, who has performed in cabaret shows from Japan to Las Vegas, became disillusioned with France in part because he thought regulations made it difficult to run a profitable cabaret. Labor laws meant he had to pay dancers for time they spent applying their makeup. France's 35-hour work week discouraged performers from arriving early for shows to warm up, he says. In Marrakech, he pays his dancers 5,000 dirhams a month, or about $604, far less than he paid them in France.

During a vacation in 2006, Mr. Thomas was walking in the dusty central square of Marrakech when he saw acrobats doing flips. "I was on the phone to people in Las Vegas trying to organize a new show," Mr. Thomas says. "Suddenly I looked around at the street acrobats and I thought, 'My dancers are here."' Turning street dancers into cabaret performers was harder than he imagined. Reda Lahkloufi says he was horrified when Mr. Thomas asked him to shave his chest and wear tight, sequined shorts. "I told Claude, 'Look, Muslims don't do that,"' he says, adding it isn't masculine. Mr. Thomas backed down and agreed to let him wear less-revealing shorts and keep his chest hair.

The cancan dances, a centerpiece of cabaret, made performers particularly uneasy. Male dancers raise female partners over their heads, and the women's thighs almost touch the men's faces. In France, these women wear G-string underwear and fishnet stockings. The Moroccan performers insisted on wearing long, black leggings with padded underwear. They also slip on a pair of loose, green shorts underneath their skirts so they don't reveal their thighs.

In one number, lead choreographer Santiago Martinez directed a group of backup dancers to stand with their arms crossed above their heads. But the Moroccan dancers told him this was unacceptable for Muslims because it "reminded them of Christ on the cross," Mr. Martinez says. He told the dancers to raise their arms straight in the air and just overlap their hands a little.

One male dancer refused to kiss a female dancer on the cheek. To get him more comfortable with the concept of performance, Mr. Thomas spent hours showing him footage of Parisian cabaret dancers and the opening ceremony to the Beijing Olympics. "I needed to show him it was all an act," he says. The dancer ended up performing the kiss.

Fatima Fenanne, 18, felt awkward about doing a slow dance in the arms of a man. To teach her what to do, Mr. Thomas grabbed the man, held him close and looked deep into his eyes. "It was hard," Ms. Fenanne says. "I had never done this before."

Some performers' parents told Mr. Thomas they were concerned their daughters would hurt the family's reputation by appearing on stage, he says. Mr. Thomas invited the parents to rehearsals to make them more comfortable. One father dragged his daughter from the stage, Mr. Thomas says.

Male dancers were concerned that performing in the cabaret threatened their masculinity. Mr. Lahkloufi used to work on a construction site in Casablanca. After becoming a professional dancer, he was shunned by former co-workers who "couldn't understand what I was doing," he says. "They have no idea what classic dance is."

Preparing to open the venue, Mr. Thomas renamed it a "music hall" instead of the lewder-sounding "cabaret" on the advice of local authorities. He also sent a script to the regional governor. When Mr. Thomas got approval, a relative in France invested 8 million euros, or about $10.8 million, to build the hall, he says.

At the first show in June, Mr. Thomas took the stage in a black, sequined jacket. He stood in front of a giant, flaming heart and sang a French rock song. Later, a man in a long, red tunic rode atop a horse and freed a young woman from a cage. One thousand spectators packed the hall. "I have never seen anything like this in Morocco," says Jamal Aboula El Yalp, who recently saw the show while visiting from Casablanca. "It's really great."

Attendance at the cabaret has dipped since the show first opened. One recent performance just after the religious festival of Ramadan attracted only a few dozen people. Hassan Ait El Madani, a Marrakech accountant, says he has nothing against cabaret, but wouldn't visit one himself. "Seeing dancers on stage is not something I feel totally comfortable with," he says. Mr. Thomas is undeterred. "The high season is arriving," he told his dancers after Ramadan. "We must show who we are."
http://www.mcall.com/entertainment/all-dancer1020,0,6642096.story
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Eagle-Vail french teacher heading to Morocco.
Battle Mountain High School's Susan Chipman gets Fulbright grant
Daily Staff Report  newsroom@vaildaily.com   Eagle-Vail, CO Colorado EAGLE-VAIL, Colorado

Susan Chipman, a French teacher at Battle Mountain High School in Eagle-Vail, Colorado, was awarded a Fulbright Teacher Exchange grant to teach in Morocco. Chipman is one of around 450 U.S. citizens who will travel abroad for six weeks during the 2008-2009 academic year through the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program.

Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership in their fields. The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Since its establishment in 1946 the Fulbright Program has provided approximately 286,500 people with the opportunity to observe other political, economic, educational and cultural institutions. The program operates in over 155 countries.
http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20081022/NEWS/810229977/1078&ParentProfile=1062&title=Eagle-Vail%20french%20teacher%20heading%20to%20Morocco
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Dark heart of Morocco.
TAHIR SHAH Oct 23 2008 Mail Guardian online.

Abdul-Lateef sits in the shade at the front of his shop, a glint in his eye and a week's growth of beard on his cheeks. With care, he weighs out half a dozen dried chameleons, wraps them in a twist of newspaper and passes the packet to a young woman dressed in black.

"She will give birth to a handsome boy child," says the shopkeeper when the woman has gone.

"Are you sure?"

Abdul-Lateef stashes the money into a pouch under his shirt. He scans the assortment of wares -- mysterious pink powders, snake skins, live turtles, bundles of aromatic bark -- and smiles. "We have been helping women like her for five centuries," he says, "and never has a customer come to complain. Believe me, I speak the truth."

Walk through the bustle of Fes's medina and it's impossible not to be catapulted back in time. It is as if the old city is on a frequency of its own, set apart from the frenzied world of internet and iPods and all the techno clutter that fills our daily lives. Abdul-Lateef and his magic medicinal stall are a fragment of a healing system that stretches back through centuries, to a time when Fes was itself at the cutting edge of science, linked by the pilgrimage routes to Cairo, Damascus and Samarkand.

These days the low-cost airlines shuttle the curious back and forth to Europe. And everyone they bring is tantalised by what they find. Fes is the only medieval Arab city that's still absolutely intact. It's as though a shroud has covered it for centuries, the corner now lifted a little so we can peek in.

Once the capital of Morocco, Fes is one of those rare destinations that's bigger than mass tourism, a city that's so self-assured, so grounded in its own identity, that it hardly seems to care whether the tourists come or not. Moroccans will tell you that it's the dark heart of their kingdom, that its medina has a kind of sacred soul.

Wander the labyrinth of narrow streets and you can feel it. It's all around you -- in the meat bazaar, where shanks of mutton nestle on fragrant beds of mint and down in the most ancient quarter, at er-Rsif, where the seed of Fes fell more than a thousand years ago. But perhaps the spirit is felt strongest of all at the ancient leather tanneries, whose dying pits have endured since the days of Harun al-Rachid.

Visitors to other Moroccan cities, such as Marrakech, snatch up bargains without realising that many of the wares on offer are actually created within the old city walls of Fes. Stroll through the medina and you're never far from the sound of a craftsman beating a pattern into a sheet of burnished brass, or the hum of a homemade loom, or a lathe shaping a piece of scented argan wood. The slender sidestreets are packed with hundreds of one-room workshops where master craftsmen toil from morning to night, as their ancestors have done since antiquity.

Their wares fill the little tourist shops on Talaa Kabira, the medina's main thoroughfare. Unlike Marrakech, with its sprawling tourist emporia, there's an innocence about searching for a bargain in Fes. Many of the shops aren't geared to tourists at all. There are just as many outlets selling bath plugs, bras and sewing thread to the locals as there are those offering embroidered yellow slippers, kaftans and heavy metal castanets to the waves of tourists who flock through.

Despite the giddying array of crafts manufactured by hand in the medina, Fes is about much more than the tourist objects for sale. Even the quickest visit gives you a sense of the city's extraordinary cultural and intellectual heritage and helps to remind all who come of the achievements of the Islamic faith. The centrepiece of this is surely the Al-Karaouine university and its mosque (founded in 859 AD), regarded as the oldest continuously used centre of learning on earth (so says the Guinness Book of Records). Al-Karaouine is just one of dozens of medieval medrasas, religious schools, found in Fes. Thankfully, a number of these are now being restored, some of them with grants from Unesco.

One of the most refined of all is the Bou Inania medrasa, which boasts fabulous mosaics, geometric cupolas crafted from cedarwood, and tiles carved with couplets from the Qur'an. Across the street from it stands the remains of Fes's once-grand medieval water clock, now ruined. And tucked away behind it, to the left of a fishmonger's stall, is the tiny jewel, Café Clock. Although only open for a year or so, "The Clock", as it's become known, is already an institution, a confluence where visitors, expatriates and local Moroccans meet. It's laid out on numerous levels, its terraces commanding views over the city. The climb is so steep that a waiter with mountain-climbing experience was sought for the job.

The Clock came from the imagination of an indefatigable Englishman, Mike Richardson, for whom Fes was love at first sight. The outstanding food hints at Mike's background in catering -- he was a maitre d' at The Wolseley and, before that, at The Ivy in London. But Morocco is a long way from London's West End. One of the first hurdles to overcome was the search for fresh ingredients, a quest that eventually led to a fusion of cuisine.

Poised on the menu between Caesar salad and cheesecake are the words "camel burger". Mike pushes back his mop of ginger hair and exclaims: "I searched for years for the perfect meat for burgers, and I found it here in Fes. Camel meat's got the ideal consistency and succulence, and it sits so nicely on the bun."

The burgers are by far The Clock's bestseller, so much so that Mike spends much of his time trawling the bazaars in search of fresh camel meat and the other ingredients needed for his secret recipe. But his café is about much more than slaking hunger pains. He feels a responsibility to highlight a little of the heri tage for which Fes is so renowned. Each evening, after tucking into their burgers, visitors are invited to learn from Moroccan experts. There are regular lessons in the art of calligraphy, music and dance, and talks on local culture.

In the past few years, a number of foreigners have dropped everything and moved to Fes. Most of them, like Mike, have been attracted by the gravity of the place, the kind of serenity that's absent in other more care-free tourist hot spots. You get the feeling that they can't quite believe their luck at having the chance to be living in such a magical destination.

Lured by the prices and availability, many have bought courtyard homes in the medina and set about the painstaking restorations. Some of these have been transformed into small maisons d'hôtes, sometimes with no more than three or four rooms. One of the best is Riad Numero Neuf, a showcase of Moroccan decorative styles, adorned with all sorts of European antiques.

The ceilings are cedar, painted by craftsmen centuries ago, the floors laid with mosaics. The central courtyard echoes to the sound of running water and birdsong. The view from the terrace is worth the steep ascent, and reminds you that you're tucked away in the depths of a labyrinth.

One of the great joys of Fes is the feeling that it's worn-in and loved, appreciated equally by visitors as by those whose families have lived there for centuries. If there's a downside, it's that a great number of the buildings are in need of repair in varying degrees. The climate is largely to blame -- blazing hot in summer, freezing in winter.

Unesco regards Fes as a world heritage centre and has supported the city, quite literally. Under its initiative, thousands of wooden staves have been put up to keep those buildings most in danger from falling down.

Others are working to help in a more modest way.

The American-born director of the city's Arab Language Centre, David Amster, has lived in the Fes medina for more than a decade. Passionate that any renovation be completed to the same exacting standards achieved by the original craftsmen, he ploughs anything he can spare into renovating public streets of his neighbourhood that are falling into disrepair. The focus is on micro-reparation, much of it aimed at correcting badly done repairs made in the modern era. Amster's craftsmen strip walls of their modern cement finishing, replacing them with natural render, as was traditionally used, so allowing buildings to breathe once again. They use hand-made nails and frown on the kind of uniformity that power tools provide. The artisans tend to work at night when the streets are empty, in what is essentially guerrilla renovating. The idea of giving back to the community anonymouslyis appropriate, of course, for anonymous charity is at the heart of the Islamic faith.

Back on Tala'a Kabira, the medina's main street, Abdul-Lateef is crushing a mortar half filled with dried damask roses. He coaxes his little son, Mustapha, to pay attention; after all, the boy will inherit the shop just as his father did. An American tourist pauses to photograph the front of the shop, before his wife reels over and barks for him to hurry up and get back to the group. When they have gone, Abdul-Lateef wipes a hand over his brow.

"If that man had time to spare I could give him some of this," he says, holding up the potion he's mixing. "It's a special preparation that would make his wife beautiful again." -- ©Guardian News & Media 2008
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-10-23-dark-heart-of-morocco
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