Tazmamart, The Memorial

JAMAL LAOUDI

05/05/09

I recall, as a teenager, when the utterance of the word “Tazmamart” prison evoked emotions and feelings of mystery, misery, and ultimate cruelty.  My imagination proved useless in its attempts at simulating events of what could havetaken place in that prison once a glimse of what took place was brought to the forefront..  Demystifying Tazmamart consumed me for some odd reason.  “Change the subject” was the most common expression used as a reaction to having heard that “sinful” word uttered.  

Our Health Minister

AHMED TAIBI

05/02/09

Have you ever walked into a room and could not remember why you walked in? I believe that is how Mrs. Yasmina Baddou spends her days at the Moroccan health ministry. Admittedly, the Moroccan health sector has been shoddy for decades. But a visit to Ibn Roshd, known as "Morizgo", in Casablanca, or any vermin infested public hospital - and private one for that matter - where destitute patients have to grease their palms to receive admittance into the premises and pay every step of the way to receive the medical attention the government ought to provide them for free, one gets a sobering sense of how declensional the state of our health care system is. Mrs.Baddou, whose judicial background hardly qualifies her to mend the budgetary and staffing ills of the Moroccan health care system initiated reforms that have been openly contested as ineffective by Moroccan health professionals. Her agenda has been criticized as being alienated from the health concerns of Moroccans.

Abuse of Immigrant North Africans in Spain and Belgium Raising Alarm

HASSAN MASIKY

05/01/09

The recent vicious arrest of Morocco’s international soccer star Mbark Boussoufa by the Belgian police brought to the forefront, once again, the issue of racism and xenophobia against people of “color” in Europe. According to Mr. Boussoufa, Brussels Police handcuffed and threw him to the ground during a police “identity Check” round in a café in the heavily North African neighborhood of Gare du Midi in the Belgian Capital. The Moroccan national, who currently plays for Anderlecht soccer club, described the incident to the Belgian press as an act of police brutality with racist overtones. Around the same time, Brussels police shot to death a Moroccan laborer on his way to work. Mohamed Saoudi, who lived in Belgium for more than seventeen years, led a peaceful life with his family and had no prior running with the law. Belgian police is currently investigating both incidents.

Stripped of My Children and Denied Entry

NEWS

04/30/09

I am the mother
and I want to clarify some points. While I am reading these feedbacks, I felt that there was a misunderstanding or confusion of my story.

First, I want to thank Mr. Driss Temsamani for his understanding and his kindness. I wrote the story and he edited for me.
Yes, I am an educated, smart and caring mother. I was living in the States for four years before I got married, I paid my taxes and I was a real good citizen.
I met the father of my daughters and at first I made it clear that I am happy with my life in USA and it was my own decision to live in this country. He never mentioned to go back to his origin country.Instead he was telling me how much he suffered from the Algerian life system.

Kahlil Gibran “Spirit of Humanity” Awards gala

EVENTS

04/29/09

More than 700 guests attended the 11th annual Kahlil Gibran “Spirit of Humanity” Awards gala on April 23rd. it was hosted by the Arab American Institute Foundation (AAIF).  The event was sponsored in part by the Moroccan American Center.
The black tie affair began with opening remarks from Assistant to the President Valerie Jarrett who transmitted greetings from president Obama and a promise to treat this community and all communities on an equal footing.

Queen Noor of Jordan was on hand to present the Halaby Award for public service to Algerian American Dr. Zerhouni.
The awardees were The Marshall Legacy Institute, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and Michael Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. and Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni , former NIH Director.
The participation of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, whose family has Lebanese roots, and Jarrett, who was born in Iran, represents a warmer and more open attitude toward Arab-Americans by the  Obama administration.

Morocco launches 3rd low cost Carrier

NEWS

04/30/09

Washington. Apr 30, 09- After Jet4you and Atlas Blue, here's Air Arabia Morocco, whose first flights are scheduled for May 6th.

Morocco has its 3rd low-cost airline. Alongside Jet4you and Atlas Blue, newly born Air Arabia Morocco whose maiden flight on May 6 will be between Casablanca and London.
The company required an investment of $ 50 million: 51% owned by private Moroccan investors, with the remainder coming from institutions of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The new carrier will serve a number of destinations in Europe and North Africa. It is the result of an alliance between the Moroccan airline Regional Air and the parent company Air Arabia, based in the UAE. In addition, it has two Airbus A320 aircraft and will receive a 3rd of the same aircraft type in November 2009. The airline plans to acquire a fleet of 16 aircrafts by 2014.

The Lesson from Turkey & Armenia

HASSAN MASIKY

04/29/09

Let’s hope politicians in Morocco and Algeria were following the news coming out of Ankara and Yerevan: Muslim Turkey and Christian Armenia have agreed to normalize their bilateral ties, putting decades of animosity behind them. It is a historical moment for both countries and a message to other nations involved in conflicts to overcome differences for the benefits of the advancement of their citizens. The significant of this event is magnified by the seriousness of the Armenian charge of “Genocide” against Turkey in the mass killings of thousands of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915.
While Armenia and its neighbor Turkey were working out a “road map” to normalize their relationship, Algeria and its neighbor Morocco were locked, again, in a war of words over the Western Sahara conflict. The “newly elected” President Bouteflika of Algeria used his “inaugural Speech” to compare the Moroccan presence in the Western Sahara to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories belittling the Palestinian cause and showing a great intransigence toward the United Nations efforts to resolve the Sahara conflict. Such “Brezhnev era’s Soviet Union” like statements from the Algerian President reinforce the existence sentiment that the so-called western Sahara conflict is an Algerian-Moroccan dispute that can only be resolved in direct bi-lateral negotiation between Rabat and Algiers.
 
Historically, Morocco under the late King Hassan II approached the conflict over the Sahara as an argument with the late Algerian President Boumedienne. However, as the disastrous Moroccan diplomacy of the seventies and eighties stumbled and the Algerian position in support of the Algeria created Polisario separatist movement gained momentum, Morocco was compelled to deal with the Polisario in equal terms as an adversary.  Presently, this argument does not stand. Both Morocco and Algeria are going through different historical stages that are bound to affect their policies in dealing with the Sahara Conflict.  Whereas the Moroccan diplomacy, with all its lapses, has joined the twenty first century, the Algerian Foreign Ministry is stuck in the twilight zone, and will stay that way for few years to come  with the return of Bouteflika for a third term. On the issue of the Western Sahara, Morocco’s position has evolved with Rabat’s local autonomy for the population of the Sahara while Algeria’s stagnated. Accordingly, it is time to repaint this conflict with its true color: a border dispute between Morocco and Algeria.
 
As long as the Western Sahara conflict is not framed as a grouping of the Moroccan-Algerian disputes over the Sahara, Tindouf and Beshar, all attempts by the United Nations to resolve the conflict will flounder. Actually, Algerian officials are first to admit that the bitter memory of the  1963 Sands War with Morocco is the driving force behind their government rigid anti-Morocco position disputing the legitimacy of Rabat presence in the Western Sahara. Consequently, resolving all and any leftover issues from this war hold the key to resolving the current crisis, as long as the resolution is through direct negotiations between the two Belligerents.
 
The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has been waist of money. Similarly, the missions of successive UN envoys to the region were complete failure as most of the UN diplomats persisted in including the Polisario movement as an independent entity outside the influence of Algerian Military influence. It is naïve and unrealistic to believe that the Polisario leadership make independent decisions without direction from Algiers.

It is becoming ever evident that the only way to resolve this long simmering conflict is to remove the Polisario element out of the equation, demark the Moroccan Algerian borders once for all, and address Algeria’s geographical concerns in terms of access to the Atlantic Ocean.
 
Rabat, unheeded, appeals to improve relations with Algiers are the first step to resolve all outstanding problems between the two countries. Algerians and Moroccans do not have to open borders but must settle the dispute over the Sahara and their borders as did Armenia and Turkey. With its obstinacy to address the underlining sources of its dispute with Morocco, the Algerian diplomacy will be eventually be tired by the international community as an out-of-date institution poorly adapted to the new realities in the region and overly influenced by bunch of political dinosaurs.
 
King Mohamed VI has a vision for prosperous Morocco and Algeria where economy is more important than who controls which oasis in a desalt corner of the Sahara. With 35% unemployment, the Algerian government should be drafting plans to bring out their country out of the economical abyss instead of redirecting domestic opinion wrath against neighboring countries.
 
The Armenian and Turkish leaders are visionaries who recognize the importance of prosperity versus demagogy and historical events that can be settled in time. I hope the leadership in Al-Moradia wakes up from its deep sleep and comes to terms with the demands of today’s political realities. As Turks and Armenians dream of joining the European Union, Moroccans and Algerians continue to live a “Kafkasian” nightmare exasperated with a Bouteflika part III act.

Casablanca at The World Urban Forum in Chicago

NEWS

04/29/09

Casablanca Mayor, Mr. sajid with Chicago Mayor Richad Daley  & V.P. Joe Bide

The World Urban Forum took place April 27th through the 29th at the university of Illinois in Chicago.  Mayor Richard Daley chaired the event and Vice President Joe Biden was the keynote speaker.
Discussions have revolved around three themes: Economic Recovery, Planning and Sustainable Development and developing human capital.
The goal of the event was to address issues of economic recovery and urban planning.  Leaders from nearly 30 cities worldwide have attended. The cities include Paris, Moscow, Beijing and Casablanca, Morocco.

Retire in Morocco? Cheer up! You still have Florida

ZAK ETTAMYMY

04/28/09

The dream to retire in Morocco is dissipating by the day, most Moroccans living abroad consider Morocco for their retirement, while they try hard in their youth to accomplish career, prosperity, family and a house in Morocco. Why? Simply to live the golden age in a quite village on morocco’s beautiful coasts.

Tazmamart, Ominous Days, Past & Present

HASSAN MASIKY

04/24/09

Tazmamart, the now closed secret detention center in the south of Morocco, had been at the epicenter of the gloomy and ominous days of torture and other human rights abuses in Morocco during the seventies and the eighties of last century. The disconsolate prison was host to most of the army officers involved in the 1972 and 1973 failed coup d’etats against late King Hassan II and to other political opponents.  Moroccan officials denied the existence of such prison for many years. Caving in to criticism from foreign countries, namely the American government, and human rights organizations led by Amnesty International, Rabat released all the detainees and closed down the prison.

Moroccan Airliner, Royal Air Maroc, pulls last plane from Senegal fleet

NEWS

04/23/09

Reuters 4/22/09  --- Royal Air Maroc (RAM), majority shareholder in Air Senegal International (ASI), has withdrawn its last plane from ASI's fleet, a move that threatens the stability of one of West Africa's few reliable airlines.