There is a very cool interview with Moroccan photographer Yto Barrada at openDemocracy. Over the last five years, Barrada’s work has centered around the question of borders and migration, particularly from Morocco to Spain. You can also listen to the interview here. Highly recommended.
Yto Barrada’s “The Strait Project: A Life Full of Holes” is currently on display at the Kitchen in New York (only until May 20, so hurry and see it while you can!)
(Photo: Yto Barrada.)
Do any of you MG readers have access to a DVD or review copy of Laila Marrakchi’s Marock? I have been going crazy for the last few weeks trying to locate one, without luck. If you are able to help, please email me at llalami AT yahoo DOT com.
I remember seeing a profile in Le Monde of Aziz Ridouan, the French-Moroccan high school student and founder of Audionautes, an NGO that provides legal assistance to those accused of illegally downloading music. Nice to see the NYT catching up. My favorite lines in the profile:
Mr. Ridouan, who intends to study political science in college, said his Audionautes-financed lobbying did not hurt his studies. He has missed some school but has a note from the French interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, excusing him from class when he meets with government officials.
“There’s no need for me to fake notes to skip class ever since I got Sarkozy’s written permission,” said Mr. Ridouan. “I don’t even have the note anymore because my teacher wanted to keep it as a souvenir.”
More here.
I was cleaning my bookmarks last night, when I came across this article about Casablanca in the Travel section of the New York Times:
When the French pulled out of Morocco in 1956, they left behind an appreciation for fine food and drink that persists to this day.
Those poor, poor Moroccans. Really, without the French, they would not have known what to eat.
My friend Bill alerted me to this Newshour segment on the plight of sub-Saharan migrants who are trying to get to Spain via Morocco. The migrants are now stuck in Morocco, where they suffer from serious mistreatment:
The men buy food with money they get by begging. Some have skin rashes and other health problems but don’t seek medical care, worried they’ll be arrested.
In another apartment, we met a group organizing to speak out about their plight. “We’re treated like animals,” said Abu Ben (ph) from Ivory Coast. “We fled from soldiers in our country who wanted to kill us. But in Morocco, which we thought was a brother African country, they don’t treat us like humans.”
Willie (ph) from the Democratic Republic of the Congo says he was captured by Moroccan authorities who dumped him and others in the Saharan Desert. Undaunted, they spent three weeks walking back to Morocco. Some, he says, never made it.
Khalid Zerouali, the Moroccan Director of Migration and Border Surveillance, is quoted as saying that, “Many of our critics think that we are the gendarme of Europe. We don’t see it this way.” Meanwhile, Moroccan human rights activist Boubker Khamlichi objects: “Since Morocco aspires to be a democratic country, it shouldn’t repress our sub-Saharan brothers.” You can watch the full Newshour segment on video.
The latest issue of Jeune Afrique has a special dossier on Morocco, under the title “The Quiet (R)Evolution.” Moroccan novelist Fouad Laroui contributes the opening editorial, in which he contrasts the Morocco of liberal activists, athletes, scientists, and artists, against that of Islamists:
Il y a le Maroc qui rêve et il y a celui qui a des visions. Il y a les Marocains qui rêvent d’attirer dix millions de touristes à l’horizon 2010 (et qui font tout pour atteindre cet objectif) et il y a ceux qui ont l’étrange vision d’un Prophète leur enseignant les rudiments du taekwondo. Il y a ceux qui songent à l’avenir et ceux qui hallucinent le passé.
Il y a ceux qui applaudissent le courage de la jeune réalisatrice de Marock et il y a ceux qui veulent interdire ce film dérangeant. Il y a ceux qui courent les festivals d’été pour danser sur tous les rythmes du monde et il y a ceux qui veulent… interdire les festivals (décidément !). Il y a ceux qui courent, tout simplement, qui battent des records et glanent des médailles et il y a ceux qui font du surplace, quand ils ne marchent pas à reculons.
Il y a ceux qui reviennent, après avoir étudié à Polytechnique ou dans les universités américaines, après avoir monté leur entreprise à Toulouse ou Bruxelles, et qui mettent en œuvre leurs compétences. Et il y a ceux qui reviennent d’on ne sait où, de maquis absurdes ou d’universités de la haine, et qui entendent faire valoir leur pouvoir de nuisance.
Among the articles in the issue: commentary on last month’s World Bank report on the country, profiles of some movers and shakers, a piece on summer festival fever, and an article on bilingual writer Sanaa Elaji, among other things. I was disappointed by the piece on the media: No mention of the problems that Tel Quel, Le Journal Hebdo and other news magazines have had with the judiciary.