Category: all things moroccan
Tahar Ben Jelloun’s new novel, Partir, is about young Moroccan men who want to leave everything behind to immigrate. Sound familiar? I think there’s really a Zeitgeist in Moroccan art at the moment around the issue of immigration. Photographer Yto Barrada, filmmaker Yasmine Kassari, and rai musicians have all dealt with the issue in recent work.
Yahoo! news has a brief article (in French) about Partir. No word on an English translation yet. Ben Jelloun’s latest novel to appear here in the U.S. is The Last Friend, which comes out in February.
Driss Benzekri, the man who spent 17 years as a political prisoner under the reign of King Hassan, and who is now the head of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, visited Washington this week. The commission had been charged with documenting abuses of the “years of lead” and with making recommendations. Its report was released to the Moroccan public earlier this year.
“In the course of our work, we were able to shed light on the fate of 742 persons who disappeared for different reasons. We called for compensation for them, as well as 10,000 other victims. Then we proposed a series of reforms to the constitution to ensure the separation of powers; and we recommended that the independence of the judiciary be inscribed in the constitution, and an end to legal immunity for security officials who commit human rights abuses. The main objective of our recommendations was to promote and protect all forms of civil liberties. Then we gave the report to His Majesty and it was made public.”
The young king, who took over from his father in 1999, immediately embraced the report and its calls for compensation. Many former political prisoners appeared in public town hall meetings and on television, telling their stories in a unique form of catharsis. This is unprecedented in the Arab world.
This, of course, is real, tangible progress, and I think it’s a huge step forward for Morocco (combined with the family law reform of last year, this really puts the country in the right track). There’s also clearly a political will, on all sides of this issue, to finally address the dossier.
But, and there is a but, the report leaves open two questions. Firstly, I’ve seen press reports that suggest that there are cases that have not been investigated, and the worry now is that they probably won’t be. Secondly, although many of those responsible have now passed on, others are alive and kicking, leading a life of relative ease, while their victims have to live with the horrors of the past.
Christa Case visits Jerada, Morocco, and profiles Aziz Hammouin, a young man looking to immigrate to Europe in search for a job.
If you’ve been to the movies recently, you may have noticed trailers for Something New, a romantic comedy starring Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker that will be released February 3rd. What you may not know is that the film is directed by a young Moroccan-American filmmaker, Sanaa Hamri. Hamri came to the United States at age seventeen to start college. Shortly after graduating, she began working in the music video industry, making a name for herself by directing videos for Mariah Carey, Prince, India.Arie, Dr. Dre, Jay Z., Jadakiss, Sting, Destiny’s Child, and others. “Something New” is her feature film debut. You can watch the trailer here.
Related:
Wikipedia: Sanaa Hamri
Wafin: Sanaa Hamri
The weather forecast predicts snow this week, in several parts of Morocco–the Rif Mountains, the Atlas Mountains and even in some lower-altitude areas near Marrakesh.
I have very fond memories of Immouzer–my family used to spend summer vacations there when I was a little kid, and I can still remember the taste of the apples from the trees in the hotel garden (picked surreptitiously, while my parents unpacked.)
According to Jeune Afrique, a young Moroccan entrepreneur named Nabil Alami (no relation) has started an online site where the faithful can purchase live lambs for the sacrificial rites of Eid. Compare weights, sizes, and colors, without having to trek to the souk and deal with the smells and sounds of hundreds of bleating sheep. Plus, you can choose your delivery date, which means you don’t have to keep, feed, and clean after the animal for the days leading up to the feast. Demand was so high that the farm he had contracted with sold out. Now he wants to expand his business to include celebrations for weddings and births, etc.
Or, you know, you can just donate the Eid money to charity.