Stories about Morocco from June, 2009
Morocco: Celebrating the First Female Mayor of Marrakesh
The Moroccan elections of two weeks ago brought surprising results and were received with mixed reactions, as Hisham pointed out in this post. One such result was the election of a woman to the position of mayor in Marrakesh for the very first time. Fatima Zahra Mansouri, who studied law,...
Morocco: The Last Jews of Essaouira
Reading Morocco mentions an article on the last Jews of the town of Essaouira but says of the discourse: “I am intrigued by the history of Jews in Morocco but there needs to be a little more constructive criticism of Jewish out migration from the country, especially to Israel; and...
Maghreb: Views on Iran
As the world watches events unfolding in Iran, Maghreb blogs have been following and commenting on the rapidly developing crisis there. Some questioned the motives behind the way western media covered the events; others criticized Mir Houssain Moussavi's reaction, but it seems that the majority are supporting protesters.
Arab World: Berkman Launches New Arab Blog Study
Harvard University's Berkman Centre for Internet and Society has released a study of the Arabic blogosphere entitled Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere. About 35,000 active blogs were covered. “The goal for the study was to produce a baseline assessment of the networked public sphere in the Arab Middle East, and its...
Morocco: Local Elections Results
Writing at the Maghreb Politics Review, Alle updates us on the results of the Moroccan local council elections.
Morocco: Lost Affection with the Silver Screen
Collective blog The View from Fez reports on the dramatic decrease in the number of movie theatres in Morocco and their shrinking audiences. “In a country of more than 30 million people, there are currently only 50 cinemas, down from 70 just last year. They were 250 in 1995,” notes...
Morocco: Beacon of Freedom of Speech?
Moroccan blogger Badr Al'Hamry on Agora [Ar], expresses his solidarity with Idriss Shahtan, director of Al Mishaal weekly newspaper, and president of the Khenifra branch of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights [Ar] who will stand accused of publishing a dossier that is discourteous to a relative of the king...
Moroccan Elections: The King's Party Triumphs
Whilst world attention was focused on the fiercely fought presidential election in Iran, communal elections held in June 12 in Morocco passed almost unnoticed by world media. The polls were officially hailed as crucial for the country's future and an important milestone in Morocco's protracted journey to democracy. Moroccan blogger's covered and commented the event, their hearts swaying between skepticism and full endorsement of the vote.
North Africa: Berber Books Online
Lameen Souag links to Berber books available online for downloading.
Moroccans Love/Hate Affair with Obama
US President Barack Obama's Cairo address to the Muslim world sparked a blaze of reactions across the region and beyond; not least amongst bloggers from the Maghreb where a fiery of blog posts and instant tweets conveyed a whole spectrum of opinions ranging from outright, full endorsement to deep skepticism and even scorn and mistrust, write Anas Alaoui and Hisham.
Morocco: The Poor Cats!
Author Suzanna Clarke, writing for The View From Fez writes of her experience of rescuing a street cat, and the resulting kindness of strangers.
Translator of the week: Carolina Chandra Rumuat
Carolina Chandra Rumuat is spinning a new planet in the Global Voices/Lingua galaxy of languages: Global Voices in Bahasa Indonesia. Say what? In Bahasa Indonesia, the official language of no less than 237 million Indonesians. In truly globalized fashion, Carolina from Indonesia translates and nurtures the brand new Lingua website all the way from… Morocco!
