Morocco's Economy and Weathering the Global Financial Storm

Here is a good article from the Associated Press about how the main industries in Morocco are trying to deal with the global financial crisis. I think the reassurances that the government will step in to help people if things get too bad should be taken with a grain of salt, but besides that, it is very informative.

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Morocco sheds jobs but hangs on in financial storm

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU – 1 day ago

SALE, Morocco (AP) — Clamor fills the factory as workers bent over their industrial sewing machines stitch together women's garments at galloping speed. Yet the vast workshop is only half full, its blank benches a testimony to how the global financial meltdown swings back at the developing world.

Morocco's diverse, open economy has served as a model to poorer nations in Africa and the Arab world, but it has also left the country exposed to global downturn as trade with the rich world shrinks. And many are now watching whether the ripple effects of international finance could turn nasty in a developing nation like this north African kingdom with strong political and migration ties to Europe.

Moroccan authorities fear some 20,000 jobs are being cut in the textile industry, about 10 percent of the national total. Others have vanished in the tourism industry, the backbone of the coastal country's economy. Carmaker Nissan froze plans for a car plant promising thousands more positions. Remittances are down, too, as Moroccans working in Europe face layoffs.

"We're worried more cuts will follow," said Naima Arour, shouting to make herself heard over the hammering of her sewing machine. "Without work, we starve here," she said, barely lifting her eyes from the collars she was hastily fixing to women's blouses.

The government is keeping a close watch on at-risk sectors and intervening to keep joblessness down and maintain stability. Unauthorized groups critical of Morocco's tolerant, Western-friendly liberal economy, including those on the Islamist fringes, recruit massively in the country's slums, where idle youth are a fertile target for extremists.

There are no unemployment benefits in Morocco. And the firing of one employee usually directly affects a whole family, rippling fast through the economy in working-class towns like Sale, where much of the country's textile industry lies.

Abdelhai Bessa, Arour's employer, says a sense of pride and habits of social and Muslim solidarity usually prevent Moroccan managers from firing staff until absolutely necessary. But he's already laid off more than 600 of the 2,000 people he employed.

"We're very dependent on international trends," said Bessa, a former unionized railway engineer who started his textile business from scratch in the 1990s and reached US$15 million in revenue last year, surfing on a decade of outsourcing to market Morocco's cheap labor to Europe.

His firm works primarily for upscale retailers in Britain, where consumers have been particularly hard hit by the financial crisis. Orders have dropped 85 percent for menswear and fancy children's dresses. One of his main customers went broke in December.

The Moroccan government, which unlike many Arab states has no oil revenues, heavily relies on foreign trade to sustain its projected 5.8 percent GDP growth in 2009, from a gross domestic product of US$90.5 billion last year. It says it carefully monitors which sectors are taking blows.

"When warning lights turn orange, we intervene," Ahmed Reda Chami, Morocco's industry and commerce minister, told The Associated Press.

Authorities have spent 1 billion dirham (nearly US$100 million) on a support package, whose measures include canceling some payroll taxes and offering government guarantees to companies seeking bank loans.

"If lights were to turn red, we could do much more," said Chami, who with seven other Cabinet ministers and several top business leaders is part of a "Strategic Watch Committee" set up by the government to follow the unfolding effects of world recession.

The government is racing to start unemployment benefits. While official unemployment is at a low 2.8 percent in the country of 34 million, it is estimated at 20 percent in urban areas.

Massive rainfall this year in this often arid north African country has led to a boom in agriculture, helping to compensate shrinking industry and tourism revenues, the minister said.

Small farmers and urban poor have seen much less wealth come their way in recent years than those in the tourist and service sectors. Many have grown wary of their country's modernization and opening to the West, and the authorized opposition Islamists are now the second-biggest force in parliament.

The government knows it can't let its policies backfire and insists the social effects of the slowdown are limited for now. "But we're not an isolated island, so of course we're cautious," said Chami.

Tourism managers say they've begun to feel a slump in popular destinations like the sunny southern town of Marrakech, and the Central Bank is worried remittances are falling from Europe, where many Moroccans go for work.

One of the biggest signs of downturn came from Nissan. The Japanese car marker and its French partner Renault had planned to invest 600 million euros ($794 million) to build a huge car factory in Tangiers. The project, which was slated to create 6,000 jobs and deliver 200,000 cars yearly starting in 2010, is part of a Moroccan flagship program to develop "Tanger Med," a new deep-water port aiming to become one of the Mediterranean's biggest.

But Nissan announced recently it was freezing its part of the investment because of worldwide difficulties in the car industry. Thierry Moulonguet, the executive vice president and CFO of Renault-Nissan, said that despite "drastic revisions" of its investment plans, Renault has decided to go forward with the Tanger Med factory on its own. Production will likely be downgraded and postponed until 2011, he said.

"The current difficulties absolutely don't challenge the attractiveness of the country," he said.

Renault's new, low-cost Logan cars were due to be built in Tangiers and sold to developing nations. Now they're also becoming a hit in wealthier countries amid crisis-hit consumers. Renault estimates the combined cost of wages and labor taxes in Morocco are about 40 percent less than in China, or about nine times cheaper than in France.

Authorities want to think the same thing. The tourism ministry has launched an advertising campaign in France that boasts "Moroccotherapy," the idea that gloomy Europeans can get a quick fix of sunny cultural diversity by taking a discounted two-hour flight to Moroccan resorts.

Bessa, the textile manager, is convinced that Morocco, with its tight-knit society and history of state intervention, is better resisting the onslaught than others. He says European retail customers are warning him they'll need his factory more when activity picks up, because so many Chinese firms — which had grabbed most of the ultra-low cost textile outsourcing — are going down the drain.

"It's going very difficult in Morocco," Bessa said. But when the global recession eventually ends, "those of us who weathered the storm will be in a very strong position."

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Locating the Moroccan Middle Class

Here is an article from magharebia.com about controversy over who actually makes up the Moroccan middle class.

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Middle class statistics spur debate in Morocco

2009-05-14

A recent government study in Morocco is stirring up controversy over the definition of "middle class".

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Casablanca – 14/05/09
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The state of the middle class is under review in Morocco, with experts debating the criteria used to define it, its size as a percentage of the population, and the quality of life it offers. Questionable numbers published in a recent High Commission for Planning (HCP) study have further fuelled this heated discussion.

The HCP study, released May 6th, shows that the middle class in Morocco accounts for 53% of the population, compared with 34% for the lower class and 13% for the upper class. Some 59% of the urban population belongs to the middle class, compared with 45% in rural areas.

Twenty-eight per cent of middle class households have an income greater than the national average of 5,308 dirhams per month, 42% belong to the intermediate category with income between the median and the national average, and 30% are in the lower category with income below the national median of 3,500 dirhams, explained High Commissioner for Planning Ahmed Lahlimi.

These statistics have stimulated a vigorous debate. Many have said that in the current period marked by the steady erosion of spending power and the negative effects of the international economic crisis on the labour market, the figure of 53% of Moroccans belonging to the middle class is an exaggeration. Others feel the definition of the middle class is incorrect and should be changed to give a clearer picture of the situation.

"The cost of living has increased so much over the past ten years that the middle class has been crushed, and many of them have started to disappear," explained economist Jamil Mellakhi. "A few years ago, someone earning 3,000 dirhams could provide their family with a decent standard of living; that is no longer the case today."

Mellakhi added that a household income of 3,500 to 5,000 dirhams per month could not be used as the defining characteristic of the middle class.

Several members of the public struck a similar note.

"Teachers, for example, belonged to the middle class in the 1980s. A primary school teacher would earn enough on their own to cover family expenditures and live comfortably," said Souhaila Kawtari, herself a teacher. "Over the past few years, things have changed. You can no longer say that teachers belong to the middle class."

Lahlimi explained that the definition of the middle class used for Morocco draws just as much on social self-classification by heads of household as it does on the objective criteria of income and living standards.

Self-evaluation does have its limitations. The results obtained from this approach are clearly skewed by cultural factors: the dominant culture is based around the idea of a happy medium, which means that both rich and poor like to identify themselves as middle class, Lahlimi added.

"So among the richest 20% of the population, 75% consider themselves to be middle class; meanwhile the figure is 37% for the poorest 20% of the population."

Sociologist Samira Brami agreed. Moroccans, she said, by virtue of their upbringing, are imbued with a spirit of resignation; hence, even poor people consider themselves from the middle class. "Similarly, the way of life changes from town to town. Someone living in Oujda will not have the same standard of living as someone in Casablanca. Other criteria come into play: leisure activities, comparisons, education, etc."

The prime minister's cabinet stated that the government is currently working on ways to provide support to the middle class, through controlling costs (housing, health, staple goods), encouraging employment to increase the number of wage earners within families, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, and improving public transport and rural development policies.

This content was commissioned for Magharebia.com.

Has 40 Years of Migration Helped Morocco?

There are a lot of things in the news right now about economic deals Morocco is entering in regarding power plants, fishing, cell phones, etc and big resorts that are going to be built in the country. This article taken from Radio Netherlands website seems a bit more interesting, it is looking at how 40 years of out migration from Morocco has affected the country.

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Has 40 years of migration helped Morocco?

By Philip Smet*

13-05-2009

Forty years ago saw the beginning of a stream of migration from Morocco to the Netherlands. The so-called "guest workers" wanted to earn money for their families at home. Today, around three million Moroccans live outside the country. In total they send more than three billion euros to the area they come from every year. Has it helped?

Fouad Haji from Rotterdam was born forty years ago in the Rif Mountains, the area along the Mediterranean coast from which many Moroccan men have left for Europe. They were later followed by their families. This is how Mr Haji, now a Rotterdam councillor, came to the Netherlands at the age of 13. He still visits his homeland regularly and is very critical about what migration has done for his country.
"In the first instance you would say migration has done a lot for the people of the Rif Mountains. You see beautiful, large newly-built houses. The people who stayed behind can depend on receiving financial support," says Mr Haji, who has just returned from a conference in Morocco, at which this very problem was discussed.

"But the disadvantage is that Rabat thinks that these people can look after themselves. The government leaves the region to fend for itself. All attention is focused on other regions in the country. That is annoying. If you look at the democratisation process, the level of education, depth of investment, industry and healthcare, then the Rif Mountains is still a deprived area. More than 60 percent of the money in Morocco is earned there, but it is not invested there. That annoys me."

History
In the year Mr Haji's was born, 1969, Morocco and the Netherlands reached an agreement on migration. Belgium, France, and Germany had already done so long before. The Moroccan government stimulated the migration of labour from the impoverished Rif Mountains to the wealthy European continent. Rabat hoped this would tame the rebellious region. As a result of the economic crisis in the 1970s, many of the Moroccan migrants did not return to the region. Many families followed the men. Today around three million Moroccans live outside the country, a large proportion of them born outside Morocco. In spite of the increasing integration there are substantial social problems surrounding the Moroccan community in these countries.

Investment
There are around a million Moroccans in France and roughly 380,000 in the Netherlands. There are also Moroccans in Spain, Germany, Italy, and in the Gulf States and North America nowadays as well. In total they send around 3.5 billion euros to their mother country via official channels every year, says Morocco researcher Paolo de Mas. Mr De Mas has been studying Morocco for more than 30 years and until recently was managing director of the Dutch Morocco Institute in Rabat. In addition another two billion euros come into the country in cash every year, he estimates.

Mr de Mas sees that the Rif Mountains has benefited little from the billions of euros that have come in from abroad. Banks may have opened branches in towns in the Rif Mountains, but they invest the money outside the region. Even migrant Moroccans do the same, says Mr de Mas:
"In the beginning they transfer money to their families, build them a new house in their village. That is always the first phase. Then they look to see whether they can do more to improve the standard of living. But once they have bought agricultural land and put in a few water wells, they invest their money in property such as hotels or apartments in the more prosperous parts of Morocco. The reality is that in the Rif Mountains for instance there is limited room for investment."

Lifestyle
It is clear that the money from abroad is an important economic factor for the whole of the country. But according to Mr de Mas, the family abroad also has a huge influence culturally and politically:
"When you look at lifestyle, the migrant regions have undergone a complete transformation in the last forty years. Morocco has been bombarded by external ideas, norms and values. For example on the age of marriage, on sex, but also on democracy, consumption levels, music. It is impossible to separate the increasing fundamentalism or conservatism from the enormous financial, moral and psychological influence from the West."

In Rotterdam, councillor Fouad Haji is glad that Western ideas on democracy are getting through to the Rif Mountains. He thinks it's up to the people who live there to do something about their situation. He is critical, but optimistic.
"People now understand that they can put pressure on the authorities via the media and politics and by organising themselves and taking to the streets. They couldn't do that before. And they understand that they can exert pressure by withholding the money that is sent to them. That you can use it to put the regime under pressure."

* rnw translation (nc)

Delivering Medical Care in Taroudant,Morocco

Here is an article coming out of the US Military's 24 hour media machine to keep us in touch with some of what they are doing in the world. It seems like this is an effort to "win hearts and minds" of Moroccans with some much needed humanitarian care, similar to what missionaries do. Take from the article what you will.

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AL Delivers Medical Care to Moroccan Citizens, Livestock

U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe Public Affairs RSS

Story by Master Sgt. Grady Fontana
Date: 05.12.2009
Posted: 05.12.2009 12:42

TAROUDANT, Morocco - More than 600 Moroccans from here and surrounding villages converged for humanitarian assistance being offered by U.S. and Moroccan service members participating in Exercise AFRICAN LION 2009.

Thirty eight U.S. and 46 Moroccan military personnel, and nine civilian medical professionals provided medical, dental and veterinarian care to all who showed up.

The majority of U.S. service members were from the Utah National Guard, state partner to Morocco under the National Guard State Partnership Program, although, care was also provided by 4th Dental Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group. This humanitarian assistance is just one of five being conducted in different communities throughout Morocco and runs concurrent with the bilateral military training.

The medical and dental care was conducted at the Omar El Khayam primary school, as classrooms were converted to patient rooms and hallways into waiting rooms. The school entrance was plastered with people waiting for a chance to receive medical or dental services.

"We have specialists from several fields here including gynecology, cardiology, internal medicine, emergency medicine, pediatrics and ophthalmology," said Army Col. Peter P. Taillac, physician, Utah Medical Command, Utah Army National Guard. "So we're seeing a broad spectrum of cases."

Hundreds of Moroccans, mostly women and children, waited long lines for a chance to see a doctor or dentist. Once they reached the front desk, they were triaged to the appropriate specialty.

For most, they don't have access to regular medical care. Some have chronic medical problems, yet have never been treated before or have received intermittent treatment in the past and now their ailment have become advanced, according to Taillac, a native of Salt Lake City.

So, along with U.S. and Moroccan service members, some local community physicians were part of the staff who were providing medical care. These physicians plan to follow up on those who many need follow-on treatment.

"We have a chance to see them and provide some medical advice and initial medical treatment that will be followed up by community physicians," said Taillac.

In the school library, U.S. and Moroccan military dentist established a dental exam room and provided tooth extractions and restorative care.

"So far, we've seen mostly children and adults with moderate to severe cavities," said Army Maj. David J. Coates, a dentist with Utah Army National Guard. "Not much different than any population in the world who doesn't have access to dental care."

According to Coates, a native of South Jordan, Utah, his staff is matched one for one by the Moroccan staff. This allows for bi-lateral training and increases interoperability.

Additionally, for the first time in AFRICAN LION, the U.S. and Moroccan service members incorporated veterinarian services. More than 400 sheep, goats and horses were treated with medication at a location about just outside of the school.

"The animals are getting de-worm medication, vitamins, and anti-bacteria medication," said Army Staff Sgt. Kyle D. Gaerte, Utah National Guard. The treatment helps prevent internal and bacterial parasites, and the flu, a respiratory virus.

The U.S. and Moroccan militaries decided to include the veterinarian care because they knew that for a lot of Moroccans, their animals are their livelihood. Helping their animals helps Moroccans achieve a better quality of life.

"The animals, in a lot of cases, are their [Moroccans] main source of income," said Gaerte, a native of Woods Cross, Utah. "If they don't keep them healthy, there's no way they can make a living for their families."

This humanitarian assistance is just one of five being conducted in different communities throughout Morocco and runs concurrent with the bilateral military training between U.S. and Morocco.

"I really enjoy the opportunity to meet the Moroccan people up close like this," said Taillac. "It's our mission in Utah to interface regularly with Moroccan people, being our partner-in-peace country. It's a country that we anticipate building a long term relationship with over the years, and we will continue coming back [for AFRICAN LION]."

Clash in Athens at building taken over by Moroccan and Algerian Migrants

This is one of those heartbreaking, but only too real stories about the prejudice and harsh conditions immigrants face in Europe. Here is an article from the Associated Press about the ongoing situation of mostly Moroccan and Algerian immigrants living in an abandoned courthouse in Athens. The BBC also had this short update.
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Clashes at Athens building taken over by migrants

By ELENA BECATOROS – 1 day ago

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Far-right protesters tried to storm an old courthouse in central Athens Saturday where hundreds of illegal immigrants have lived for months amid piles of fetid rubbish and human waste without electricity, running water or sanitation.

The group of several dozen people hurled rocks and firecrackers at the eight-story building from the street and nearby buildings, while those living inside threw back slabs of masonry and bricks. At least three people were hurt in the clashes, two of them with head injuries.

Police fired tear gas and stun grenades, and a tense standoff followed. Some immigrants accused the police of ailing to protect them and said they would stand guard around the building throughout the night because of fears of further attacks.

The attack followed an anti-immigrant demonstration by the far-right Chrisi Avgi, or Golden Dawn group. Scores of protesters waved banners reading "foreigners means crime" and "we have become foreigners in our own country."

"We didn't do anything. Why do they treat us like this?" questioned Fouad, a 33-year-old Moroccan immigrant living in the building. "The police did nothing. ... Here in Greece, human rights don't exist."

Left-wing and immigrants' rights groups staged a counter-demonstration nearby, and riot police kept the two sides apart.

Greece is on a main smuggling route for immigrants heading to Europe, with tens of thousands entering the country every year. Authorities say the Greece needs help to cope because it stands on Europe's eastern frontier.

Thousands of the new arrivals head to the cities in search of work. But with the global financial crisis beginning to bite in Greece, both immigrants and aid groups say jobs are becoming scarcer, leaving many unable to pay for even basic necessities. Although Greece has not yet faced major layoffs, the economy is slowing and unemployment jumped to 9.4 percent in January.

Aid workers said Saturday that conditions at the courthouse had been allowed to spiral out of control and turn into a public health hazard. The building is owned by an insurance fund and has been vacant since 2000.

"It's a lot worst now," said Maurice, a 22-year-old Algerian living among the estimated 500 squatters, mostly men from Morocco and Algeria, inside the old Appeals Court building. "We live in misery."

He, like all the other squatters willing to speak, would only give his first name for fear of trouble from the authorities.

"It is an epidemiological time bomb in the center of Athens," said Nikitas Kanakis, head of the Greek section of the medical aid group Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World), which set up a mobile medical unit outside the building Friday.

The immigrants live amid piles of rubbish and human waste in former judges' offices. Several men share a room, with most using cardboard covered with the occasional blanket to sleep on.

With no sanitation, they use empty offices, the roof and even the corridors as toilets. But the stench emanating from the building is so strong that it wafts across the street, a few hundred yards (meters) away from tourist hotels.

The immigrants began cleaning up the worst of the rotting garbage in the building this week, removing dozens of bags of trash.

It is unclear when the first immigrants broke in, but many say they have been there for months, even a year. Medecins du Monde said the situation came to their attention in the last few days. They believe diseases such as hepatitis are rife, while many of those seeking their help were suffering from skin complaints such as scabies.

"It's clear that we don't have the means to cover the massive health issues that this place has," said Yiannis Mouzalas of Medecins du Monde. He said authorities must help to sanitize and clean the building, and that they had been irresponsible in allowing the situation to become so severe.

"We consider it's not possible for this situation to have been created without (their) knowledge," he said. "We are afraid that they have chosen irresponsibility so that the problem is solved by the police and through racism."

Athens Deputy Mayor Eleftherios Skiadas told media that City Hall has no jurisdiction over abandoned private buildings.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

"Thou Shalt Not Speak My Language" - A Review of Abdelfettah's Kilito's Book on Arabic and Translation

How about a break from politics and the economy with a little literature? Here is a review of Abdelfettah Kilito's book, Thou Shalt Not Speak My Language that ran on The National's website.
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Prison-house of language


Abdelfattah Kilito’s new book explores Arabic literature’s long, tortured relationship with translation. Meditating on the perils and possibilities of multilingualism, Kanishk Tharoor reads across the divide.


Thou Shalt Not Speak My Language
Abdelfattah Kilito
Translated by Wail S Hassan
Syracuse University Press



In the much-quoted 2002 Arab Human Development Report, literature stood as a barometer for stagnation and cupidity in the Arab world. According to the UN-sponsored study, there was a paucity of new, dynamic writing on the market, where “religious books and educational publications that are limited in their creative content” held sway. Moreover, dialogue between the sacred realm of the Arab language and the world outside was meagre. The report noted that “the figures for translated books are also discouraging. The Arab world translates about 330 books annually, one fifth of the number that Greece translates. The cumulative total of translated books since the Caliph Ma’mun’s time is about 100,000, almost the average that Spain translates in one year.” Published in the bellicose early years of the now winded “war on terror”, the report’s blizzard of statistics have since been challenged. (Spain, for example, translates less than 10,000 books each year.) But at the time the report provided damning evidence for critics of the Arab world: open societies required an open exchange of literatures.

But translation, particularly in the world of Arabic letters, has never been an innocent or simple process. In his slim, energetic work Thou Shalt Not Speak My Language, the Moroccan scholar Abdelfattah Kilito burrows into the age-old problem of the translation of Arabic literature. The book, itself translated from Arabic, privileges anecdote over argument, drifting playfully through the centuries to explore the relationship between the Arab and the foreign. Kilito indulges in a wide panoramic view, taking into account writings of numerous periods and styles, including ninth century theoretical musings on Persian-Arabic translation, various accounts of Arab travel writing (including Ibn Battuta’s famous journey to China), and passages from 20th century crime novels. This disparate material is shaped by the premise that there is something essentially unsound and compromised about the very act of translation, and that foreigners have yet to treat Arabic literature with appropriate sensitivity and care.

Arabic occupies a rather lonely place in the landscape of world languages. With the possible exceptions of Chinese and Tamil, no other major modern idiom enjoys such a long, unbroken scriptural history. Classical Arabic remains intelligible to much of the literate Arab world, while most other modern languages only emerged in their current written form in the last 600 years. Modern Greek is gobbledygook compared to its ancient predecessor; French is the ruins of a ravaged Roman Gaul; English is the flighty, Latinised step-child of earthy Anglo-Saxon; Hindi (and Urdu) are the mongrel beasts of Mughal army camps in South Asia. Arabic in the 21st century looks into the mirror of its antiquity and sees a familiar reflection. Its continuity can be threaded through the centuries, endowing contemporaries with both a deep sense of the coherence of Arab linguistic traditions and the burden of their legacy.

At the same time, the Arabic language has always been surrounded by others. From the days of the first caliphs, Arab intellectual history was framed by interaction with other languages. Kilito – echoing fairly conventional wisdom – places the high noon of Arab thought and writing in the period between the seventh and 13th centuries. As Arab forces gobbled up the lands of the Persian and Byzantine empires, Arab scholars absorbed Persian and Greek texts. Translation here was principally one-way, from ancient languages like Greek, Persian and Syriac into Arabic. It was guided by the arrogant but understandable assumption that those seeking knowledge should now do so in Arabic; at its peak the caliphate was the real heir of both the Mediterranean power of Rome and the universal pretensions of Persian kingship. Much has been written and said in recent years about how the accumulated lore of other lands stirred a cauldron of intellectual ferment in the Arab world, and about how the eventual flowering of the Renaissance in southern and western Europe rested on the soil of Arab knowledge. In this period, Arabic indisputably surpassed its regional competitors as the principal vehicle – and engine – of scholarly innovation.

But while numerous philosophical, historical and scientific works crossed into Arabic, barely any poetry made the same journey. As early as al Jahiz, the ninth century Afro-Arab writer, Arab scholars had already begun to argue that while it was possible to translate philosophy, the same could not be said of literature. In fluent close readings, Kilito shows how al Jahiz distinguished between the two; the “universality” of philosophy allowed it to be shared across tongues, while the “particularity” of poetry confined it to its language. How can schemes of alliteration, rhythm, and word play be made sufficiently legible in the parallel universe of another language? Poetry in its very nature resists the estranging force of translation.

Al Jahiz maintained a fundamental distrust of translation and the translator, and he suggested multilingualism was a form of failure: “Whenever we find [the translator] speaking two languages, we know that he has mistreated both of them, for each one of the two languages pulls at the other, takes from it, and opposes it.” Some echo of this belief is present in the possible association between the modern verb to translate, tarjam, and the root verb rajam, which means, among other things, to throw an object through space (as in stoning, but also as in shooting stars and, by association, spell casting); in this sense the practise of translation, or tarjamah, may carry a subconscious connotation of arbitrariness, unreliability, or transgression.

Kilito himself seems to share in this distrust, but his own suspicion grows from more modern, political roots in the inversion of power relations with Europe and in the experience of colonialism. Breached and looted, Arabic has been invaded by the west. The problem now is not one of translating into Arabic, but of the implications of translation from Arabic. “The fundamental change for us in the modern age,” Kilito says, “is that the process of reading and writing is always attended with potential translation, the possibility of transfer into other literatures, something that never occurred to the ancients, who conceived of translation only within Arabic literature.” Classical Arab poets never considered the world of letters beyond their own. Their contemporary counterparts have no option but to do so.

Europeans since the 19th century have had none of al Jahiz’s qualms about translation, and have eagerly studied and translated works from Arabic; Kilito’s roaming explorations spring in part from his disquiet at how foreigners have misappropriated Arab writing. He is particularly startled by the insistence of the French Orientalist Charles Pellat – who devoted much of his career to the study of al Jahiz – that all Arab literature “produces a sense of boredom”. European interpreters of Arab writing, Kilito says, find it “boring unless it bears a family resemblance to European literature.”

The translation of Arab literature into western languages yokes it to western sensibilities and conventions. As Kilito muses, “Who can read an Arab poet or novelist today without establishing a relationship between him and his European peers? We Arabs have invented a special way of reading: we read an Arabic text while thinking about the possibility of transferring it into a European language.” That long thread of Arab language and culture unravels under the heat of the European gaze. “Woe to the writers for whom we find no European counterparts: we simply turn away from them, leaving them in a dark, abandoned isthmus, a passage without mirrors to reflect their shadow or save them from loss and deathlike abandon.”

Of course, the sins of translation are not simply those of Europeans. Though he laments the fate of these marooned Arab writers, Kilito opens the book with his own account of the pitfalls of cross-cultural translation. Invited to give a lecture in France on al Hamadhani’s maqamat (a 10th century collection of stories written in rhymed prose), Kilito describes his struggle to find a way to make the genre comprehensible to a contemporary European audience. The only European contemporary to al Hamadhani, he finds, is an obscure female German poet named Roswitha, who wrote dialogues in verse. He declines to make this connection – it strikes him as absurd, for who in his audience will have heard of Roswitha – but in his lecture he does equate the maqamat with the picaresque novels popular in Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries.

“In other words,” he writes, “I translated the maqamat, not in the sense of transferring them from one language to another, but presented them as though they were picaresque novels, I translated them into a different genre, a different literature.”

The celebrated 12th century philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Kilito writes, was another victim of the traps of translation. His fine commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics won him even the respect of Dante, who placed him alongside Plato and Aristotle in Limbo. But his treatise on Aristotle’s Poetics remains an embarrassment of literary muddling. Ibn Rushd grappled with subjects of which he knew nothing (the Greek theatrical genres of “comedy” and “tragedy”) which in the translation provided him had been rendered in the terms of Arabic poetry (“satire” and “panegyric”). Kilito calls this blunder a “sterile misunderstanding” that failed to open “new horizons” while bordering precipitously on farce. Legions of other Arab scholars have mourned the botched job as a missed opportunity for the mingling of Greco-Roman and Arab literary traditions. But was that ever possible? One can almost imagine al Jahiz grumbling in the background: I told you so.

Whatever uncertainties Kilito himself holds about the possibility of translations, they are not – like those of al Jahiz – seeming observations of fact. Instead, they were forged in the furnace of recent Arab-European history and, more importantly perhaps, in the memory of colonisation by the French, who were far more aggressive in their use of language as a pacifying and “civilising” tool than the British. However poignant within their own context, Kilito’s doubts about multilingualism carry a whiff of the parochial about them. While discussing al Jahiz, Kilito argues that “to speak a language is to turn to a side. Language is tied to a location on the map or a given space. To speak this or that language is to be on the right or the left ... and since [the bilingual] looks in two directions, he is two-faced.” This is a real dilemma for al Jahiz and for Kilito (albeit slightly less so). But it forgets that multilingualism in much of the world is (and was) a comfortable, untortured fact of life. Language is not always wedded to geographical and political loyalties. That Kilito suggests it is says much about a common Arab and European understanding of language: not the caliphate-era vision of language spread boundlessly by the sword and the book, but a vision of a fissured landscape of languages, each guarded by its own political project, its own nation. To accept this view of the world is to succumb to that false cliché produced by the era of the modern European nation-state: a language is but “a dialect with an army.”

We can forgive Kilito, perched as he is in Rabat, on the joined frontiers of Arab and European history. Just as poetry (in al Jahiz’s view) could not be lifted from its original language and dropped into another, Kilito’s misgivings about multilingualism should not be translated out of their own context. His book should be understood as a commentary on the Arab experience of translation, not on translation in general.

In fairness, Kilito takes great pains always to cushion the sharp edges of his arguments. He disassembles the Orientalist view of Arab literature without resorting to the disheartening thunder (and fog) of post-colonial jargon. He even questions his own doubts about translation, spying an unsettling chauvinism in his jealous guardianship of Arabic from the European interloper. At all times, he uses a light touch, relying frequently on implication and allusion, leaving much unresolved and open to conjecture. Such a drifting, almost whimsical style may frustrate readers who need the anchor of a systematically and clearly articulated argument. Kilito does not guide, but instead charms you into his floating adventure.

Kanishk Tharoor, an associate editor at openDemocracy, is a frequent contributor to The Review.

Global Economy Affects Moroccan Textile Workers

Over the years I have met or heard of many Moroccan women who worked in the textile industries to support their families, even well educated women for whom such jobs were the best that they could come by. Here in an article from magharebia.com about the effect of the global economic downturn on Moroccan textile workers.

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Thousands of Moroccan textile workers lose jobs

2009-05-04

Morocco's textiles industry has been hard hit by the global economic crisis. An aggressive government aid plan aims to minimise losses.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 04/05/09


Nawal has been waiting for four months for the textile firm she works for to resume production. The company's boss initially said that the stoppage, brought on by an international economic decline, would only last one month.

Commercial activity has slowed down since the beginning of this year in the industrial district of Temara where the firm is based. "I keep bumping into the people I used to work with," she told Magharebia. "Most of them are eagerly waiting for things to change and for the company to land an order. Some of them are looking for temporary jobs."

Textile manufacturers say that a downturn in business has forced them to lay off staff. The Moroccan Textile and Clothing Industry Association (AMITH) claims that at the end of the first quarter of this year, Moroccan exports were down by 12.9% over last year. The AMITH says that 13,000 jobs have been shed in the sector and that 10,000 of these were lost due to the global economic meltdown.

The AMITH wants the proportion of textiles eligible for state aid to rise to over 35% so that the sector's losses can be minimised.

The government says that its plan to deal with the crisis is going well. Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar told Magharebia that some 130 companies have received state aid intended to keep the economy stable and save jobs.

Officials signed a training agreement with business leaders last Wednesday (April 29th) to support export industries, including textiles. The Ministry of Finance said the plan would encourage workers to become more versatile and improve their performance, while also strengthening the productivity and creativity of companies.


"We want to take advantage of the fact that these enterprises are doing less business at present to devote more time to training," Mezouar said. "Our aim is to prepare them by means of better staff training so that they will be ready for the post-crisis period."

Industry figures have welcomed the initiative, which will help ensure that the sector does not experience an exodus of skills.

Mardi Karami, who works as a manager for a textile firm, said that the shorter working hours and redundancies resulting from the crisis would drive skilled labour out of the business. "The training provided by the state will therefore help us a great deal by preparing us for the end of the crisis," he said.

Salah Mediouni, an economist, said that state aid would not be granted to all stricken companies in the sector. This means that job losses will be inevitable, he claimed. "A lot of firms are receiving no orders at all, especially those that depended on the British market. This has made it hard for them to keep their staff and benefit from the measures that the government has put in place," he said.

Western Sahara : UN Wants Informal Talks between Morocco and the Polisario

The situation in the Western Sahara and the treatment of the people there is one of the more embarrassing aspects of Moroccan politics. Here is an article that ran in the Washington Post about the chance for more talks ( yes, more talks) between the Polisario and the Moroccan government representatives.

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U.N. council favors informal talks on Western Sahara


By Patrick Worsnip
Reuters
Thursday, April 30, 2009; 7:06 PM

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Security Council endorsed on Thursday a change of approach by the U.N. mediator in the decades-old Western Sahara dispute, focusing on small, informal meetings between Morocco and the Polisario Front.

The mediator, former U.S. diplomat Christopher Ross, believes that will be more effective as a next step, after four rounds of full-scale negotiations in the past two years led to no accord on the future of the territory, U.N. officials said.

Rabat, which annexed the resource-rich former Spanish colony after Madrid left in 1975, has proposed that it become an autonomous region of Morocco. The Polisario movement, which fought a guerrilla war in Sahara until a U.N.-brokered truce in 1991, wants a referendum with independence as one option.
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A resolution approved on Thursday by all 15 Security Council members welcomed the parties' agreement to Ross' idea of informal talks and extended the mandate of a 200-strong U.N. military observer force in Western Sahara for a further year.

U.N. officials say the talks, for which no time or venue has been set, might include as few as two officials from each side and would aim to get them talking out of the public eye to prepare for an eventual further round of full negotiations.

One theme could be the expansion of confidence-building measures beyond current arrangements for visits and phone calls between divided Sahara families. Tens of thousands of Sahrawis live in camps in neighboring Algeria, which backs Polisario.

U.N. officials have said past rounds of negotiations, held in the Long Island town of Manhasset near New York, have led to "grandstanding," with both sides repeating their positions and refusing to negotiate seriously.

PHOSPHATE-RICH

The Security Council has long been divided on the issue of Sahara, which is rich in phosphates, offshore fisheries and potentially oil. France and the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush backed Morocco's position, while several developing nations favored Polisario.

The previous U.N. mediator, Dutch diplomat Peter van Walsum, angered Polisario with a statement appearing to rule out independence. Ross took over the mediating job in January.

Speaking on Thursday, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice made clear she shared long-standing U.S. concerns the dispute was hampering the fight against terrorism in North Africa, where al Qaeda is active.

"This conflict has gone on for too long," Rice told the council. "These ongoing strains, as well as poor relations between Morocco and Algeria, have prevented regional cooperation on urgent and emerging issues facing North Africa."

She also called on both sides to "come to the table without preconditions" and did not specifically endorse Morocco's autonomy plan, leaving France the only country on the council to do so.

Polisario, which accuses Morocco of human rights violations in Western Sahara, has been pushing for rights monitoring to be included in the mandate of the U.N. mission, known as MINURSO. Morocco says that is unnecessary.

Thursday's resolution made no changes to MINURSO's mandate, but Polisario scored a small victory when the resolution referred to "the importance of making progress on the human dimension of the conflict."

Diplomats said France initially resisted the word "human," preferring "humanitarian."

But Polisario's U.N. representative, Ahmed Boukhari, expressed disappointment with the resolution. "We were waiting for more engagement of the Security Council on the question of human rights," he told Reuters.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

El Ghanassy Chooses to Play for Morocco

Some people might actually be interested in sports, here is a short article from goal.com about Yassin El Ghanassy and the Moroccan Olympic team.

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Yassin El Ghanassy Opts For Morocco
The KAA Gent striker’s father has indicated that his son has chosen to represent the North African country over Belgium.
29 Apr 2009 11:13:47



Yassin El Ghannassy has finally come to a decision regarding his international future. The player has been highly solicited by the Belgian FA who would like him to take advantage of his dual citizenship by deciding to represent the country of his birth.

It was previously believed by the majority of the Moroccan media that the La Louviere product was actually leaning towards “Les Diables Rouges” but he has responded favourably to being included in the expanded roster list of the Moroccan Olympic team which will attempt to qualify for 2009 Mediterranean games in Pescara, Italy.

“Yassin has chosen to take part in the Olympic challenge with the [Atlas] Lions,” said his father when contacted by liondelatlas.net.

Other players that have committed their future to the North African country are Ayoub Ahmani Sorensen, Omar El Kaddouri, and Driss El Fettouhi.

Rami Ayari, Goal.com