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Nine-Year-Old Breaches Fes-Saïss Airport Security

January 9, 2016, 1:57 pm
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Questions are being asked about security at the Fes-Saïss airport after an incident on Monday when a nine-year-old homeless boy managed to avoid police, customs and video surveillance before boarding a RyanAir flight to Frankfurt in Germany. Security and intelligence services have opened an investigation to clarify the circumstances of the security breach

Given the seriousness of the incident, the Governor of the Fez-Meknes region went to the airport to monitor the progress of the investigation.

According to the Moroccan daily, Al Akhbar Al Yaoum, the boy was only apprehended after a flight attendant conducted a head count prior to takeoff and discovered there was an extra passenger on board. The small boy had carefully prepared his plan and, despite being homeless, had dressed in smart clothes so as not to attract attention.

When the flight attendant asked the child his ticket, he claimed he was a Syrian refugee but eventually admitted to being Moroccan born in Meknes and having no ticket or passport.

Al Akhbar Al Yaoum reported that the homeless boy’s successful boarding of the plane exposed security flaws in the checkpoints at the Fes-Saïss Airport terminals, which could have serious consequences.

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New Ferry Service From Granada to Tangier

January 10, 2016, 4:01 pm
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The German FRS shipping company has announced that it will launch a new service between Motril (Granada, southern Spain) and the port of Tangier


This connection, which will focus mainly on the transport of goods, will be operational during the second half of January at a rate of seven weekly crossings.  The head of FRS, José Carlos Delgado said, "This service is a new opportunity for our customers, who can now reduce the transport distance, which will help reduce transportation costs".

The German company is one of the main companies in the field of passenger and freight transport in the Strait of Gibraltar with over 1.7 million passengers and 400,000 vehicles transported per year.

The new route is in addition to services linking the port of Motril with the Moroccan cities of Nador and Al Hoceima.

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Yennayer - The Amazigh New Year

January 11, 2016, 4:24 pm
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January 13  - Amazigh Celebrate the New Year


On January 13, the Amazigh (Berber) community in Morocco celebrate Yennayer, the Amazigh New Year. Contrary to the Christian and Islamic calendar, it has no religious connotation. Considered as the First Nation people of Morocco, the Amazigh use New Year as a time to focus on their rich cultural and artistic heritage and showcase their food, music and dance. The song and dance forms Ahwach and Ahidous are common at New Year, and are important connections with their long tradition.

Amazighen have achieved constitutional recognition as Morocco's First Nation people and Tamazight is now an official language, however, to draw greater attention to their significance in Moroccan society, there is a movement to make January 13th a national public holiday.

Berbers call themselves "Amazighen," or free men, and their resentment of the Arab-dominated central government means they have long agitated, sometimes violently, for autonomy. The Amazigh, who are now spread across Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, were the original inhabitants of North Africa before the 7th century Arab invasion, and they make up a fifth of Algeria's 33 million people. The largest numbers of Amazigh are believed to be in Morocco where the number is estimated between 15 and 20 million.

Ahmed Assid, an academic and activist, says the traditional Amazigh New Year celebration has developed into a political cause.

"If the first of [the Islamic month of] Moharram is a holiday in Morocco, and the first day of the Christian calendar is a holiday, why shouldn't the first day of the Amazigh New Year be also?" he asked.

In the past, Amazigh culture and language were marginalised. Happily, the situation is changing. In the early 2000s, a Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture was set up in Rabat and Tamazight instruction was introduced in primary schools. Also, an Amazigh television channel was launched in 2006.


The 13th marks the first day of year 2966 for the region's indigenous pre-Arab inhabitants, although anthropologists say it is difficult to establish with any precision the historical roots.

The origin of the Amazigh calendar is something of a mystery. "Some historians link it to the enthronement as pharaoh of the Amazigh king Chachnaq, after defeating Ramses III [believed to have happened in 950 BC]," says archaeologist Mostafa Ouachi. "For others, it corresponds to what is known in Morocco as the agricultural calendar, celebrated around January 13."

The New Year celebration "marks the reaffirmation of some important aspects of agrarian society, a return to the land," he said, calling the festivities a way for Berbers to "refresh their collective memory."


Celebrations are planned in several parts of Morocco, including the capital Rabat and other parts with concentrated Berber populations, such as Agadir and Tiznit in the southwest.

In the mountains of northern Algeria, over 4,500 Berber villages will celebrate the New Year. The local community has spent the past six months preparing the traditional "Timechret", a ritual that involves sharing out pieces of meat to the village's 2,000 families.



HAPPY YENNAYER!

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Best Wishes for the Amazigh New Year

January 12, 2016, 1:03 pm
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The View From Fez vous souhaite une joyeuse nouvelle année Amazigh 2966



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Fez and the Street Vendor Invasion

January 12, 2016, 10:30 pm
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Fez is experiencing an increase in the number of street vendors. The problem has grown to the point where locals and shopkeepers are calling for action from the authorities

The problem is particularly severe in the narrow streets of the Medina, where all kinds of goods and food are on sale by vendors: clothes, appliances, fruits and vegetables and sometimes fish.

As one shop owner complained "In short, the city is being transformed into a giant open-air hypermarket".

"We need local authorities, and elected councils, in collaboration with civil society, find a solution to this phenomenon in order to ensure the safety and cleanliness of the city," said a city official.


The issue is not new and, as The View From Fez reported back in 2011, the government has long recognised the urgent need for a solution.
"We must accept that we now need a new approach to integrate these people better into the formal sector," Trade Minister Ahmed Reda Chami told legislators in May 2011."We need to create and set up new markets and spaces, but we also need to involve other departments, such as the interior ministry, and local authorities," Chami said. 
Economic Affairs Minister Nizar Baraka said that the Moroccan government is paying particular attention to the issue and that help is on the horizon: "The main thing is to bring about a transition from the informal to the formal sector, that's what needs to happen." A study commissioned by the Ministry of Trade revealed that Morocco now has 238,000 street vendors, 90% of whom are men. And since some 70% of them never went beyond the primary level in school, their employment options are limited. The government report's recommendations will be implemented soon, Trade Minister Chami said in June 2011. The aim, he said, is to integrate street vendors into the formal sector in order to improve their standard of living.

Sadly, little seems to have changed in the subsequent years.

Thorny, complex, and difficult ... the street vendor issue could even be described as "unmanageable".

Elected officials and authorities are reported to have rejected responsibility for the management of urban space. The daily Le Economiste reports that the control of urban space has become "politicised" since the recent municipal elections. Yet, according to Councillor Said El Janati, the new mayor of the city, Driss Azami El Idrissi "has devoted a billion francs (10 million dirhams) to improve the lot of street vendors."

In the Medina ,the main access to the new R'cif square, built at a cost of some 30 million dirhams, has been invaded by what locals describe as "hawkers, beggars and vagabonds".

Last Thursday Essaid Zniber, the Wali of the  Fez-Meknes region, visited the R'cif area and saw for himself the the inconvenience caused by the hawkers. In the Sbitriyyine neighbourhood, close to Dar Lazrek, a vendor was selling oil-grilled sardines, producing a smell so strong that it pervaded much of the Chemmaîine tourist circuit and the main access to the Quaraouiyine Mosque. Of even more concern was that the vendor was using a gas cylinder in the street, next to an electricity substation and amid shops that contained flammable glues and paint thinners.

The situation is not much different in Bab El Sid Awwad where an entire family sells sandwiches and snails to visitors to the Medina. When asked by an enforcement officer to move away, a female member of the family threatened to set herself on fire in protest. Faced with such threats, the authorities say they are hamstrung.


In Fez, the small itinerant traders have spread through all districts and challenge the formal traders, setting up their stalls in front of shops. Businessmen say many areas of the city of Fez (as everywhere in other cities) have been taken over by informal trade. Essaada, Narjisse, Talâa, Imam Ali,
Florence Avenues Hassan II and Mohammed V are all places "infested" by this social phenomenon. Currently, improvised souks are being created on the main streets, in front of houses, shops, schools, and mosques.

In the neighbourhoods of Monte Fleuri, Al Atlass, or in Bab Ftouh,  the vendors on public roads are causing dangerous conditions for pedestrians, vehicles and motorists.  For many observers, the organisation of street vendors is a critical need.

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Moroccan Argan Oil - The Boom Continues

January 13, 2016, 2:54 pm
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Argan oil production is expected to increase significantly, however, there are threats to this growth 

With a growing number of applications for argan oil in the fields of cosmetics, medical treatments and culinary use, Morocco can expect to profit from the growth in demand. Latest figures show that 4835.5 tons were exported in 2014, and if the trend continues, this should reach 19,622.5 tons in 2022.

The argan oil boom is due to an increase in global demand due to recognition of its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties.  The cosmetics industry used 42% of the volume of argan oil exported in 2014, primarily in anti-aging treatments, skin protection or hair products.

Argan oil is also becoming more important in the food industry, where the oil is prescribed for the control of cholesterol and for people with heart disease, low metabolism or mineral deficiency. The oil is also used in the treatment of diseases such as cancer, arthritis, obesity, acne and other skin conditions.

In Asia-Pacific, the oil export is expected to increase driven by growing demand in the food sector (China, Japan, South Korea) and the medical sector. In countries like China, India and Japan with ageing of populations, there is also expected to be an increase in demand.


In Morocco argan oil is mainly produced by women's cooperatives.

The argan tree (Argania spinosa) is endemic to Morocco, where it is second in coverage only to the cork oak tree. Its deep roots are the most important stabilizing element in the arid ecosystem, providing the final barrier against the encroaching deserts. Despite its uniqueness and indispensability, the argan tree faces a variety of serious threats.

Nearly half of the argan forest disappeared during the 20th century – and average density in the remaining half dropped from 100 to less than 30 trees per hectare. This historical pressure on the forest was driven by demand for high quality charcoal, (especially important during the World Wars) and, more recently, conversion to agricultural production of export crops such as tomatoes.

While neither of these pressures on argan forest originated from locals, the important contemporary forest threats do. Particularly important among these threats are local intensification of livestock grazing and the encroachment of housing development – driven in part by recent European demand for rural real estate near popular tourist destinations such as Essaouira.

While Morocco currently has a monopoly of the world production of argan oil, there is a threat from the intensive cultivation of argan in Israel.

After 25 years of agricultural research, an Israeli company has developed Sivan Argan 100, a strain which can produce 10 times more nuts than the average of a tree in Morocco, and is also resistant to disease and bugs. Also, the Mediterranean climate of Israel has also offers favourable conditions for the cultivation of argan. "Sivan is the only company that knows how to grow and know precisely how argan oil can be produced every year," says Chaim Oren, head of the agricultural department of the company,  Shalom Life. However, currently the production of Israeli argan is limited. "You have to wait 15 years for nuts grow on Argan trees that will ultimately produce no more than two litres of oil," he says.  Sivan now sells argan oil to wholesalers. The Israeli's next goal is to sell their unique 100 Argan strain to other countries.

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The Orange Trees of Marrakesh: Ibn Khaldun and the Science of Man

January 13, 2016, 3:20 pm
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Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) was a colossus among Muslim scholars. Stephen Frederic Dale gives a portrait of this extraordinary man in his new intellectual biography, The Orange Trees of Marrakesh: Ibn Khaldun and the Science of Man (Harvard University Press, 2015). “Ibn Khaldun,” he writes, “created the world’s first known example of historical sociology, a philosophically inspired discipline commonly thought to have originated in Western Europe.”


Ibn Khaldūn (May 27, 1332 – March 19, 1406) was a Muslim historiographer and historian, regarded to be among the founding fathers of modern sociology, historiography, demography and economics.

He is best known for his book, the Muqaddimah (literally the "Introduction", known as the Prolegomena in Greek). The book influenced 17th-century Ottoman historians like Ḥajjī Khalīfa and Mustafa Naima who used the theories in the book to analyse the growth and decline of the Ottoman Empire.] 19th-century European scholars also acknowledged the significance of the book and considered Ibn Khaldun as one of the greatest philosophers of the Middle Ages

Stephan Frederic Dale’s book was recently reviewed by Joseph Preville for the online site IslamiCommentary.

The Orange Trees of Marrakesh stands out in the large library of books and studies about Ibn Khaldun for its sharp focus on the philosophical foundations of his work. Philosophy is at the heart of Ibn Khaldun’s method, according to Dale. He states that Ibn Khaldun “forcefully and repeatedly indicates he has adopted Greco-Islamic philosophical ideas and methodology to revolutionise historical research, which he then employs to produce a comprehensive study of North African Muslims in his era.”

Dale is Emeritus Professor of History at The Ohio State University. He was educated at Carleton College and the University of California at Berkeley, and previously taught at the Universities of Chicago and Minnesota.

 He is the author of Islamic Society on the South Asian Frontier (Oxford, 1980), Indian Merchants and Eurasian Trade, 1600-1750 (Cambridge University Press, 1994), The Garden of the Eight Paradises (Brill, 2004), and The Muslim Empires of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals (Cambridge University Press, 2010).

In an interview with the author, Joseph Preville  asked Stephan Dale what drew him to the life and thought of Ibn Khaldun.

As is true of so many students of Middle Eastern and Central Asian history — regions where tribes, especially pastoral nomads, coexist with sedentary societies — I was intrigued by Ibn Khaldun’s dialectical model, in which he offered a theory to explain or account for the rise and fall of states that were founded by tribes. This includes, of course, the early history of Arab Muslims as well as groups, such as the Mongols of Central Asia or, in Ibn Khaldun’s case, the Berber empires of North Africa and Andalusia.

The title of your book is intriguing. How do the orange trees of Marrakesh figure into Ibn Khaldun’s view of history?

Ibn Khaldun argued that the planting of decorative orange trees that produced inedible fruit (now perhaps termed “bitter oranges”), was one sign of dynastic senility. That is, when regimes became addicted to such useless luxuries, they were on the descending slope of the bell curve of the rise and fall of tribal states. Incidentally, I had early in my career, before reading Ibn Khaldun, visited Marrakesh when the orange trees were in blossom. The scent was heavenly, thus the irony.

You write that Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah has “generated a cottage industry of studies throughout the world.” There have even been entire conferences dedicated to his life and work. How does your book offer a new or different perspective?

Ibn Khaldun said he was reinventing the historical discipline by using Greco-Islamic philosophical ideas/categories, and logical methods of proof, most derived from Aristotle and Galen, to identify the nature of societies. By adopting Ibn Khaldun’s methodology Muslim historians could accurately explain the essence or natures of societies, which would allow them accurately to depict their historical trajectories. He borrowed these ideas from Aristotle’s physics, and his logical reasoning from Aristotle’s Organon. Most studies of Ibn Khaldun ignore this, although philosophical ideas and logical methods shape the Muqaddimah. It is impossible to understand Ibn Khaldun’s work or his ideas about religion and philosophy beyond a superficial level without explaining this. My book is, first and foremost, dedicated to this purpose.

My book also discusses fundamental anthropological field work evidence about tribal life that scholars routinely ignore. In the course of doing this, I also critique Ibn Khaldun’s theories, which is almost never done because Ibn Khaldun has become such an iconic figure — someone to be praised and quoted, rather than critiqued — although Ibn Khaldun, a rationalist, would have welcomed such critiques.

Finally, I explain why Ibn Khaldun’s work so closely resembles the social theories of eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century European thinkers, such as Montesquieu, David Hume, Adam Smith and Émile Durkheim. The resemblance has often been noted, but never really explained. The similarity, I argue, is due to the fact that like Ibn Khaldun, these Europeans had philosophical training and asked the same questions about the nature of society and trajectory of history as he did. A specific intellectual link between Ibn Khaldun and European thinkers goes through Paris, where Thomas Aquinas studied the Aristotelian summaries of the Andalusian philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes), which were also later read by Ibn Khaldun, and even later in the sixteenth century by Scottish scholars and others at the University of Paris. Ibn Khaldun is thus a member of an intellectual lineage that begins with Plato and Aristotle, continues with Muslim rationalist scholars, and is revived by Europeans in the eighteenth century.

How much does Ibn Khaldun reveal about himself, including his interior life, in the Muqaddimah and his memoir?

He reveals a great deal about his knowledge, career and social and political biases, but almost nothing about his emotional or family life, apart from a few, a very few allusions to his feelings. His memoir is a narrative account of his life. It is not by any modern definition, an autobiography, a retrospective account/justification of a life.

Which scholars of Ibn Khaldun and their works have influenced your research?

Muhsin Mahdi, who in his early book, Ibn Khaldun’s Philosophy of History (G. Allen and Unwin, 1957), alludes to, but does not fully explain, philosophical concepts in the Muqaddimah and how they structure this work. Bruce Lawrence at Duke University has influenced me by generously encouraging my work on a subject he understands better than nearly all scholars in the United States.

Arnold J. Toynbee called the Muqaddimah“a philosophy of history which is undoubtedly the greatest work of its kind that has ever yet been created by any mind in any time or place.” What do you think are the sources of Ibn Khaldun’s genius?

Arnold J. Toynbee recognized the unique quality of Ibn Khaldun’s work, but he did not understand its philosophical basis and he mischaracterized it as a philosophy of history. The Muqaddimah is a work of Historical Sociology and it provides a model to explain one specific aspect of historical change: the relations between rural tribes and urban states, which was a constant feature of North African history.

His “genius” consisted of offering a philosophical program for transforming history from a series of meaningless and usually sycophantic narratives into social analysis. He was the first scholar in any civilization to do so. Of course, almost no one paid any attention at the time. Only in the twentieth century Annales School was his vision of a philosophical historical discipline partially realised.

What can we learn from Ibn Khaldun’s “comprehensive survey…of North African Arab Muslim society, politics and culture in the fourteenth century” that is applicable today? Why should we continue to read and study him?

We can learn a great deal about the breadth of Arab Muslim culture in this age before the rise of the major early modern Muslim empires. A study of Ibn Khaldun’s summaries of knowledge and allusions to an entire galaxy of scholars points to the richness of this culture in the fourteenth century.

Even modern/contemporary scholars could learn a great deal about the demands of historical research from Ibn Khaldun, and they certainly should understand something that is often mentioned in books, but not always fully appreciated. And that is the intellectual significance of the translation movement in ‘Abbasid Baghdad (750-1258 CE), that gave rise to the rationalist tradition in the Islamic world that Ibn Khaldun utilised in such a brilliantly original way. It was the translation of the works of Plato, Aristotle, Euclid and other Greek thinkers into Arabic that established a philosophical tradition in the Islamic world. Figures such as Al-Farabi, al-Biruni, Ibn Sina/Avicenna and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) studied, commented on and critiqued Aristotle particularly, and Ibn Khaldun derived his ideas from their commentaries and précis of Greek philosophical and scientific works.

It is also, finally, worth considering – if not always uncritically accepting – the contrasts Ibn Khaldun draws between the different natures of rural tribes and sedentary societies. In Iraq as well as Libya and Afghanistan tribal societies are still very much intact. Among a host of other acute observations Ibn Khaldun makes about state formation in tribal regions is the difficulty of controlling territory inhabited by tribes, whose social tenacity and formidable military traditions make this difficult. Anyone who recalls the ease at which the Soviets occupied Czechoslovakia after the Prague Spring and the difficulties they had in pacifying Afghanistan might consider it worthwhile to read the Muqaddimah for stimulating ideas about current states where tribes continue to be a formidable presence.

Can you recommend a few books for serious students of Ibn Khaldun?

Well, modestly, my own, but the best short study currently available is the recent well-written and insightful work by Syed Farid Alatas, a sociologist in Singapore. It is simply titled Ibn Khaldun (Oxford, 2013), and available in an inexpensive paperback. French or French-trained scholars have excelled in this field and two excellent studies are now in print. One is by Abdesselam Cheddadi, Ibn Khaldun: L’homme et le theoricien de la civilization (Gallimard, 2006), and the other is Claude Horrut’s Ibn Khaldun: Ibn Khaldun: Un Islam des Lumieres? (Complexe, 2004)


Review and interview by Joseph Richard Preville, Assistant Professor of English at Alfaisal University/Prince Sultan College for Business in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.


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Morocco - Africa's Tourism Champion

January 14, 2016, 12:39 pm
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Figures released by the African Development Bank show an increase in Moroccan tourism

According to the Africa Tourism Monitor 2015, published on January 13 by the African Development Bank (AfDB), Morocco registered the highest number of international tourists in 2014, with 10.2 million arrivals, against 10.05 million in 2013. Morocco is ahead of South Africa with 9.5 million tourists, Egypt with 9.1 million and Tunisia with 6.7 million.

The Africa Tourism Monitor reports that from March 2014 to March 2015, 28% of tourists who visited Africa came to Morocco against 24% in South Africa and 17% in Egypt.

In terms of employment, Morocco is in a respectable fourth place just ahead of South Africa with 1.74 million people employed in the tourism sector but below Egypt with  2.94 million.

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Fez or Marrakech? The Debate Continues...

January 17, 2016, 6:30 pm
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For decades the friendly rivalry between Fez and Marrakech has continued. These days most of the discussion is by tourists with only a limited time in Morocco. Ideally, of course, there is no dispute - visitors should visit both places.

Marrakech is variously described as "the party town""clubbing central" and "the place with the big square". Fez, on the other hand, is more restrained, traditional and undoubtably the intellectual and cultural capital. Sadly, stereotypes still exist with people convinced that one city or the is more interesting, or has more crime or...
There are lots of beautiful women in Marrakech—more than in Fez.
Brahim  (28) Jewellery salesman.
Writer Christina Ammon and photographer Tim Daw hit the streets to collect the opinions on Fez and Marrakech from business-owners, artisans, and travellers of all ages.


Marrakech is alive until 4:00 or 5:00 a.m.  In Fez there is no life after 8:00 p.m.
-Jokh, Age 30. Orange Juice Salesman in Jemaa el Fna (Editor's note: He obviously hasn't been to Fez in a while!)
Fez is more relaxed. Marrakech is crazy -Said, Age 25. Car rental agent in Marrakech.
I prefer Marrakech—but not because I live here. In the Fez Medina there is crime.
There aren’t problems here for tourists. They can walk free anytime because there
 are plain-clothes police watching over. I like the historical monuments of Fez, but not the criminals.
 -Mustapha  Age 34. Tour Operator
Fez has a different ambiance. It is traditional Morocco. In the buildings and streets you can 
see the old Moroccan culture. Marrakech has changed because of tourists. -Yasmine, Age 21.
I think Fez is better, but maybe that’s because of the length of time I’ve been there 
and my friends and connections. People feel more caring in Fez. It’s a bit faster here
in Marrakech. -Mike Richardson, Age 43. Owner of Cafe Clock
Marrakech, Tanger, Fez—they are all good! But Marrakech has the big square, and is 
surrounded by Berber Villages and many tourist places like Essaouira and Ouarzazate. 
It has the best climate in Morocco. The Royal Family make their primary residence here.
 -Khalid, Age 37. Souvenir salesman
Fez is the cultural capital, but it’s peaceful in Marrakech and it’s easy to get everywhere—
to the mountains or the beach. People are funnier in Marrakech—more open-minded. 
Ali (right), 40s. Jewelry salesman
Marrakech is a mix of traditional and modern. The weather in December is still nice
—so you can still swim and do lots of things. In Marrakech you can find lots of foreigners. 
I like Jemaa el Fna. It’s never boring. There is always something new to discover.
-Bousbaa, Age 27. Banker
Both have been capitals. Fez is my birth city and where I learned my style of life.
Moulay, Age 57. Honey vendor

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Moroccan News Briefs #134

January 19, 2016, 7:12 pm
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Minorities, Women and the State in North Africa - Edited by Moha Ennaji

An important new book, Minorities, Women and the State in North Africa, has just been published by the prestigious American publishing house Red Sea Press and edited by Moha Ennaji.


The compilation, the joint work of international researchers, includes 16 chapters on multiple identities and multiculturalism that characterises North Africans with Jewish, Christian, Arab, Amazigh, Muslim, African, European and Andalusian roots.

The book, in English, focuses on the strategies adopted in each country to include women and minorities and ensure respect for cultural diversity.

The book also discusses the role played by civil society organisations and the State to fight against discrimination. There is also a fascinating in-depth examination of the interconnection between equal opportunity, the nation, the state, citizenship and culture.

The book also sheds light on the close links between democratisation, human rights and cultural diversity in the North African states.

The corporate world is also examined. "Companies must eliminate discrimination and violence based on gender and strengthen the rights of women as a means of strengthen democratic culture and public and individual freedoms," notes the publication.

Moha Ennaji, is a lecturer at the University Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah of Fez. Moha is a researcher in several areas ranging from language, gender, civil society problems and migration.

He is co-founder of the International Institute of Languages ​​and Cultures in Fez and Chairman of South North Centre for Intercultural Dialogue and Migration Studies.

He is the author of several articles and books , the most recent of which are : Migration and Gender , The Impact on Women Left Behind (Red Sea Press, 2008, in collaboration with Fatima Sadiqi ) , Multilingualism , Cultural Identity, and Education in Morocco (2005 Springer, New York ) , Women in the Middle East and North Africa (2010, Routledge), Language and Gender in the Mediterranean Region (2008, Mouton de Gruyter , Berlin). The Interconnection of Amazigh and Arab Cultures (2009) and Migration and Cultural Diversity (2007).

Fez Festival of Andalusian Music

The 21st edition of the National Festival of Andalusian music will be held in Fez from the 5th to the 12th of March under the motto "Heritage protection and inventorying".


Tarab andalusi or Musiqa al-Ala, Spanish: música andalusí) is a style of Arabic music found in different styles across the Maghreb. It originated out of the music of Al-Andalus (Muslim Iberia) between the 9th and 15th centuries.

For music lovers and lovers of Andalusian music this cultural and artistic event provides a multitude of cultural, artistic evenings, workshops that will include a host of young musicians eager to learn this musical genre that is seen as one of the main tributaries of the Moroccan cultural heritage.

Initiated by the Urban Commune of Fez, the festival aims to promote and perpetuate this musical genre and consolidate its place in national and international festivals. According to the organisers this "major national orchestras of Andalusian music will perform in riads and other 'mythical' places in Morocco's spiritual capital to the delight of fans of the genre".


The event will be marked by ceremonies in homage to the great names of the art, training sessions for many artists and a conference and a round table on Andalusian music.

The Festival of Andalusian Music is considered one of the major artistic events organised in Fez in order to promote and sustain cultural heritage. Fez is known for its festivals of spiritual music including Madih and Samaa Festivals, Malhoun, Sufi culture and Amazigh culture.

Paradise Lost?

The misadventures of investors in property in Morocco never end. This time, MRE (Moroccans living abroad) and Europeans  are up in arms in London because of delays in delivery of the project "Paradise Golf and Beach Resort" launched in 2007 by Atlantic Beach Paradise (ABP), a limited liability company run by a former MRE from England, Larbi Tadlaoui. The resort is located between Tangiers and Asilah.


The angry clients have decided to approach the Moroccan Embassy on January 25th. They say they have no other choice. "We knocked on all the doors in Morocco, but we have got nothing. That's why we decided to show," said collective spokesman Zakaria Maghraoui who filed a complaint against the developer in October 2013.

According to the account of this group of about 300 people out of 1,000 customers in total, the project was launched as very attractive and presented as "government-sponsored" through an agreement signed with the promoter company to enable it to benefit exemptions in terms of customs duties, due to the importance of the project. "They had made for big publicity. They showed us the signatures of ministers supposed to mark the State's commitment to the project,"say the MRE investors.

Delivery was scheduled for 2011 but did not happen due to a dispute between the water supplier Amendis and the promoter which had blocked development. While things seemed to start again in the right direction the project experienced another misadventure in October 2014 when the real estate General Company (CGI) the project manager, withdrew. Since then, customers have only had promises and more promises.
We, the undersigned are investors in a development in Morocco known as Paradise Golf and Beach Resort, located inbetween Tangiers and Asilah and developed by Atlantic Beach Paradise Resort S.A.R.L. We are over 800 in number, different nationalities from around the world, many from the U.K. and Ireland...We respectfully request that His Majesty The King Mohammed VI instructs a full and transparent investigation to be carried out and that investors are informed of the true situation regarding this development - Petition to HM King Mohammed VI
"It is frustrating. It is money down the drain," laments French woman, Claire Panay Claire, 40, who was born in Morocco and lived there for 20 years before settling in England. She had paid 23,000 pounds sterling deposit or 331,500 dirhams. "I love Morocco, it is the country of my childhood. I have a lot of attachment. My mother has a house, but I wanted to have my own pied-a-terre, "she says, adding:" with others, we fell into the trap of so-called government support".

Mr. Aziz Maghraoui, the lawyer of the group in Morocco claims they have discovered that the land does not belong to Atlantic Beach Paradise . "When I was going up the complaint file in 2013, I wanted to know whether the promoter was qualified to build and sell apartments. I went to the Land Registry, and discovered that the land was registered as "private good of the state". It is neither the name of Mr. Tadlaoui nor the name of his company, but that of the government."

This is completely refuted by the promoter who sent the lawyer a copy of his certificate of ownership. "How could I start building if I had not acquired the land?" Mr. Tadlaoui responded. The deed of sale was signed by "a representative of the head of government," he said, preferring to keep the paperwork confidential,

Last week Mr. Tadlaoui  contacted his clients in London promising that work would be completed by the end of January. " Everything is ready. Amendis finished infrastructure. The first delivery is scheduled for the summer of 2016, "says Tadlaoui. "It is true that there is much to do. But want to do anything to appease customers especially since they have been waiting. But these delays are beyond our control."

His clients, however, are not appeased. "I think it is clear he is afraid," said Ms. Panay. "Nothing will prevent us from going to the embassy. There are some customers who had advanced up to 100 000 pounds sterling [more than one million dirhams] and some died without being able to enjoy their property. At the point where we are, only the intervention of the King can change things."

The group has launched a petition in which they request the intervention of the monarch.

New Tourism Development Near Agadir

The SMIT (Moroccan Society of Tourist Investments) has announced a new development at Aghroud north of Agadir. The project increase the capacity of the Agadir region by more than 16,000 beds. The SMIT describes the project as "an innovative concept, combining seaside luxury, entertainment and adventure activities"



It is intended that the project which will cover some 600 hectares and will allow the region to reposition itself and to target niche markets of seaside holidays, golf, sport and wellness.

Nearly 26 billion dirhams of investment has been committed to the Souss Atlantic Sahara region and this latest announcement is one of eight programmes that are part of the Vision 2020.  Despite a difficult international context, a series of projects have been launched at Taghazout, Founty, Tama Ouanza and Lunja village. They are intended to create a solid seaside tourist cluster around Agadir.

The SMIT has a commitment to ensure a smooth, equitable sustainable development while avoiding any risk of speculation, especially in a destination where the land is becoming increasingly scarce.

Morocco fails to attract foreign expertise

Morocco is lagging behind when it comes to attracting skilled foreign talent. According to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index 2015-2016  the Kingdom is ranked in the 93rd spot out of 109 countries around the world due to low scores in several criteria and sub-criteria.


The report published by the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD) in partnership with the temporary work specialist ADECCO, establishes a parallel between the prosperity of a country and the movement of foreign talent.

Classified in the region "North West Asia and Africa"​​and in the class of "lower middle income", the kingdom tumbled from 85th place in the index in 2014 which listed 100 countries. The regional ranking is dominated by the United Arab Emirates (23rd in the world ranking), Qatar (24th) and Israel (25th)

Morocco scored 44.4 /100 for its ability to "activate" foreign talent ending up in 94th spot. For "attractiveness", the kingdom is in 89th place with a score of 42.3. For the development of foreign talents, the Kingdom is in 99th place with a score of 30/100. Other sub-indicators where the kingdom scored poorly is in the ability to retain highly qualified people (73rd), labor and professional skills (99th) and international skills (93rd).

Globally, Switzerland is the most attractive country for skilled foreigners. It is followed by Singapore 2nd, and Luxembourg 3rd, the United States is 4th followed by Denmark in 5th place.

Finally ... On the lighter side

A BBC reporter was doing a story on gender roles in Afghanistan.

She noted that women customarily walked a few metres behind their husbands.

Impressed she approached one of the Afghani women and said, "This is marvellous! What a nice gesture of respect to a husband. Is there any specific reason to this custom?"

The lady whispered, "Land mines"


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Name and Shame the Parking "Hmar"

January 19, 2016, 11:39 pm
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"Hmar" is the word for a donkey in Darija, the Moroccan dialect. It is often used as an Arabic insult as it is seen as much stronger than any French word. It is the favourite expression of motorists when confronted by idiot drivers... and those parking badly!

On social networks, Arabic dialects are often written in Latin characters and the Arabic letters that are difficult to transcribe, because of pronunciation are replaced by numbers in their spelling. 7mar is written like that as the "7" represents the "ha" letter ("ح"), the first of "Hmar".

Now 7mar has become a Twitter hashtag - #Alerte7mar  -  and used, with photographs, to shame those who park badly or inconsiderately. 


The hashtag #Alerte7mar was the idea of Issam Benjelloun (IssamBenj with 1600 followers on Twitter), who clearly remembers when the idea occurred to him. He was on holiday in Spain and was in a 2000 place car park when he noticed a car parked across two spaces.  The white number plate was Moroccan, with the number 1, indicating the city of Rabat.

"There, I thought. what a Hmar! This incivility filled me with disgust as these parking violations have truly become an everyday concern, in the street or even in the parking lot of my building where residents who have two or more cars try to take the parking places of others."

The trend of posting photos of badly parked cars caught on and Issam  encouraged the tweeters to make sure that in the photographs the number plate is clearly visible.

"I asked that the plate is clearly visible, these are people who invade a common public space and they are told in the face that we think of them.  If you park as a simpleton, we show you on the network!"

Looking at the photographs posted it becomes clear that the worst offenders are the well-off with BMWs, 4X4 and Porsche in the majority.  Issam explains: "Tow trucks are not equipped to remove automatic transmission cars, the drivers know it and benefit. There are also those who take two places because they have a nice car and don't want risk a scratch."


He also points out that in Casablanca a lot of drivers try to have a plate registered "1" in Rabat rather than the "6" Casablanca. They hope they will avoid problems if the parking inspectors think they are protected."

 In Morocco, the rivalry between Rabat and Casablanca is never far away and Issam admits to a certain pleasure to be able to shame the incivility and arrogance of some of the Rabat drivers with their mindset that assumes they can overcome the rules if they are lucky or boosted by their connections.

Some would even go further. On Monday morning on Moroccan radio, a speaker suggested the need to publish the names and photographs of drivers, others proposed to affix "Hmar" stickers on offending vehicles.

"It should not be that it becomes either the jungle, we are a country of law, we are not there to replace the authorities. It is a citizens' initiative to draw attention to a problem and push governments to adopt solutions," Issam responded. "In Casablanca, there are real parking problems: local elected representatives must take responsibility and resolve the issue. "

Not everyone is so measured about shaming...

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The World Mourns the Death of Leila Alaoui

January 20, 2016, 3:17 pm
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Tributes have poured in from around the world for distinguished French-Moroccan photographer, Leila Alaoui, who become the victim of the terror attack, which struck the heart of Burkina Faso’s capital last week

Morocco’s MAP news agency reported that Leila Alaoui, who was severely wounded by jihadi gunman in Ouagadougou last Friday, died from her injuries late on Monday. The French culture minister, Fleur Pellerin, later confirmed the news on Twitter.

The 33-year-old’s death raised the toll to 30, after the attack on Ouagadougou’s Splendid hotel and the nearby Cappuccino café.  Alaoui and her driver Mahamadi Ouédraogo were sitting in a parked car when they were shot multiple times and Ouédraogo, a Burkina Faso national, died at the scene. The al-Qaida-linked group Aqim claimed responsibility.

Mahamadi Ouédraogo

The luxury hotel and its surrounding areas are popular with expats and foreign visitors and by Saturday morning 18 nationalities were counted among the dead.

Alaoui, whose work had featured in the New York Times and Vogue, was in Burkina Faso on assignment for Amnesty International for a women’s rights photography project - My Body My Rights campaign. The group released two of the pictures she was working on on Wednesday.

Martine Kabore, photographed by Leila Alaoui, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
 as part of the My Body My Rights campaign. Photograph: Amnesty International
Malika ‘La Slammeuse’ photographed by Leila Alaoui in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso,
 as part of the My Body My Rights campaign. Photograph: Leila Alaoui

Amnesty said they were devastated, describing Alaoui as a talented photographer. They said that their “absolute priority is to ensure the best possible support for Mahamadi and Leila’s families”.

Yves Boukari Traoré, the director of Amnesty in Burkina Faso, said: “Leila was an extraordinary young woman. We wanted to work with her because of her talent, and her passion for helping women, girls and marginalised people tell their own stories. “Mahamadi was a dedicated, helpful and caring colleague. His death is a huge loss to us all,” he added.

Tributes continue to flow in from friends, colleagues and admirers of Alaoui's photography.

The writer, Tahar Ben Jelloun, said on his blog that Alaoui was “a passionate artist who knew how to detect reality behind appearances, how to show the splendour of a body behind the veil of prejudice”

Image from Leila's Les Marocains series

 RIP  Leila Alaoui



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The Russians Are Coming -Добро пожаловать!

January 22, 2016, 3:48 pm
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Добро пожаловать в Марокко русские!!

In the last month more than 10,000 Russians visited The View From Fez looking for information about Morocco. Over the last few years Russian visitors to the site have reached 45,000. This upsurge in interest has not yet translated into large numbers of Russian tourists in the country, but tourism operators say they expect many more Russians to start arriving in the next few months
Abderrafie Zouiten, the Director General of the Moroccan National Tourist Office (ONMT) was in Moscow this week and says that Morocco is aiming to attract 200,000 Russian tourists a year. That is an ambitious goal as the unofficial figures available for 2013/2014, suggest that some 50,000 Russian tourists visited the Kingdom. Moscow and St Petersburg are the prime targets for Morocco's advertising campaigns.

Abderrafie Zouiten


While there has always been a steady stream of Russians visiting the country, the increased interest over the last year is probably due to Morocco's stability and safe security environment, as compared to other North African and Middle Eastern destinations. Unrest in Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt has seen many Russians cancelling trips to the region.

Outside of the North African region Russian tourists have traditionally favoured Spain, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

Airline connections between Morocco and Russia have improved with Royal Air Morocco (RAM) offering direct flights between Moscow, Casablanca and Agadir, and plans to establish other direct flights between Saint Petersburg, Agadir and Marrakech. Although Fez has a new international terminal, it seems to have been neglected when it comes to connections to Russia.

According to Abderrafie Zouiten, the ONMT has devised an ambitious strategy to attract more Russian tourists. The organisation will host representatives of more than 30 Russian media outlets who have been invited to visit Morocco in February. They will be shown the cities of Agadir, Marrakesh and Casablanca. Once again, Fez is not mentioned. However Zouiten said that the Office is preparing to host 400 Russian travel agencies in April to promote the destination of Morocco.

Perhaps it's time for a Russian language school in Fez!


Добро пожаловать!




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FES FESTIVAL OF WORLD SACRED MUSIC 2016 - Provisional Programme

January 23, 2016, 2:26 pm
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The 22nd Fes Festival of World Sacred Music takes place in Fes from Friday May 6th to Saturday May 14th. This years theme is The Women Who Founded Fes


Again this year The View From Fez,  as an official media partner, will bring you the most comprehensive coverage of the festival, with news, reviews and photographs.

The provisional programme for the festival has been announced. Please note this is subject to change.

Opening night 

Friday 6 May. Bab Al Makina: 21h00 A: €60; B: €30

The opening night premiere is - A Sky full of Stars:
Women of myth and poetry from Scheherazade to the Queen of Sheba.

With women artists from Morocco, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Ethiopia, India, Lebanon, Italy and Africa, with an oriental orchestra.


Saturday 7 May
Jnan Sbil Gardens: 16h30 €20
Sahar Mohammadi with Ingie Women’s Qanun Ensemble – Iran & Azerbaijan
Sacred Persian song

Sahar Mohammadi

Bab Al Makina: 21h00 A: €50; B: €25
Durbar: Indian Night: Premiere
Glory of Princes and in praise of the Gods: a dazzling musical engagement between the great musicians of India

Sunday 8 May
Jnan Sbil Gardens: 16h30 €20
Christine Salem – Reunion

Christine Salem

Bab Al Makina: 21h00 A: €50; B: €25
World Divas
First part: Hindi Zahra – France & Morocco
Second part: Oumou Sangaré – Mali

Oumou Sangaré

Monday 9 May
Jnan Sbil Gardens: 16h30 €15
Officina Zoé – Italy
Women’s songs of love, work and healing with Maria Mazzotta (voice) and Maristella Martella (dance)

Maristella Martella 

NIGHT IN THE MEDINA I: EVENING RAGAS
Dar Adiyel: 18h00 €20
Rageshri Das
Khyal Song from Kolkata, India

Sidi Mohamed Ben Youssef Cultural Complex: 19h00 €20
Shashank Subramaniam and Rakesh Chaurasia
Masters of the Bansuri flute from Chennai and Mumbai, India

Sidi Mohamed Ben Youssef Cultural Complex: 20h30 €20
Ustad Irshad Khan – Toronto, Canada
Sitar and surbahar

Ustad Irshad Khan

Dar Adiyel: 20h30 €20
Rageshri Das
Ghazal song from Kolkata, India

Prefecture Hall, Batha: 22h30 €20
The King of Ghosts: Premiere – India & Morocco
Cinema/Concert : composed by Soumik Datta, Johannes Berauer and Cormac Byrne for the film Goopy Gayen Bagha Bayen by Satyajit Ray (1969)

Tuesday 10 May
Jnan Sbil Gardens: 16h30 €15
Hawniyaz: inspired by Kurdish, Persian and Azeri traditions
With Aynur (song), Kayhan Kalhor (kamantche), Salman Gambarov (piano) and Cemîl Ǫoçgirî (multi-instrumentalist)

NIGHT IN THE MEDINA II
Dar Adiyel: 20h00 €20
Yulduz Turdieva: Shash-maqâm from Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Yulduz Turdieva

Sidi Mohamed Ben Youssef Cultural Complex: 23h00 €20
Parvathy Baul and Mehdi Nassouli – India and Morocco
Mystical Poetry of Nomads, from Bauls to Gnawas

Wednesday 11 May
NIGHT IN THE MEDINA III
Sidi Mohamed Ben Youssef Cultural Complex: 20h00 €20
Lamar: Arab song from Palestine

Prefecture Hall, Batha: 21h30 €20
Farida Muhammad Ali – Iraq
Maqâm

Farida Muhammad Ali 

Dar Adiyel: 23h00 €20
Ariana Vafadari – Iran & France
Gathas: Zoroastrian song

Thursday May 12
Jnan Sbil Gardens: 16h30 €15
Lalla Rquia Ouhmad and the Women’s Ensemble – Morocco
Sacred Amazigh Song from Tiznit

Riad Dar Bensouda, Qettanine: 18h00 €20
Shaikh Hassan Dyck and Muhabbat Caravan
Meditation with Sufi flavours

Shaikh Hassan Dyck

Bab Al Makina: 21h00 A: €50; B: €25
Istanbul – Fes: Premiere – Turkey & Morocco
Mevlevi whirling dervishes with the Mohammed Briouel Andalous Orchestra


Mevlevi whirling dervishes

Friday 13 May
Jnan Sbil Gardens: 16h30 €20
Virginia Rodrigues – Brazil
Heavenly voice

Bab Al Makina: 21h00 A: €50; B: €25
To be confirmed

Saturday 14 May
Jnan Sbil Gardens: 16h30 €20
Yom – France
Silence of the Exodus
With Yom (composition, clarinet), Farid D (cello), Claude Tchamitchian (double bass) and Bijan Chemirani (zarb, daf and bendir)

Bab Al Makina: 21h00 A: €60; B: €30
Samira Saïd – Morocco
Star of Moroccan Song



OTHER EVENTS 

Sufi Nights at 23h00 are free of charge and are held in the garden of Dar Tazi, the Festival headquarters. The programme has yet to be announced.

The Fes Forum is held on the first five mornings of the festival (ie Saturday to Wednesday); venue to be announced. Most of the proceedings are in French, but there is simultaneous translation into English and Arabic. You may ask questions in English as most of the panel members speak it.

Friday 6 May
Discover the Fountains of Fes - Starting point to be confirmed: 16h00
With smartphone app, accompanied by music by Susie Ibarra and local artists, this discovery of the Fes fountains will conclude with a live concert at the Karaouine Library.

Children Today, Musicians Tomorrow - Venue to be confirmed: 16h00
Screening of the film Chota Divana, the little princes of Rajasthan – India, with a concert performed
by children from Fes

Chota Divana

The Mamas – giant African puppets will perform in the Medina throughout the Festival

Jnan Sbil Gardens: Taragalte Cultural Caravan for Peace
The Association Zaila’s nomad-style tent in the Jnan Sbil Gardens will feature the culture and music of the Moroccan Sahara.

Things you need to know ! 

Festival Venues: This year, afternoon concerts are to be held in the Jnan Sbil Gardens.
Note that there is no afternoon concert on Wednesday, which makes this a good time to go on a day trip out of Fez.

Big evening concerts are held at Bab al Makina, the open-air parade ground in front of the Royal Palace.

Free concerts are held each evening at Boujloud Square, close to Bab Boujloud. The programme for this Festival in the City has yet to be published.
.
Nights in the Medina concerts (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) are held in smaller venues including the music conservatory Dar Adiyel, Sidi Mohamed Ben Youssef Cultural Complex,, the Prefecture Hall in Batha opposite the Batha Museum, and Riad Dar Bensouda.

Seating and Ticketing

Seats are not reserved. Get to the venue in plenty time if you want a good seat.
Seats are raked at Bab al Makina; elsewhere they are on the flat. There are no chairs at the Nights in the Medina or Sufi Nights venues, but carpets on the floor.

At Bab al Makina, you can buy A or B seats. A seats are located closer to the stage; B seats towards the back of the auditorium. If you buy a pass, you automatically have A seats. There are side screens at Bab al Makina, one on each side of the stage.
As an indication, a pass to all events costs 305 Euros and automatically includes A seats for concerts at Bab al Makina. You can buy tickets on this site closer to the time. Tickets can be delivered to your guesthouse if you are staying in the medina; other arrangements will be made if you are staying elsewhere.

Tips
Weather can be variable: it can rain, be very cold and windy at Bab al Makina, or stiflingly hot. It’s best to bring layers, something waterproof, a sunhat and a fan.
Seats are not particularly comfortable. If necessary, bring a cushion.
Consider taking a trip or arranging an activity on Wednesday as there is no afternoon concert.
Reserve your accommodation in good time as guesthouses closest to festival venues fill up quickly. Getting to the venues is always on foot.
Many restaurants serve dinner early and/or later so that you can attend evening concerts.

Translation - Thanks to Helen Ranger at Fes Riads

See all our Fes Festival 2015 reviews
Fes Festival Opening Night
Fes Festival Day Two 
Fes Festival Day Three
Fes Festival Day Four
Fes Festival Day Five
Fes Festival Day Six
Fes Festival Day Seven
Fes Festival Day Eight
Fes Festival Day Nine


The View From Fez is an official media partner of the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music


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Fes ~ The Mother of All Cities - Eberhard Hahne

January 24, 2016, 4:41 pm
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FES - Die Mutter aller Städte  (The Mother of all Cities), by Eberhard Hahne, published by Terraviso-Verlag in Cologne, is a beautiful homage to the Medina of Fez, by a man who has spent almost 40 years visiting and photographing the city. While the text of the book is in German, the photographs speak a universal language. With his tribute to his favourite city in the world, Eberhard has created an unique portrait of the Medina of Fes
Fez is the most important and most mysterious of the four Moroccan royal cities. Founded 1200 years ago by the great grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, the Medina has become the largest oriental town in the world. Here, medieval life has been salvaged until the present time. The lovingly designed picture book describes, supplemented by 40 texts, the socio-cultural cooperation, the craft guilds, markets, private and spiritual life of this islamic city. The UNESCO declared Fes 1981 as a world heritage - Eberhard Hahne

Hahne has divided the book into five chapters, corresponding to the five pillars of Islam. The chapters deal with the determinants of this city: the population, the craft, commerce, privacy and the Spirituality. His pictures show the confrontation with its historical counterpart, the immutability of the subject.

Quotes from the travel literature of the past centuries underline this strange timelessness. One reads a quote from Leo Africanus from the 15th century and sees what is described in a splendid adjacent photo.

The most interesting and successful  aspects of the book are the inclusion of old historical photographs and numerous texts describing the peculiarities of everyday oriental life.

I just love to drift, getting lost in the seemingly endless maze of lanes with. Here I discover again and again to me unknown places, markets, workshops that inspire me. For a freshly brewed mint tea I like to go into the cafes around the Bab Boujloud. The small market Souk el Henna I visit on any tour of the Medina. To relax I like to go in the Jardin du Public to walk and then drink a freshly squeezed orange juice in the nearby Café Nouria - Eberhard Hahne


DETAILS



FES - Die Mutter aller Städte ISBN 978-3-00-045709-8
Price: 40 Euro plus 5 Euro postage (Europe)
Print length: 205 pages,

Links:
Eberhard Hahne's Website
YouTube - inspect the book
Amazon (German)


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Earthquake Hits Morocco and Spain

January 25, 2016, 3:53 pm
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According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 degrees on the Richter scale, was recorded in the early hours of Monday off Nador and Al Hoceima in northern Morocco. The epicentre was at a depth of 10 kilometres, 62km NNE of Al Hoceima. The quake was also felt in southern Spain and in the Strait of Gibraltar and as far away as Fez

Damage in Melilla

Several sources ,including Rif24. report the death of of an  8 year old child. There are also reports of five cases of individuals who suffered fractures and some cases of fainting.

The earthquake was also felt in the Spanish occupied town of Melilla in Moroccan territory, causing electrical cuts and structural damage.

Many in Fez were woken by the earthquake, with one Medina resident describing the "rattling of windows" and the smaller jolts of aftershocks. There are no reports of injuries or structural problems.

Rubble in Nador

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) issued a map showing the cities where the tremor was felt. According to the same source, the quake occurred on Monday at 5:03 am local time (GMT). The same source said that five aftershocks have been felt along the Strait of Gibraltar in the following hours: 5.0 at 4:30 local time, 5.3 at 4:34, 4.6 at 5:03, 5.1 at 5:54 and 5.3 at 6:10.

The epicentre of the earthquake was located near the city of Al Hoceima, which was hit in 2004 by a devastating earthquake. The earthquake was also felt in Fez, Morocco’s second most populous city after Casablanca, as well as in Taza.


This earthquake comes few days after another earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 degrees on the Richter scale, was recorded Thursday off Nador, according to a statement from the National Institute of Geophysics, an arm of the National Centre for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST).

Morocco has had 11 earthquakes in the past 7 days, all in the region of Al Hoceïma.

There has been criticism in Morocco of the lack of coverage of the event on Moroccan TV channels.

Morocco World News reports that well known singer Asmae Lmnawar criticised the lack of coverage.

“I have a question I can’t keep for myself: Don’t Moroccan TV channels know that we need to know what happened? They dealt with this in cold way, and thank God there are other sources of information,” the Moroccan singer said on her official page.

Singer Asmae Lmnawar criticised the lack of coverage

While international media have been reporting on the disaster as it happened and kept updating their audiences with the latest available information, Moroccan media have shown no interest in updating the Moroccan public.

In the absence of a real and professional coverage of the earthquake, most Moroccans turned to Spanish media to obtain first-hand information. Spanish national television showed panicked people on the streets in coastal cities in southern Spain as well as in occupied Melilla.

Television reports showed people surveying cracked building facades, but the regional government of Andalusia, in southern Spain, issued a statement saying that there had been no reports of casualties. The tremors were felt as far inland as Seville, the capital of Andalusia.

Morocco World News was among the first news outlets in the world to report on the earthquake just few minutes after it occurred.

In February 2004, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake near Al Hoceima killed 631 people. The last major earthquake in Spain, in 2011, destroyed much of the town of Lorca, in the southeast, and killed nine people.

A seismic snapshot

The Mediterranean region is seismically active due to the northward convergence (4-10 mm/yr) of the African plate with the Eurasian plate. The movement is between 4 and 10 mm/year along the  complex plate boundary.

In the Mediterranean region there is a written record, several centuries long, documenting pre-instrumental seismicity (pre-20th century). Earthquakes have historically caused widespread damage across central and southern Greece, Cyprus, Sicily, Crete, the Nile Delta, Northern Libya, the Atlas Mountains of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. The 1903 8.2 Kythera earthquake and the 1926 7.8 Rhodes earthquakes are the largest instrumentally recorded Mediterranean earthquakes

Between 1939 and 1999 a series of devastating 7+ strike-slip earthquakes propagated westward along the North Anatolian Fault Zone, beginning with the 1939 7.8 Erzincan earthquake on the eastern end of the North Anatolian Fault system. The 1999 7.6  Izmit earthquake, located on the westward end of the fault, struck one of Turkey's most densely populated and industrialised urban areas killing, more than 17,000 people. Although seismicity rates are comparatively low along the northern margin of the African continent, large destructive earthquakes have been recorded and reported from Morocco in the western Mediterranean, to the Dead Sea in the eastern Mediterranean. The 1980 7.3 El Asnam earthquake was one of Africa's largest and most destructive earthquakes within the 20th century.

Large earthquakes throughout the Mediterranean region have also been known to produce significant and damaging tsunamis. One of the more prominent historical earthquakes within the region is the Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755, whose magnitude has been estimated from non-instrumental data to be about 8.0.  The earthquake is notable for both a large death toll of approximately 60,000 people and for generating a tsunami that swept up the Portuguese coast inundating coastal villages and Lisbon.

The 7.2 December 28, 1908 Messina earthquake is the deadliest documented European earthquake. The combination of severe ground shaking and a local tsunami caused an estimated 60,000 to 120,000 fatalities.

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Violeta Caldres - Exhibition - And New Enterprise

January 26, 2016, 5:33 pm
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"Life is a constant game of love and passion that go and come, that leave their mark and that shape our personality slowly."- Violeta Caldrés


Fez artist Violeta Caldrés has an exhibition at the Craft Draft Gallery. It opened a few days ago, continues for the next 10 days and is certainly worth a visit.

The art work on display is "delicate and yet rich with feelings of both the calamities and marvels of women in modern society".

It speaks  of flesh and blood, of the hardness of life and the contradictions and passions of women

The exhibition is free and open to the general public at the Craft Draft Gallery, 17 Funduk Khrashfiyeen, Rcif, Fes Medina

For more information contact  Hamza El Fasiki 06 49 89 41 97





Would you like to travel back in time to the era of sultans and harems? You will dress up as an Arabian princess or a Berber prince and spend time in ancient riads, palaces or gardens of Fes. Experience the fairy tale of "One Thousand and One Nights" and take home memories from the photo session that will stay with you for life.
Violeta and her good friend Agata have launched a new enterprise that should be a hit with visitors to Fez. Forget taking selfies, and take home a professional "Arabian photo portrait".


Combining beautiful traditional costumes, henna decoration and amazing locations, the experience will be more than simply a photographic souvenir.



Contact Details
arabian.portraits@gmail.com
Violeta: +212 673 227 942
Agata: +212 648 793 720


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Photo Walk in the Fez Medina

January 28, 2016, 2:49 pm
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If you have a camera and would like to discover the many layers of the Fez Medina, then this Sunday (January 31) join the photo walk starting from the Batha Fountain  at 10:30 AM




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Restoration of Caravanserai in Fez

January 28, 2016, 5:22 pm
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The architectural firm Kilo, founded by Tarik Oualalou and Linna Choi, has been working on the restoration of four Caravansérai in the Medina of Fès. The project was recently highlighted on the architectural website archilovers.com with some superb photographs by Lilia Sellami


The Medina of Fez constitutes an outstanding example of a medieval town created during the very first centuries of Islamisation of Morocco and presenting an original type of human settlement and traditional occupation of the land representative of Moroccan urban culture over a long historical period. The Medina of Fez bears a living witness to a flourishing city of the eastern Mediterranean having exercised considerable influence on the development of architecture, monumental arts and town-planning, notably in North Africa, Andalusia and in Sub-Saharan Africa. Fez J'did (New Fez), was inspired from the earlier town planning model of Marrakesh.


The project

 The rehabilitation of the four Caravansérai (fonduq in Arabic) of the Fez Medina is a multidisciplinary endeavour that is equal parts urban design, restoration, and landscape. Focusing specifically on the city’s copper work industry, the project tackles the morphology, the physical displacement, and the environmental impact associated with this artisanal activity. Through the rehabilitation of structures dating from the 14th - 17th century as well as the construction of a new building, the project aims to restructure the contemporary practice of copper work in Fez. At the same time, architects Tarik Oualalou and Linna Choi piloted the restructuring of the Place Lalla Ydouna, the principal entry to the Fez Medina. This 25.000m² plaza housing artisanal and industrial functions will soon welcome cultural and touristic activities.


The Architects

KILO is an architecture firm based in Paris and Casablanca.

Tarik Oualalou and Linna Choi

Questioning the limited scope of the architect’s traditional role, KILO has developed its practice upon the theory that architectural strategies should be integrated into a project long ‘before’ and ‘after’ the conventional intervention of architects. Working closely with clients during site determination, programming, and the economic development of the project, the office engages in the definition of the architectural project from its very inception. KILO believes that playing an integral role in the ‘non-architectural’ aspects of a project results in a stronger design solution.

KILO has worked on a vast range of programs and scales encompassing museums, luxury hotels and resorts, social housing, sports complexes, and master plans for both existing and new cities. The office has won numerous awards, including the 2012 Young Arab Architects competition, WA Awards, and the EMAP Award for emerging architecture. KILO was recently named a finalist for the 2014 AFEX award for an outstanding project undertaken by a French architect outside France. KILO’s work has been published internationally and exhibited in both Paris and Casablanca.


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New Flights - Casablanca to Kigali

February 2, 2016, 3:23 pm
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Morocco's national carrier, Royal Air Maroc, the Morocco national carrier is to launch a new service in March, with direct flights between Morocco and Rwanda.  According to reports the flights will be between Casablanca and Kigali


The Rwandan government has been working to transform Kigali International Airport (KIA) into a regional aviation hub and to date has attracted a number of airlines including, among others, Kenya Airlines, Qatar, Fly Dubai, Turkish Airlines, Ethiopia Airlines and KLM.

According to the Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority (RCAA), KIA received about 580,505 passengers in the first 11 months of 2015, an increase of 6 per cent compared to 568,981 passengers who went through the airport during the same period in 2014.

The airport targets over one million arrivals in the medium to long-term, especially as the country increases initiatives to attract more tourists.

KIA was upgraded and expanded under a $17.8 million rehabilitation and expansion project that was concluded last year.

KIA has been ranked among the best airports in the region, while Canadian aviation website ranked it the fifth-best airport in Africa this year. Another survey by UK-based consultancy firm, Skytrax, ranked it seventh in Africa and the best airport in East Africa in 2014.

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