Readers of this blog are only too familiar with my views on Moroccan education, a subject which preoccupies me both because it is my chief professional concern; but also, and more importantly, because it lies right at the heart of Morocco’s most intractable problems. Education, literacy and language form the tight little Gordian knot at … More ‘Something Must Be Done’ … in English too.
I spent an engrossing evening recently listening to a talk, which the British Council had organized, by Professor Nabil Matar on England and Morocco in the War of the Spanish Succession. This may seem quite a narrow focus, but as Professor Matar pointed out, these years, taken with the preceding Nine Years’ War (which the … More Naval Warfare and Mannequins
The last few days have been dominated by news from Cairo. The beard-trimmers I saw on sale everywhere in the city two weeks ago have been brought out with a vengeance, and the army is back in the saddle. I am very struck by the stark contrast of views between the western press, long on … More Inventing a Country
Being left alone with the car in Rabat (as I usually am when my wife goes to England for a fortnight in June) my mind turns easily to death on the roads. I enjoy halving my journey time into the centreville from Souissi, and nipping yellow-plated through the Mechouar; but the sheer self-centred insouciance and … More Don’t drive in Ethiopia
“No translation,” a senior Moroccan higher education official said to me a few weeks ago, as we talked about postdoctoral research seminars; “Moroccans have got to learn to speak English if they want to join the international world of research.” And almost any other corner of today’s world, too. Whether we like it or not … More Having your gateau and eating it
Cairo, where I have just spent a few days, grows much shabbier, the pavements prolapsing, the road-surfaces ridging into lethal berms at junctions; walls are covered with posters and stencilled protests and in memoriams; traffic is worse than ever, reaching in many parts of town an almost terminal constipation. Power cuts are becoming common, and … More Bally-dancing in Zamalek
My colleagues in Rabat report a small but noticeable increase in street-crime over the last year or so, with more muggings and bag-snatchings, and more associated violence. I don’t see much of it (though a young man tried last weekend to pick my pocket in the Souaika) and Rabat still seems to me one of … More Black Army, Black Thursday, Black Deeds
One of the more wonderfully unexpected things I’ve done recently was to sit at Evensong in King’s College chapel with a group of Moroccan historians on a visit to Cambridge. We wandered in almost by chance last Thursday evening, and found ourselves swept happily by vergers and sacristans through the choir-screen. As we listened to the … More Evensong at the Bou Inania
Tahir Shah says somewhere that a souq is not a real souq unless it sells men’s underpants, and I’m sure he’s right. I spent this morning in Fes, wandering the medina on both sides of the oued, noting that on the Underpants Index the Andalus quarter, at least as far as its main streets go, … More Mrs Ravoon and la condition marocaine
Walk along a Moroccan beach, and you often come upon groups of young men doing the most amazing acrobatics. One day last autumn on Salé beach I stood and watched in wonder as half a dozen youths, apparently under the eye of a coach, performed a series of huge running vaults, turning once, twice, even … More Le Jeu Arabe
Martin Rose 