Rabat - Kenitra judiciary police, in close collaboration with the General Directorate for Territory Surveillance, arrested Saturday five members of a criminal network for cocaine trafficking and seized 14 kg and 875 g of cocaine in addition a large sum of money, said on Sunday a statement by the National Police (DGSN).

The investigation by the security services enabled to nab two of these people in the suburbs of the city of Kenitra, one of them was nationally wanted for drug trafficking. The operation allowed also to catch 3kg of coke, said the source.

The other three dealers were apprehended at the city of Tangiers, including the wife of one of them and her sister who had in their possession an additional 11kg and 875 g of cocaine and the sum of 1,209,350.00 dirhams as well as foreign currency.

The accused, including a police civil servant in Kenitra suspected of having ties with the criminal network, will be brought to justice after the completion of the probe under the supervision of the competent public prosecutor's office, it added.

Marrakech- The largest Moroccan mosque in the North Brabant (southern Netherlands) opened its doors at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Roosendaal in the Netherlands on Friday, according to Maghreb Arab Press (MAP).

Morocco’s Ambassador to The Hague, Abd Al Wahhab Al Balqui, and the Mayor of Roosendaal, Jack Nidiri, attended the ceremony.

The mosque, named the "Islamic Moroccan Center for Roosendaal,” has over 2,200 square meters of space in its prayer hall, which is large enough to accommodate hundreds of worshipers, and is adjacent to other facilities.

Over the mosque soars a beautiful minaret tower 22 meters high. The Indonesian architect in charge of the project reportedly was inspired by the tower of the historic Koutoubia mosque in Marrakech, Morocco.

According to the same source the construction of mosque, designed according to ancient Moroccan architecture, took more than three years and required three million Euros. The funds were collected as donations from faithful believers.

The mosque not only serves Muslim worshipers, but is a center that calls for coexistence in a world full of conflicts.

Mohammed Amzian, the chairman of the Grand Mosque Berabant of the north, said in a published statement, "At this time which is characterized by polarization and extremism, we seek to create links with the rest of society."

The Grand Mosque opens its doors to the public on Saturdays and Sundays to enable the inhabitants of the city to visit it, and enjoy the beauty of its significant architecture, whether outside or inside the mosque.

Edited by Elisabeth Myers

Rabat- Thirty-year-old woman was caught last Friday taking pictures of naked women in a Hammam (public bath) in the Oulfa neighborhood of Casablanca.

According to the Moroccan daily Assabah in its October 28 issue, a young woman living in the old neighborhood of Lissassfa was caught taking shots of other women with a smartphone inside the steam room.

The ritual of the Hammam and its relaxing atmosphere turned into a nightmare for these innocent women when they learned that someone was taking compromising photos.

One of the women in the steam room noticed the perpetrator’s strange behavior as was trying to take shots of women. She informed other women of this mischievous act and called the police.

The police arrested the woman, seized her smartphone, and took her to the a police station .

With an order from the public prosecutor, the Casablanca police managed to recover the memory card of the smartphone, which contained ten photos of naked women shot inside the Hammam.

Marrakech - Hamid Cheriet, better known by his stage name Idir, was born in 1949 in Kabily, in the village of Ait Lahcen, in Algeria, is famous throughout the world for his Amazigh music. But before becoming a very famous singer and ambassador of Amazigh music, he devoted all his time to studying geology.

Idir, the Professor of Biology, moved to the desert of Algeria in 1973 to work in the Algerian oil and gas field. During his time there, his singing talent was discovered by his colleagues when he sang for them a poem entitled, Avava Inuva.

Later, Idir composed his signature song, Avava Inuva, in 1976.  Immediately, it became a hit all over the world, and paved the way for Idir’s artistic career.  Idir brought the Amazigh identity into the spotlight with Avava Inuva, that narrates a simple story of a legendary girl, Ghriba.

Avava Inuva tells about a girl in the mountains who suffers daily from the harsh climate of ice and snow as she goes out to bring her young brothers food to eat and wood to make them warm. One day, Ghriba goes out but when she comes back, her father refuses to open the door for her, for fear of the forest monster, until she proves that she is his daughter. Her father asks her to shake her bracelets, so that he can recognize her: “Shake your bracelets, little strange girl. I fear the monster of the forest,” he says in the song.

The song goes on to tell about the daily life and culture of the Kabily people 30 years ago, as they stayed home together with the grandfather, who narrated short stories for them.

It is a historic song that describes how the families in Kabily build their culture, and transmit good behaviors, ideas, traditions to the new generation.

Avava Inuva now promotes the Amazigh culture and language all over the world, having been translated into seven languages, and sung in three, French, Spanish, and Greek.

Idir lived up to his potential in 1999, when he launched the album “Identities." It was a tribute album that brought together several famous artists including Manu Chao, Dan Ar Braz, Maxime Le Forestier, and Karen Matheson, Gnawa Diffusion, Zebda, Gilles Servat, Geoffrey Oryema and the Orchestre National de Barbès to record "A Vava Inouva 2."

Besides Avava Inuva, Idir is well known for many other albums such as Ay Arrac nne? (Ay Arrac Negh), Les Chasseurs de lumières, Deux rives, un rêve, Entre scènes et Terres (album en direct), La France des couleurs 22, and the quintessential, Idir.

With only his vocals and acoustic guitar, Idir has made the Tamazight language and culture known and loved all over the world as a singer of love, peace, and freedom, not only for the  Imazighne, but for all humanity.

Idir has performed in concerts for peace, freedom, and tolerance all over the world, including the Festival of Tolerance Timitar 2013, in Agadir, in Morocco.

Edited by Elisabeth Myers

Rabat- Three members of the Moroccan Auxiliary Forces have been charged with robbery and were arrested on Wednesday in Marrakech after the mobilization of ordinary citizens.

According to the daily Al Ahdath Al Maghribiya in its October 30 edition, police in Marrakech arrested on Wednesday three members of the Auxiliary Forces for robbery. People surrounded the three suspects near a supermarket in the Menara district of Marrakech. The three suspects, who work in the area near the supermarket, were waiting for an opportunity to attack customers and rob them with the threat of knives.

According to the daily, several brave citizens, who were unable to sit idly in front of such an injustice, mustered their courage and encircled and arrested the three criminals before alerting the police. Once arrested, the defendants denied outright the charges against them. However, the knives seized in their possession contradicted their claims.

Investigators were dismayed when they learned that the three alleged criminals involved in the assault and robbery of innocent citizens were actually members of the Auxiliary Forces supposed to be watching over the security of the people and their property.

Edited by Timothy Filla

By Youssef Hamdaouy

Fez - In Moroccan culture, the success of an engagement culminating in marriage is based on the notion of virginity.

While virginity is linked to the idea of purity, societal pressures to remain pure before marriage fall mainly on women. No one seems to believe that men should also stay virgins before marriage. Rather, virginity in our culture is only related to bleeding from the breaking of the hymen rather than the preservation of purity in both sexes.

Moroccan culture concentrates solely on the woman’s virginity rather than that of the man. The virginity of a woman must be proven for the first marriage, while the sexual history of a man makes no difference and is not an important factor in marriage at all.

On the night of the marriage, it is expected that the woman’s hymen will be ruptured with the attendant blood stain on the sheets.

No excuses or explanations can be offered if this doesn't happen because it is completely unacceptable if a woman has been “deflowered” prior to her marriage. However, a woman's hymen can be ruptured in numerous ways, such as riding a donkey or a bicycle or strenuous physical activity. The hymen could have broken before marriage through a variety of means other than sexual intercourse and is in no way an indication of sexual promiscuousness.

Additionally, it is scientifically proven that sometimes there is no blood present during a woman’s first experience of sexual intercourse. What does it say about our society when we grant no excuses for a woman’s supposed "non-virginity" -- even if her virginity was taken by another man against her will?

I spoke with Mr. Mehdi, a conservative bachelor, about the idea of virginity. Without much hesitation, he said that his future wife must be “pure” and that she should have never been touched by another man. I then proceeded to ask him about his sexual history. He claimed that he became sexually active when he was an adolescent. Many Moroccan men claim that they have had sex even if they haven’t for fear of others questioning their manhood. A vast number of people believe that manhood is proven sexually; you are considered a man if you are virile.

Being a promiscuous man is not necessarily frowned upon as it with a woman. In fact, it enhances masculinity. I asked Mr. Mehdi another question: since you are not a virgin, why do you require your future wife to be one? He simply answered, “Because I am a man.”

The requirement of a woman’s virginity before marriage is a notion embedded in patriarchal societies. Men theorize for themselves a world in which they limit the concept of a woman’s sexuality to virginity. The Moroccan traditional proverb: “The beauty of men is in their shoulders and of women in their purity,’’  illustrates that the duty of men is to provide the necessary needs for their family, while that of women is to remain a virgin until wedlock. If a female happens to be a non-virgin, she faces severe repercussions that affect all the members of her family.

On the other end of the spectrum, I asked Mr. Abdou, a liberal man, about his opinions on virginity. To him, virginity is a myth constructed to liberate men and imprison women. “Look: since I was a child, I have been exploring this term in our traditions. We have constructed the image that a non-virgin woman is to be avoided. On the wedding day, people stand hours waiting in front of the bedroom door for the virginity to be publicly proved. I think that relationships must be built on understanding and respect rather than on traditions that celebrate patriarchy and promote backward traditions that deny the role of women and degrade them as a tool for pleasure and a machine to produce children.”

Ouiam, a veiled girl, remarks that even though virginity might be lost, some women undergo reconstructive vaginal surgery in order to experience the breaking of the hymen on the night of their marriage.

Therefore, she says that the hymen should not be the sole indicator of virginity. In regards to the significance of virginity being gender-specific, she explains that virginity, in its broadest sense, should apply to both men and women. The question is whether you have had sex or not. I asked her whether she thinks that virginity in our culture is emphasized in women and not in men.

Ouiam acknowledged that women are oppressed by the patriarchy of our society, similar to other cultures. Additionally, she explained that religion is quite clear on this matter:  it prohibits sexual intercourse for both men and women, quoting the Quran: “The woman and the man who fornicate – scourge each of them a hundred whips; and in the matter of God’s religion, let no tenderness for them seize you if you believe in God and the Last Day; and let a party of the believers witness their punishment” (24:2). Then when I asked whether she would like to know whether her future husband is a virgin, Ouiam said that no one will truly be able to know whether a man is virgin or not. But if there is trust in the relationship, that should be enough.

Finally, I spoke with Miss Sara, a graduated woman who has completed scholarly research on the topic of sexuality and gender in Moroccan culture. According to her, the way society views virginity is clearly biased. She claims that  Moroccan society doesn’t care about men’s virginity, but when it comes to women it is different: there is no doubt that a woman must be a virgin in order to get married, meaning that love, education, and work ethic are not as important as being virgin.

This reduces the societal status of women as solely the bearers of hymens instead of potential scholars and workers. Then she addresses that men must be aware that the hymen may be broken on the first night of marriage, but marriage encompasses more than that. What matters is love and respect, and reducing a woman to a foolish thing called a hymen is meaningless. Basing virginity on the hymen is a male-constructed phenomenon in an attempt to manipulate and control females.

Unless we critically rethink our traditions and adapt our values in ways that redefine the woman’s role in society, the hymen will continue to play an important role in Moroccan male-female relationships.  Women will be valued in respect to their hymens rather than their skills, intellect, etc., a philosophy that objectifies females through making them serve as an instrument to an end. This harms all of society and undermines the important, and sacred aspects of marriage. Reasonably, we have to bear in mind that one of the essential steps toward a democratic society is humanizing women. While it is a road that is much travelled, it is worth giving it a try in Morocco.

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Marrakech - The Atlantic Dialogues forum was held on October 24-26 in Marrakech to strengthen the transatlantic relations and to select the 50 emerging leaders of the Atlantic Basin

Under the High Patronage of King Mohammed VI, the Atlantic Dialogues gathered some of the most influential public and private sector leaders from around the Atlantic basin for high level panels and open discussion on cross-regional issues. The event was co-organized by the German Marshal Fund of the United States, and the Office chérifien des phosphates (OCP) Policy Center.

The Atlantic Dialogues selected the 50 emerging leaders of the Atlantic basin. Ten Moroccans were selected among the 50 leaders and had the opportunity to articulate their leadership and discuss transatlantic issues with senior leaders.

For Lamia Bazir, a 24-years prominent leader, “The diversity between the countries of the Atlantic offers both an opportunity and a challenge.” In her speech, she invited the leaders of the region to “conceive an innovative model of a region founded not on commonalities but on differences.” Instead of denying differences in the search of a common identity, Lamia Bazir encouraged participants to “turn the Atlantic Basin into a space where diversity is valued, best practices are shared, and the best ideas circulate between countries.”

For Njoya Tikum, a young leader from Cameroun “The most important is to translate the discussions held in the Atlantic dialogues into the daily lives of the citizens”. In his speech, Njoya also insisted on the inclusion of Youth in decision making.

During the forum, Morocco demonstrated its pivotal position in the Atlantic region and the incredible potential of its youth.

The forum brought together some 400 high-level diplomats, policymakers, experts, business leaders, and opinion-shapers from Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe for three days of open discussion.

Among the most prominent participants: Mr.Youssef Amrani Head of Mission, Royal Cabinet, Kingdom of Morocco, Ms. Laura Chinchilla, Former President of Costa Rica, Mr. Miguel Angel Moratinos, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Spain, Ambassador Marc Grossman, Ambassador of the United States and Vice Chairman of Cohen Group,

Other participants are: Ambassador Assia Bensalah Alaoui Ambassador at Large of King Mohammed VI and Co-President, Office of the Economic Cooperation for the Mediterranean and the Middle East, Morocco, Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo, Former President of Nigeria, Dr. Nizar Baraka, President, Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE), Morocco, Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Prize, and Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau, Mr. Moulay Hafid El Alamy, Minister of Industry, Trade, Investment, and New Technologies, Morocco, Dr. Amina Benkhadra, Managing Director of the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mining, Morocco.

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Austin - An American anthropologist once wrote a chapter under the title: “A portrait of a typical Moroccan.” To a certain degree, the person he described exemplified a group of ordinary Moroccans, but he definitely was not representative of most Moroccans.

It seems that the search for persons typical of their people is a persistent need felt by foreigners trying to understand the communities among which they are living. It is perhaps to satisfy such a need that I asked Kristi, my lessor, if she would let me write about her life story.

Kristi is a very open woman. From the first time I contacted her, either by email or in person, I never felt she was reticent or reluctant to divulge information about herself, her family, or her friends. Quite the contrary, before arriving in America I had already known from her emails a lot about her life. I knew, for example, that her late fiancé had been a professor and a world-renown economist and that he died of a rare disease. I knew a few other things about her preferences and her habits. So, when I met her in person, she was no longer a stranger to me. On the basis of all these facts, I came to assume that she was typical of Americans who may be very reluctant to know a person, but once they are introduced, their reticence simply goes away.

I have found out that this assumption is not accurate. When I asked her to tell her story, she accepted right away. But before the interview, I realized that she didn’t feel as comfortable as she would usually be in our ordinary conversations. Although the situation was not public—in fact, if not for the microphone, it would have been a conversation very typical of those we have on the front porch—she seemed as if she was facing a large audience. The place was not well lit, but it’s not unlikely that she blushed, at least in the beginning of the interview. The truth is that she is very private, and this surprised me a lot. Appearances are misleading indeed!

I’m not sure how I should make sense of these apparently incongruent behaviors: being open with people but shy as well. From what I understand, she received a good education. Her sense of family is very strong, and it was no surprise to me given what I know about her family history. She often mentions the love relationship between her parents, her hard-working father (a work-horse, she says), her loving mother, and her siblings. I imagine that this was the circle she felt most comfortable in as a child; the others were, to varying degrees, strangers. But Kristi says her parents taught their children how to socialize. They would have elaborate parties and the children were prompted to converse with the guests. Kristi’s brothers would seize the first opportunity to go upstairs and play games, but were always summoned back to the group. I don’t know how Americans view shyness, but in Morocco it is considered a positive aspect of children’s education, especially among respectable families. It’s only in their adulthood that children are expected to become extroverted. But even then, it’s sometimes not easy to get rid of old habits. I tend to believe that the case is not very different with Kristi.

Kristi also received a good education. The subject she talked a lot about was music. She says her parents believed that music was as important as any other subject for developing the whole brain. Her mother was a music educator, and her father served the North Shore of Chicago with band instruments. In his book about his family history, her father does not forget to mention that “Kristi played clarinet in the school band, sang in the honor choir, and competed on the diving team”. So, it is no wonder that, besides majoring in English literature, she completed a minor in art. It also is no wonder that she has earned her living as a graphic designer and a book editor. All this seems to point to the middle class background of her family. They may not be rich, but their interest in moral values, a good education, fine arts, and original ideas is well beyond the concerns of working class families, I would suppose. I was particularly struck by Mr. Freeman’s interest in the history of his ancestors and his descendents. In his book, he traces the origins of his family back to the 16th century. Although Kristi has never referred to this history before, she must be proud of that lineage. This explains, at least in part, her deep attachment to her family and her concerns about each and every member.

Another important stage in Kristi’s life was her journey to Asia. She went first to Japan just after graduating from college, but her stay there was short. This trip was also her first occasion to become immersed in a completely different culture. Americans prefer to talk about “culture shock” in such situations. Anyway, even the Japanese wouldn’t make her experience there look ordinary: children would try to touch her curly fair hair. So, she must have looked strange to them as much as their culture seemed strange to her.

Her most fascinating experience, however, came a few years later when she found a job with a company in New Zealand. From there, she seized the opportunity to travel to nearby countries. She went to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Viet Nam, and Cambodia. When I think about it, it seems natural that human beings should feel curious about other places and other peoples and that they should satisfy that curiosity if they can afford to do so. What I don’t understand, however, is that they can be too curious and ignore all possible dangers. While Viet Nam was just opening its doors to tourists, Kristi was among the first foreigners to enter the country. Despite the tragic history of America’s war in Viet Nam, and despite all the films she must have watched and the books she must have read about the military conflict there, she just made the decision to discover a new country; a place that was still pure from capitalist tourism.

When her Viet Nam visa expired, Kristi went to Cambodia while the Pol Pot regime was still active and the political situation there was quite volatile. Even at the security level, the American government had issued a warning to its citizens against traveling to Cambodia. But Kristi simply overlooked the warning. She was encouraged by the travelers she met in Viet Nam who had just come from Cambodia and brought good news from there.

When I was a child, I saw many tourists in my country. They wore shirts, shorts, and hats, and they all had a camera. They photographed things that seemed uninteresting, and for that, they were incomprehensible to me. Now that I have known Kristi, who behaved in a similar way but in a different part of the world, I realize that the tourists I saw when I was a child probably were curious human beings like Kristi is. She says that she wanted to photograph South-East Asia. I would die to get in her shoes and experience the excitement she felt and the interest she found in photographing the world, for that still seems to me a silly exercise.

Another equally brave adventure—but still incomprehensible to me—is that Kristi trekked in the mountains of Nepal for thirty-eight days. She managed to reach 18,000 ft. Her family must have been proud of that achievement, for her father mentions it in his book in the few paragraphs devoted to her. But Kristi realized afterward that she could have lost her life in that adventure; a heart defect was diagnosed a few years later that precluded her from traveling to high altitudes.

Undoubtedly, these adventures have left some impact on Kristi’s character. She says she finds people similar everywhere, despite their differences. A lot of extravagant aspects of American life have lost meaning for her. She can dispense with unnecessary things, especially if they cost too much. Her friends and colleagues, she says, can’t understand how she can live without a car, for example. For her, the reason is simple: she can do better without it. And she is a hard-working woman: Kristi is an editor, a freelance graphic designer, and she also works with deafblind children on the weekends—she can hardly afford a day off. She feels she might be doing this well into her eighties.

I wanted to tell the story of a typical American, but I ended up with a story about an extraordinary person. It is great to know you, Lady Freeman!

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Rabat- Spanish police have dismantled a network of Moroccan drug traffickers who laundered millions of euros in dirty money, by investing in Moroccan real estate.

The Spanish Guardia Civil arrested 36 members of a gang of Moroccans in Catalonia and seized an amount of heroin estimated at over $2 million euros ($2,5 million), according to the Spanish website El Periodico. The gang, composed of the numbers of one family, laundered their dirty money by buying real estate in major cities in Morocco.

According to a statement from the Catalan police, the surveillance of the gang began in February after identifying a point of sale in the Catalan region. The amount of heroin seized, 35 kg, is said to be the largest drug bust operation of the year.

The Guardia Civil also seized seven cars and 10,000 euros in cash. To deceive the Spanish authorities, the defendants, were registered as unemployed, and were receiving monthly allowances from the government. But the Spanish police uncovered their scheme and managed to identify the activity and the members of the gang of drug traffickers.

The defendants bought large amounts of heroin from the Netherlands and Germany and sold them at high prices to wealthy Spaniards in Catalonia. The money collected was sent to Morocco on a weekly basis and used in the purchase of real estate, especially in Casablanca and Rabat.

Rabat- Built on 16,000 square meters of which 3,500 covered, the new US embassy in Rabat has reportedly required a total investment of $180 million.

The new premises will be officially inaugurated around November 20^th by the US Vice President Joe Biden and another top official whose identity has not yet been revealed, according to Le 360 website.

"The land on which the embassy was built belongs to the US government. It was offered by the late king Hassan II to the United States in 1978," says Aziz Younes, an American diplomat of Lebanese descent. He is also the head of project whose work began in February 2012 in the presence of the then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Moroccan counterpart Saad Eddine El Othmani at the time Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"The new premises have been designed to be eco-friendly, with the installation of a water recycling unit and a solar energy supply up to 35% of total consumption, said the U.S. official.

"The embassy has the most sophisticated and modern protection systems and security surveillance. The chancery was built on the model of those of Pakistan and Jakarta in Indonesia," he added.

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Rabat- According to the Moroccan Daily Al Akhbar in its weekend edition, a 77-year-old Moroccan man was allegedly murdered in the city of Kemisset, 40 from Rabat after being suspected of having sexual relations out of wedlock.

Six people from the same family were involved in the murder of the 77-year-old man last week. The discovery of the victim’s body in the Douar Ait Hamou Ousaid, the rural town of Ait Yadin, astonished the people of the Douar, who wondered about the motives behind this murder. A preliminary police investigation has revealed the motive that caused the tragedy.

Edited by Timothy Filla

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Moscow – It is not always true to assume that our future goes according to our plans. There are certain times that we make decisions against our expectations. However, a passion for new discoveries, experiences, and extraordinary tendencies often has people making decisions out of their planning. That is exactly my case when I chose to come to Russia for a study program.

Traveling abroad has always haunted me, but I never thought that someday I could get away from my ordinary life at home. The decision to travel to Russia has always been an aspiration for me, because I have wanted to try a destination where Moroccans and probably most North Africans do not go often.

Indeed, my impulse for discovering Eastern Europe made me choose Russia, home of remarkable leaders and scientists such as Alexander Pushkin, Ivan Pavlov, Vladimir Lenin, and many others. So, here I would like to describe my first experience traveling abroad, in which I have made to the Russian Federation!

The moment when the airplane took off from Marrakech Menara Airport was dramatic, because I realized my ordinary life in Morocco will completely change, and that I will no longer be in live contact with the people I grow up with, especially relatives, friends and close acquaintances. After a stopover in Barcelona Airport, I flew again on a five-hour night trip to my final destination, Moscow.

I slept almost the whole flight, but a sudden notice woke me up: “Dear passengers, we are now approaching Moscow…” The notice came from the cabin crew, informing us that we were just few miles away from our destination. Eventually, around dawn, we landed in Domodedovo Moscow airport. I got off the plane and followed the direction-signs, which are in both English and Russian, until I halted at the “passport control” zone, where I waited my turn, and then handed over my passport. Later, I stopped to retrieve my luggage, which contained heavy warm clothes, for I had assumed that Russia is known for “minus zero degrees.” Still in the airport, I exchanged some amount of money into Russian Rubles, and then browsed for an available Wi-Fi network to text my family that I had arrived safely.

I was courageous enough to handle my travel by myself. I had the contacts of my Host University, metro map, city maps, and contacts from the embassy of Morocco, and even phone numbers for taxi service, so as to make sure I wouldn’t get lost. I took the Aeroexpress train to Paveletsky station. It took me 40 minutes on the railway. The whole trip, I watched the view through the windowpane, until I arrived at my destination. The atmosphere in front of the station was extraordinary, with people full of energy and dynamism. Some walked on the pavement, while others took the stairs to the underground.

I wondered why so many people were taking the stairs. Later, I discovered it was an entrance to the subway station. I felt like a complete stranger, hearing a different language and observing an exotic environment. But I decided not to take a taxi, and instead try the metro for the first time. Along with my luggage, I moved to the entrance, and then ordered a ticket at the window, before I got on the escalator to go deep underground. That moment, I was simply astonished by the small cozy space and the huge crowd of people.

Signs to metro stations are hung for passengers, but are only in the Cyrillic alphabet. This presented a challenge for me to find my direction. The metro map didn’t help for finding the right train, because there were two of them operating on a rotational basis. I tried asking passersby for direction, using gestures mixed with some English words and assisted with the metro map. At last, a young man was able to speak English, and showed me the way to “Studencheskaya” metro station, the nearest one to my dormitory.

When I arrived at the station, I took up the escalator and stairs up to the exit, and then figured out the way to my university dormitory. By the entrance, I explained to security staff that I am a new student, and though none of them could speak English, a lady showed me a list of names in the Latin alphabet, and I was able to recognize my name. I handed them my passport and migration card, which I got at the airport, then one of the dormitory staff accompanied me to my room.

My first day in Moscow was a unique adventure, with many first impressions of the way of life in Russia, including the people, language and transportation!

Edited by Timothy Filla

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy

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By Hind Ibrahimi

Marrakech- The Local Committee "Les Ambassadeurs", a part of AIESEC Morocco, is organizing a large annual conference, known as KICK-OFF, on the 27-27 of November, 2014 in Marrakech.

Approximately 500 attendants are expected, including national and international facilitators who will share their experiences and knowledge throughout their sessions.

At the end of our event, we hope that we will be able to provide a rewarding and original experience to each of the delegates. Through the success stories of our speakers, we will build and clarify their visions of the future. We will know how to show enthusiasm and motivation necessary to awaken excellence.

About AIESEC

AIESEC - International Association of Students in Economic and Commercial Science - is the world’s largest apolitical and non-profit organization that is managed by students. It is an international platform for the students to get a taste of the professional world in a young and dynamic framework at the international level.

AIESEC’s activities focus on an international internship exchange program. The organization’s network accounts for 100,000 members in 125 countries, distributed at more than 2400 universities, and AIESEC completes more than 17000 exchanges annually.

AIESEC maintains official relations with agencies of the United Nations, enjoys consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations, the International Labor Organization (ILO), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as well as with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Since its creation in Morocco in 1986, the organization has hosted several generations of students, who are later often called to key positions in national and international companies.

AIESEC Morocco currently has a national office, which administers contracts and plays the role of intermediary between the national and the international levels of the organization. It has five local offices located in Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech and Ifrane, three special units in Fez, Tangier, and Mahdia, as well as a wide network of alumni who are leaders on the economic and social scene.

What is the goal of this organization?

In association with several corporations (such as General Company, Alcatel-Lucent, Google, HP Invent, Microsoft, and Sagem) and higher education institutions, AIESEC offers its members the opportunity to receive an international experience, access to a learning environment, and overall have a positive impact on the companies and initiate the students’ professional lives.

This international network supports young people during their integration into society through experiences that develop the leadership potential. AIESEC allows young people to be citizens of the world and more than just students. Thanks to AIESEC, students can learn to surpass themselves, get out of their comfort zone, and cope with difficult situations that they might encounter in the professional world.

To fulfill its commitments, AIESEC has offered its members a wide range of opportunities to obtain an international perspective through internships abroad, missions, conferences, seminars, career opportunities, and leadership positions.

Rabat- The former First lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt once said that "No Matter how plain a woman may be, if truth and honesty are written across her face, she will be beautiful."

 Most of us are familiar with the notion that the true beauty is inner beauty. In fact, it happens that most of us, at least once in their lifetime, come across a situation that proves to them that facial attractiveness is not the only factor that determines whether a person is actually attractive.

There is an additional factor described by famous Lebanese poet Gibran Khalil Gibran as the 'the light in the heart'. They are the personality traits such as honesty, kindness and other qualities, which make others perceive a person as more attractive.

Now this idea has science backing it up. A new study published in the November 2014 issue of Personality and Individual Differences under the title 'Personality manipulations: Do they modulate facial attractiveness ratings'- authored by a Chinese team of researchers from Huazhong University in China- has found direct correlation between attractive personality and being seen as 'facially' attractive.

The researchers used a random sample comprised of 120 adult participants (60 males and 60 females) divided into three groups. Each group was given 60 photos of unfamiliar Chinese women with neutral facial expressions and asked to rate them.

The three groups were asked again two weeks later to rate the same pictures they were given the first time but this time with personality descriptions added to the photos. One group was given the photos with positive personality descriptions like honesty, while the second group was shown the photos with negative descriptions such as dishonesty. The third group was not given any personality descriptions with the photos.

The ratings of the first round, which did not include personality descriptions, turned out to be similar in results. In the second round, however, when the descriptions were added to the photos, the participants seemed to have different opinions. The group that was shown photos with positive personality descriptions gave high ratings to the photos in terms of facial attractiveness. The second group withnegative personality descriptions rated the photos as less attractive than the other two groups.

"We find that what is good is beautiful, with personality reflecting desired traits as facial attractiveness," wrote the team of researchers.

"This phenomenon can also be called the “halo effect.” We can thus presume that personality traits may contribute to judging facial attractiveness and that the personality traits desired in a person are reflected in facial preference."

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Rabat- Shoshana B. Roberts, the woman who appeared on the video on street harassment that went viral and received 30 million views so far, has reportedly received rape and death threats following the posting of the video on YouTube on October 28th.

The video, posted under the title "10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman," shows Shoshana Roberts strolling the streets of New York City wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt while being filmed by a camera hidden on a backpack. Shoshana was the subject to a hundred plus instances of verbal street harassment, according to a caption in the two-minute video.

The project is an attempt by Hollaback!, an anti-harassment non-profit organization that produced the video and runs other similar projects in different parts of the world, to demonstrate the daily struggle of women with street harassment in the Big Apple.

"The onslaught of rape and death threats that have been directed at Shoshana B. Roberts, the subject of the video, are unacceptable but sadly unsurprising. When women are visible in online or offline spaces, they experience harassment. When women demand change, they meet violent demands for their silence," said the organization.

On Thursday Halloback! published a statement in response to accusations of bias and racial prejudice based on the fact that the video showed less scenes involving white guys catcalling the lady.

"We regret the unintended racial bias in the editing of the video that over represents men of color," the organization said.

"Hollaback! understands that harassment is a broad problem perpetuated by a diversity of individuals regardless of race. There is no one profile for a harasser and harassment comes in many different forms."

Studies cited by Halloback! in their website suggest that non-contact sexual experiences, including street harassment, are the most prevalent form of sexual violence for both men and women in the United States. Internationally, between 70-99% of women experience street harassment at some point during their lives.

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Marrakech- Ashura is one of several holidays that Moroccans celebrate annually. Known also as the day of Zemzam, Ashura is celebrated on the tenth day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar, just a month after Eid Al Adha.

While it is a religious celebration for both Shia’ and Sunni Muslims, the way Moroccans celebrate Ashura is unique, and a world apart from the rest of the Arab and Islamic countries.

The day of Ashura is very special to Moroccans of all ages. Adults and kids celebrate it differently, but both take it seriously and enjoy it to the fullest. Adults consider it a religious and cultural occasion, while kids consider it a day of fun.

In the last two or three decades, the celebration of Ashura has been evolving in Morocco. In the past, people in the south east of Morocco celebrated it with great enthusiasm, as every tribe slaughtered a bull or a cow on the eve of the day of Ashura, and people stayed up all night to play a game of Ahwach or Ahidous until the early morning. Each tribe invited another to join in the customary practice of Ashura when people, both adults and children, splash buckets of water on each other throughout the day.

Each person would have his or her own bucket, having gathered water from the river or stream to participate in the revelry. The collective celebration would last until all of the tribes of the village had been invited.

Nowadays the celebration is different. People do not practice the rituals in the same way as in the past. It has become risky to participate in the ritual splashing of water. Some people may be carrying papers or mobile phones which can be damaged, and it is not practical to throw cold water on people when Ashura falls in winter when the weather is cold. More importantly, however, some pranksters have begun to use liquids other than water, sometimes including toxic chemicals.

Some of the traditional Ashura rituals continue nowadays. In urban cities, for example, parents buy Taàrijas (Moroccan drums) for their children. The children of each neighborhood get together early in the morning and start playingtheir Taàrijas as they parade around their neighborhoods.

This ritual is called “Heq baba Achour.” The children knock at every door asking for dry fruit, cakes, or even money. Once they have collected a few pennies, they buy eggs and throw them at their friends. Recently they also have started to throw firecrackers.

Adults invite their relatives and have a meal together featuring, mainly, Fakiah, a plate of dry fruits, dates, and sweets. Some Sunnis also fast for two days on the ninth and tenth days of the month of Muharram. People also give alms and make contributions to charity for orphaned kids and poor people.

The Moroccan custom of celebrating Ashura is believed to originate from the practices adopted by Moroccan Jews before they moved to the Middle East.  The ritual of water splashing is said to date back to early rituals of Judaism. Moroccan Jews maintained it for centuries, as they believe that water was a reason for the survival of the prophet Moses in the face of oppression by Pharaoh and his soldiers.

Jews believe that water becomes sacred during the days of Ashura. For them, it is a symbol of life and prosperity. In some historical writings, Jews celebrate water, and their kids splash each other with water during the whole day, while adults sprinkle their property and possessions, in the hope that God will bless them.

Sunna also places importance on the survival of the Prophet Moses by calling upon Muslims to celebrate it by fasting on the ninth day of the month of Muharram in addition to the day of Ashura on the tenth, in contrast to the Jews who fast only the tenth day.

The one thing that Moroccans do agree upon nowadays with respect to Ashura is that the celebration of Ashura is a uniquely Moroccan tradition, in which they enjoy collectively the sense of worshipping, solidarity, humor and joy.

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Marrakech - Racism is widely discussed and is the subject of much research. Every researcher defines it according to his or her particular social, economic, or cultural background.

Most individuals have been exposed to it in different ways. But the intersection of racism and religion raises interesting questions about culture, cause and effect.

Racism is forbidden and undesirable in Islam. However, when analyzing many of the verses of the Quran and the Hadiths, the texts seem to address people in the cultural context that prevailed at the time. For example, during Islam’s early days, the Quran promised Arab men El Hur Ein [very beautiful women] in paradise, because in the cultural context Arabs desired to have as many women as they could. On the contrary, the Quran did not make such a promise to women. Instead, it promised them many other things that they had already asked for but that they could not have in the first world. Thus, the texts spoke to people in the cultural terms prevailing at the time.

More telling is a review of texts that deal with the notion of ugliness or evil, characterizing such qualities as “black.” The color black does not seem to have any positive attribute or value in the Quran. It has been suggested that this may be because Arabs at that time looked down on and enslaved black people. The Quran includes several verses associating “black” with ugliness, or even hell. For example:

Al ‘imran [3:107] On the day when some faces shall be white, and some faces shall be black. As for those whose faces will be black, it will be said to them: ‘Did you disbelieve after believing? Taste, then, the punishment because you disbelieved.’

Al ‘zumar [39:61] And on the Day of Resurrection, thou wilt see those who lied against Allah with their faces blackened. Is there not in Hell an abode for the proud?

"When Allah created Adam He hit his right shoulder from which his descendants who are as white as pearls came out, then He hit his left shoulder from which his descendants who are as black as charcoal came out; then He said to the one's on his right enter the Paradise and that would not diminish from My dominion to the least and He said to the one's on his left enter Hellfire and that would not increase anything in My dominion" (Al-Haythami & Abul-Wazir Al-Yamani)

Do the Quran and Hadith address people culturally, and describe their cultures in a way that can help them understand values? Do they aim at promoting people’s understanding of inferiority and hell by associating it with something white people, in the era of the Prophet, thought was inferior and had no value?

I frequently hear Imams, when describing a good believer, saying he or she is fair, good and white, while using words like ugly, bad, and black when describing an unbeliever.

However, some religious scholars argue that the words “black” and “white” in Arabic translate to “bright” and “dark” in other languages. That is to say, God does not mean to reference any race when using these colors. Otherwise, why aren’t other races, such as the Chinese or Indians, who are neither white nor black, mentioned in the Quran?

On the other hand, it is not easy to grasp the way the words “black” and “white” are used in the Quran and Hadith, since the entire Quran and Hadith defend the equality of all races. For example:

O People! We created you all from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another. Verily the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most God fearing of you. Surely Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.” (Al-Hujurat, 49:13)

O People! Indeed your Lord is but One Lord, and Indeed your father is but one (Adam), an Arab is no better than a non-Arab, and non-Arab is no better than an Arab; and no dark skin person is better than a red skin, nor a red skin person is better than a dark skin except in piety. The most favored in front of Allah among you are the most righteous.

Racism is not a topic that should be ignored. The majority of people still do not embrace and tolerate racial or cultural differences. White people still discriminate against black people, and vice versa. Religion cannot be separated from the cultural norms and expectations, biases and preferences in which it was born. Indeed, it is a reflection of those societal factors. As society develops, interpretations can change.

People, especially those who are educated, should rethink some of society’s pervasive attitudes and stereotypes, so that all people can truly embrace each other, no matter how different they are. Additionally, religious researchers and scholars should rethink interpretations of the Quran, and make them clearer and more updated, so that the understanding of the Quran’s texts goes hand in hand with the cognitive and cultural development of people in the 21st century.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy

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Taroudant, Morocco- During celebration of the day of Ashura, an Iraqi Shiite leader was reportedly shot in the face by a suspected ISIS member at a mosque in western Sydney, Australia.

“Rasoul Al Mousawi was shot in the face and shoulder with pellets as he locked up the building at around 1:15 am of Monday morning,” according to a video posted on YouTube.

The victim’s daughter, who witnessed the attack, said, “My father just held his neck and ran inside. All I saw was blood moving down his head and neck.” The victim is awaiting surgery in a Sydney hospital.

The shooting is the result of the dispute between the Shiite and Sunni Muslims groups. Tensions can become very violent over the rituals of the day of Ashura.

"The dispute over the Centre would not have escalated to such a level where someone would shoot a person in front of the Centre," said Sheikh Zaid Alsalami, from the Afghan-dominated Nabi Akram Islamic Centre in Granville.

Jamal Daoud, a prominent member of Sydney's Shiite community, said a group of "extremists" had been targeting Shiite Muslims trying to enter the Centre to observe Ashura, a 10-day ritual to commemorate the death of Imam Hussain, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

While Sunni Muslims observe this ceremony by fasting on the ninth and tenth day or tenth and eleventh day of the month of Muharram to honor the deliverance of Moses, Shiite Muslims consider Ashura a day of mourning and remembrance of the grandson of the prophet Mohammed, Hussein Ibn Abi Talib, who was martyred in the Battle of Karbala around thirteen centuries ago.

By Nabil Moussaoui

Rabat - The necessity of gaining insight into the infinite realm that is the human mind and the capricious manner in which it works is imperative.

We know that psychological disorders are common and vary from one person to another as do their effects. The term “common” here is key in that cultures and religions often take from its quintessential significance; hence, the commonness which is the basic characteristic of psychological disorders in certain communities are frowned upon and trivialized in other cultures and religions. The incontestability of the spiritual role in alleviating psychological disorders however is important. It might be true that religious emptiness can result in psychological unrest; nevertheless, there have been several noteworthy cases in which spiritual orientations only fueled lethal and outrageous rage. This is the challenge: to reveal the mysterious manner in which our mind works and how it can turn the tables on us of its own accord.

First, it is necessary to understand what it means to be have a psychological disorder. There is no shortage of psychological disorders however the focus of this article will be on the most common ones: OCD, anxiety disorder, and insomnia. Importantly, these disorders have certain aspects in common; one of which is that they are not to be mistaken as mental illnesses but rather habitual patterns of thinking carried out from infancy and internalized in the unconscious mind. The truth is that these internalized and unwanted thoughts reach a point where they become increasingly extensive and difficult to eliminate: “I had internalized my parents’ and teachers’ voices who said, “Go wash your hands. You’ll get sick if you don’t wash your hands.” The thought was simply repeating like a tape recorder.” (Eck, 1) On the subject of OCD, internalization here refers to the storage of negative and fear-infested thoughts in the unconscious mind. Moreover, this internalization of unwanted thoughts is an ongoing process which means that it may take years before the undesirable effects manifest.

Anxiety disorders, like OCD, are also triggered by a habitual pattern of thinking. The main difference which lies between the two is that anxiety disorder is characterized by a perpetual fear in which the initial cause cannot be traced back to its origin. Furthermore, anxiety disorders have a tremendous impact on a person’s digestive system in that the normal workings of the stomach and bowels become erratic. To bear testimony to the fact that anxiety disorders, like other disorders in this respect, have their roots in the earliest years of an individual’s life, Freud states: “What we describe as our 'character' is based on the memory-traces of our impressions; and moreover the impressions which have had the greatest effect on us – those of our earliest youth—are precisely the ones which scarcely ever become conscious.” (Freud, 541) Like Eck, Freud believes that anxiety disorder, or what he calls psychoneurosis, does not manifest by chance; but rather it is an old habit rooted from the period it began to incubate in the unconscious mind of which the neurotic is entirely unaware. Put differently, a child who is always told what to do and what not to do will, unconsciously, internalize his/her authorities' instructions. At the beginning, this may sound quite normal, but the likelihood for these internalized authoritarian voices to sprout and dominate his/her unconscious mind in the years to come is overwhelming.

With regards to insomnia, the fact that it can turn into an obsessive thought which may ruin one’s life and thus cause depression is undeniable. While it goes without saying that insomnia is a symptom an individual experiences at some point in his/her life, there is a need to question the source of sleep disorder; that is, what are insomnia’s instigators? In truth, insomnia can be caused by the death of a relative, a sudden break-up in a romantic relationship, or simply excitement about something that might happen in the near future. However, it becomes a chronic disorder when an individual adopts the obsession, the thought that he/she will be experiencing this sleepless torture for the rest of his/her life, and finds it extremely difficult to free the unconscious mind from these harmful thoughts. In her article, Eck says, “That is the worst thing we can do when trying to heal a habit, addiction, or obsession. It makes letting go even harder.” (Eck, 4) Obviously, the repetition of certain beliefs in our unconscious mind, the feeding of the latter with a set of perpetual delusions untrue of nature but rigid of grasp, is what makes an individual draw the wrong picture about his/herself. These wrong beliefs become, after extravagant nourishment, the only pattern of an individual’s thinking; hence, the negative thoughts linger since they have found a fertile ground where they may prosper.

The question remains: Why do some young Moroccans feel unwell and find themselves living in a filthy world to which they do not belong? Unfortunately, the majority of the Moroccan population is unaware of the “real” causes. Therefore, they find relief in unscholarlyfounded causes such as “s7our”, “toukal” and so forth. Following this line of research, I was extremely astounded when I first came to realize that the “real” causes of these psychological disorders from which some young Moroccans suffer are mainly cultural and political. If we look at the way the traditional upbringing is carried out in our country and understand the psychological harm a single reproaching word can inflict on a child’s life, the negative results that are highly apparent in our social life would hardly surprise us. Culturally speaking, some parents tend to impose values and criticism on their children using authoritarian voices. These parents are under the impression that in doing so they will make their intentions clear and obeyed. In fact, some parents succeed in this method and would like to take their orders to a higher level. The children are totally unaware of these effects, for they remain stored in their unconscious minds. With this method in place, it is no wonder that some young men are frowned upon for having low self-esteem or “inferiority complexes” but the frowning population never asks why these men draw denigrated pictures of themselves.

Speaking of low self-esteem as an aftermath of infantile psychological torture is of paramount importance. Low self-esteem can be cured in that the negative constructs which an individual has accumulated can be substituted for their counterparts. Psychologist George Kelly states, “the self is simply a learnt construct like any other and subject to the same possibilities for alteration and development in the positive direction.” (Kelly, 262) But it should be noted that the constructs individuals learn/unlearn are determined both by their traits and characters. Put differently, individuals who have been subject to positive input by their authorities are likely to develop a strong character and personality. Therefore, these individuals find it much easier to replace their negative constructs with positive ones. The same can be true of individuals who enjoy positive traits such as extroversion, sociability, self-confidence, etc. This set is also at a greater advantage when it comes to unlearning the negative constructs compared to those who entertain the reverse of the aforementioned traits. Moreover, the latter constituents of which an individual’s personality is made are innate. Hence, parents have to be careful when bringing up their children; otherwise they will end up permanently damaging their children's lives.

To give a concrete example, a few days ago I was having breakfast at a nearby café. On my left side, there sat two little girls of perhaps five years each. They were eating boiled eggs sandwiches and drinking hot milk. Their father sat opposite them waiting for them to finish. So far so good. But what happened next caught me off guard as I could not do anything but stare at the father speechlessly. As time was running out, the father stood and began shouting and forcing his daughters to swallow the food quickly, using threatening words such as “eat or I’ll beat you,” “I’ll never bring you here,” “no, drink that milk.” At that moment, one of the little girls’ eyes glazed over and protruded from sheer suffocation. However, she managed to chew and swallow the food with a streak of saliva running down her nose and mouth.

The scene above should help answer the question of why some of the young Moroccan population is suffering from OCD, anxiety disorder, and insomnia. What if one of these girls was born with a negative trait seeing that she was receiving negative input? What if her sister started recording this incident in her unconscious mind and started developing a negative character from her environment? One thing is truly indisputable; that is, both girls are psychologically at risk. It is true that they were not aware of it then, but they will be aware of it when they become adults.

What is important to bear in mind is that psychological disorders are not to be mistaken for mental illnesses. As I mentioned before, psychological disorders are merely habit-based patterns of thinking which, after being irrigated in the fertile soil of the unconscious mind, become a challenge to be rid of. Moreover, these patterns of thinking and delusions are constantly of a negative nature.

References:

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