Sunday, November 25, 2007

The Influence of the Moors in Spain and Portugal

by Edward Vivian Scobie

The same degree of intellect and learning was brought by the Moorish conquerors of the Iberian peninsula to Portugal. Like Spain, that country was to be culturally influenced by the Moors. Its association with Africa dates as far back as the fourth and fifth centuries when Africans arrived in southern Europe. But it was in 711 A.D. that they marched in as conquerors under the command of Tarik. To reinforce what has been said earlier these Moors, as the early writers chronicled, were "black or dark people, some being very black."

After the invasion of 711 came other waves of Moors even darker. It was this occupation of Portugal which accounts for the fact that even noble families had absorbed the blood of the Moor.

From that time onwards, racial mixing in Portugal, as in Spain, and elsewhere in Europe which came under the influence of Moors, took place on a large scale. That is why historians claim that "Portugal is in reality a Negroid land," and that when Napoleon explained that "Africa begins at the Pyrenees," he meant every word that he uttered. Even the world-famed shrine in Portugal, Fatima, where Catholic pilgrims from all over the world go in search of miracle cures for their afflictions, owes its origin to the Moors. The story goes that a Portuguese nobleman was so saddened by the death of his wife, a young Moorish beauty whom he had married after her conversion to the Christian faith, that he gave up his title and fortune and entered a monastery. His wife was buried on a high plateau called Sierra de Aire. It is from there that the name of Fatima is derived.

The Moors ruled and occupied Lisbon and the rest of the country until well into the twelfth century. They were finally defeated and driven out by the forces of King Alfonso Henriques, who was aided by English and Flemish crusaders. The scene of this battle was the Castelo de Sao Jorge or, in English, the Castle of St. George. Today, it still stands, overlooking the city of "Lashbuna"--as the Moors named Lisbon.

The defeat of the Moors did not put an end to their influence on Portugal. The African (Moorish) presence can be seen everywhere in Portugal; in the architecture of many of the buildings. They still retain their Moorish design--like the Praca De Toiros--the Bull Ring in Lisbon. A walk through Alfama--the oldest quarter in Lisbon, with its fifteenth century houses, narrow-winding streets--dates back to the time when it was the last settlement of the Moors. Fado singers abound in all corners and bistros of Afalma. Their songs and rhythms owe much to the influence of the Moorish musicians centuries ago. Even the fishing boats on the beaches of Cascais show marked African traces. Called the rabelos, these boats, with their large red or white sails, which also ply on the Douro River to fetch wine from the upper valleys, are reminiscent of the transport boats of Lagos in Nigeria.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Moors and Arabs

When the Romans entered West Africa in 46 B.C., they saw Africans and called them Maures, from the Greek adjective Mauros, meaning dark or black. It is from Mauros and the Latin term Marues that the word Moor is derived. Since the inhabitants of North Africa were black, the Romans and later the Europeans called them Moors. It is no coincidence that the land inhabited by the Moors was called Mauritania and Morocco, meaning "Land of the Blacks."

In the beginning of the seventh century, the Arab prophet, Muhammad, began to preach the word of Islam. Consumed with religious fervor, the Arabs sought to spread Islam and conquer the world. By 708, the Arabs had overrun North Africa. Consequently, Moors in large numbers accepted Arabic as the national language and converted to their conqueror's religion, Islam. Interestingly, hundreds of years later, Africans who had been enslaved by Europeans would again convert to their conqueror's religion, Christianity.

After the fall of the Roman Empire (fifth century), Spain was held by a barbaric white tribe, the Visigoths. Though they were Christians, their brand of Christianity was cruel and unjust. For this reason, Spain's Jews, serfs, and slaves looked favorably upon the arrival of a new civilization in which they would be able to live free of persecution.

Tarik, a great African chief, was given the rank of general in the Arab army and sent to raid Spain. On April 30, 711, Tarik landed on the Spanish Coast with 7,000 troops. His troops consisted of 300 Arabs and 6,700 native Africans (Moors). An ancient source, Ibn Husayn (ca. 950, recorded that these troops were "Sudanese", an Arabic word for Black people.

The Moors were unstoppable, and Visigothic Spain ceased to be. The few resisting Visigoths fled to the caves of the Cantabrian Mountains. Later in the century, the cave dwellers would venture out of the Cantabrian Mountains and reclaim parts of northern Spain.

The Moors of Africa were the real conquerors. When the Arabs arrived, the hardest part of the job had been done. Instead of treating the Moors fairly, the Arab chiefs assigned themselves the most fertile regions. The dissatisfied Moors were not long in coming to blows with the Arabs. (The History of Spain by Louis Bertrand and Sir Charles Petrie - published by Eyre & Spottiswood, London, 1945, page 36). Ultimately, the Moors acquired two-thirds of the peninsula, which they named Al-Andulus.

Al -Andulus was obliged to pay tribute to the Arab Caliph (King) of Damascus. As Al-Andulus acquired its own identity, its bond with the Caliph began to weaken. In 756, Al-Andulus proclaimed itself an independent state. Thus, its only links to the Arabs would be the Islamic faith and the Arabic language.

The Moorish architectural remains in Cordoba, Seville, and Granada prove conclusively that these cities were more prosperous and artistically more brilliant than any Christian cities in Europe at the time. The Moors of Al-Andulus held the torch of leaning and civilization when the rest of Europe was plunged in barbaric ignorance.

If Moorish Spain had been an accomplishment of the Arabs it would have been called Arab or Arabic Spain. Instead it bears the name of its creators, the Moors, i.e., Moorish Spain. Moorish culture was black in origin, bright in Achievement, and powerful in its influence on the rest of Europe.

Yvonne Clark is a researcher and public lecturer currently residing in Los Angeles, California. She had recently returned from an educational tour of Bahia, Brazil, and has done extensive research on Moorish Spain. Ms. Clark may be contacted at ycclark@earthlink.net

from
http://africawithin.com/moors/moors_and_arabs.htm

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Saturday, November 17, 2007

Distracted France settle for a draw against Morocco

AFP, PARIS
Sunday, Nov 18, 2007, Page 23

France midfielder Jerome Rothen, right, vies with Morocco's Michael Basser during their friendly soccer match at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, France, on Friday.
PHOTO: AFP
France, probably sidetracked by the closing stages of Euro 2008, drew 2-2 with Morocco in a friendly at the Stade de France on Friday night.

Though hardly a classic performance by France, it can hardly be expected with their ticket to Austria and Switzerland next year on the line in the coming days.

Tarik Sektioui opened the scoring for Morocco in the eighth minute before Sidney Govou and Samir Nasri put the home side ahead. Youssef Moukhtari then pulled the game back to 2-2 with an equalizer six minutes before full time.

QUALIFICATION

French fans know that if Italy were to win in Scotland late yesterday, Raymond Domenech and his men will have qualified automatically. If that does not happen, France need at least a draw in Ukraine on Wednesday to go through.

Concentrating against Morocco must have been hard but the weather will be even colder in Kiev in five days time and Ukraine will be highly-motivated to beat the World Cup runners-up.

GOOD OPPONENTS

Morocco midfielder Houssine Kharja, left, vies with French defender Patrice Evra during their friendly soccer match at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, on Friday.
PHOTO: AFP
"Morocco were good opponents who forced us to play and made it difficult and that's what we are expecting on Wednesday. I would like to thank Henri [Michel, Morocco coach] and the Moroccan team because they did not make it at all easy for us," Domenech said. "That's what I wanted. In Ukraine on Wednesday we must also show our fighting spirit because the match is not already won. We have to go and play it."

"It was not a bad thing to draw against Morocco because there were 10 times more Moroccans in the stadium than French and Morocco played well. But the most important thing is Wednesday's match and with the pitch virtually frozen it will serve us well in similar conditions against Ukraine," French defender Francois Clerc said.

Arab countries must grow up and modernize

I visited the Japanese cell phone company DoCoMo in Tokyo recently. A robot made by Honda gave me part of the tour, even bowing in perfect Japanese fashion. My visit there coincided with yet another suicide bomb attack against U.S. forces in Iraq. I could not help thinking: Why are the Japanese making robots into humans, while Muslim suicide squads are making humans into robots?

The answer has to do in part with the interaction between culture and natural resources. Countries such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China have relatively few natural resources like oil. As a result, in the modern age, their first instinct is to look inward, assess their weaknesses, try to learn as much as they can from foreigners and then beat them at their own game. In order to beat the Westerners, they have even set aside many of their historical animosities so they can invest in each other's countries and get all the benefits of free trade.

The Arab world, alas, has been cursed with oil. For decades, too many Arab countries have opted to drill a sand dune for economic growth rather than drilling their own people -- men and women -- in order to tap their energy, creativity, intellect and entrepreneurship. Arab countries barely trade with one another, and unlike Korea and Japan, rarely invent or patent anything. But rather than looking inward, assessing their development deficits, absorbing the best in modern knowledge that their money can buy and then trying to beat the West at its own game, the Arab world in too many cases has cut itself off, blamed the enduring Palestine conflict or colonialism for delaying reform, or found dignity in Pyrrhic victories like Fallujah.

To be sure, there are exceptions. Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Dubai, Morocco and Tunisia are all engaged in real experiments with modernization, but the bigger states are really lost. A week ago we were treated again to absurd Saudi allegations that "Zionists" were behind the latest bombing in Saudi Arabia, because, said Saudi officials, "Zionists" clearly benefit from these acts. Someone ought to tell the Saudis this: Don't flatter yourselves. The only interest Israelis have in Saudi Arabia is flying over it to get to India and China -- countries that actually trade and manufacture things other than hatred of "infidels."

The Bush team has made a mess in Iraq, but the pathologies of the Arab world have also contributed -- and the sheer delight that some Arab media take in seeing Iraq go up in flames is evidence of that. It's time for the Arab world to grow up -- to stop dancing on burning American jeeps and claiming that this is some victory for Islam.

One thing about countries like Singapore, Korea, Taiwan and Japan, they may not have deserts but they sure know the difference between the mirage and the oasis -- between victories that come from educating your population to innovate and "victories" that come from a one-night stand by suicidal maniacs like 9/11.

As I said, the Bush team has made a mess in Iraq. And I know that Abu Ghraib will be a lasting stain on the Pentagon leadership. But here's what else I know from visiting Iraq: There were a million acts of kindness, generosity and good will also extended by individual U.S. soldiers this past year -- acts motivated purely by a desire to give Iraqis the best chance they've ever had at decent government and a better future. There are plenty of Iraqis and Arabs who know that.

Yes, we Americans need to look in a mirror and ask why we've become so radioactive. But the Arabs need to look in a mirror too. "They are using our mistakes to avoid their own necessity to change, reform and modernize," says the Mideast expert Stephen P. Cohen.

A senior Iraqi politician told me that he recently received a group of visiting Iranian journalists in his home. As they were leaving, he said, two young Iranian women in the group whispered to him: "Succeed for our sake." Those Iranian women knew that if Iraqis could actually produce a decent, democratizing government it would pressure their own regime to start changing -- which is why the Iranian, Syrian and Saudi regimes are all rooting for us to fail.

But you know what? Despite everything, we still have a chance to produce a decent outcome in Iraq, if we get our eye back on the ball. Of course, if we do fail, that will be our tragedy. But for the Arabs, it will be a huge lost opportunity -- one that will only postpone their future another decade. Too bad so few of them have the courage to stand up and say that. I guess it must be another one of those "Zionist" plots.

New York Times News Service

Copyright C 2004 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Atlantic Andalusia festival celebrates joint Arab-Jewish heritage


From November 1st-3rd, the Moroccan city of Essaouira will host a festival featuring Andalusian music – a blend of Flamenco, traditional singing of Grenada and instrumental music – with participation from artists from both sides of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.

Through the use of lyrics that incorporate Arabic, Hebrew, Moroccan spoken dialect and Spanish over ancient Andalusian melodies, the festival's organizers aim to send a message for cultural exchange and peaceful co-existence.

Essaouira Association President André Azoulay said, "This is an invitation to recall the joint memory which we seem to have lost; an invitation to recover that golden age of co-existence and the building of joint civilization and culture; an invitation to dance together and to give a different picture other than the catastrophic image conveyed daily by the media about Jewish-Arab relations."

Alongside the festival, a plastic arts exhibition will be featured, offering works from 15 Moroccan artists focusing on the themes of co-existence and cultural intermingling. Azoulay said the exhibited works represent Moroccan artists' response to the "clash of civilizations" theory he views as a politically-motivated fraud.

More art will be displayed under the title "Faces from Jewish and Arab Music". These works will take visitors on a historical journey beginning with paintings by Eugéne Delacroix from his stay in Tangier (1847), when he called in prominent Jewish musicians of the day to portray them on canvas; through photographs from the late 19th century and early 20th century; and ending with the icons of the Oriental New Wave on the Internet.

The festival will also honour the late Moroccan artist Abdessadek Cheqara (1931-1998), who is considered one of the leading figures in preserving Andalusian heritage in Morocco.

One of the most prominent participants in the festival will be Rabbi Haim Louk, head of the Moroccan-Jewish community "Em Habanim", currently based in Los Angeles. He possesses a melodious voice, and is considered one of the rare scholars of joint Arab-Hebrew musical heritage, especially the arts of "piyut" and "mtroj" in which Arabic and Hebrew words are blended in song.

Also participating in the festival will be Algerian musician Maurice El Mediouni, Moroccan artist Mohamed Ben Omar Ziani, Moroccan singer Hayat Boukhriss, and a band led by Mohamed Amin El Akrami, a teacher of Andalusian music in Tetouan, as well as singer Samira Kadiri, accompanied by the band ARABISC.

From the other side of the Mediterranean, Spanish Flamenco singer Juan Peña Fernández, who is also known as "El Lebrijano" after his birthplace of Lebrija, and Flamenco star Estrella Morrente will also take part.

During the festival, an intellectual forum on the joint Arab-Jewish heritage will be organised with the participation of researchers and artists from the Maghreb, Europe and the United States.

"We are noticing an increasing interest across the world in the joint Arab-Jewish heritage; a trend towards the restoration of memory and the recovery of joint identity," Azoulay said. "The most important issue to be presented for discussion during the intellectual forum is to know whether this trend is just nostalgia or whether it actually expresses something stronger."

MTV's Arab Prizefight

It's just after sundown and a sweltering 104º (40ºC) at a racetrack in the middle of the desert outside Dubai, and Joseph Hobeika, 24, from Lebanon, wants to live Al Helm (The Dream). He's trying to become a race-car driver, and he's got two experts to help him: Khaled al-Mutawe, winner of the Dubai Racing Academy's 2007 cup, and Rasha al-Emam, the Saudi production director for MTV and a race-car driver herself. Hobeika struggles and at one point admits, "I spent seven years at university, and I can't find a job. I just want to achieve something and impress everyone."

This is all part of a reality show, after all, and every reality show needs its epiphany. Al-Emam is part of the team developing MTV Arabia, a channel for the Arab world that will make its debut on Nov. 17, and Al Helm is the local version of the popular MTV show Made. Al Helm, however, is more than just youthful wish fulfillment. "It's very powerful and unusual for an Arab man to admit failure like that on TV," al-Emam says. And in Saudi Arabia, MTV's largest market in the Middle East, the episode quietly subverts the Saudi law prohibiting women from driving. As a Saudi female race-car driver, al-Emam is an impossibility.

With its careful mix of aspirational glamour and boundary-pushing, the new channel is crucial to MTV's global expansion: in its target markets in the region, 65% of the population is under 25. Connecting with those young people means more than just promoting pop culture, says Abdullatif al-Sayegh, 35, the CEO of Arab Media Group (AMG), which holds the MTV license in the region. "We are not introducing a music channel," he insists. "We are introducing a platform for youth, where we can bring up a lot of issues and solve them."

Beamed from Dubai, MTV Arabia targets 15-to-35-year-olds from Bahrain to Cairo. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the channel's most important market for advertising but also the most conservative, so K.S.A. 2.0, as the youngest MTV executives call it, is the default setting for how far is too far. The launch team, a mix of Saudis, Palestinians, Emiratis, Iraqis and Lebanese, decided on a 60-40 split between music videos and reality programming.

They ruled out some big hits--racy dating shows, such as Parental Control and Date My Mom--and will test subtitled versions of others like Cribs, a peek inside the private lives of celebrities--tricky here since young people revere their stars and don't really want to look behind their curtains. But the producers green-lighted local versions of the extreme-sports and street-skills show Barrio 19--one early episode features "dune-bashing," driving ATVs fast through the desert--and the Candid Camera-style Boiling Points.

Even after rolling out 52 other international versions, MTV is working hard to fit in. The creative team is cooking up graphics announcing the call to prayer--MTV Indonesia already has them--and on Thursday evenings, ladies'-night music programming encourages female viewers who are not allowed to go out to instead organize parties at home with girlfriends. Over in the editing suite, Western music videos are cleaned up according to the "4-3-2-1 rule": close-ups of a bikini are O.K. for 1 sec. but not 2; 3 sec. in a moving shot works but not 4.

While MTV may have popularized the music video, in the Middle East it is chasing its clones. Competitor Rotana has four Beirut-based music channels, financed by Saudi billionaire Prince al-Waleed bin Talal. Melody, out of Cairo, is controlled by Egyptian telecoms magnate Naguib Sawiris. Mohammed Yanez, MTV talent and music director, says his channel will be different. Sure, there will be stars like Elissa, Nancy Ajram and Amr Diab, but Yanez wants a little less melodrama. "We are always weeping in Arabic music," he complains. He plans to mix it up with Arab hip-hop, a genre that thrives in the Middle Eastern club scene but has been ignored by the music channels. A new MTV Arabia show, Hip HopNa, travels to four cities looking for the best local talent. In the last episode, audiences pick the best act.

The new channel is just the start for MTV. The launch will swell its reach to 36 million households that get MTV Arabia via satellite, up from 200,000 who now get MTV on pay TV, and MTV will earn an estimated $10 million annually for 10 years in licensing fees from AMG. MTV also has deals with AMG and its parent, TECOM Investments, both controlled by the ruler of Dubai, to launch an Arabic version of Nickelodeon kids' channel next year. A Comedy Central channel, film co-production deals with Paramount (a unit of MTV's parent, Viacom) and a Nickelodeon hotel are also under discussion. "Our vision in the long run is to create a global media hub out of Dubai," says Abdullatif al-Mulla, a former Microsoft executive who is TECOM's CEO.

But first, MTV Arabia has to find the right mix of old and new. On a recent afternoon, producers reviewed a commercial featuring a traditional Arabic music ensemble, with one musician on the lutelike oud. Little by little, the oud player went wild and trashed his instrument, Jimi Hendrix-style. The meeting erupted. "You don't just break an oud," said a producer. Another chimed in, "We don't want it to be seen that MTV is coming from America and breaking your oud." An alternate ending is in the works.

from time

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1680169,00.html

MTV's Arab Prizefight

It's just after sundown and a sweltering 104º (40ºC) at a racetrack in the middle of the desert outside Dubai, and Joseph Hobeika, 24, from Lebanon, wants to live Al Helm (The Dream). He's trying to become a race-car driver, and he's got two experts to help him: Khaled al-Mutawe, winner of the Dubai Racing Academy's 2007 cup, and Rasha al-Emam, the Saudi production director for MTV and a race-car driver herself. Hobeika struggles and at one point admits, "I spent seven years at university, and I can't find a job. I just want to achieve something and impress everyone."

This is all part of a reality show, after all, and every reality show needs its epiphany. Al-Emam is part of the team developing MTV Arabia, a channel for the Arab world that will make its debut on Nov. 17, and Al Helm is the local version of the popular MTV show Made. Al Helm, however, is more than just youthful wish fulfillment. "It's very powerful and unusual for an Arab man to admit failure like that on TV," al-Emam says. And in Saudi Arabia, MTV's largest market in the Middle East, the episode quietly subverts the Saudi law prohibiting women from driving. As a Saudi female race-car driver, al-Emam is an impossibility.

With its careful mix of aspirational glamour and boundary-pushing, the new channel is crucial to MTV's global expansion: in its target markets in the region, 65% of the population is under 25. Connecting with those young people means more than just promoting pop culture, says Abdullatif al-Sayegh, 35, the CEO of Arab Media Group (AMG), which holds the MTV license in the region. "We are not introducing a music channel," he insists. "We are introducing a platform for youth, where we can bring up a lot of issues and solve them."

Beamed from Dubai, MTV Arabia targets 15-to-35-year-olds from Bahrain to Cairo. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the channel's most important market for advertising but also the most conservative, so K.S.A. 2.0, as the youngest MTV executives call it, is the default setting for how far is too far. The launch team, a mix of Saudis, Palestinians, Emiratis, Iraqis and Lebanese, decided on a 60-40 split between music videos and reality programming.

They ruled out some big hits--racy dating shows, such as Parental Control and Date My Mom--and will test subtitled versions of others like Cribs, a peek inside the private lives of celebrities--tricky here since young people revere their stars and don't really want to look behind their curtains. But the producers green-lighted local versions of the extreme-sports and street-skills show Barrio 19--one early episode features "dune-bashing," driving ATVs fast through the desert--and the Candid Camera-style Boiling Points.

Even after rolling out 52 other international versions, MTV is working hard to fit in. The creative team is cooking up graphics announcing the call to prayer--MTV Indonesia already has them--and on Thursday evenings, ladies'-night music programming encourages female viewers who are not allowed to go out to instead organize parties at home with girlfriends. Over in the editing suite, Western music videos are cleaned up according to the "4-3-2-1 rule": close-ups of a bikini are O.K. for 1 sec. but not 2; 3 sec. in a moving shot works but not 4.

While MTV may have popularized the music video, in the Middle East it is chasing its clones. Competitor Rotana has four Beirut-based music channels, financed by Saudi billionaire Prince al-Waleed bin Talal. Melody, out of Cairo, is controlled by Egyptian telecoms magnate Naguib Sawiris. Mohammed Yanez, MTV talent and music director, says his channel will be different. Sure, there will be stars like Elissa, Nancy Ajram and Amr Diab, but Yanez wants a little less melodrama. "We are always weeping in Arabic music," he complains. He plans to mix it up with Arab hip-hop, a genre that thrives in the Middle Eastern club scene but has been ignored by the music channels. A new MTV Arabia show, Hip HopNa, travels to four cities looking for the best local talent. In the last episode, audiences pick the best act.

The new channel is just the start for MTV. The launch will swell its reach to 36 million households that get MTV Arabia via satellite, up from 200,000 who now get MTV on pay TV, and MTV will earn an estimated $10 million annually for 10 years in licensing fees from AMG. MTV also has deals with AMG and its parent, TECOM Investments, both controlled by the ruler of Dubai, to launch an Arabic version of Nickelodeon kids' channel next year. A Comedy Central channel, film co-production deals with Paramount (a unit of MTV's parent, Viacom) and a Nickelodeon hotel are also under discussion. "Our vision in the long run is to create a global media hub out of Dubai," says Abdullatif al-Mulla, a former Microsoft executive who is TECOM's CEO.

But first, MTV Arabia has to find the right mix of old and new. On a recent afternoon, producers reviewed a commercial featuring a traditional Arabic music ensemble, with one musician on the lutelike oud. Little by little, the oud player went wild and trashed his instrument, Jimi Hendrix-style. The meeting erupted. "You don't just break an oud," said a producer. Another chimed in, "We don't want it to be seen that MTV is coming from America and breaking your oud." An alternate ending is in the works.

from time

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1680169,00.html

A man who was detained by police in Dundee under the Terrorism Act is now being questioned in West Yorkshire.

Man questioned in terrorism probe
A man who was detained by police in Dundee under the Terrorism Act is now being questioned in West Yorkshire.

His arrest on Saturday followed the earlier detention of a man in Goole, East Yorkshire, after a search uncovered explosive material.

Police have been granted a warrant of further detention, which means the 31-year-old arrested in Dundee could be held until Saturday.

The investigations are not thought to be linked to Islamic extremism.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/7077655.stm

Published: 2007/11/04 11:37:28 GMT

© BBC MMVII

On Orientalism-Edward Said (4/4)

On Orientalism-Edward Said (3/4)

On Orientalism-Edward Said (2/4)

Edward Said: On Orientalism

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Six Months Without Madeleine McCann: Morocco Sighting Legit?

By Keith Walters Jones
Nov 3, 2007

Madeleine McCann disappeared on the evening of Thursday, May 3rd. That was a full six months ago. She was snatched from the resort of Praia da Luz in the Algarve, Portugal, just days short of her fourth birthday. One hundred and eighty days later, it appears that authorities are no closer to finding the now four year old little girl. Her parents Kate and Gerry McCann have commented on the grim date.
Six Months Without Madeleine McCann: Morocco Sighting Legit?
Six Months Without Madeleine McCann: Morocco Sighting Legit?

Gerry writes, "Today marks six months since Madeleine was taken from us. It is an incredibly long time for us but must be even longer for Madeleine. It is so painful for us simply being separated, but all the more distressing when we have to speculate about the situation Madeleine finds herself. We have no idea whether she is suffering but we have to hope and pray that she is being treated like a princess, as she deserves."

***

Continuing: "This afternoon there will be prayer vigils in Liverpool, Praia da Luz and many friends will be praying in Glasgow. Tonight we will be attending an ecumenical service to pray for Madeleine and other children who are suffering. There is again a lot of media presence in Rothley and the upshot is that millions of people know Madeleine is still missing and that we will not give up looking for her."

He concludes with this pea, "We urge anyone who may have information that might help us find Madeleine to call us on the confidential number +34 902 300 213, which is manned by private detectives in Spain or e-mail investigation@findmadeleine.com, or contact the police."

***

There have been more reports of a sighting in Morocco. The UK Daily Mirror reports that a Moroccan police chief yesterday said officers were scouring the north of the country after the most recent sighting of a Madeleine look-alike. Mum Naoual Malhi saw a little blonde girl with Madeleine's distinctive eye mark being bundled into a taxi in the town of Fnidk by a Moroccan woman and driven away.

According to the UK Daily Express she said, " She said: “I am certain it was Madeleine. She had the same mark of Madeleine that I have seen in the posters and looked exactly like her.” Mrs. Malhi said she was told by police that more than 100 people had called them to report seeing the missing four-year-old in the same mountain area.

***

She alerted police about a month ago that she had seen Madeleine with an older woman, who tried to hide the girl as she whisked her away in a battered Mercedes taxi. Ms Malhi, who has a four-year-old daughter, was shopping in the coastal town of Fnidek during a holiday when she spotted the girl with a middle-aged woman.

“I went to Morocco on August 19. I saw Madeleine between August 22 and September 7,” she said last night.

From
nationalledger
http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272617038.shtml

Moroccan ambassador quits Spain amid tension over royal visit

RABAT (AFP) — Morocco's ambassador to Spain returned home on Saturday as tensions between the two nations rose over the Spanish king's planned visit to two disputed territories in north Africa.

"Mr Omar Azziman returned to Morocco today for consultations," a Moroccan government official said.

Spanish officials expressed surprise Saturday at the level of controversy sparked by the announcement of the visit.

Spanish Defence Minister Jose Antonio Alonso told radio Cadena Ser on Saturday that the visit was not organised "against anyone".

He called for moderation to avoid "a deterioration in relations between the two countries, which currently have very good relations and share numerous interests".

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Madrid did not intend to take similar measures and recall its ambassador from Rabat, saying that he hoped Morocco's "sovereign" decision "would not affect" bilateral relations.

Morocco had announced Friday that it would recall its ambassador from Madrid to protest King Juan Carlos' visit next week to the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla neighbouring Morocco on the north African coast.

Moroccan groups also planned demonstrations against the king's visit.

"Moroccans do not intend to stand still before the offence being carried out against them, and protests are planned," Moroccan senator Yehya Yehya told AFP.

Rabat has always considered Ceuta and Melilla to be part of its territory, although they have been under Spanish control for more than 400 years.

A visit last year by Spain's socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to Ceuta and Melilla was not well received in Rabat.

It was the first official visit by a Spanish prime minister to the two enclaves since the early 1980s.

Spanish daily El Pais reported Saturday that the Moroccan announcement surprised Madrid, especially because Moratinos was on a semi-private trip in Morocco to attend a cultural festival.

"If Moratinos had any idea that this was going to happen, he would not have spent the long weekend in Morocco," a Spanish diplomat told El Pais.

A ministry spokesman confirmed to AFP that Moratinos was in Morocco and slated to return to Spain on Saturday afternoon.

Spanish newspapers called Rabat's reaction to King Juan Carlos' visit disproportionate.

One editorial in El Mundo pointed out that Ceuta and Melilla are Spanish territories and have been so "since the 15th and 16th centuries".

The Moroccan press had a different take, noting that the visit coincides with the 22nd anniversary of the "Green March". This was when 350,000 Moroccans marched into Western Sahara, located south of Morocco, to force Spain to give over the territory.

"The Spanish royalty is coming to open the famous Pandora's box without any apparent worries of the consequences that their decision brings," wrote Le Matin newspaper.

Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia are expected to visit Ceuta on Monday, where they will visit local officials and have lunch, before moving on to Melilla.

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http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5glO6U2x3zEDf9PPkBzNfF3BoJKyQ

The cultural impact of the french colonialism on the Moroccan identity


The nature of colonialism in the form of ancient and modern history is to exploit peoples and vulgarize them if possible at all levels, including the exploitation of culture. This immensity concept of the cultural activity in the western colonial period arises in Morocco just after the treaty of protection in 1912, which played a vital rule supporting and stabilizing the French colonial presence in the area. Thus, the French cultural immerse in Morocco affected the national principles by injecting economy, education, media, administrations, politics… external values that do not correspond with the Moroccan identity at any point. Consequently, Arabic for instance takes place only in poetry and as the language of the Quran, religion and traditions. In other words, it has become believed that it is unfit as a language of the modern age just as the same as any other national structure.
by Abdelkrim Amrani

Friday, November 2, 2007

Private detectives target Morocco in search for Madeleine


MADRID (AFP) — The Spanish private detective agency hired by the parents of missing toddler Madeleine McCann believes she was abducted and taken to Morocco, its director has revealed.

The managing director of Barcelona-based Metodo 3, Francisco Marco, told daily newspaper La Vanguardia he was confident that his agency would find Madeleine, who went missing in southern Portugal, and said her parents were not involved in her disappearance.

"A blond girl like Madeleine is a symbol of social status in Morocco. That is the way it is and I can't tell you more," he said.

Marco, 35, said he had already traveled to Morocco since being hired by Kate and Gerry McCann to pursue a lead that proved to be false.

"I bought some dolls at the airport for Madeleine. Unfortunately the lead was false. But I have kept those dolls in my house and will bring them in my suitcase on the day that I find Madeleine," he said.

The agency has 40 people working on the case in Spain and Morocco and has told the girl's parents that they expect to find her within six months, he said.

Metodo 3 focuses on cases of business fraud but also locates about 300 missing people each year, he added.

Last week the agency began operating a 24-hour hotline to gather information about the missing girl from callers in Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

Madeleine vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in southern Portugal on May 3, a few days before her fourth birthday, while her parents dined nearby with friends.

Kate and Gerry, who are both doctors, returned to England in the beginning of September after being named as official suspects in the case by Portuguese police. They have not been charged.

"Our technicians interviewed the McCanns for 10 hours, enough time to detect if they were deceiving us. My specialists assured me that they are not hiding anything, this is why we decided to help them," said Marco.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jwBOh4Ap1-7VbY5XlZJ9o01vjjog

Egypt to host Arab Olympic Games

2 November 2007

DUBAI — November 11 will mark the launch of the 11th Arab Olympic Games, which will be held in Egypt this year, a Press release said. This event was previously hosted by Egypt in 1965.

A Ministerial committee, consisting of 13 Ministers and headed by Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif, has been formed to oversee the event. In addition, an organising committee for the games has been formed, headed by Hassan Sakr, the head of the Egyptian National Council for Sports, and consists of a further 21 committee members.

The organisation of such tournaments aims at bringing together and uniting the Arab people as well as bringing competitive sports in Arab countries to a higher level in order to prepare and train athletes mentally and physically for global tournaments. The Arab Games is an exceptional event as it promotes the communication between the Arab youth under the umbrella of the League of Arab States, as well as providing exposure for the Arab champions. It goes without saying that sport is one of the most popular ways of bringing people closer together and resolving conflicts.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?section=sports&xfile=data/sports/2007/November/sports_November45.xml

Israel's human comedy wins Sakura Grand Prix

The weeklong Tokyo International Film Festival closed with the top prize awarded to The Band's Visit--a heartwarming human comedy of awkward relationships between Egyptians and Israelis.

"Every time you get something big, your first thoughts are really small. You think, 'I should go this way or that way'...Only after, do you [feel], 'Ah it's really good,'" director Eran Kolirin said at a press conference, recalling his thoughts when he stood on the stage as his film was chosen for the Sakura Grand Prix at the closing ceremony.

Sasson Gabai, the lead actor in the film, said he was also surprised.

"When they announced the other winners, I said, 'Ah, not this prize, not this prize...' Gabai said. "I then thought I shouldn't expect that much and I lost hope toward the end."

An Egyptian police band led by Tewfiq (Gabai) is invited to perform at an Arab Cultural Center in Israel. Because of inadequate English proficiency, they get lost and wind up staying overnight at an Israeli home. The band's blue uniforms with peaked hats comically represent the nervousness of the Egyptians, while the Israelis' confusion over how to deal with the serious-looking Egyptians is realistically portrayed, evoking laughter.

The film, which will open in December, was jointly made by people of different ethnicities living in the region.

During the press briefing, the shy and modest Kolirin often got help from Gabai when the director was baffled by questions from reporters. When one asked the director, "Why do you think people like this film so much?" Gabai answered instead.

"I think it's the need for comfort and compassion...They [characters in the film] don't have the barriers, they don't have the citizenship, they don't have the countries behind them, the professions, their own local environment. Their situation brings them together, and once they succeed in trying, at least, to interact with each other...anybody who sees it will [have] compassionate feelings," he said.

Chinese film The Western Trunk Line, directed by Li Jixian, took home the Special Jury Prize. The Award for Best Director was given to Peter Howitt of Dangerous Parking, in which he also was the main character, Noah, a desperate alcoholic and drug addict.

The Award for Best Actor went to teenager Damian Ul in the Polish film Trick, while Shefali Shah in Gandhi My Father got the best actress prize. The Award for Best Artistic Contribution went to The Waltz, directed by Italian Salvatore Maira.

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Mideast reality

This year's Tokyo International Film Festival presented a greater variety of Middle Eastern films, thanks to the expansion of the selections with the "Winds of Asia--Middle East" division. Crossing the Dust, by Iraqi Kurdish director Shawkat Amin Korki, is one such movie that vividly depicts the lives of Arabs and Kurds after the collapse of the regime of Saddam Hussein.

"I wanted viewers to think about how people should live their lives," the director said during his visit to Tokyo for the festival. "Long-lasting conflicts and wars tend to take humanity away, but I wanted to convey the idea that people are human beings after all."

Two Kurdish soldiers find a lost Arab boy named Saddam while they are transporting food, and try to locate his parents. The film realistically depicts the situation in the region, including how U.S. soldiers look to ordinary people from a Kurdish point of view, allowing us to see something we can't see from media coverage.

(Nov. 2, 2007)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20071102TDY14003.htm