eatbees blog

I was interviewed last spring by blogger Reb (Rebecca Robinson) for her graduate school project, and I got an award from Homeyra, who blogs about culture and politics from Tehran.

I’d like to have olive trees outside my front door.

Saying “Democratic Transition” without mentioning the need for constitutional reforms, or saying “The Just State” without mentioning the need for an independent judiciary, does nothing but give the empty impression that things are better now than they once were.

A video showing the protests that took place in Rabat, Paris, and other world capitals on May 1 in support of Fouad Mourtada, condemned to three years in prison for creating a Facebook profile of Prince Rachid of Morocco.

More evidence that “secret Muslim” rumors are hurting Barack Obama among some sections of the voting public… and the sentencing of 27-year-old Fouad Mourtada continues to ripple through the Moroccan public consciousness.

Does the honor of the Moroccan monarchy demand the destruction of a young man’s life? Apparently so. In Morocco, freedom is not a right, but a gift of the state. It can be distributed or withdrawn at the whim of its rulers, from moment to moment.

My heart goes out to those young people who, by accident of birth, have all the curiosity and eager desire I had at twenty, but are trapped in a system whose officialdom displays its arrogance and cruelty as a badge of honor.

Morocco has been ranked last for education reform among Arab nations, along with Djibouti, Yemen and Iraq. Not only that, but Morocco is last in a failing region, because “the quality of education in the Arab world is falling behind other regions” according to a World Bank report.

While I wasn’t paying attention, conservative blogger Jon Swift nominated me for the 2007 Weblog Awards in the “Best Middle East or Africa Blog” category. In celebration, here are a few of my articles from the past year that I am proudest of.

I observed the Ramadan fast during my first year in Morocco, to better understand what it was about, though I was surrounded that year by Moroccan atheists who kept begging me, as a foreigner, to buy them wine. I haven’t fasted since, but have enjoyed Ramadan “in my own way” as a time to soak in the tranquility and spiritual feeling.