downbeaten What gets to me is how much I've internalized the downbeaten Moroccan way of thinking. Perhaps I'm starting to feel like less of a stranger in Morocco, but that only means I'm absorbing the paranoia and limits on thought that Moroccans themselves feel. What makes life in Morocco sad? First is the poverty and signs of poverty, the donkeys with ratty fur and blistered skin hauling heavy loads, the children asking for money at the first sign of friendship, the haggard beaten-down expressions on so many people, the lack of charity they show each other, the garbage and burning trash heaps, the dusty roads and shabby housing. Second is the way the population is kept under control, conditioned from within by fear of stepping out of line or even having wayward thoughts. Next is the way women are pushed to the margins, the inner margins, hidden away from public view. Their spirit doesn't play the role it should in the public sphere, so gardens and art, the humanization of politics, the "feminine touch" in restaurants and boutiques all come up short. Finally there is Morocco's isolation from the vital center of contemporary culture, its daring and imagination, despite the fascination that foreign movies and clothing have among the young. There is a hunger for everything in Morocco, but the real hunger is for freedom and the means to achieve it. Sadly they don't know how to begin, and I don't know how to help them.
	location: Sevilla, Spain date: May 25, 2004 average rating: [not rated] your rating (0-10):