According to the Dutch newspaper De Gay Krant, the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, is gay. Mohammed went to college in Brussels and regularly hung out in gay bars there, De Gay Krant said.Mohammed VI is said to have helped the poor. It would be unfortunate if he was toppled. Violent riots would make the poor poorer.
In the November 2015 PARIS ATTACK, a number of Moroccans were said to be involved.
Morocco has proved useful to the CIA and its friends.
Morocco is a monarchy, like Saudi Arabia.
The following is what we wrote about Morocco in 2011:
In the November 2015 PARIS ATTACK, a number of Moroccans were said to be involved.
Morocco has proved useful to the CIA and its friends.
Morocco is a monarchy, like Saudi Arabia.
The following is what we wrote about Morocco in 2011:
The CIA-Mossad people may be in two minds about Morocco.
On the one hand, they may want to protect "the Zionist André Azoulay and his team" who run Morocco.
(MOROCCO)
On the other hand, they want to destroy Moroccan culture and make Morocco part of the New World Order.
Aangirfan would like Morocco to keep its culture, redistribute wealth and kick out the CIA.
On the one hand, they may want to protect "the Zionist André Azoulay and his team" who run Morocco.
(MOROCCO)
On the other hand, they want to destroy Moroccan culture and make Morocco part of the New World Order.
Aangirfan would like Morocco to keep its culture, redistribute wealth and kick out the CIA.
Andrey Azoulay, the King's Jewish adviser.
Former BBC Morocco correspondent Richard Hamilton says Morocco has "a gap between rich and poor described by one commentator as 'obscene'; and parliamentary elections said by critics to be a fig leaf for an undemocratic system."
(Morocco protesters demand change)
"Morocco scores among the lowest on economic indicators, ranking 114th in the 2010 United Nations Human Development Report ... compared with Bahrain at 39th.
"Morocco's gross national income per capita of $2,770 and literacy rate 56%, according to World Bank data, are particularly low.
"Libya, Iran, Jordan and Bahrain have GNI per capita ranging from $4,000 to $25,000, and all have literacy rates above 80%."
(Region's Protests Spread to Morocco)
On 20 February 2011 there were reports of peaceful protests.
The story changed on 21 February.
Former BBC Morocco correspondent Richard Hamilton says Morocco has "a gap between rich and poor described by one commentator as 'obscene'; and parliamentary elections said by critics to be a fig leaf for an undemocratic system."
(Morocco protesters demand change)
"Morocco scores among the lowest on economic indicators, ranking 114th in the 2010 United Nations Human Development Report ... compared with Bahrain at 39th.
"Morocco's gross national income per capita of $2,770 and literacy rate 56%, according to World Bank data, are particularly low.
"Libya, Iran, Jordan and Bahrain have GNI per capita ranging from $4,000 to $25,000, and all have literacy rates above 80%."
(Region's Protests Spread to Morocco)
On 20 February 2011 there were reports of peaceful protests.
The story changed on 21 February.
...
Millions protest in Morocco Casablanca 28 10 2010
On 20 February 2011, it was reported that "In Rabat, the capital, and in Casablanca, the largest city, there were between 3,000 and 5,000 protesters, and there were smaller demonstrations in Marrakesh, Tangier and other cities.
"All were peaceful." (Fears of Chaos Temper Calls for Change in Morocco)
"As protests began Sunday (20 Feb), there was virtually no visible uniformed police presence in Rabat.
"By 4 p.m., there was no sign of the state violence witnessed in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain or Iran, and the crowd had dwindled to around 1,000.
"Stores were largely unshuttered and cafes open along the protesters' route toward the parliament, as patrons watched from their sidewalk tables sipping cafe au lait in the partly Francophone capital."
(Region's Protests Spread to Morocco)
"There were reports of scattered violence on Sunday evening in Marrakesh, where protesters, some of them throwing stones, clashed with the police and attacked a McDonald’s"
(Fears of Chaos Temper Calls for Change in Morocco )
On 21 February 2011, we read that Morocco Joins in, Defying Predictions :
"All were peaceful." (Fears of Chaos Temper Calls for Change in Morocco)
"As protests began Sunday (20 Feb), there was virtually no visible uniformed police presence in Rabat.
"By 4 p.m., there was no sign of the state violence witnessed in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain or Iran, and the crowd had dwindled to around 1,000.
"Stores were largely unshuttered and cafes open along the protesters' route toward the parliament, as patrons watched from their sidewalk tables sipping cafe au lait in the partly Francophone capital."
(Region's Protests Spread to Morocco)
"There were reports of scattered violence on Sunday evening in Marrakesh, where protesters, some of them throwing stones, clashed with the police and attacked a McDonald’s"
(Fears of Chaos Temper Calls for Change in Morocco )
On 21 February 2011, we read that Morocco Joins in, Defying Predictions :
"Video clips uploaded to Youtube overnight showed what purported to be groups of protesters in Tangier, Fes, Marrakesh and other cities Sunday, including several clashes with police and apparent vandalism.
"A clip from Al Hoceima, a port in northern Morocco, showed a hotel gutted by fire and young men milling around among broken glass from the blown-out windows.
"Clips purporting to be from Tangier and Sefrou, a town near Fes, showed skirmishes with police. In the clip from Sefrou, a group of police severely beat one protester with clubs."
"A clip from Al Hoceima, a port in northern Morocco, showed a hotel gutted by fire and young men milling around among broken glass from the blown-out windows.
"Clips purporting to be from Tangier and Sefrou, a town near Fes, showed skirmishes with police. In the clip from Sefrou, a group of police severely beat one protester with clubs."
The King and his Jewish friends may be unable to prevent violence. In 1955, Berber tribesmen descended on the village of Oed Zen and killed every Frenchman they found. On 20 June 1981, up to 600 people were killed in rioting in Casablanca (Le Figaro 1 July 1981, page 2). In 1984, up to 200 people were killed in rioting in cities such as Tetouan (Le monde 26 Jan 1984, page 4).
We assume that the CIA-Mossad-NATO want to "strip influence from what a U.S. diplomat described as Morocco's 'monarchical autocracy' in a 2008 U.S. State Department cable published by WikiLeaks."
(Region's Protests Spread to Morocco)
Like Mubarak and Ben Ali, the King of Morocco has his fans.
"This king works for the people. He has done a lot for the poor," said a 67-year-old who said he was a landscape artist and gave his name only as Mohammed. "I don't know what these young people want, we who are older have seen a lot."
(Region's Protests Spread to Morocco)
The CIA-Mossad-NATO people seem to want peaceful change?
According to Robert M. Holley, a retired U.S. diplomat and executive director of the American Moroccan Center for Policy, a lobby in Washington, D.C. "The point is that if people want to change the government in Morocco, they just have to wait a couple of years until elections and do it."
(Region's Protests Spread to Morocco)
Andre Azoulay, who advises the King of Morocco.
The Moroccan people are reportedly governed by "the Zionist André Azoulay and his team."
(André Azoulay, le véritable régent au Maroc - [ Translate this page ])
Why is Morocco not like Tunisia?
1. According to Judith Miller at Newsmax.com:
"Morocco... unlike most of North Africa has remained calm."
(Tunisia's 'Jasmine Revolution' Could Quickly Wither)
Morocco is much poorer than Tunisia.
Morocco: Gross National Income per person: $2,790
Tunisia: GNI per person $7,810
In Morocco, much of the wealth is in the hands of the King, his generals and a few businessmen.
Illiteracy and poverty are widespread in Morocco.
"Tunisia's 10 million people enjoy high rates of literacy and a good educational system, relative equality for women, a strong middle class and impressive economic growth and development."
Tunisia's 'Jasmine Revolution' Could Quickly Wither
The King of Morocco, whose father was said to be worth $40 billion
2. Ratings agency Fitch has said that:
"It does not expect a Tunisia-style uprising in Morocco, because the country has invested in social housing and made progress in alleviating poverty."
(uprising unlikely in Morocco -Fitch Reuters / Protests as Tunisia readies cabinet reshuffle )
In Tunisia we saw a lot of social housing.
When we were in Morocco, fairly recently, we saw a very strong military presence, and a lot of slums and poor kids.
Moroccans
In January 2011, at UN Post, Gabrielle Pickard wrote (Poverty in Morocco UN Post):
"Poverty is particularly rife in rural areas of Morocco, where as many as one in four people living in rural regions are poor...
"Uneven development ... has led to many people moving to the bigger cities such as Marrakesh looking for employment and a better standard of living.
"But do they find it?
"Judging by the sheer scale of beggars on the streets in Marrakesh and destitute children, many as young as three ...life in the city is just as hard..."
Larache by Chach Coati -http://www.flickr. Chach Coati's photostream
3. Some people see Andre Azoulay, counselor to King Mohammed VI of Morocco, as the most important person in Morocco.
Andre Azoulay is Jewish.
Morocco is one of those Moslem countries that appears to be run by the military and the secret police.
Morocco is one of those Moslem countries that appears to be friends with Israel and the Pentagon.
The King of Morocco and his generals are very, very rich.
The bulk of the population is very poor.
There are huge slums on the outskirts of cities such as Marrakech which the tourists never see.
In 2003, when a Moslem party began to win support among the poor, bombs went off.
No Jews or Israelis were among the casualties.
The bombs were blamed on the Islamists. There was a crackdown on opponents of the military. More than 3,000 people were arrested.
Morocco occupies a strategically important position and is useful to the Pentagon.
Some people suspect that the CIA recruits Moroccans for some of its work.
Welcome to Morocco!
4. The Sunday Times reported, 12 February 2006, that, according to intelligence sources, the USA is involved with the building of a new interrogation and detention facility at Ain Aouda, near Rabat.
(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2036185_2,00.html)
Locals said they had often seen American vehicles with diplomatic plates in the area.
According to The Sunday Times:
The construction of the new compound, run by the... the Moroccan secret police, adds to a substantial body of evidence that Morocco is one of America’s principal partners in the secret “rendition” programme...
A recent inquiry into rendition by the Council of Europe ... highlighted a pattern of flights between Washington, Guantanamo Bay and Rabat’s military airport at Sale...
The secret police HQ at Temara has a fearsome reputation among former inmates. Binyam Mohammed, a Briton later sent to Guantanamo Bay, told Amnesty International that interrogators there cut his chest and penis when he refused to answer questions.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Mhamid_Street.JPG
5. I got the impression that something was seriously wrong with Morocco.
I came across a small malnourished, ragged child staring at some postcards outside a shop.
I gave the boy a few coins. He kissed my hand gravely and thanked me many times.
Moroccan cities also seem to have more than their fair share of the mentally backward (caused by inbreeding?) and the mentally ill (caused by poverty and powerlessness?)
I was in the main square in the Moroccan city of xxxxxxxxxx one sunny morning (2002).
There were riot police, and ordinary police and soldiers stationed in the square.
There were riot police down the various side streets and sitting in cafes.
There were plain clothes police and uniformed officers on all the major roads.
In the square there were speeches given by the smartly dressed leaders of one of the 'left-wing' parties. These leaders were dressed like the mafia. The crowd which had gathered to listen was small and their applause was less than lukewarm.
Tangier
Riots are common in Morocco.
In 1955, Berber tribesmen descended on the village of Oed Zen and killed every Frenchman they found.
On 20 June 1981, up to 600 people were killed in rioting in Casablanca (Le Figaro 1 July 1981, page 2).
In 1984, up to 200 people were killed in rioting in cities such as Tetouan (Le monde 26 Jan 1984, page 4).
6. HASSAN
So what is happening in Morocco?
Morocco's former king, Hassan, was said to be worth $40 billion.
Out of the 100 richest people in Morocco, 'the top 50 are in the armed forces or police.'
'The fortune amassed by the 20 richest army officers would be enough to pay off Morocco's foreign debt of $17bn.'
I visited a shanty settlement. I am not brave; I simply wandered in by accident.
This was a place of barking dogs, piles of rubbish, home made shacks with no water supply or sewage disposal, and ragged children who looked seriously malnourished.
A high wall hid the shacks of the poor from any tourists on the main streets.
A sizeable chunk of the population lives below the poverty line.
According to ex-army officer Ahmed Rami, who is now in exile, the former King of Morocco, Hassan, was a puppet of the Jews and of the CIA.
To Rami, King Hassan could not take a step without the Jew André Azoulay, a Zionist "adviser".
Azoulay - and people like him - allegedly made the important decisions, such as helping the rich get richer, and being sympathetic to Israel and the USA.
Education, the media and the whole of social life were regulated by these advisers, not by the Moroccans themselves.
In July 2000 (Le Monde diplomatique - English edition) it was reported that:
At least 25% of Morocco's population of 29 million are unemployed.
More than half the population is illiterate (70% of women) and two-thirds of people living in the country do not have access to drinking water, 87% are without electricity and 93% receive no medical care.
Morocco makes its money from the receipts sent home by Moroccans working abroad (most Moroccans want to get out of Morocco because of its corruption), from cannabis (sold in Europe), from smuggling (stolen cars and other goods), from phosphates (used in farming), from fishing (sardines), from farming (most of the best land is owned by a small rich elite, including army officers and politicians), from textiles (most Moroccan industry is still medieval and there is much competition from cheap-labour countries such as Turkey), and from tourism (Morocco gets about 2 million tourists per year while Spain hosts 45 million; Morocco has surprisingly few hotel beds).
The farms of the elite have been given much help and produce lots of oranges and vegetables intended for export to Europe; but Europe would rather buy its fruit and vegetables from the likes of Spain or Portugal. Morocco is no longer self-sufficient in wheat but has more oranges than it knows what to do with.
The farms of the poor suffer from having too many people and not enough water.
The rural poor escape to the cities -Tangiers, Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakesh - where they crowd into shanty towns on the outskirts or even in the centre.
I visited a poor farming area. The children's faces looked pinched.
Few of the girls went to school.
The houses had no water or toilets or electricity.
Transport was by donkey.
The 5 star Gazelle d'Or hotel, near Taroudant, has been visited by the likes of the Duchess of York and Michael Portillo. It refused to let me in. Rooms cost hundreds of dollars. Not far from the Gazelle d'Or I came across villages with falling down houses and ragged children.
Photo by Rosino at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosino
7. Muhammad VI came to the throne in 1999.
In all the main towns and cities there are large posters showing his face. (A bit like Baby Doc's Haiti?)
According to Le monde Diplomatique, in 2000, (Morocco: the point of change - Le Monde diplomatique - English edition)
When he came to power, the new socialist Prime Minister, Youssoufi, undertook to straighten out the economy, decentralise administrative bodies, clean up public life, fight corruption, reform justice, combat poverty, develop low-income housing for the very poor, introduce a national pact for employment and, of course, find a solution to the dispute over the Sahara.
Not much has been achieved....
The figures for illiteracy, poverty and healthcare have scarcely changed. Many reforms are incomplete, though some of them, such as electoral reform, changes to legal procedure, labour law or the law on public freedom, are vital to the continuation of the transition process.
And there is still high unemployment, as well as discrimination against women, corruption, feudal authoritarianism and sporadic human rights violations.
In the poorest neighbourhoods people are turning to the Islamists and not the socialists. The Islamist Justice and Welfare association founded by Sheikh Yassin visits the sick, helps them to buy medicine, contributes to funeral expenses, organises evening classes for the schoolchildren and supports single women, widows and divorcees.
A quote from Le Monde Diplomatique: "Latifa, aged 45, teaches maths in a secondary school in the suburbs of Casablanca.
She says "The middle classes account for barely 5% of the population, compared with more than 35% in Tunisia. Morocco's dominated by a system of networks, nepotism, clans, interconnected families who would rather give a job to an unsuitable, incompetent relation rather than a highly qualified young person from a poor background."
In May 2003, there were bomb attacks in Casablanca. Over 30 people died. Islamic militants were blamed. The government was then able to have a clampdown and 'hundreds' were arrested.
Enough of politics.
8. Moroccan cities are full of female prostitutes. But they are generally for the Moroccans (soldiers and those not yet married) and not for the tourists.
AIDS is very widespread.
My male guide, Hamid, walked ahead of me with his male friend. Hamid spent most of the time gently rubbing his friends back or holding his friend's hand. According to the experts, Moroccans like spending time with a single friend of the same sex. Same sex friendships are very important for Moroccans all through their lives. There are few limits to intimacy in same sex friendships. Moroccans 'usually marry out of a sense of duty.'
According to 'Culture Shock- Moroc co' by Orin Hargraves (Kuperard), "Homosexual relations among boys and young men are common."
"Pederasty is exceedingly prevalent" wrote Edward Westermack in "Ritual and Belief in Morocco."
In Morocco, homosexual sex by tourists is heavily punished; and sex with minors is very heavily punished with long jail sentences. In any case, tourists are not loved by the average Moroccan who sees the tourist as an alien
The hotel, the Gazelle D'or, at around £600 a night, is rather special. Visitors have allegedly included Michael Portillo, Jacques Chirac, Fergie, Rory Bremner, Mick Jagger, hosts of pop stars, statesmen, politicians, personalities, and 'the world's wealthiest closet Queens.'
According to Scallywag magazine, "As far as Westminster is concerned, the Gazelle D'or was first "discovered" by the notorious gay MP Sir Charles "Charley" Irving who died from aids in 1993. Irving, who chaired the Commons catering Committee, was famous for his private parties in the Pugin room in Westminster where he outrageously flirted with the male members of staff. Many of the 100-plus gay Tory MP's who inhabit "The Palace", often furtively, were fellow guests........
The REAL attraction of the Gazelle D'or is not just the exclusivity, or the fabulous luxury. It is, quite simply, that they boast one of the most superlative men-only Turkish baths, Sauna and Massage Parlour in the world, manned by hand-picked and specially trained swarthy Berbers who are most willing to accommodate every whim of their customers. The whole concept of the place is designed to be a veritable paradise for gays."
~~
(Region's Protests Spread to Morocco)
Like Mubarak and Ben Ali, the King of Morocco has his fans.
"This king works for the people. He has done a lot for the poor," said a 67-year-old who said he was a landscape artist and gave his name only as Mohammed. "I don't know what these young people want, we who are older have seen a lot."
(Region's Protests Spread to Morocco)
The CIA-Mossad-NATO people seem to want peaceful change?
According to Robert M. Holley, a retired U.S. diplomat and executive director of the American Moroccan Center for Policy, a lobby in Washington, D.C. "The point is that if people want to change the government in Morocco, they just have to wait a couple of years until elections and do it."
(Region's Protests Spread to Morocco)
Andre Azoulay, who advises the King of Morocco.
The Moroccan people are reportedly governed by "the Zionist André Azoulay and his team."
(André Azoulay, le véritable régent au Maroc - [ Translate this page ])
Why is Morocco not like Tunisia?
1. According to Judith Miller at Newsmax.com:
"Morocco... unlike most of North Africa has remained calm."
(Tunisia's 'Jasmine Revolution' Could Quickly Wither)
Morocco is much poorer than Tunisia.
Morocco: Gross National Income per person: $2,790
Tunisia: GNI per person $7,810
In Morocco, much of the wealth is in the hands of the King, his generals and a few businessmen.
Illiteracy and poverty are widespread in Morocco.
"Tunisia's 10 million people enjoy high rates of literacy and a good educational system, relative equality for women, a strong middle class and impressive economic growth and development."
Tunisia's 'Jasmine Revolution' Could Quickly Wither
The King of Morocco, whose father was said to be worth $40 billion
2. Ratings agency Fitch has said that:
"It does not expect a Tunisia-style uprising in Morocco, because the country has invested in social housing and made progress in alleviating poverty."
(uprising unlikely in Morocco -Fitch Reuters / Protests as Tunisia readies cabinet reshuffle )
In Tunisia we saw a lot of social housing.
When we were in Morocco, fairly recently, we saw a very strong military presence, and a lot of slums and poor kids.
Moroccans
In January 2011, at UN Post, Gabrielle Pickard wrote (Poverty in Morocco UN Post):
"Poverty is particularly rife in rural areas of Morocco, where as many as one in four people living in rural regions are poor...
"Uneven development ... has led to many people moving to the bigger cities such as Marrakesh looking for employment and a better standard of living.
"But do they find it?
"Judging by the sheer scale of beggars on the streets in Marrakesh and destitute children, many as young as three ...life in the city is just as hard..."
Larache by Chach Coati -http://www.flickr. Chach Coati's photostream
3. Some people see Andre Azoulay, counselor to King Mohammed VI of Morocco, as the most important person in Morocco.
Andre Azoulay is Jewish.
Morocco is one of those Moslem countries that appears to be run by the military and the secret police.
Morocco is one of those Moslem countries that appears to be friends with Israel and the Pentagon.
The King of Morocco and his generals are very, very rich.
The bulk of the population is very poor.
There are huge slums on the outskirts of cities such as Marrakech which the tourists never see.
In 2003, when a Moslem party began to win support among the poor, bombs went off.
No Jews or Israelis were among the casualties.
The bombs were blamed on the Islamists. There was a crackdown on opponents of the military. More than 3,000 people were arrested.
Morocco occupies a strategically important position and is useful to the Pentagon.
Some people suspect that the CIA recruits Moroccans for some of its work.
Welcome to Morocco!
4. The Sunday Times reported, 12 February 2006, that, according to intelligence sources, the USA is involved with the building of a new interrogation and detention facility at Ain Aouda, near Rabat.
(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2036185_2,00.html)
Locals said they had often seen American vehicles with diplomatic plates in the area.
According to The Sunday Times:
The construction of the new compound, run by the... the Moroccan secret police, adds to a substantial body of evidence that Morocco is one of America’s principal partners in the secret “rendition” programme...
A recent inquiry into rendition by the Council of Europe ... highlighted a pattern of flights between Washington, Guantanamo Bay and Rabat’s military airport at Sale...
The secret police HQ at Temara has a fearsome reputation among former inmates. Binyam Mohammed, a Briton later sent to Guantanamo Bay, told Amnesty International that interrogators there cut his chest and penis when he refused to answer questions.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Mhamid_Street.JPG 
5. I got the impression that something was seriously wrong with Morocco.
I came across a small malnourished, ragged child staring at some postcards outside a shop.
I gave the boy a few coins. He kissed my hand gravely and thanked me many times.
Moroccan cities also seem to have more than their fair share of the mentally backward (caused by inbreeding?) and the mentally ill (caused by poverty and powerlessness?)
I was in the main square in the Moroccan city of xxxxxxxxxx one sunny morning (2002).
There were riot police, and ordinary police and soldiers stationed in the square.
There were riot police down the various side streets and sitting in cafes.
There were plain clothes police and uniformed officers on all the major roads.
In the square there were speeches given by the smartly dressed leaders of one of the 'left-wing' parties. These leaders were dressed like the mafia. The crowd which had gathered to listen was small and their applause was less than lukewarm.
Tangier
Riots are common in Morocco.
In 1955, Berber tribesmen descended on the village of Oed Zen and killed every Frenchman they found.
On 20 June 1981, up to 600 people were killed in rioting in Casablanca (Le Figaro 1 July 1981, page 2).
In 1984, up to 200 people were killed in rioting in cities such as Tetouan (Le monde 26 Jan 1984, page 4).
6. HASSAN
So what is happening in Morocco?
Morocco's former king, Hassan, was said to be worth $40 billion.
Out of the 100 richest people in Morocco, 'the top 50 are in the armed forces or police.'
'The fortune amassed by the 20 richest army officers would be enough to pay off Morocco's foreign debt of $17bn.'
I visited a shanty settlement. I am not brave; I simply wandered in by accident.
This was a place of barking dogs, piles of rubbish, home made shacks with no water supply or sewage disposal, and ragged children who looked seriously malnourished.
A high wall hid the shacks of the poor from any tourists on the main streets.
A sizeable chunk of the population lives below the poverty line.
According to ex-army officer Ahmed Rami, who is now in exile, the former King of Morocco, Hassan, was a puppet of the Jews and of the CIA.
To Rami, King Hassan could not take a step without the Jew André Azoulay, a Zionist "adviser".
Azoulay - and people like him - allegedly made the important decisions, such as helping the rich get richer, and being sympathetic to Israel and the USA.
Education, the media and the whole of social life were regulated by these advisers, not by the Moroccans themselves.
In July 2000 (Le Monde diplomatique - English edition) it was reported that:
At least 25% of Morocco's population of 29 million are unemployed.
More than half the population is illiterate (70% of women) and two-thirds of people living in the country do not have access to drinking water, 87% are without electricity and 93% receive no medical care.
Morocco makes its money from the receipts sent home by Moroccans working abroad (most Moroccans want to get out of Morocco because of its corruption), from cannabis (sold in Europe), from smuggling (stolen cars and other goods), from phosphates (used in farming), from fishing (sardines), from farming (most of the best land is owned by a small rich elite, including army officers and politicians), from textiles (most Moroccan industry is still medieval and there is much competition from cheap-labour countries such as Turkey), and from tourism (Morocco gets about 2 million tourists per year while Spain hosts 45 million; Morocco has surprisingly few hotel beds).
The farms of the elite have been given much help and produce lots of oranges and vegetables intended for export to Europe; but Europe would rather buy its fruit and vegetables from the likes of Spain or Portugal. Morocco is no longer self-sufficient in wheat but has more oranges than it knows what to do with.
The farms of the poor suffer from having too many people and not enough water.
The rural poor escape to the cities -Tangiers, Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakesh - where they crowd into shanty towns on the outskirts or even in the centre.
I visited a poor farming area. The children's faces looked pinched.
Few of the girls went to school.
The houses had no water or toilets or electricity.
Transport was by donkey.
The 5 star Gazelle d'Or hotel, near Taroudant, has been visited by the likes of the Duchess of York and Michael Portillo. It refused to let me in. Rooms cost hundreds of dollars. Not far from the Gazelle d'Or I came across villages with falling down houses and ragged children.
Photo by Rosino at http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosino
7. Muhammad VI came to the throne in 1999.
In all the main towns and cities there are large posters showing his face. (A bit like Baby Doc's Haiti?)
According to Le monde Diplomatique, in 2000, (Morocco: the point of change - Le Monde diplomatique - English edition)
When he came to power, the new socialist Prime Minister, Youssoufi, undertook to straighten out the economy, decentralise administrative bodies, clean up public life, fight corruption, reform justice, combat poverty, develop low-income housing for the very poor, introduce a national pact for employment and, of course, find a solution to the dispute over the Sahara.
Not much has been achieved....
The figures for illiteracy, poverty and healthcare have scarcely changed. Many reforms are incomplete, though some of them, such as electoral reform, changes to legal procedure, labour law or the law on public freedom, are vital to the continuation of the transition process.
And there is still high unemployment, as well as discrimination against women, corruption, feudal authoritarianism and sporadic human rights violations.
In the poorest neighbourhoods people are turning to the Islamists and not the socialists. The Islamist Justice and Welfare association founded by Sheikh Yassin visits the sick, helps them to buy medicine, contributes to funeral expenses, organises evening classes for the schoolchildren and supports single women, widows and divorcees.
A quote from Le Monde Diplomatique: "Latifa, aged 45, teaches maths in a secondary school in the suburbs of Casablanca.
She says "The middle classes account for barely 5% of the population, compared with more than 35% in Tunisia. Morocco's dominated by a system of networks, nepotism, clans, interconnected families who would rather give a job to an unsuitable, incompetent relation rather than a highly qualified young person from a poor background."
In May 2003, there were bomb attacks in Casablanca. Over 30 people died. Islamic militants were blamed. The government was then able to have a clampdown and 'hundreds' were arrested.
Enough of politics.
8. Moroccan cities are full of female prostitutes. But they are generally for the Moroccans (soldiers and those not yet married) and not for the tourists.
AIDS is very widespread.
My male guide, Hamid, walked ahead of me with his male friend. Hamid spent most of the time gently rubbing his friends back or holding his friend's hand. According to the experts, Moroccans like spending time with a single friend of the same sex. Same sex friendships are very important for Moroccans all through their lives. There are few limits to intimacy in same sex friendships. Moroccans 'usually marry out of a sense of duty.'
According to 'Culture Shock- Moroc co' by Orin Hargraves (Kuperard), "Homosexual relations among boys and young men are common."
"Pederasty is exceedingly prevalent" wrote Edward Westermack in "Ritual and Belief in Morocco."
In Morocco, homosexual sex by tourists is heavily punished; and sex with minors is very heavily punished with long jail sentences. In any case, tourists are not loved by the average Moroccan who sees the tourist as an alien
The hotel, the Gazelle D'or, at around £600 a night, is rather special. Visitors have allegedly included Michael Portillo, Jacques Chirac, Fergie, Rory Bremner, Mick Jagger, hosts of pop stars, statesmen, politicians, personalities, and 'the world's wealthiest closet Queens.'
According to Scallywag magazine, "As far as Westminster is concerned, the Gazelle D'or was first "discovered" by the notorious gay MP Sir Charles "Charley" Irving who died from aids in 1993. Irving, who chaired the Commons catering Committee, was famous for his private parties in the Pugin room in Westminster where he outrageously flirted with the male members of staff. Many of the 100-plus gay Tory MP's who inhabit "The Palace", often furtively, were fellow guests........
The REAL attraction of the Gazelle D'or is not just the exclusivity, or the fabulous luxury. It is, quite simply, that they boast one of the most superlative men-only Turkish baths, Sauna and Massage Parlour in the world, manned by hand-picked and specially trained swarthy Berbers who are most willing to accommodate every whim of their customers. The whole concept of the place is designed to be a veritable paradise for gays."
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Some few years ago I posted this about French Moroccans wearing Mexican sombreros and supposedly on vacation traveling around the U.S.caught my attention.Now how in heil do they just happen to drunkenly stumble in the San Antonio Texass courthouse in the middle of the night
ReplyDeletelike that!? Why wearing Mexican sombreros ?
wolfblitzzer0: San Antonio Courthouse Drunk Moroccan ...
wolfblitzzer0.blogspot.com/.../san-antonio-courthouse-drunk-moroccan....
Oct 23, 2011 - San Antonio Courthouse Drunk Moroccan Muslims scandal:Are Homeland .... 'Moslems' of Moraccan or French origen in order to blame it all on Mexicans in order to ..... after some in their group broke into a San Antonio, TX courthouse. ... Some of the men, all in their 20s, wore sombreros and seemed to ...
Not how main stream media covered up for them.:
Courthouse high drama actually just high jinks - San ...
www.mysanantonio.com/.../Officials-say-bre...
San Antonio Express‑News
Oct 20, 2011 - Five French citizens arrested at the Bexar County Courthouse early ... a judge's bench and later donning sombreros found in a Bar Association storage closet. ... were from Morocco but corrected themselves later in the day, saying they had ... Coast Guard catches four Mexican poachers off coast of Corpus ...
Re rebellion in much-better-off Tunisia vs poorer, more-oppressed Morocco -
ReplyDeleteThis is actually very standard in history. Many of the most famous revolutions were carried out by elements of middle classes with rising expectations ... whereas poor desperate people are often too frightened, too needy & too lacking in resources ... Tunisia's Ben Ali was too 'benevolent' a dictator, as was Qadaffi
The ultimate example of this contrast, is the Yank revolution of 1776, carried out by very prosperous individuals whose grievances against Britain were trivial compared to what Yanks live under today
if Yanks had stayed under Britain, black slavery there would have ended much earlier ... and Yank-land might be a much better place today, as Canada is, USA residents might even have gotten health care by now
You also see this in France 1789 - rising eager middle classes; Russia 1917 - after serfdom was liberalised & some Russians were educated & not too badly off
Oligarchs know this, so they are desperate to diminish, impoverish & wipe out middle classes everywhere, USA, Greece & Southern Europe, much of the world ... it is the top of the agenda, destroy the comfortable life for commoners & put people in fear ... a million aggressive migrants is a way to do this too
Oligarchs want to destroy modest prosperity & stability & the chance for independent thought & work ... which leads to dissidence, awareness, non-compliance, rebellion
Half of all USA households get some government benefits, living on a desperate margin ... this keeps them submissive, fearing to lose what little they get as police kill or imprison their neighbours
I wish the South had won the civil war and gained independence, then northern USA would have been like Europe and Canada, and the southern half would have been very conservative, maybe even libertarian and utterly wretched. It would have been crap and the world would have seen how it produces a banana republic with ultra low wages for most people with a few mega rich.
DeleteIn fact, because south USA is non unionised companies have moved there for the low cost labour and this has stopped the north from progressing. There're so dumb in the south that workers there say that unions make products deer because this is what they have been told. But on I tell them o the net how my union got me 5 weeks and 3 days holiday a year, a very good pension, and top wages as well. So, ordinary people are much better off when they have power in the work place.
And good wages for workers is good for small businesses too. If I had a little Hi Fi shop I'd be better off opening it in wealthy middleclass suburbia than in a run down low waged part of the country like some southern stares. Staff wages for peanuts still wouldn't get me enough sales to make a good profit.
I found this on the net:
According to The Department of Agriculture’s measure of poverty, every red state from Arizona to South Carolina has the highest poverty rates in America; between 17.9% and 22.8%. The so-called bible belt is America’s poverty belt including Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina. According to the Children’s Defense Fund, nearly one in four children trapped in Southern red states live in dire poverty and parents of those children elect Republicans to make those despicable statistics uniform across America. Part and parcel of conditions driving the South’s poverty is low wages that voters elect Republicans to perpetuate across America.
Southern states are hostile to organized labor, five states have no state minimum wage, most are “right to work for less” states, and the 10 states with the lowest average incomes are in the former Confederacy including Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, New Mexico, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina and Oklahoma according to the Equality of Economic Opportunity Project. Republicans in Congress promote policies that create poverty across the South and red state voters elect them anyway to subject the entire nation to low wages and the poverty they engender.
The depth of Southern voters’ hatred for other Americans and their own families is evident in their support for Republicans that rejected expanding Medicaid in most of the South. According to a map by the Urban Institute, counties with the most people without healthcare insurance are in the Southern United States and it defies comprehension why voters support Republicans who prevent their children, parents, brothers and sisters from access to healthcare that does not cost states one cent for the first few years and only 10% (at most) thereafter. The same voters avidly oppose the Affordable Care Act that reveals they want tens-of-millions of Americans to suffer the same ill-health and disease they choose for their families.
I found Morocco to be fairly typical of countries on the periphery of Europe. It is a mixed bag of first and third world, although aspiring to be better.
ReplyDeleteI spent a long time walking on my own around a number of towns and cities, not just in the tourist areas, and had no problems beyond minor hassles from people trying to sell me things. I was cautious but probably less so than at night in an American city.
Like you, I hope north African countries can begin to acquire European standards of governance and wealth - but as we have seen elsewhere, too much change is as dangerous as too little.
Israel-tied fake-'opposition' Vladimir Putin has just passionately endorsed Israel-tied fake-'alternative' Donald Trump, & the compromised half-fake 'alternative media' is going wild with glee ... This is as bad & as sad as the idiocy of all the people who bought Obama hype in 2008.
ReplyDeleteKey background here is that, a half century ago, UK economist Antony Sutton proved the whole US-Soviet 'Cold War' was fake, the US was transferring tech & resources to Stalin's homeland, to keep the whole game going ... with Israel as key transfer agent to 'The Best Enemy Money Could Buy' ... Nothing has changed.
Trump's game is roasted by Jewish convert to Christianity Brother Nathanael Kapner, 'Trump Takes the Kosher Seal' Here's Trump in his own words:
Donald Trump: “I grew up in Brooklyn Queens & Israel was always very paramount in our mind. ... I’ve devoted so much time over my life to Israel ... Consider the European Union’s recent approval of a new trade rule, that requires special labeling of products produced in what the EU now considers Israeli-occupied territories ...This is anti-Semitism ... Today, anti-Semitism hides behind the label of anti-Israel. We need a president that will call it that. I will be that president. ... Israel needs more than just our support, they need strength, they need REAL POWER behind them.”
Nathanael Kapner's comment: "All roads to the White House lead through Tel Aviv."
Morocco is also one of the destinations for 'special rendition' flights...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rt.com/usa/326377-usa-special-operations-forces-libya/
ReplyDeleteBiggest and Scariest Ghost Town... Must Watch! Video
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YO8gYmm1YA
Extract:
Following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, on 20 July 1974 in response to a Greek-backed coup, the Greek Cypriot Army withdrew its forces to Larnaca. The Turkish Army advanced as far as the Green Line, which is the present day border between the two communities. Just hours before the Turkish Army and the Greek Cypriot Army met in military combat on the streets of Famagusta, the entire population, fearing a massacre, fled. Many refugees fled south to the towns of Paralimni, Deryneia, and Larnaca. Paralimni has since become the modern day capital of the Famagusta province in the Republic of Cyprus.
As no one has inhabited the area and no repairs have been carried out, all of the buildings are slowly falling apart. Nature is reclaiming the area, as metal corrodes, windows break, and plants work their roots into the walls and pavement. Sea turtles have been seen nesting on the deserted beaches. Car dealerships are stocked with vintage 1974 models, and years following the abandonment, people claimed to have seen lightbulbs still burning in the windows of abandoned buildings.
just thought to add this ...my friend worked as a forklift truck driver at Newquay Airport in Cornwall UK,which is still run by the Americans who formerly ran it as RAF St Mawgan .Some time after 9/11 whilst operating the forklift,and after being shown a strange small building that had speakers on the outside/ventilation exhaust by the local farmer,he witnessed the arrival of an American bus followed by blacked out SUV style 4x4s with film crews later appearing.The bus stopped near to the strange building which was now playing the sounds of a busy city street(the airport is at a quite desolate spot in Cornwall)through the speakers..out of the bus came about 30 people wearing blacked out motorbike crash helmets handcuffed together,in military fatigues in a long line which were all being filmed by the jeep crews.They were all led into the strange building .He was perplexed to say the least and kept refering to them as the Stigs as they were identical to the strange mysterious character in the BBC,s awful mind control TV program called Top Gear hosted by the spooky and annoying Jeremy Clarkson.He tried to find out what was the purpose of this building from the farmer who had initially sold the land to the Americans and was repeatedly told he couldn,t tell him due to official secrets act etc.My friend is not a fantasist,he looks into the alternative media occasionally and is now working as a builder but continues to tell this story ..interesting the role of the film crew as we now know they were filming prisoners in Guantamano being "rectally feed"..and also it must be pointed out the popularity of the Stig character in the TV series TOP Gear series is almost at a religious level of obsession in the UK amongst the Sheeple..curiouser and curiouser...and thank you Aang for helping me share this as Cornwall is a place not usually associated with the special rendition program...and what was in the strange building??torture facilities??? blessings and light for the winter solstice 1 &all x
ReplyDelete