Moroccan Elections 2009: Who steals the show?

After the victory of the makhzeno-khobzism back in 2007, Morocco is approaching yet another election date in June 09.

Besides the official elections site updated by the Ministry of interior to locate election offices on a map (certainly NOT the censored google maps!) there is no big buzz about this event online. I have tried some key words (in French or English) to google it but the results turned poor. There even seems to be a few bloggers subscribed to blogma aggrgator who are intersted by this event. The reason for this might be that more people are attracted to social networks these days like Fecebook to express themelves or simply that some people are stealing the show !!

Well let me allow a pragraph to those people who steal the show. You can all remmber the new face that emerged in the Moroccan political scene who had resigned in August to take part in the following September elections.  Si Fouad has created an association, then a party that has grown so strong to the point it s defying other ministries and shaking the government’s stability in case they try to apply the law against the new recruits. There isn’t a single day that I don’t read his name on the paper or see his face on the news.  The secons “show stealer” is si Chabat who is criticising not only living people but also the dead! 

All for Chabat and Chabat against all

 Source:  http://difad.wordpress.com

 Will the show stealers succeed in the elections? let’s wait and see!

A free online training for teachers of English

Cardiff Online 09

For over 75 years IATEFL have been organising annual conferences in different countries for teachers of English around the world.  The two past years  the conference workshops and seminars were made available online for people who cannot attend the conference in person. I could virtually take part in both conferences organised in Aberdeen 07 and Exeter 08. The original links are by now dead but the people out there could make a nice compilation of the featured workshops and talks of the conferences  and put it for reference here.

This year the conference is organised in Cardiff on a different platform (earlier sessions were hosted on Moodle). The online Cardiff website address will be very soon announced on the official IATEFL blog promising an enhanced experience and a coverage of 40 sessions.

I will keep you posted.

The Venezuelean job

I have read so many articles lately about what is happening in Gaza.  Yesterday’s read was simply the best. The article is about Hugo Chàvez, Venezuela’s president and what he did in respnse to the massacre.

I thought about translating the article but that will not work as the text carries much arabic culture that’s difficult for me to convey. (hope a reader can do something about it!)

الأمة الإسلامية تطالب بتعيين تشافيز خليفة عليها

عبد الله الدامون

إلى الرئيس الأمجد والصديق الأعز هوغو تشافيز، حفظك الله ورعاك
أيها الأخ العزيز
نحن شعوب أمة تدعى الأمة العربية، الموزعين على أكثر من عشرين قبيلة، عفوا عشرين دولة، بعدما طاولنا الهوان، وتدحرجنا نحو مهاوي الذل والخسران، قررنا أن نعيّنك بمشيئة الله خليفة علينا نحن المسلمين، المسحوقين تحت أرجل حكومات بلا مبدأ أو دين، وأن ندعو لك في خطب الجمعة والأعياد، بأن يحقق الله لك النصر المؤزر وسؤدد الأمجاد.
أيها الرئيس العزيز، نعلم أنك رئيس دولة تسمى فنزويلا، بعيدة عنا بسنوات ضوئية ومسافات طويلة، وأنك قابع في منزلك بكاراكاس، تحكم رعيتك بالعدل والقسطاس، وليس بما يمليه عليك النبيذ والكاس، مثلما يفعل حكام العرب الذين قهروا شعوبهم بالقمع والبأس. غير أن بعد المسافة لا يثنينا عن التماس قربك، وبحر الظلمات لا يحجب عنا بهاء مواقفك، لذا اقبل منا رجاءنا أيها الرجل الشهم بأن تكون خليفة علينا، وأن نضعك مكان 20 من حكامنا، لعل الله يعوضنا بك خيرا، فنتّبع خطاك سرا وجهرا.. وهلم جرا.
إننا يا عزيزنا هوغو، ومنذ أن رأينا مواقفك الحسان، خلال عدوان إسرائيل على لبنان، وتملّينا بطلعتك البهية، وأنت تشتم إسرائيل الغبية، عرفنا أن الوقت آت لا محالة، لتكون زعيمنا الوحيد بلا إطالة، ونعاهد الله أن نكون وراءك كرجل واحد، نؤازرك حين تقلب الموائد، ونشد عضدك حين تتكالب عليك الميكروبات والزوائد.

read more here

Moroccan Elections 2009 Intro

I can’t resist not blogging once more about the political scene in Morocco.  Since my last series of blog-posts about Moroccan politics, things have well changed.  The most important of which is Si Fouad’s outgoings: creating a mouvement, going on national tours, and lastly changing the movement to a party! The buzz has been spreading online through multiple websites, a neat bio on wikipedia, and so many groups on facebook. And of course, trouble may come at any time…

Si Abbas,  the Kingdom’s prime minister, has also been making the news. Regarded as the odd man out of the new era, he hasn’t yet made any substential change to the course of Moroccan politics.  His relation with the  press has not been so peaceful and he had to mend it at times as when HE called on “Jeune Afrique” to be interviewed. Some hours ago, Abbas got elected (a 3rd term in office) as the secretery general of his party. According to the party’s constitution, a SG can go only for two terms in office. That brings to mind other Arab world stories….

The next communal elections will be held on June 12th, 2009 as announced by the King. More than 16 million voters will choose some 24,000 counsellors. Candidates representing 30 political parties will run in the elections. But will these elections be any different for the previous one(s)? Will Si Fouad’s party make any change? Will people go to vote? Will the current economic crisis in Morocco and the world affect the way people think about politics?…

Well, there seem to be many questions to answer. So let see how things evolve.

To be continued…