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Morocco Week in Review 
June 16, 2018

Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web

The Moroccan Forum of Young Journalists to Welcome Participants in October

By Tamba François Koundouno -  June 6, 2018 Rabat

The Moroccan Forum of Young Journalists (FMJJ, in its French acronym) is set to welcome and host 30 foreign journalists from October 2018 to February 2019 as part of a program to foster democratic culture in the media’s coverage of important social and political issues in Morocco. But the program also aims to promote professional cooperation between Moroccan media professionals and their counterparts in partner countries. The project, which is organized via a partnership and sponsoring from the European Endowment for Democracy (EED), will be carried out under the umbrella of the organization’s Human capacity building for democracy. According to the organizers of the forum, the program’s overarching philosophy is to equip participants with the necessary tools and information to carry their missions and future professional assignments in due respects of the legal and professional.
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/06/247992/moroccan-forum-young-journalists-morocco/ ==============================================================

Former US Ambassador Edward M. Gabriel awarded the 2018 Ellis Island Medal of Honor

Kristen Kouttab June 1, 2018

Ambassador Edward Gabriel received the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor award on May 12, on Ellis Island, in New York City. This award is presented annually to American citizens “who have distinguished themselves within their own ethnic groups while exemplifying the values of the American way of life.” Among the past honorees are seven US Presidents, three world leaders, and two Nobel Prize winners. The Ellis Island Honors Society, which awards the Medal annually, notes that the award is recognized by Congress as one of the nation’s most prestigious and is annually memorialized in the Congressional Record…………
http://moroccoonthemove.com/2018/06/01/former-us-ambassador-edward-m-gabriel-awarded-2018-ellis-island-medal-honor-kristen-kouttab/#sthash.XzOOxIqL.nHFRqJyd.dpbs
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1,267 Cases of Cheating in Morocco’s Baccalaureate Exams 2018

By Ahlam Ben Saga -  June 8, 2018 Rabat-

In Thursday’s Government Council meeting, Government Spokesperson Mustapha El Khalfi revealed that 329,395 students took the baccalaureate final exam, which began June 5 and ends Friday, June 8. Quoting a statement by Minister of Education Said Amzazi, El Khalfi said that out of the 440,000 students enrolled in the baccalaureate 2017-2018 school year, 329,395 sat for the examination, which represented an increase compared to 2017 when approximately 325,000 students took the exam……………..
https://world.einnews.com/article_detail/450683471/HqDjCmxuhhQCnE_u?n=1&code=F0A6UI8SDeLVJB2O==============================================================

Breakdance helps Moroccan youth blow off steam

Morocco, Algeria have richest hip-hop scenes in Arab world due to links with immigrant communities in France. Marrakech: Under the yellow domed ceiling of the Theatre Royal of Marrakech, a small crowd cheered and watched in awe as champion breakdancers from around the world battled, with head slides, freezes and kicks, in a competition streamed globally online.
“Make some noise!” the host of the event screamed into a microphone. “Show enthusiasm. People don’t know anything about Morocco.”……………….
The spectators grew louder.
https://gulfnews.com/news/mena/morocco/breakdance-helps-moroccan-youth-blow-off-steam-1.2230790
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Morocco’s Ministry of Higher Learning Warns of Unaccredited University Curricula

By Morocco World News -  June 8, 2018 Rabat

The Ministry of Education, Professional Training, and Higher Learning has warned a number of private universities against the growing practice of advertising for unaccredited university curricula.
In a press statement released earlier this week, the ministry called on private institutes of higher education to refrain from using manipulated or fake data to attract students to their faculties or departments that have not received the ministry’s approval……….
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/06/248180/moroccos-ministry-of-higher-learning-warns-of-unaccredited-university-curricula/
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The Jews of Spain & Morocco

Wednesday, June 13th, 2018

The Jewish Journey series at the Milton & Betty Katz Jewish Community Center will continue on Wednesday, June 13, at 6:00 pm with a program highlighting the Jews of Spain and Morocco.  Speaker, Judi Galler,  Israel Center Co-Chair, Jewish Federation of Atlantic and Cape May Counties will speak about her recent trip to experience the remnants of this ancient civilization  and recent history of Sephardic Jews that emigrated to Israel and still reside in Morocco today.  A kosher succulent Sephardic meal will be served and the movie, The Forgotten Refugees, highlighting the plight of the Jews of North Africa and Iran will be shown at the conclusion of the program…………..
https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/calendar/the-jews-of-spain-morocco/event_db420466-4fa7-11e8-bab7-f326ac99c74d.html
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Artisan Project: Pop up Shop

by CH Editors  13 June 2018

In an airy, private studio in Fès, our guests were offered access to thoughtfully made objects. Earlier this year, COOL HUNTING's founders guided 24 readers through various cities in Morocco. This, we believe, expresses the best of COOL HUNTING together in a way that truly must be experienced in person. As one may expect, the CH Edition trip to Morocco was full of special moments and exclusive events. Our time in Fès exemplifies this—from a mountain-top picnic to personalized private tours through the labyrinthian medina (the largest in the world) and time spent with local families. But in addition to visiting people and places offering inspiration, COOL HUNTING organized a private pop-up shop with our friends Artisan Project, showcasing some of the best design from the area………….
http://www.coolhunting.com/design/ch-morocco-fes-pop-up-shop
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Morocco’s World Sacred Music festival in Fes spotlights ancestral knowledge

by Bridget Boakye, May 31, 2018

Visitors say you haven’t been to Morocco unless you have visited the city of Fes, also spelled Fez. The town in northern Morocco, fondly nicknamed, the “Mecca of the West” and the “Athens of Africa” has a population of 1.1 million and was once the capital of the country, yielding significant political and cultural influence……
https://face2faceafrica.com/article/wetour-moroccos-world-sacred-music-festival-in-fes-spotlights-ancestral-knowledge
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The world is their classroom

June 06, 2018

 In their travels, the Fords attended and served at a huge traditional Thai wedding, taught English to students in rural Thailand, found 550 million-year old fossils in Morocco, helped with a food assistance program in Portugal, and viewed the bright stars over Australia. They played soccer and got muddy with kids in Indonesia. They've eaten exotic cultural dishes, made friends and interacted with animals in every one of the nearly 20 countries they have so far visited…………………
http://www.cdapress.com/local_news/20180606/the_world_is_their_classroom
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Christians Want Equal Rights in Morocco

RABAT, MOROCCO — 
Christian convert Loubna and her husband, Kamal, marry in a small ceremony in a meeting room of a human rights group in the Moroccan capital, ignoring threats from people in their conservative hometown in the north of the Muslim kingdom.
They are part of a tiny minority who have converted to Christianity and are demanding legal recognition of their marriage. Islam is the religion of state in predominantly Sunni Muslim Morocco where only Muslim and Jewish marriages are deemed legal.
https://www.voanews.com/a/christians-want-equal-rights-in-morocco/4431458.html
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Ramadan in Morocco

“Awasher Mubaraka” (happy first 10 days of Ramadan) is a greeting usually said by the people of Morocco during the first days of Ramadan or at the beginning of any religious occasion. By these words, the Moroccans congratulate each other on the beginning of Ramadan. The Moroccans receive the month of “obedience” with cannons shooting. Awasher Mubaraka” (happy first 10 days of Ramadan) is a greeting usually said by the people of Morocco during the first days of Ramadan or at the beginning of any religious occasion.
https://world.einnews.com/article_detail/450908883/8-2mO9hA0IFzXoAz?n=1&code=F0A6UI8SDeLVJB2O ==============================================================

Cheating Down 25% in Morocco’s 2018 Baccalaureate Exams in Rabat-Kenitra Region.

By Morocco World News - June 8, 2018 Rabat

The Regional Academy of Education and Training (AREF) recorded 224 cases of cheating during the 2018 baccalaureate exams in the Rabat-Sale-Kenitra region, compared to 298 cases a year ago.
The number represents a 24.8 percent decrease, possibly owing to the awareness campaigns and administrative measures undertaken by the region.
The regional academy added that this year’s examination took place in “normal conditions” of transparency and fairness, in accordance with the law on the suppression of cheating in school exams….
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/06/248185/cheating-morocco-2018-baccalaureate-exams-rabat-kenitra/
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Fog Catchers Conjure Water Out of Moroccan Mist.

SIDI IFNI, MOROCCO

Women's only tour goes off the beaten path in Morocco, Iran and Jordan. Growing up on Mount Boutmezguida in southwest Morocco on the edge of the Sahara desert, Khadija Ghouate never imagined that the fog enveloping the nearby peaks would change her life. For hours every day and often before sunrise, Ghouate and other women from nearby villages would walk 5 km (3 miles) to fetch water from open wells, with girls pulled out of school to help and at risk of violence on the lonely treks. But with groundwater levels dropping due to overuse, drought and climate change, the challenge to get enough water daily was becoming harder, and almost half of people in the local area sold up and quit rural life after generations for the city.
https://world.einnews.com/article_detail/450627982/9fwfmNXXhC5mKmBc?n=1&code=F0A6UI8SDeLVJB2O
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Study Found that Cyber criminality Is a Growing Concern for Moroccan Firms

By Tamba François Koundouno  -   June 8, 2018 Rabat

With the incredible advances in technology and the unprecedented pace at which Morocco’s companies are adapting to the fast-moving world of global exchanges and interconnections, cyber criminality is rapidly becoming a major concern for Morocco’s giants in IT-related fields, including sectors like industry, services, and communication. According to a recent study, Moroccan firms are now allocating 11 percent of their budgets to the fight against cyber attacks. The study, which explored the “Global State of information security survey,” indicates that Morocco, now a rapidly industrializing country, is no longer on the fringe of the constant and worrying reality of internet-based frauds and crimes.
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/06/248143/cyber-criminality-moroccan-firms/
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OPINION: Morocco leading the charge for cost-efficient solar power opportunities

Opinion / 8 June 2018, 1:00pm / Alan Watson JOHANNESBURG

I have been shopping at Makro in Woodmead, Johannesburg, for a number of years and not too long ago I drove into the parking lot and was taken aback by how all the parking space roofs had been converted into solar panels. While rather impressed, I put this at the back of my mind since I had business to attend to and specials to capitalise on. What has reminded me of that was South Africa’s Energy Minister Jeff Radebe stating on May 16 that, between 2014 and 2016, $10.9billion (R139.7billion) had been invested in the renewable energy sector, with a further R56bn to be invested over the next few years. To state the obvious, renewable energy is seemingly where the world is heading, as humanity belatedly recognises the threat of climate change and global warming. Much has been written about the political shenanigans around South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Produce Procurement Programme and our flirtation with nuclear power during the Zuma presidency. …………
https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/opinion/opinion-morocco-leading-the-charge-for-cost-efficient-solar-power-opportunities-15375728
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Is Morocco’s boycott the future of political resistance in north Africa?

Max Gallien  Tuesday 12 June 2018

The further developments in Morocco will be watched with much care throughout the regionProtest movements in the Middle East and North Africa are not confined by geographical boundaries: groups pick up strategies, technologies, slogans and songs from their counterparts across the region. Traditionally, Morocco has not been a noted exporter of protest movements. But this is likely to change.
Since the repression of the Hirak movement in the Rif region, protesters in Morocco have shown remarkable creativity in organising protests that were difficult for the security services to repress, including banging pots and pans on rooftops, and marching on the beach, forcing the police to chase them into the waves of the Mediterranean……………..
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/morocco-s-boycott-future-resistance-north-africa-1353240629
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Morocco's social protests across time and space

Christoph H. Schwarz 13 June 2018
Between the Rif republic, the “Arab Spring”, and the diaspora in Europe, to what extent will current and future protests bring about change in Morocco? Many European politicians consider Morocco a stable and unproblematic country in an otherwise unpredictable region. Take the case of Germany, where the Federal Minister of the Interior, Horst Seehofer, aims to classify all the states of the Maghreb as “secure countries of origin”. Jens Spahn, now Federal Minister of Health, has always shared this view and bluntly justified it a few months ago by saying that many Europeans went on holiday in countries like Morocco, “so these must be safe countries”. That this attractive tourism destination is now even applying to host the FIFA World Cup 2026, also fits within this picture. But this is at most half the truth….
https://www.opendemocracy.net/north-africa-west-asia/christoph-h-schwarz/moroccos-social-protests-across-time-and-space
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Morocco’s Educated Women Challenge Society’s Norms about Sexuality and Marriage

By Tamba François Koundouno  - June 7, 2018 Rabat

Even though life is generally hard for marriageable single women in the Arab world, Morocco’s number of “single independent women” is rapidly increasing, making the phenomenon a norm in Moroccan cities, especially Casablanca and Rabat. There are more than eight million Moroccan women who lead a single life, Ouest-France reported earlier this week, explaining that education level is the primary reason for the marked increase in the number of unmarried women. “I totally invest myself in my job, and I’m financially independent. I feel free now and I’d rather stay alone. Why would I need a man?” asked Aicha, a divorcee in her forties who reports to have found fulfillment and purpose in her professional achievements.
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/06/248097/moroccos-educated-women-challenge-societys-norms-sexuality-marriage/
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Crafting mosaic tile is an endangered tradition. Here are the folks keeping it alive

Sophie Pollock, Round Earth Media June 7, 2018 FEZ, Morocco

Morocco prides itself on an artisan culture that creates striking jewelry, metal, leather and wood. But one traditional craft is in danger of fading — the centuries-old skill of making zellige — the mosaic tile that adorns mosques and palaces. Making these tiles, a skill handed down from father to son, requires intense training and hard work with low pay. Few young people now are interested in learning how, as factories here and abroad can spit out similar tiles much faster and cheaper………………….
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/06/07/morocco-zellige-mosaic-tile-craftsmanship/660702002/
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Video: Young Teacher Inspires Children in Rural Village

By Ahlam Ben Saga - June 7, 2018 Rabat

Not long after Benatia’s photo sheltering a little girl from rain warmed hearts, a new inspiring photo-video of a Moroccan teacher who has changed the lives of his rural students has emerged. After the young teacher moved to teach in a rural douar (village), the school’s poor condition did not discourage him from doing the job he loves. The young man took the initiative to create a fun and comfortable environment for his students who had never left their douar before. The video which recently circulated online and garnered more than two million views on Facebook, features photos capturing the bonding moments between teacher and students and how he transformed their lives with small but impactful gestures.
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/06/248080/video-teacher-children-village/
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Moroccans rattle leaders with mass boycott over high prices

June 6, 2018 By  AMIRA EL MASAITI  Associated Press RABAT, Morocco
A mass boycott movement in Morocco targeting the rich and powerful has reached an unprecedented scale. It is worrying the government and prompting one dairy company to lower prices. Buying yogurt in a small grocery store in Rabat, Morocco, 24-year-old Chaima Lahsini has a request: “Nothing from Central Danone, please,” she asks the clerk, who looks back mournfully at the unwanted dairy products piled in his fridge. Lahsini is taking part in a boycott movement that began by targeting the biggest companies, largely owned by a handful of tycoons, and has morphed into a protest against the concentration of wealth and power in a country that had been spared the tumult of the Arab Spring eight years ago. The movement started on social media and is now worrying the government, and prompting some companies, like the local subsidiary of dairy giant Danone, to lower milk prices to calm consumer anger…………...
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/world/moroccans-rattle-leaders-with-mass-boycott-over-high-prices/
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