Moroccan Blog Zone

NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee) Week is an Australian observance lasting from the first Sunday in July until the following Sunday. This week kicks off the seven days of festivities that celebrate the culture of the native people of Australia. It’s all about celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, achievements and history – and Shannay tells us why it’s such a great event, for more reasons than one. The week is celebrated not just in the Indigenous communities but also in increasing numbers of government agencies, schools, local councils and workplaces. The idea behind NAIDOC has its roots in a letter written by William Cooper , The letter aimed at Aboriginal communities and at churches and it was written on behalf of the Australian Aborigines Progressive Association who later gathered together for protesting. In the 1920s, Aboriginal rights groups came together to boycott and draw attention to their rights. However, around 19...

In our recent report on the rise of e-reading, we asked those who had read a book in the past 12 months to tell us what they like most about book reading. They gave a host of reasons that ranged from the highly practical to the sublime. 26% of those who had read a book in the past 12 months said that what they enjoyed most was learning, gaining knowledge, and discovering information. 15% cited the pleasures of escaping reality, becoming immersed in another world, and the enjoyment they got from using their imaginations. 12% said they liked the entertainment value of reading, the drama of good stories, the suspense of watching a good plot unfold. 12% said they enjoyed relaxing while reading and having quiet time. 6% liked the variety of topics they could access via reading and how they could find books that particularly interested them. 4% said they enjoy finding spiritual enrichment through reading and expanding their worldview. 3% said they like being mentally challenge...

For those who look at it from the outside, fashion week may seem like one big dressing-up party where celebrities and tastemakers cavort about and soak up each other’s public attention for days on end. Sure, this may be how some people (albeit a distinct minority) experience it, but recent years have amalgamated a uniform consensus among industry veterans that fashion week and all of its antics have become tiresome and uninspiring – at least within major fashion capitals such as Paris, New York, London and Milan. But as Westerners become increasingly jaded about the whole affair, those in the East are jovially celebrating the new-found prosperity of their local fashion scenes. What’s your involvement in Seoul’s fashion industry? Jung Ku-ho I organise the whole fashion week and choose which designers get to enter; I’m also responsible for sorting out everything for Generation Next. Monica Kim I have been coming to Seoul to cover its fashion week f...

The justice and development party, or PJD, has been the ruling party in Morocco since November 2011 but a number of things remain unclear about the Party’s identity. One example is the relation of the Party to the Muslim Brotherhood is unknown. The Turkish Justice and Development Party is very clearly linked to the organization. Through the Recorded Future network visualization below, however, we learn the Secretary-General of the Moroccan Justice and Development Party, Abdelilah Benkirane, denied on various occasions his party belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood. We should note the Moroccan Monarchy is not an eager supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood. When Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood man, was ousted in Egypt King Muhammad VI of Morocco was the first North African leader to welcome the interim president Adly Mansour, hailing the Egyptian military for what he called “swift and decisive action.” The Brotherhood’s grassroots political power are seen as threats to many Mon...

Let it never be said that Moroccans don’t know how to party; one of the best ways to experience this truth first-hand is to attend a wedding.  Moroccan weddings  are 24-hour affairs, but some can take place over the course of two or even three days. Just as in the west, every wedding is different, and families strive to put a unique or personal spin on the day. All the same, there are a few common themes and events that occur over the course of a wedding, and knowing what to expect if you attend one is important. First, know that there is a very great difference between ‘country’ weddings and ‘city’ weddings. Urban couples are generally a bit wealthier, and their day may include a number of dress changes for the bride; an endless supply of tagine, cakes, and cookies; and even some professional live music. Rural couples generally stick to more traditional ceremonies, though the urban influence is starting to creep in to even the most remote wedding festivities. Wh...