In light of last week's events

This week started off innocently enough. It was my first real week of work and I was eager to getting started and to begin feeling more integrated in the office environment. Tuesday was the 11th anniversary of September 11th and it was business as usual. Aside from checking Facebook news feeds and the news headlines, there was very little "on the ground" affirmation of the day. Which makes sense; when I've spoken with Moroccan friends about the terrible tragedy in New York City on September 11th, 2001 very often they respond with a comparison. They may comment about how our death count in the Middle East since 9/11 significantly overshadows the three thousand-something casualties we incurred that day; they will bring up Palestine, or the ongoing events in Syria. It's not that what happened in the US eleven years ago isn't important or wasn't devastating, but having discourses like this that don't always end in proverbial back rubbing is (for me, at least) in a way its own form of catharsis. It's nice to live in a world where the United States isn't the center of attention and to reflect on the significance of other violent and unwarranted attacks that go on around the world. My heart goes out to the victims, their families, and their communities. I can only imagine what it feels like.

In ways, being in the MENA region on the anniversary makes me think about it and its implications even more. I recognize September 11th as a terrible day not only for the American people, but as a grim indication of the impossibility for peaceful foreign and domestic policy to occur in the future. On Tuesday I hopped in a taxi on my way to work. The driver was making light conversation as we wove through morning traffic. As we drove, I looked out the window to see everyone going about their daily business: shop keepers sweeping the sidewalks, women in djellabas carrying raffia baskets and tugging along small children as they completed her errands, men colluding at coffee shops around fanned-out newspapers and cigarettes, women frying breads outside small corner stores on large metal griddles. This is what daily life in Morocco looks like to me. There are no car bombings and no anti-American banners or flag burnings. In my experience, if a Moroccan doesn't understand or agree with an element of American foreign policy, they will want to ask you about it, not attack you for it. As an American in their country they give you the benefit of the doubt. They welcome you with open arms. These are the Muslims that I interact with everyday.

It is because of my daily experiences here that I find what happened in Benghazi and what spread to consulates all over the world devastating and sickening. I have friends who work at the US Embassy in Rabat scared at the possibility that the same thing could happen to them. My family was worried for my safety. It didn't help at all when it was released that one of those killed at the US consulate in Benghazi was from my home town. He was a Navy Seal and taught English in Morocco as a Peace Corps volunteer. Though I am confident that the worst is over in Morocco, I'm trying to stay up to date on the news and am checking the Moroccan US Embassy website regularly for any breaking security warnings.

 On Friday peaceful protests broke out all over the MENA region directly following midday prayer. In Morocco, there was a protest of a few hundred Salafist Muslims organized in Salé, Rabat's neighbor across the river, and one of with numbers between 300 and 400 people near the US consulate in Casablanca. Aside from the symbolic burning of the American flag, heavy police presence (especially for the one in Casablanca), and anti-American chants (seen at nearly every protest that occurred that day across the world), both were small in size and relatively mild. The only reason I know that they happened at all was because my cab driver on my way home from work was listening to the news. I felt no tension or witnessed anything firsthand.

According to a report from Al-Jazeera on Sunday, King Mohammed VI spoke on the phone to Hillary Clinton, where he called both the murder of the US ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and the film that has provoked these protests and attacks as, "odious". In an official palace statement, King Mohammed VI expressed his, "sincere condolences" over Tuesday's events in Benghazi while also condemning, "the inadmissible provocation agains the sacred values of the Muslim religion".

In regards to the "anti-Islamic documentary" that supposedly started all of this, there is increasing evidence that points to the fact that the film wasn't even made by an American Jew, but rather a Coptic-Christian American named Nakoula Basseley Nakoula looking to incite violence between the West and the Muslim world. What's more is that several sources have come out saying that even the actors performing in this incredibly sub-par and low budget film claim that they were seriously misled. Mentions of the Prophet Mohammed in the film seem to have been dubbed in during post-production. Regardless, I see the events that occurred as avoidable, unnecessary, and embarrassing. There seems to be blood on everyone's hands.

All of a sudden, with last week's events, we (Americans) are back with the image of Muslims as extremists and the entire MENA region as a breeding pool of blind hatred towards the West. How many years of progress in foreign relations have been erased? How many will it take to bounce back? To all that were involved I wish to ask this simple question: was it worth it?

Parliamentary Assembly of the Euro-Mediterranean Union and "Le Maroc qui Bouge"

This morning as I was jogging down Boulevard Mohammed V, I was surprised to see a row stretching several blocks of tourist vans and buses outside of Parliament. Upon the windshield of each car was an official looking piece of paper that said that it was the "8ième édition de l'Assemblée Parlementaire de l'Union Euro-Méditerranée" (8th annual Parliamentary Assembly for the Euro-Mediterranean Union). The assembly, which is having conferences today and tomorrow in Rabat, will be discussing ways in which the European Union and North Africa can work together to improve overall economic and sociopolitical stability in the region as well as with their global allies.  More specifically, they will be talking about ways that parliamentary deputies can support their colleagues whose home countries are undergoing a democratic transition as a result of the Arab Spring. Another major talking point will be about the role that North African economies have in reviving economic growth in the European Union. With the most recent commercial agreement signed between Morocco and and the European Union earlier this year, the EU believes that the key to ensuring a bright future in Europe is by improving their relationships with their neighbors on the other side of the Mediterranean.

Since arriving in Morocco last August, I have noticed an undeniable shift of perspective - whereas in previous decades it had always been North Africa looking for cues and guidance from their colonial patriarchs like France, Spain, and Italy, the tables have now been turned. With the European Union struggling to stay afloat amidst its severe economic crisis as sociopolitical morale hits an all-time low, it is time for the once "top-dogs" to look to their developing southern neighbors for guidance and support. In January of this year, Stephan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, visited Morocco. After his visit, he concluded that the country was going in the right direction and was very pleased with its reform developments made so far. Morocco is one of the fastest growing developing countries in the world, and it is no secret that there is serious consideration on both sides to make it one of the first "Arab" countries to join the European Union.

However, with anything growing at the speed that Morocco is, growing pains are inevitable. In the last two years a beautiful new bridge was built to connect Rabat and Salé, its neighbor across the river. A tramway was built (with intention to further expand its route in the near future) in Rabat was a safe and efficient way for commuters and students to get around the city. Morocco Mall in Casablanca opened earlier this year and is the first world-class mall in Africa (It also has two Starbucks Coffees and an aquarium). A high-speed TGV-style train line opened between Casablanca and Tangiers. Every time I revisit cities across the country I am immediately struck by how much it has developed since last time I was there - roads are wider, new luxury hotels and condominiums are built, new glossy car models fill the downtown road systems. Moroccan development is moving at a high velocity and it shows no signs of slowing down.

Even though the major cities are receiving serious makeovers, it only takes a train or bus ride to remember that Moroccan progress is by no means all-encompassing. On the train ride between Rabat and Tangiers for instance you pass mostly through farmlands and small villages with tin-roofed clay houses and sheep scattered about in the fields. The closest taste these communities have to the development witnessed in the major cities is through their satellite televisions. As the sun was going down, we passed by a small town about 30 minutes outside of Asilah where it seemed like the entire town was sitting along the hillside waiting for the train. We heard faint cheering and saw them all waving to us as we sped past. It was a beautiful sight. Despite their remote positioning, the villagers recognize the train as a symbol of progress and hope for the country. Everyday, they watch the train come and go along the tracks carrying families, businessmen and women, and tourists from city to city. Even though they aren't passengers aboard, the train helps them stay connected to "Le Maroc qui bouge" (Moving Morocco).



With Morocco's impeccable geopolitics, and social, political, and economic stability, it is no surprise that Morocco is becoming an important regional player. While many other countries in the MENA region continue to be engulfed in sociopolitical upheaval and Europe in the midst of an economic downfall, Morocco is rising to the occasion as a beacon of hope in the darkness. I just hope that as Morocco continues to develop and become increasingly involved in European and Western politics that it doesn't leave behind a part of itself in the process.