Trade in Morocco

Morocco, like many other North African lands, relies heavily on imported foreign goods - goods that come both from outside the country and outside the continent of Africa altogether. However, the Natural Resource Governance Institute holds that Morocco is the largest exporter of phosphate in the world, generating a significant source of internal revenue for its economy. [1] The country exports approximately 50 million metric tons annually which includes Western Sahara (where the bulk of the reserves are holed up). It holds a near whopping 80% of the world's phosphate reserves alone - more than two thirds of total global phosphate production, according to Bloomberg (Business).[2] Alongside phosphates, other notable resources include copper, silver, iron ore, and coal. These national resources are the main stay of Morocco's exporting empire, keeping the economy afloat in, more or less, relative good standing. However, though the phosphate export business is a flourishing cornucopia of economic sustenance for the country, the potential for self-sufficiency, even given the characteristic arid nature of its North African status, is not to be balked at.

   

     With nearly 33,000 square miles of land suitable for growing crops, one seventh of which can be irrigated, Morocco is one of the elusive few Arab countries that has the potential for near total food production self-sufficiency. The potential for gainful cultivation and irrigation of land, coupled with the country's temperate Mediterranean climate, makes it possible for Morocco to produce nearly two thirds of its own grains (wheat, barley, and corn). [3]In terms of sustainability in the North African economic world, Morocco is a force with which to be reckoned. While the use of national resources has changed very little since its colonial times, the way in which the resources are used and distributed has changed significantly.

     The Moroccan government placed economic emphasis on manufacturing raw goods for export as well as the import of foreign goods. This "tit for tat" style of economic management remained relatively unchanged until the 1980s. Since then, Moroccan economic focus shifted to privatizing its manufacturing operations, retaining more of the profits, resulting in a push to increase exports, and encouraging new private investments. As a result, Morocco has significantly lowered its foreign debt and narrowed a trade deficit resulting from trade practices years prior to the country's economic renaissance. But in the 1990s, Morocco had begun to negotiate a substantially profitable, formal trade agreement with its biggest trade partner, the European Union. [4] Over time, this agreement would create a Euro-Mediterranean free trade zone between the two entities. Though this is a momentous first step for the tiny nation, its need for a less dependent economy is of ever-growing pertinence. So Morocco sought to establish other trade agreements between it and other Middle East and North African countries and then in 2004 Subsequently, if not consequently, a trade agreement was struck between Morocco and the United States. The combination of new and expanding trade agreements, economic renaissance, and more prudent use of national resources has pushed Morocco further along the path to self-sufficiency. Over time, such strides may ultimately curtail Moroccan dependence on European goods and finally secure the country's goal of becoming more economically independent.

Bibliography

Bloomberg. "Phosphate: Morocco's White Gold." Bloomberg L.P. Last modified November 4, 2015. Accessed November 29, 2015. http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/magazine/content/10_46/b4203080895976.htm

National Resource Governance Institute. "Morroco." National Resource Governance Institute. Accessed November 29, 2015. http://www.resourcegovernance.org/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/morocco/overview

Miller, Susan G. "Morocco." Encyclopædia Britannica. Last modified June 25, 2015. Accessed November 28, 2015. http://www.britannica.com/place/Morocco

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[1] “Morocco: Other – Middle East and North Africa," National Resource Governance Institute, last modified November 29, 2012, last accessed July 28, 2016, http://www.resourcegovernance.org/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/morocco/overview

[2] “Phosphate: Morocco’s White Gold,“ Bloomberg, last modified November 4, 2010, accessed July 28, 2016, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2010-11-04/phosphate-moroccos-white-gold

[3]“Morocco: Other – Middle East and North Africa," National Resource Governance Institute, http://www.resourcegovernance.org/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/morocco/overview 

[4] Abdallah Laroui, “Morocco,” Encyclopedia Britannica, June 13, 2016, accessed July 28, 2016, https://www.britannica.com/place/Morocco

Morocco - Religion and Lore

     

Nation of Islam Flag
Inkskape [CC-BY-2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nation_of_Islam_flag.svg

Ringstone - symbol of the Baha'i faith
[Public Domain], via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ringstone.svg

Christian symbol - Ichthus
By Frater5 [CC-BY-SA-3.0-migrated (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ichthus2.svg

     Introduced to the nation in 680 A.D., Islam is one of two newest religions in Morocco but is also the most prevalent, particularly the Sunni sect. harboring the faith of approximately 31,000,000 Moroccans. The word “Islam” is an Arabic word that conveys the idea of submission, surrender, and unwavering obedience. In particular, being that Islam is a religion, Islam stands for complete submission and unquestioning obedience to Allah [God]. This is the most widely accepted meaning of the word. However, another literal interpretation of the word Islam is “peace.” The word now is conditional as it signifies that peace of body and mind can only be achieved through submission and obedience to Allah. On the lowest end of the totem pole, but newest in its advent in the nation, claiming only roughly .1% of devotees to its roster, the Baha'i faith is also practiced. This religion, coming of age in the 19th century A.D., espouses three main tenets: Unity [one-ness] of God, unity of [major] religions (i.e. Christianity, Islam, Judaism), and unity of mankind. However, although Islam is the dominating religion in Morocco, it is not the only...nor was it the first.

     Bogaert notes that in addition to the 31,000,000 [Sunni] Muslims in Morocco, there are also 100,000 Christians present as well.[1] Dating back to 200 A.D., just a bit over one hundred years after the Roman Empire destroyed the second holy temple of Judea in 70 A.D., which served as a hub for Judaism in that time, Christianity had begun to spread in Rome. And while under the vice grip of a totalitarian Roman rule, so too did Christianity spread to the Moroccans. Christianity is Morocco's second most popular religion and also second oldest. The title holder of the most dated religion in Morocco is held by a religion whose history reaches back more than 3,500 years, and perhaps since significantly before recorded history, is Judaism claiming no more than approximately 5,000 followers. Thus far, all aforementioned religions were "established" religions - religions whose influence has claimed great nations and spread to the most populous corners of the world. However, Berber people, the arguably indigenous people to the nation of Morocco, have maintained their own religious traditions - rightly called, Traditional Berber Religion.

David Jones [CC-BY-2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reflecting_cavern_lake.jpg

     Jimmy Kirby, a graduate student of Africana Studies of Cornell University, pairs one creation story to the Traditional Berber Religion. The story belongs to the Kabyl people of the Amazigah (Berbers). [2] The lore goes as such: There was a man and a woman who lived within the earth. They were the first and only and neither knew that the other was of the opposite sex. One day, they came to a well to drink. The man wanted to drink first but the woman insisted she drink because she arrived first. He pressed her and she struck him and he struck her back - her robe fell open and the man noticed her nakedness was different than his. When he asked what it was, she said it was good. The man laid upon her for eight days and from then on, the woman birthed 4 boys and 4 girls alternately until they had 50 children. Not knowing what to do with all of their children, the Firsts sent them all away where they discovered holes in the earth that lead to the sky. They left the underground and became the first people "on earth". 

     Belcher recounts an origin myth of the Iwillimiden people of the Tuareg, a nomadic Berber people group. The story tells of group of travelling merchants who have 7 slave girls in their caravan. Once they reached the region of Taylalt, the were joined by a holy man and some time after came to a valley. The man warned them not to camp there despite how inviting the valley appeared but the merchants disregarded the holy man. At the end of the day they reached the valley. The travelers were pleased with the campsite so they rested there over night. The next day they resumed their journey. As the journey progressed, the merchants noticed that the women had become pregnant! Each seemed to be inhabited by a spirit (likely the Jinn which inhabited the valley in which they slept). The merchants remembered the holy man's warning. At this, they abandoned the women at an oasis where they all gave birth. Their children became the Iwillimiden people of the Tuareg. [3] This story and many others have stayed with the Berbers being maintained through oral tradition. The impact of Christianity occurred around the time the Romans occupied Morocco when Christianity was spreading in Rome. However, as Islam began to spread rapidly after the Islamic Conquests, and the Romans were no longer a prevalent force in the nation, Islam very quickly became the dominant religion of Morocco.

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[1] Koenraad Bogaert, “The Revolt of Small Towns: The Meaning of Morocco’s History and the Geography of Social Protests,” Review of African Political Economy 42, no. 143 (September 2014): 136, accessed July 21, 2016, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03056244.2014.918536

[2] Jimmy Kirby Jr., “Creation Stories: Uniting Humanity to Induce a Holistic Understanding of the African Worldview (master’s thesis, Cornell University, 2009), 8, accessed July 21 2016, http://africana.library.cornell.edu/sites/default/files/imported/lecture/kirby.pdf .

[3] Stephen Belcher, African Myths of Origin (London: Penguin Books, 2005), 446.

Oral Traditions - Morocco

     

     Oral, non-written records in Morocco have been an integral part of its culture for over a millennium. But with the advent of social media, reality tv, and other mediums of mass media, the precious art form is dying away and there are few left who are able to tell the tales of old. Storytelling masters would often travel around the kingdom telling tales, fables, and myths in exchange for a few dirhams (Moroccan currency which is about the equivalent of a quarter), while women would rock their children to sleep with parables of virtue and moral uprightness. While some stories were written on paper, as most historical documents are, many others were passed down as oral tradition - through spoken word. It is because of the oral method of preservation that many tales are now in danger of vanishing forever.

     In Moroccan Professional Public Storytellers: An Endangered Species, Sehlaoui shares that "there is a saying in Marrakech that 'when a storyteller dies, a library burns'. For most of the stories exist only in the heads of their narrators, who take their repertoire to the grave"[1]. Moroccan public storytelling is part of a rich Moroccan oral tradition. The domain of Moroccan oral traditions and expressions encompass a variety of forms, including proverbs, riddles, tales, nursery rhymes, legends, myths, epic songs, poems, charms, prayers, chants, songs, and other dramatic performances. Storytelling, like other forms of this oral tradition, transmits knowledge, values, and collective memory and plays an essential role in the cultural vitality of Moroccan society. Sehlaoui goes on to say, "narratives serve an essential purpose: they remind us of our duties and obligations, reasserts our identity, and it reinforces our values and gives meaning to our daily goings on"[2]

     Every aspect of the language of public storytellers conveys a message. The choice of vocabulary, for example, conveys considerable sociolinguistic information. Not all unwritten history is oral tradition-based. Some forms include musical recitation or musical renditions of historical events. Attached is a clip of a piece called "The Desert Song" written by Sigmund Romberg, chronicling the uprising of the Riffs, a group of Moroccan fighters, against French colonial rule[3]. The significance of this piece is its retelling of the Rif War - a war that ultimately ended in Moroccan defeat whereby Spanish Morocco was retaken by France and Spain, who outnumbered them.

Bibliography

Sehlaoui, Abdelilah. S. Moroccan Professional Public Storytellers: An 

     Endangered Species." In Storytelling, Self, Society. Vol. 5, No. 3.
     193 - 217. Emporia, KS: Wayne State University Press, 2009.

Romberg, Sigmund. “The Desert Song” (video). Accessed July 15, 2016.                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgmKieKYQ8Y

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[1] Abdelilah Sehlaoui, “Moroccan professional public storytellers: An endangered species,” in Storytelling, Self, Society, (Emporia, KS: Wayne State University Press, 2009), 194.

[2] Sehlaoui, “Moroccan professional public storytellers: An endangered species,” 206

[3] Sigmund Romberg, “The Desert Song” (video), Accessed July 15, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgmKieKYQ8Y

     Morocco is approximately the size of the state of California but only slightly larger. The country is positioned across the Strait of Gibraltar on the Mediterranean Sea and overlooks the bluer and more pristine expanse of the Atlantic Ocean from the northwest-most side of Africa. Almost directly to the east, juxtaposed to Morocco, is the country of Algeria and beneath, Western Sahara. On the Atlantic coast there is a fertile plain. The Mediterranean coast tip of the country is mountainous and arid.
     The city of Rabat, the capital, is positioned at 34 degrees 02'N and 06 degrees 48'E, the city of Marrakech is at 39 degrees 09'N, and 08 degrees 0'W, Casablanca, 33 degrees 36'N and 07 degrees 36'W. Morocco’s climate is particularly diverse, varying with the season and region. In general the country has a tropical climate, with temperatures reaching as high as 35°C (95°F) and as low as 5°C (41°F) in the Sahara. The coast has a warm, Mediterranean climate tempered on the eastern coast by southwest trade winds whilst inland areas have a hotter, drier, continental climate.
     Morocco's climate, geography, and history are all more closely related to the Mediterranean than to the rest of Africa, and for this reason it is not uncommon for those who visit Morocco to feel as if they have not quite reached Africa yet. Other factors include an unstable mountain range to the north that yields earthquakes. The kingdom is prone to droughts, raw sewage pollution in the water supply, and soil degradation. Most people live west of the Atlas Mountains as it insulates against the harsh Sahara Desert.  

Bibliography

“Morocco Geography.” Worldatlas. Accessed July 10, 2016. 
     http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/africa/morocco/maland.htm.

"Morocco: Relief." Encylopedia Britannica. Accessed July 10, 2016.

     https://www.britannica.com/place/Morocco/Relief.