Morocco

Ah, Morocco. I have a number of friends who have been there. I haven’t only been to Melbourne’s Moroccan Soup Bar. (Boy, have I been there! It’s been far too long since I got to enjoy a chickpea bake… a devastating lack!) So, sitting on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar, there it is. Happy Independence Day, Morocco!

Morocco’s been inhabited for quite a while—at least 10,000 years, apparently. And in the classical world, Morocco was pat of that Mediterranean world as trading colonies popped up—these were set up by the Phoenicians, and the Berbers were also still around. In the seventh century, the first Islamic conquest of North Africa swept into Morocco—and what has become Morocco today was a region of Berbers influenced by Arabs. Obviously that Arabic cultural influence remains.

And the rest of the world? Well, interestingly Morocco was the first country to recognise the USA’s independence, back in 1777. In December of the same year Morocco’s Sultan declared that American merchant ships enjoyed the protection of the sultanate, and not long after this the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship was put in place. This is America’s oldest intact friendship treaty. Who knew?

While Europeans did arrive along the coast in the fifteenth century, they didn’t make much headway inland. It wasn’t until the 19th century, though, that Europe really got in on the action—France showed its interest in Morocco as a whole back in 1830, and in the 20th century the UK recognised France’s “sphere of influence” in Morocco In 1906 there was a formalisation of European relations: France and Spain were entrusted jointly with policing the country.

Independence? Well, the country gained its independence from France on 2 March 1956, and a month later, on 7 April, Spain relinquished its protectorate too. This being the case, I’m not entirely sure why 18 November is Independence Day.

Incidentally, Western Sahara is a territory that is largely under Moroccan control—control is disputed by the Sahwari Arab Democratic Republic, a partially recognised states that claims sovereignty over the whole territory. An unfortunate outcome of the conflict regarding Western Sahara is that there have been severe human rights abuses in the region, including displacement of Sahrawi civilians, and the expulsion of Moroccan civilians from Algeria, who back the Sahrawi government.

Today’s pome is by Hassan Najmi, and comes from A Crack in the Wall: New Arab Poetry.

The exiled

To Abbas

Their palms are coffins
and their heads are hats for distant clouds.
And behind them there is time
without flowerpots
 or arms

They had left.
And leaving itself returned.
And still they did not come back. 

— Hassan Najmi
from A Crack in the Wall: New Arab Poetry
translated from the Arabic by Khaled Mattawa