Ait Benhaddou 2

We stayed in Ait Benhaddou for the night. 2 rooms, 3 people, dinner bed and breakfast, 500Dhs (that's £40 to you Brits). Can't be bad really.
Ait Benhaddou first came to fame when David Lean used it as a set for Lawrence of Arabia. I clearly recognise the valley from the film but can't remember where the Kasbah was used. I'll have to watch it again; it's on TV Christmas Day afternoon, just the thing after pud.




Early morning view from terrace of Fibule D'Or

                                    


Ait Benhaddou from terrace of La Fibule D'Or



The valley at Ait Benhaddou

                                                                                                                    

Marrakesh Film Festival

Marrakesh Film Festival is held every year about the first week in December and we are often travelling through Marrakesh then on our way home but have never participated in anyway. This year sweetheart was with us so we decided to stop over a couple of nights and see what was going on. Unfortunately our invitation to the opening dinner hosted by the King went missing so we only caught the end. Our real interest was the Homage to Terry Gillian although we weren't there for the screening of Fear and Loathing in Las Vagas which I have never seen although  it is a classic favourite book. Sweetheart did not understand the attraction and sadly was unaware of any significance in the big foot coming down. We saw the maestro himself before the screening of The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus in the Place and sweetheart was of course interested as it was Heath Ledger's last film. Unfortunately it was a dubbed french version, and so as it was very cold and the crowd almost exclusively young males we drifted off for dinner at the food stalls. We had taken the precaution of staying in a hotel just round the corner from the Colisseum cinema and spent our last morning watching The 12 Monkeys IN ENGLISH!




The  screen in Djaa mel Faa



The new park

There has long been a park opposite the Palais Salaam which is a pleasant place to stroll in the evening but we don't go to that side of town often and when we were last there they were doing it up. We went this trip and the improvements are tremendous. It seems to be part of the walls scheme. The paving and seats and planting are all good but it is the new area which is out of House and Garden. The extension is mostly a rill with a hump bridge in the middle and avenues of trees on each side. There are fountains along the rill and it all lights up at night. But the genius is the orientation. The rill is on a line centred on a gateway in the walls across the road and the minaret of the nearby  mosque at the other end.This borrowed landscape really adds to the scene and you can stand on the bridge in the middle and see both. Like something out of the Alhambra.

The Magic Fountain

Part of the rampart restoration seems to be to create a series of public spaces on the river side of town. The sculpture park is one but the fountain in Place Aout 20 by Bab  El Kasbah is one of the more spectacular.  The fountain plays mostly in the evening and whilst it is not quite up to the standard of Barcelona's magic fountain, it certainly doesn't sing to you, the changing colours make it quite special.

New Year, New Government

Today is the first day of1433. It is also the day of the official results of the elections. The biggest party is the moderate Islamist PJD. One of their platforms was to ban the sale of alcohol so Beloved will be relieved they have no absolute majority and will presumably be moderated in their implementation by coalition partners.
Happy New Year!

Yes she was

I thought our Old Friends were impressed by the Atlas and yes the Artist was as she has posted this rather wonderful photo on Facebook.

                                                                 

Election Fever?

Following the implemetation of the new constitution born of the Arab Spring there are elections today for the new lower house. These have been brought forward from next year to meet the demands for democratic reform. The constitution gives more power to the Prime Minister ,although the King retains control of most important decisions, and guarantees women social and civil rights in addition to their existing political rights. It also recognises the Berber language for the first time although it is unclear what this will amount to. Not I think as yet the equivalent of the Welsh Language Act. (See links below for details of the new constitution.)

Although there had been some discussion on news programmes prior to the holiday the campaign did not officially launch until November 12 after the Eid holiday. There was no sign of it here in Taroudant until November 18 (also a public holiday). Suddenly there were leaflets through the door .On going into town it was clear that there had been recent poster and leafleting activity. Posters had been put up for a number of parties and some leaflets were being scrutinised. We saw evidence of parties whose emblems were a pigeon, a book, a yacht and a prancing pony. There were also more general posters  exhorting the populace to vote.

The next day all sign of these had disappeared apart from some of the general "vote" posters (those on the inside of shop windows and the backs of caleches; presumably paid for sites) and one proper plastic hung banner for the yacht party. On Tuesday huge banners appeared on the town walls with the "Vote" message. When we went into Agadir on Wednesday they were raised at the major roundabouts and on the backs of buses.

Other leaflets for an ear of wheat and a scales party appeared. The ear of wheat and scales parties each included one woman in their four candiates but the other parties only had male candidates. To try and counteract this selection bias there are 60 seats (out of 395) reserved for women (elected by proportional representation from a list).

The February 20 movement which demonstrated for the reforms is calling on voters to boycott the election. I am not sure that is necessary. Everybody we have spoken to in our admittedly limited circle seems anything but enraptured by the prospect of a new government. They politely explain that the person on television is a politician setting out their programme;(the word manifesto is never used - perhaps it it is too like "manifestation" their word for a demonstration); and this is immediately and vehemently followed by "AND IT'S ALL LIES".
In general they seem to have achieved a level of cynicsm reached in Britain only after the duckhouse expenses revelations and  the demand MPs debate that they should be excluded from millionaire Chancellor  George "we're all in it together" Osbourne's depradations on other public sector pensions.

There are over 20 political parties in Morocco. They band together in 3 main groupings but it is the party that is voted for not its coalition group. Given recent experience of coalition politics in Britain I am not surprised that the view is that politicians are "all lies" as it would appear from the con/lib government that they need not do anything in their manifestos and excuse this by explaining that the coalition is a separate entity to the party.

Nevertheless the elections have some interest as a source of income. It is said that some politicians "who you never see between elections" may deliver concrete benefits to secure votes and those who have quite reasonable cars can earn 500 Dh plus a tank of petrol from various parties by ferrying people to the polls.

The contrast with British elections is that the posters are dominated by the government "Vote" campaign. Obviously I can't read the leaflets but they are quite short and I would be surprised if they contained much negative campaigning. There is certainly a complete absence of the  commercial billboards with party posters of the "Labour isn't working", "13 years of Tory misrule", "Demoneyes" variety.

It usually takes up to 3 days for the votes to be counted so it will be some time before we know the outcome.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15738259

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15884484

http://www.majalla.com/eng/2011/10/article55226645

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jDe5yJHKl0fuZfG2Exhjd56e45ig?docId=c615ab44303a4ee4bc9e4b7e0e55b5eb

http://www.bitterlemons-international.org/inside.php?id=1458

http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/11/16/elections_dilemmas_for_moroccos_protest_movement

http://www.moroccoboard.com/viewpoint/122-dr-hussein-ben-kirat-/5489-moroccos-new-constitution-and-the-prospects-of-nov-25-2011-general-elections

http://www.consultancyafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=822:post-election-reflection-moroccos-2011-constitutional-referendum-&catid=42:election-reflection&Itemid=270

http://www.iranian.com/main/blog/darius-kadivar/sitting-pretty-will-morocco-s-elections-reduce-kings-powers