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“Fez is really just the medieval city that it was,” Mr. Seffar went on, contrasting his hometown with its fast-developing jet-set sister and rival, Marrakesh. “We are a little scared of what Marrakesh has become. Fez is the soul of Morocco. It’s the last bastion of what Morocco really is.” – Abdelfettah Seffar, Fes, from the article “The Soul of Morocco,” NYT, 4/8/2007
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While I dearly love Fes, this man has a very typical Fassi mindset. He forgets the thousands of years of Amazigh ????? that’s still in evidence in hundreds of little Berber villages across the Atlas, not to mention all the various unique aspects of other Arab areas in Morocco – Khemisset, Nador, Oujda, Safi… There’s still a lot of “authentic” Morocco to be found outside the main tourist areas – which, by the way, includes Fes and its knobby-kneed crowds of French gawkers.
Teddy
April 9, 2007 at 12:15 am
I didn’t like Fes, myself. Pushy. Everyone wanting you to buy shit, and when you clearly weren’t interested, everyone dropping their faux friendliness.
No Tetuoan… that was nice.
We are looking forward to coming out again, though.
Matthew Helmke
April 9, 2007 at 3:41 am
I live in Fes. I like it here. I also agree with you completely.
The Morocco Report » The soul of Morocco?
April 9, 2007 at 7:27 am
[...] what bothered me about the article until this morning, when I opened Google Reader and came across this post in Morocco Time. The article, as Liosliath says, sounds as though it was written by a Fassi, rather [...]
tuareg
April 9, 2007 at 10:25 am
i’m tuareg and i love sahara …the real soul of Morocco or westeren sahara, north africa even
Fez? whatever
xoussef
April 9, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Authentic Fassi chauvinism. they don’t have the monopole of it though… you’ll hear the same speech in every ancient town.
eatbees
April 9, 2007 at 4:03 pm
We can’t just blame the guys the reporter talked to, we need to blame the reporter who couldn’t look past the nose he was being led around by! Even if we’re just talking about Fez, it would be nice to go beyond riad restoration and the great cuisine and talk about the social realities lived by most people. He said the nouvelle ville “isn’t worth more than a glance” or something like that, which is kind of an insult to 1 million citizens who aren’t there just to be picturesque. I’m sure he’d find more human interest even in Pittsburgh, which proves this article has no vision of Morocco except to see it as an exotic backdrop.
Felix
April 9, 2007 at 10:36 pm
EB, Pittsburgh, that’s very funny. You’re right about looking deeper, but does it sell papers? Maybe the reporter wanted to write something more insightful, but his editor put the kibbosh on it.
Global Voices Online » Morocco: Bloggers talk about the soul of Morocco and recent bombings
April 15, 2007 at 9:27 am
[...] of the blog Morocco Time, takes issue with Fez being named the country’s soul, saying “There’s still a lot of [...]