Morocco Time

I’ve been thinking a lot about what Maghrebism said, “Why can’t a Moroccan share the same views as Sarkozy, based on her own evaluation and experience?” I think I spend so much time trying to convince others that all Moroccans aren’t corrupt/possible terrorists/grasping thieves, that my expectations are skewed to the positive. I admit that Ms. Dati (see below) should be allowed to make up her own mind, but I don’t believe that personal political beliefs can be entirely divorced from background and cultural values. It’s not about color, so maybe I shouldn’t have used “oreo,” it’s rather inflammatory.

That brings up the whole tangled problem of immigration. Jill states, [bolds mine] "I tend to agree with Sarkozy on immigration; for both France and the US. I don’t see why any country should allow illiterate people or unskilled workers in at this point in time. They will not help the economy, nor will they benefit the country in any other way. I hate the US “Diversity Lottery” - it seems like every year, I meet the stupidest Moroccans at the Consulate who received their visa because of it. Hardly any of them speak English. The cyber cafes in Meknes have English speakers who volunteer (or get paid) to fill out applications in English for others. Doesn’t anyone else see how this kind of immigration is harmful?"

You know what I think is harmful? There are far more serious immigration problems than “stupid” Moroccans, such as Indian companies in the U.S. that hog over 30% of H1-B visas. [...nine Indian companies are amongst the highest users of H-1B visas — between them they used 19,512 of H-1B visas (or 30% of the 65,000 visas allowed) in 2006. {link}] I could go on, but this would end up being a very long post.

As for the poor Moroccans, the problem is not that they’re stupid, but how to integrate them into society when they get here. I don’t believe that I can determine someone’s future capacity to contribute to American society based on their lack of English skills – one would hope they’d have an opportunity to improve once they arrived.

P.S. I thank God that my carte de sejour was not based on how much darija or French I spoke, because I would have surely been rejected.

Q: What happens when more than one Moroccan is in a room?
A: They form an association.

Moroccans, being somewhat cunning about money-making schemes, have latched on to the idea that a non-profit association is a great way to get cash and donations from Europe and the U.S. What’s not always so clever is the way they go about it. For example, a friend of mine from Oujda has an association to teach computer skills to local residents. All well and good, and he has a very fancy Statement of Purpose to go along with it. [OK, with horrendous grammatical and spelling errors, but an A for effort.] The problem arose when he tried to get me involved. He wanted me to write to “organizations” and ask them to collaborate with his group. I asked him, “What kinds of things would you need? Hardware/software, equipment, supplies, volunteers, money? What would the donating agency get in return – as in definite results, etc…” He had no idea. He just thought that I would be some sort of magic conduit.

In the little village where my husband was born, there are no less than seven associations for a population of about 500 people. If you can’t benefit from Westerners via tourism, try another way, I guess.

The LA Times just put out a fascinating article on production costs for the (very boring) movie Sahara, which was filmed in Morocco, of course. The funniest part?

• “Courtesy payments,” “gratuities” and “local bribes” totaling $237,386 were passed out on locations in Morocco to expedite filming. A $40,688 payment to stop a river improvement project and $23,250 for “Political/Mayoral support” may have run afoul of U.S. law, experts say.

The most pathetic part?

Although portions of the movie were shot in Britain and Spain, most of the filming was done in Morocco, a country in North Africa that has become a popular site for U.S. filmmakers. “Babel,” “Syriana,” “Black Hawk Down” and “Kingdom of Heaven” all have benefited from Morocco’s welcoming environment, favorable exchange rate and cheap labor.

An “assistant propman” on “Sahara,” for example, earned a weekly salary of $233, the equivalent of one day‘s pay for a U.S. prop worker.