Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Morocco's Tangled Web
Royal rose gardens are lined with internet
kiosks, cybercafe screens shield couples
smooching via Skype, and commentators dis-
cuss breaking news in Egypt via Twitter: wel-
come to Morocco, home of techie trendsetters.
Social-media adoption has accelerated
across Morocco, often outpacing political con-
trols. With periodic restrictions on services
like YouTube and Skype and arrests of local
bloggers, Morocco's 2013 ranking on Report-
ers Without Borders' Press Freedom Index sits
at 136 out of 178 countries.
Yet as Morocco's new National Press Syn-
dicate reported in 2010, Moroccans' preferred
information source is now the internet. Don't
be surprised to sit next to a smartphone
status-updating Moroccan on a rural bus ride.
Do
Conserve water
Water is a scarce and
valuable resource in this pre-Saharan coun-
try.
Cover knees and shoulders
Whether
you're a man or woman; it shows your re-
spect for your Moroccan hosts.
Learn basic greetings
A few words in
Darija or Berber will delight your hosts,
who will also make an effort to speak your
language.
Don't
Give money, sweets or pens to children
It
encourages begging and shames families.
Eat in public during Ramadan
Or drink
alcohol within view of a mosque.
Skip pleasantries
Say hello before asking
for help or prices.
Reforms & Challenges
At the urging of human-rights advocates, the extreme measures of King Hassan II's 'Years
of Lead' have been curbed by King Mohammed VI. But public demand for greater demo-
cratic participation, poverty alleviation and press freedoms has outpaced government re-
form efforts.
Clever manoeuvring by Mohammed VI saw Morocco sidestep the upheavals of the
Arab Spring. The student-led 20 February movement protesting institutional corruption
and abuses of the Makhzen - the elite that surrounds the royal court and dominates the
political and business life of the country - was largely neutered by the announcement of a
new constitution offering more political accountability. Approved by popular referendum,
it made Berber an official language of Morocco, as well as offering the government more
executive powers. However, politics in Morocco still remains almost entirely under the
patronage of the crown, and speaking out against the king is a social taboo.
