Last weekend I attended a conference in Morocco’s capital of Rabat, and had the opportunity to hear some of the opinions and concerns of Morocco’s youth. Alex and I both agree that our experience in Morocco differs quite a bit from our stay in Beirut, in that we have not had a chance to befriend or discuss any important issues with Moroccans of any age. In fact, up until last weekend, the extent of our interactions with Moroccans were with shopkeepers and Arabic professors.
The conference, called “Find Your Voice: A Cross-Cultural Forum on Political Participation and Civic Activism”, was jointly sponsored by Moroccan and American NGOs (including POMED and AID) in which 50 participants were selected to participate. Surprisingly it was a great array of Moroccan and American students, all willing and eager to engage panelists and express their opinions in group discussions.
To read more about the conference (and future conferences you could apply for) here is a link to POMED’s website:
http://pomed.org/activities/conferences/
Our main topics included Moroccan youth and the barriers they face in political participation and the lack of youth involvement in all areas of society, societal problems like illiteracy rates and poverty, role of media and civil society, role of government in all of these areas and finally the tools in which Moroccans and Americans can increase their involvement and the involvement of others.
We were lucky enough to have four great panels throughout the conference. Some of the panelists included US Embassy staff, members of Moroccan parliament, NGO representatives, a manager from Barack Obama’s campaign, a radio broadcaster from a Moroccan radio station and a well-known Moroccan blogger and activist. After the panels we were invited to participate in discussion groups in order to express all our personal opinions, add to the opinions of the panelists and suggest “policy recommendations” (which I will get to).
Of course, as students and young adults, we (Moroccans and Americans alike) were all very opinionated. Group discussions, in particular, tended to become very intense. It become very clear that Moroccans and Americans had completely different thought processes and ideas on the definition and ways to create change.
We began by discussing some of the problems facing Moroccans, including: a 50% illiteracy rate, a political infrastructure that catered to a political elite and no programs for youth involvement, media facilities distrusted on a wide scale and the poor development of the Moroccan media industry, inadequate number of schools of journalism and training for journalists (there are only 2 schools of journalism is all of Morocco), the slow rate of growth of civil society in Morocco and their low impact on political and societal issues, and finally how to get youth more involved in political participation and civic activism that had a positive affect on the development of Morocco.
Of course these are problems faced by governments and populations all over the world, and so it was fun to get the American and Moroccan perspectives on all these issues. During the course of the conference, it became increasingly apparent that there was a huge gap between American and Moroccan mentalities. Americans took it for granted that they were dealing with other students who were completely aware of individual rights and a culture of individual responsibility, as we are. And Moroccans, who grow up in a culture completely different than ours, tended to make suggestions that did not in any way to attack fundamental problems, rather their solutions were to amend one law or create another in order to change the system.
Of course, it is important to be able to work in a system, that is government or business structure, and make small changes for the better instead of try and attack a system as a whole. If the youth rose up against the Moroccan kingdom the king would not just give up his power, but seek to squash the revolution and consolidate his power. Maybe the king would institute some reform, but this would not be the best way to tackle the situation.
And, of course, the Americans are used to a system that actively engages the youth and creates countless opportunities for the youth to get involved and use their creativity and enthusiasm for the betterment of the country.
What both groups tended to ignore were fundamental issues that needed to be addressed. Like the illiteracy rate, or awareness of the culture of individuality and change. Americans have been told since they were old enough to speak, if not by their parent then definitely in school, that they have certain rights that no one can take away from them and that they have every opportunity in the world to be successful. We forget that.
To create awareness, there needs to be a change of mindset in Morocco and it has to start with the real youth. The youth young enough to be educated in a way that inspires them to be academically productive without the worries of family and monetary responsibilities. If an American child had to worry about doing all the daily chores instead of dream of all the things they want to do when they grow up, our culture would be wholly different. The education system in Morocco has to encourage students to think as individuals and also to expose them to other cultures and mindsets so that they can formulate opinions and criticisms for themselves. I am not an expert, but I have not seen any of this kind of education on a wide scale in Morocco.
Anyway, back to the conference. Throughout the conference, the participants were given the task of coming up with “policy recommendations” based on the insight of the panelists and the developments during group discussions. These recommendations were directed toward the American and Moroccan governments as suggestions for reform in order to open the doors for greater opportunity for political participation of the Moroccan youth.
I personally felt that the policy recommendations ended up being too vague and not creative enough. The end of the conference probably let a bitter taste in everyone’s mouths because it seemed all of our discussion did not yield as optimistic results. On the other hand, I met a lot of great people and learned a lot about the Moroccan youth…overall the conference was a success!
The conference, called “Find Your Voice: A Cross-Cultural Forum on Political Participation and Civic Activism”, was jointly sponsored by Moroccan and American NGOs (including POMED and AID) in which 50 participants were selected to participate. Surprisingly it was a great array of Moroccan and American students, all willing and eager to engage panelists and express their opinions in group discussions.
To read more about the conference (and future conferences you could apply for) here is a link to POMED’s website:
http://pomed.org/activities/conferences/
Our main topics included Moroccan youth and the barriers they face in political participation and the lack of youth involvement in all areas of society, societal problems like illiteracy rates and poverty, role of media and civil society, role of government in all of these areas and finally the tools in which Moroccans and Americans can increase their involvement and the involvement of others.
We were lucky enough to have four great panels throughout the conference. Some of the panelists included US Embassy staff, members of Moroccan parliament, NGO representatives, a manager from Barack Obama’s campaign, a radio broadcaster from a Moroccan radio station and a well-known Moroccan blogger and activist. After the panels we were invited to participate in discussion groups in order to express all our personal opinions, add to the opinions of the panelists and suggest “policy recommendations” (which I will get to).
Of course, as students and young adults, we (Moroccans and Americans alike) were all very opinionated. Group discussions, in particular, tended to become very intense. It become very clear that Moroccans and Americans had completely different thought processes and ideas on the definition and ways to create change.
We began by discussing some of the problems facing Moroccans, including: a 50% illiteracy rate, a political infrastructure that catered to a political elite and no programs for youth involvement, media facilities distrusted on a wide scale and the poor development of the Moroccan media industry, inadequate number of schools of journalism and training for journalists (there are only 2 schools of journalism is all of Morocco), the slow rate of growth of civil society in Morocco and their low impact on political and societal issues, and finally how to get youth more involved in political participation and civic activism that had a positive affect on the development of Morocco.
Of course these are problems faced by governments and populations all over the world, and so it was fun to get the American and Moroccan perspectives on all these issues. During the course of the conference, it became increasingly apparent that there was a huge gap between American and Moroccan mentalities. Americans took it for granted that they were dealing with other students who were completely aware of individual rights and a culture of individual responsibility, as we are. And Moroccans, who grow up in a culture completely different than ours, tended to make suggestions that did not in any way to attack fundamental problems, rather their solutions were to amend one law or create another in order to change the system.
Of course, it is important to be able to work in a system, that is government or business structure, and make small changes for the better instead of try and attack a system as a whole. If the youth rose up against the Moroccan kingdom the king would not just give up his power, but seek to squash the revolution and consolidate his power. Maybe the king would institute some reform, but this would not be the best way to tackle the situation.
And, of course, the Americans are used to a system that actively engages the youth and creates countless opportunities for the youth to get involved and use their creativity and enthusiasm for the betterment of the country.
What both groups tended to ignore were fundamental issues that needed to be addressed. Like the illiteracy rate, or awareness of the culture of individuality and change. Americans have been told since they were old enough to speak, if not by their parent then definitely in school, that they have certain rights that no one can take away from them and that they have every opportunity in the world to be successful. We forget that.
To create awareness, there needs to be a change of mindset in Morocco and it has to start with the real youth. The youth young enough to be educated in a way that inspires them to be academically productive without the worries of family and monetary responsibilities. If an American child had to worry about doing all the daily chores instead of dream of all the things they want to do when they grow up, our culture would be wholly different. The education system in Morocco has to encourage students to think as individuals and also to expose them to other cultures and mindsets so that they can formulate opinions and criticisms for themselves. I am not an expert, but I have not seen any of this kind of education on a wide scale in Morocco.
Anyway, back to the conference. Throughout the conference, the participants were given the task of coming up with “policy recommendations” based on the insight of the panelists and the developments during group discussions. These recommendations were directed toward the American and Moroccan governments as suggestions for reform in order to open the doors for greater opportunity for political participation of the Moroccan youth.
I personally felt that the policy recommendations ended up being too vague and not creative enough. The end of the conference probably let a bitter taste in everyone’s mouths because it seemed all of our discussion did not yield as optimistic results. On the other hand, I met a lot of great people and learned a lot about the Moroccan youth…overall the conference was a success!
3 Comments:
Hey,
Great blog and I am glad you enjoyed the conference.
Mohammed
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