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Morocco's Changing Bodies

Jillian York · 23:00 · Middle East & North Africa

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Obesity and body image are two topics rarely discussed in Morocco. The country, still developing in many ways, seems to have always had a healthy relationship with food; Moroccan cuisine, well-known around the world, uses lots of fresh meat, fruits, vegetables, and olive oil. That healthy relationship seems to be changing as in many other places in the world, as Morocco receives an influx of fast food chains and packaged products. Though some studies have been performed, the subject has been rarely broached in the blogosphere, that is until now.

In a six-part series, Margot the Marrakesh Mystic looks deeper into how Moroccan bodies (and consequently, Moroccan body image) is changing. In Part one, the blogger reflects on obesity and the increase of diabetes in Morocco:

According to the WHO Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition, “the percentage of overweight children in Morocco more than tripled between 1987 and 2004.” This is attributed to the dual trend of decreasing physical activity levels, and a shift in diets to include more fats and sugars. The trend of overweight children is happening far more in cities, and mostly among the middle and upper classes

I have a Moroccan friend who is an assistant in one of the classes at the local American School. Children in this school are mostly from the upper-middle and upper classes. I asked him, “Out of the 21 Moroccan children in his own class (foreigners excluded from the count), how many were overweight?“

He responded, “Five are quite fat, seven are rather chubby, but not yet obese; and the remaining nine are of normal weight.” So that means 57 percent of the class is overweight, or obese; while 43 percent are of normal weight.

While parts two and three deal with similar issues (namely, the increase in supermarkets and modern appliances in Morocco), part four deals with an interesting topic: the desire of young Moroccan women to gain weight. In this post, the blogger shares an anecdote about her younger sister:

My little sister THINKS she is too skinny (at least she’s teased by the girls at school who say she is, but they are chubby, so it’s probably jealousy). So she wears four pairs of pants under her jeans. I ask her why she is doing this, especially when it is over 100°F outside! She says it’s so that the thigh area of the jeans will not look “loose,” but filled out, and tight all around, like her friends look in their jeans. All I can say is that I remember being this age (fourteen) and how important it is at that age to dress like your friends.

Part five deals with fast food restaurants in Morocco. Interestingly enough, the blogger concludes:

There were no fast-food restaurants until recently. But in my opinion, they are NOT contributing to the problem of obesity in Morocco. Instead, they have enhanced our lifestyle considerably. We want these choices available here too, as they are available in the more developed countries.

Part six, which has not yet been released, will tackle the issue of diabetes in Morocco, something which, while not new, is a growing problem in the country.

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Albania: New UNESCO World Heritage Site

Elia Varela Serra · 20:41, July 12th, 2008 · Eastern & Central Europe

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This year's UNESCO World Heritage Committee's meeting took place in Quebec City, Canada, on July 2-10, and, as a result, 27 new sites were inscribed in the World Heritage List, which now totals 878 sites. According to Stepping Stones blog, the town of Berat in Albania has made it onto UNESCO's list as well:

[…] The addition is an extension by the UN heritage committee, which added the city centre of Berat to the site of [Gjirokastra], which was put on the heritage list in 2005.

Stepping Stones also posted several pictures from her trip to Berat last year, such as the one below (you can see her whole Berat photoset here):

(Photo of Berat's old town by Kimberly Hakkenberg)

The Balkanforum Blog describes Berat, quoting the UNESCO report:

Berat was added as “a rare example of a well-preserved Ottoman town”, UNESCO said.
“Berat bears witness to the coexistence of various religious and cultural communities down the centuries,” it added.

The town of 64,000 inhabitants features a castle locally known as the Kala most of which was built in the 13th century, although its origins date back some 2,400 years.

The area includes many Byzantine churches, mainly from the 13th century, several of which contain valuable wall paintings and icons.

The town also has several mosques built under Turkish occupation which started in 1417 and several houses for religious communities, notably some used by Sufi brotherhoods in the 18th century.

(Photo of a Byzantine church in Berat by JasonRogers)

Tafik Jamjoun in his Balkans travelogue described Berat as follows:

This was a completely different style of architecture and town planning than we had seen before. The homes were built of field stones or some kind of white material with wooden roves and trimmings, much different from the Roman and Austrian influenced old cities we had seen to date. What also struck us about this site was the lack of any toursim whatsoever. This was a completely living city with not even a small stand selling drinks and postcards. Instead there were turkey and chickens and sheep roaming around… and of course, it had its fair share of Mercedes!!

(Berat from the top by the MaGe)

Note for those interested in viewing more photos of Berat: Flickr user MrSco has a very good recent photoset of the town.

As for the World Heritage List, blogger Hrag Vartanian has made an interesting observation:

I did some wiki-ing and discovered that the distribution of World Heritage Sites is a little lopsided:
* 49% are in Europe & North America
* 21% are in Asia & the Pacific
* 14% are in Latin America and the Caribbean
* 9% are in Africa
* 7% are in Arab States (why these are even separated out is beyond me since there is no such thing as an “Arab” state but a state with a majority Arab population)

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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Srebrenica Anniversary

Elia Varela Serra · 07:10, July 12th, 2008 · Eastern & Central Europe , Western Europe

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Yesterday, on July 11th, Bosnia and Herzegovina commemorated the 13th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, which last year the International Court of Justice in The Hague referred to as genocide against the Muslim population of the area.

(Do not by Kitestramrt, used under a Creative Commons License)

As the blog Bosnia News reports, the remains of 307 newly identified genocide victims were buried during a ceremony held at the Potočari Memorial Center near Srebrenica, next to more than 3,000 others others already buried there:

The remains of 307 genocide victims, aged between 15 and 84, were exhumed from mass graves after the end of the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia and identified by DNA analysis.

After leading mourners in prayer, Head of the Bosnian Islamic Community Reisu-l-ulema Mustafa Ef. Ceric called on the European Parliament to proclaim July 11 a day of mourning across the continent.

YakimaGulagLiteraryGazett wrote about the day on her blog:

Hasan Nuhanović was on T.V. several times. As was a neighbor of mine she lives close enough to ride the same bus regularly. She lost a son and a husband in the massacre, her son's name was Nermin. I knew the lady's face was familiar. She was shown in ‘Cry from the Grave' as well as another documentary shown last night.

Today is an official Day of Mourning for the victims of the massacre.

Several Facebook groups are devoted to remembering the Srebrenica genocide, such as Learn from History: Remember the Bosnian Genocide (with over 6,600 members) or Never Forget Srebrenica 11.07.1995 (with over 4,200 members). Yesterday, there was even an online remembrance organized on the social networking website.

The first Facebook group linked to all 11 parts of the famous 1999 BBC documentary, A cry from the grave (see part 1 here). The blog Bosna Muslim - Media recommends a follow-up film called Never Again, and also links to the videos to watch it:

This second film was commissioned as an attempt to judge what had happened since the massacre. Had any degree of reparation been made to those who had lost their families? Had it been possible to bring some of the offenders to justice? Did the world care to remember what had happened in the worst atrocity to be committed in Europe since 1945?

About a month ago the organization Mothers of Srebrenica, which represents 6,000 relatives of the victims, launched a civil suit against the Netherlands and the UN for failing to prevent Bosnian Serb forces from massacring some 8,000 Bosniaks. A day before the Srebrenica massacre anniversary, the Dutch court ruled that it has no jurisdiction to hear the case since the UN is protected by immunity - even though, as stated by Eric Gordy at East Ethnia, “the people the UN was obligated to protect were protected by nothing at all.” The hearings against the Dutch government, however, will proceed in September.

Commenting on the ruling, the blog Samaha wonders:

If an organization such as the UN cannot be held accountable for failing to yield its own conventions then what is going to ensure that they do enforce them? If member states are able to use UN immunity as a scapegoat then what is going to ensure battalions will remain unbiased in conflicts? What is going to keep another genocide from occurring when examples are being set that the UN is either hopeless or unwilling in fulfilling their mandates?

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