Dear Quarantined Italy, “Andrà Tutto Bene” Noureddine Boutahar

        I am so sad to see beautiful Italy undergo all the pain, sorrow and chaos caused by the Corona disease across at the moment. So, I thought the least I could do about a country I fell for years ago is to write a blog post to express my sympathy and solidarity with these really great Italians who are suffering so much in the most difficult crisis of their existence.

       The great Italian poet Dante said, " there is no greater sorrow than to recall a happy time when miserable". I have been to Italy three times in my life and I have fallen in love with that country. It is a love that is difficult to express in words but it is a love that sprung from the warmth of the country, the graciousness of the people, the richness of culture and the majesty and pristineness of the environment. It really hurts to recall the happy times and warm memories spent with friends and family in beautiful Italy.

       I do love my country a love that, in Dante's words "moves the sun and the other stars". But while I love my country, I have fallen in love with Italy too because it feels like home. Elvis Presley said that “Home is where your heart is” and my heart is at the moment in Italy where hundreds of good Italians and non-Italians, friends and relatives are dying everyday of this horrific and devastating corona virus.

       The people I met in beautiful Italy were some of the kindest anyone could ever hope to meet: they treated my family and myself like they had known us their whole lives. They treated us like dear guests and we felt absolutely welcome in their presence. We felt welcome and home and accepted and never felt any hassle or exclusion or hostility. 

      These hospitable Italians lived their life to the fullest and had plenty of joie de vivre. They loved and believed in life of happiness, and of service to others. This begs the question, is it too much to love life and enjoy it before it is gone? 

       Today, my family and I feel sad at what is happening in Italy because we have always considered Italy our second home: We visited and admired her historical landmarks in the beautiful cities like Venice --“the city of mirrors and mirages” , Milan -- the moral capital, Rome -- the Caput Mundi, and others. Italy is also a second home because many of my relatives live there in peace, safety, and security, and without discrimination.

      Today, my family and I feel sorry for Italy which has to put up with all this chaos and uncertainty, because Italy has become part of our family culture. We often shopped and asked our relatives there to shop for us at Italian supermarkets: The bed I sleep on is from Italy, 90% of my kitchen utensils were made in Italy, my iPhone and my family members iPhones and other electronic devices are all from Italy, my first Fiat car was imported from Italy. Italy is part of us that no one will ever take it away from us.

      I am so sad that Italy, the land of such luminaries like Dante, Christopher Columbus, Marco Polo, Guglielmo Marconi, Leonardo da Vinci, Galilei, Michelangelo, Lorenzo Bernini, Enrico Fermi, and many, many more has to endure such hardship alone and forsaken.

      I am grief-stricken that my beloved Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Atalanta BC, SSC Napoli, and others have to stop giving us joy and happiness. I am grief-stricken that the virus has shredded the Calcio and deprived fans from the passion the sport makes them feel.

      I am heartbroken for the closure of Italian restaurants that have always served the best cuisine worldwide. The cuisine of Spaghetti, Lasagna, Verdura, Ribollita, Focaccia and so on, which most of the world has loved and copied usually ungratefully. It is hard to imagine what the world would be like today without Italian cuisine which gave it Mozzarella, Parmesan, Mortadella, Salami, Ravioli, Nottellete and more.

      Also, today, I am most disappointed to hear that EU countries have abandoned Italy in her hour of need and failed to help her cope with Covid-19 pandemic as they had failed to help her cope with the wave of migrants across the Mediterranean earlier in 2018. I am most depressed to hear that EU bros had been very slow to answer Italy’s urgent appeal for medical supplies and protective masks. Real friends can do more than just say "God bless you" when you sneeze and then let you drown when the flood comes. It is time for action; not just tea and sympathy.

      It is hard to be positive in times of uncertainties. However, I am glad at the way these life loving quarantined Italians face the crisis with their distinct knack for creative improvisation to turn pain, struggle, and uncertainty into beauty. I am glad they are united in isolation and believe that ease and relief come after hardship, and turn to their strong culturally-rooted values of bravery, care, compassion, generosity, hope, and playfulness. What a lovely sight to see them sing popular songs to each other from their windows in a spine-chilling display of unity. I blinked back my tears.

      Dear Italy, I am certain “andrà tutto bene” (everything will be alright). So, scratch your itch yourself, and remember that Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “what doesn't kill you will make you stronger.” I believe your people's resilience and solidarity, their zest and zeal for life and their humor and humanity will conquer in the end, and Italy will come out stronger than ever.

Moroccan Youth Issues Noureddine Boutahar

I don’t believe I am the only one to think that the tempest of despair is shaking the ground beneath the Moroccan youth due to the fact that our successive governments’ anemic efforts have failed to properly invest in youth asset . This article seeks to explore the main problems facing the Moroccan youth which have been engendered by defective and deficient policies although a full treatment of the issues is beyond the scope of this post.

Unemployment: The meltdown in economies worldwide has not spared Morocco. Significant layoffs have caused the unemployment rate to remain high, primarily among young people aged 15-24 years. These future parents and breadwinners are unable to find a productive place within the Moroccan society for myriad reasons: inadequate supply of skills by the education system, rapid population growth beyond the economy's capacity to create jobs, automation of many human jobs, and government’s inability to implement job-creating economic development programs and projects, to name a few. As a result, unemployment takes a toll on Moroccan youth whose lives become blighted by social and emotional evils like drug addiction, crimes, dishonesty, immorality, low self-esteem, self-deprecation, and frustration.

Illiteracy: The strategy of near-total elimination of illiteracy in Morocco by 2015 has not been reached despite government efforts, and the scourge still affects 32 percent of the population. Although illiteracy is more common among adults over 50 years old, it is still widespread among the youth, especially in rural areas, with girls carrying the heaviest burden. And if we add the more than 400,000 students who drop out of school every year without obtaining any school certificate, the number of illiterate and semi-illiterate young people swells to huge numbers. Of course, the causes of this curse include mainly poverty, ignorant parents, and depletion of infrastructure. However, its causes are as wide as they are deep and harm and hinder the life of young Moroccans in a number of ways: unemployment and underemployment, low self-worth, transmission of inter-generational illiteracy, and it makes young illiterates fall easy prey to extremist and terrorist groups.

Poverty: The three major complex issues Morocco actually struggles with are illiteracy, unemployment, and poverty. In 2017, 15 people were killed and 40 others injured in a stampede during the distribution of food by a local organization in a village in the province of Essaouira. The disaster highlights the gravity of the problem of poverty in the country where over 9 million people are poor, and where children and youth are the first to bear the brunt. This scourge denies the victims their rights as human beings, deprives them of education, affects their mental and emotional well-being, and leads to poor physical and behavioral health. These poor young people live in neighborhoods with concentrated poverty, crime, and violence, and leads them to be caught up in cycles of drug abuse, crime, unemployment and underemployment. A combination of factors has contributed to the persistence of poverty in Morocco and they run the continuum from socio-economic disparities to lack of access to quality education to rentier economy; all of which are exacerbated by corruption, unaccountability, impunity, and favoritism –or “Your dad’s my friend” as Moroccans mockingly refer to it. It is worth mentioning, in this regard, that billions of dollars have been spent on programs to alleviate poverty. But who has benefited from these programs?

Lack of Quality Education: Of the 95% of school-aged children in Morocco who enroll in primary school, only 53% make it to high school. School dropout, however, is not the only obstacle faced by Moroccan students as other challenges soon pop up in the way of pupils’ academic achievements. One such hindrance is poor quality education: the World Economic Forum report for 2016/2017 ranked Morocco among the worst countries in terms of students’ achievement (119^th out of 137). Quantitatively speaking, Morocco has made giant steps in the ratio of child enrollment but, qualitatively speaking, our education has been steadily decreasing. This frustrating state is the result of multilayered reasons: top-down approaches in decision making, hasty emergency reforms, lack of qualified teachers, lack of teacher motivation, hunger and poor nutrition which affects the child’s cognitive abilities, near-extinction of school libraries, multilingual environment at school which contributes to the low literacy rates, and poor adjustment to advanced technology. Inevitably, poor education has devastating effects on the Moroccan economy as it begets ignorance, unemployment, poverty, violence, and so on. In Nita Ambari’s words, “Education empowers and emboldens the youth to chase their dreams.” I am sure she means quality education, and it is this quality education which creates a domino effect on other pathway opportunities. Without it, there would be no development breakthrough in this country and no poor would be lifted to prosperity.

Substance Abuse: Over 800,000 Moroccans are addicted to drugs. These include cannabis 4%, cocaine 2%,  psychotropic drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, and glue-sniffing, mostly by homeless kids. Worse still is that 1.2% of boy students and 0.4% of girl students use drugs, which does not augur well for the future of youth and the country as a whole. Young Moroccans, like young people worldwide, do not take drugs to feel worse, but because they are unhappy with the quality of their lives. The reasons certainly vary from young person to young person. It can be because of failures at school, boredom, rebellion, peer pressure and the desire to fit within a group. For other people, drugs can be a means to reduce or avoid psychological pain of poverty and misery. The effects of substance abuse are many and varied and run the gamut from health and mental issues to financial issues to relationships to legal issues.

In Nelson Mandela’s words, “Our children are our greatest treasure. They are our future. Those who abuse them tear at the fabric of our society and weaken our nation.” However, youth will not be able to play any important role in the development of our society unless the government invests in their health, education and safety.

Indifference is Destroying the World Noureddine Boutahar

        Why is the world getting worse than ever and why are the bad guys getting the upper hand? Why are we taking, day in day out, a few more steps backward  towards a darker, scarier, and more uncertain world?

        Part of the answer is in the short story of the humming bird:

       One day, a long time ago and in a faraway place, or so the legend goes, there was a huge forest fire that was raging the countryside. All the animals were terrified, running around in circles, screaming, crying and helplessly watching the impending disaster.

        But there in the middle of the flames, and above the cowering animals, was a tiny hummingbird busy flying from a small pond to the fire, each time fetching a few drops of water with its beak to throw on the flames. And then again and then again.

        After a while, an old grouchy armadillo, annoyed by this ridiculous useless agitation on the part of the hummingbird, cried out: “Tiny bird! Don’t be a fool. It is not with those miniscule drops of water one after the other that you are going to put out the fire and save us all!”

        To which the hummingbird replied, “Could be, but I’m going to do my bit”.

        The main theme of the story, of course, is that indifference is dangerous. It is one of the greatest threats to humanity and existence itself.

        As you know, indifference means lack of interest, concern, or sympathy. In other words, not doing our bit, in the words of the humming bird. 
        Elie Wiesel once said “The opposite of Love is note hate, it’s indifference’’. I think there is a lot of truth in this statement because people nowadays show a lack of concern about a number of pressing issues like global warming, poverty, genocide, injustice, and so many other forms of evil which drive our world towards an abyss of unimaginable horror.

        Edmund Burke, for his part said “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” He’s right because people seem to oppose these evils in their hearts, but they never make any active effort to fight them.

        So, if we continue to turn our backs to social injustice, if we continue to turn a blind eye to environmental issues, if we continue to turn a deaf ear to oppression, we’ll give free reign to selfish desires, injustice, tyranny, and violation of human rights.

       The French singer and composer, Gilbert Bécaud, summed it up well in a song when he said, “What really destroys the world is INDIFFERENCE."

Character Education Needed. Noureddine Boutahar

“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” Too much knowledge without character is also a dangerous thing. In both cases, you get people who know their ABCs, but who are not educated.

People with little knowledge are just literate. People with too much knowledge and no character are just robot-like citizens.

Both types are poorly-educated in that they lack quality education. And quality-lacking education holds back and does not make for just, productive, and democratic societies. It produces half-judges, half-teachers, half-doctors, fake-priests, fake-muftis, fake-citizens… in brief a threat to society.

In Theodore Roosevelt’s words, “To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society”. He means that focusing only on the education of students in core curriculums such as languages, mathematics, social studies etc. without also educating them in moral value, simply indoctrinates individuals who will jeopardize and undermine societies.

In Stephen Covey’s opinion, intellectual development without character development is like “putting a high-powered sports car in the hands of a teenager who is high on drugs.” One need only look to the ever-present stories of crime and violence that fill out televisions and newspapers to find the truth of his words; lack of character education is ubiquitous, and increasingly apparent. Present-day education gives us knowledge but not respect for ethics, character and moral values.

Remember the various terrorist attacks that shook the world! Remember the 17-year old student from Ouarzazate’s (Morocco) Sidi Daoud  high school who violently beat one of his teachers! Remember the world's most notorious scandals! These and other flagrant acts are the result of a lack of character and quality education.

Mahatma Gandhi mentioned seven things that will destroy us.  “Knowledge without character” ranks among the first three. He’s right; what good is our knowledge of Physics if all we do is build bombs and arms of mass destruction? What good is our knowledge of Philosophy if all we do is remain indifferent to gross human rights?”

As Martin Luther King put it, we live in a world of “guided missiles and misguided men.” This means that even “scientific findings” could be bent to suit the political ideologies of the amoral politicians and business-people who have not yet completed their education. 

But what is character education?

Dr. Thomas Lickona defines character education as “the deliberate effort to help people understand, care about, and act upon core ethical values.” Character education, then, aims to instill in students important fundamental, ethical and performance values such as honesty, fairness, responsibility, caring, diligence, fortitude, and respect for self and others. Its objective, also, is to form and train young people in wisdom and virtue.

Bottom line; character grounds education and keeps us from becoming bad, corrupt, wicked, and cruel.  So, isn’t it time we restore character education to its rightful place at the center of the curriculum?

Cry the Beloved Morocco. Noureddine Boutahar

I don't think I have much longer to live but I have never wanted so badly to live in a free western country, the USA particularly, as I do today. This is so because I am fifty five years old now but I feel I have lived only a few months. These are the months I spent in the USA and Europe, where I had the opportunity to taste the sweetness of life, to breathe the fresh clean air of freedom, and to savor real democracy.
Today, I am hoping for a chance to spend the final years of my life back there where the law is implemented and enforced on everyone, equally, regardless of social background or financial status. I am longing for a chance to live my final days where those who work harder are rewarded, respected, and encouraged; and those who cheat and corrupt get their due punishment and correction by the common law of the country. I am dying for a chance to finish my life where it is not too much to ask for the rule of law and protection of human rights.
Yes, my last dream today is to live in a place where my kids and the kids of my kids can speak their minds more freely and perfectly and give free rein to their imagination fearless of calumny, reproach, or threat and without anyone imposing their perceptions, ideologies, and beliefs on them. My greatest dream is to live in a place where my daughters, in particular, can wear the clothes, colors, and sizes they want and feel comfortable in without being incriminated or cast as libertines or debauchees or villains. My most cherished dream today is to live in a place where my kids and I would be happy, and enjoy life without interference from any self-appointed brainwashing guardian.
This country is dear to me but dear also are democracy, freedom, equality, justice, and dignity. These rights have blatantly turned into privileges since the ascendance of the present JDP Islamist party. Its government is so pathologically mendacious that it has ridden roughshod over its election promises and has done a complete about-face on its mottoes and slogans in order to please the “Makhzen” political and economic elite. It is the first party in the history of Morocco to lay its compliance to the elite on thick by digging deep into the pockets of the population and setting an all-time record in raising the prices of all goods and services despite the people’s complaints, protests, and sufferings.
This country is dear to me but its Islamist government scares me to the core. This government’s measures have opened the gateway wide open to the return of the “Years of Lead” by trying to shut people’s mouths, close different political opinion newspapers, and beat and track down demonstrators and protesters. Its amateurish reforms brought the Matthew effect policy to the fore to exacerbate the condition and vulnerability of the poor, create a treasure trove for the wealthy, and eliminate the middle class so as to prevent economic reform and political change and any possible ‘unrest’. Its repeated about-faces are exposed by its plan and intention to reduce to naught all previous gains so as to take Moroccan people back to square one and keep them busy fighting for survival instead of fighting for real democracy. Obviously, a hungry stomach will not think of principles or values or ideologies.
This country is dear to me but dear also are order, rule of law and respect of human rights. We have been waiting, voting, and shouting for half a century for real democracy and transparency only to be frustrated by an Islamist nightmare government which is obsessed with tormenting the people sadistically, continuously and relentlessly. Those in positions of influence (government officials, MPs, union leaders and others) usually use their time in office to maximize their own gains, to make money off the backs of others, and to secure the future of their children, grandchildren, and political cronies. In clear and flagrant violation of the principles of transparency and integrity, they endeavor to bend the rules and sneak family and friends into well-paid, top jobs.
This country is dear to me but its education no longer creates brilliant thinkers, or great philosophers, or outstanding scientists. It is, instead, an education that often produces cardboard Muftis who have only negative words in their vocabulary like ‘haram’ and ‘kafir’, and nothing else like logical or illogical, legal or illegal, reasonable or unreasonable, rational or irrational. These are the false preachers and religious leaders who appropriate the universal God for their own profit to deceive, defraud, and threaten people in the name of religion. These are the self-appointed holier-than-thou clerics who want us follow the “Monkey see, monkey do” idiom blindly and without logic or reason.
This country is dear to me but its policies scare me to death: whistleblowers and activists are often subjected to threats, harassment, and reprisals for their attempts to uncover corruption cases; zealous good citizens and anyone who thinks outside the box are subjected to intimidation and violence for asking for the enforcement of the law, for equal and fair treatment, for transparency, for accountability, and for good governance; the application of law is oftentimes eclectic, selective, arbitrary, and temperamental; and corruption has become smart, systematized and legalized.
This country is dear to me but its streets, neighborhoods, and sidewalks scare the life out of me. Our neighborhoods are ruled by anarchy and chaos with sword-wielding thugs, street vendors, and gangs of urchins laying down the rules. Our streets are filled with selfishness, greed, jealousy, and hatred caused by the pressures of life and exacerbated by unpopular measures taken by an obstinate, deaf and blind government. Our cities and villages’ moral standards have hit rock bottom; foul language and swear words fill the air because our schools, families, and governments have abandoned their true purpose and renounced their responsibilities.
I have reached the conviction that all the Moroccan political parties have hatched from the same egg and they expect change to come from the same old mentalities, the same incompetent people, the same rotten education, and the same boring speech: Both the liberals and the conservatives who had ruled this country for more than half a century had kept it ping-ponging back and forth between reform and a return to the past until they felt forced to hand it over to the Islamists in 2011. Unfortunately, the latter piggybacked on people’s thirst for change to win the elections only to put a kibosh on all hopes of reform by its unpopular and retrogressive austerity measures intended to satisfy the Makhzen elite and the creditors.

Get out of the Kitchen, Mr Prime Minister. Noureddine Boutahar

When we reflect back on 2015 in Morocco and the news that topped front pages and dominated airwaves, the Prime Minister Benkirane’s policy emerges as one of the most notorious and contentious. It had been another year of distinction for the Islamist Justice and Development Party (JDP) boss who has taken unpopular and unfair decisions that squeezed the middle class and crippled the poor.
Benkirane’s stubbornness and dismissive attitude towards any opinions contrary to his own earned him the antipathy and disapproval of the people whose living standards have been deteriorated by his harmful so-called reforms. Each of these reform measures is another turn of the screw. Common examples of these uplifts include food staples price increases, Compensation Fund amateurish reform, and the retirement age hike.
People dislike this government because it has failed to fulfill its election promises. It promised the moon but gave them misery instead. For example, the prices reached unprecedented high levels; unemployment and under-employment worsened and reached troubling levels (9.9% versus 9.2% in 2013); corruption is still seeping into every crevice of society; the system of education is still wallowing in mediocrity; healthcare system continues to rank among the lowest in quality and efficiency. And the government just looks on.
Another reason for people’s constant condemnation of this government stems from the fact that it is led by a party with an Islamic reference point presumed to abstain from worldly pleasures, goods, and possessions. However, nothing has been done to abolish parliamentary salaries and pensions, stop rentier economy privileges, reduce exorbitant salaries, allowances, and perks (cars, gas, accommodation, toll-free highway tickets…).
Here are two glaring instances that illustrate the government’s lack of commitment to lead by example: The “Two Francs scandal”, and “22 hours-a-day-work claim”. The ministers’ declarations, in both cases, show the obstinacy and aggressive refusal of government officials themselves to give up their illegal and illogical exorbitant perks, pensions, and pay let alone enacting reforms and laws binding upon everyone. Harry Truman once said that "No man can get rich in politics unless he's a crook. It cannot be done." Unfortunately, getting elected to parliament and getting nominated minister is a surefire way of getting rich in Morocco. Our Ministers and MPs get astronomically high salaries and end up with - usually early - fat and generous pensions. They are oblivious, or perhaps do not care, of the fact that real reform begins with the self. As Harry Truman, 33rd president of the United States, once again, said, “In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first.” How long will it take official and senior position seekers in this country to understand that the office of a MP and Minister is a responsibility, not an honor or a high-paying job, which requires them to be selfless, and self-sacrificing?
This is not the government we voted for in 2011. The JDP has made a complete about-face and changed its ideals and goals. We voted for the ruling party because we wanted to spare our dear country instability and chaos and because its slogans were our dreams. Unfortunately, our dreams turned into a nightmare of continuous price hikes and unpopular decisions and ‘reforms’. We also discovered, too late, that the party had used religious rhetoric to win the sympathy of the general public so as to advance its agenda, which is no more than pleasing the deep state and staying in office for as long as possible. Were the JDP election promises mere Orwellian doublespeak?
I am steadfast in my belief that we will end up in the gutter if the party continues in office for a second term. If its unjust measures go on as planned by this government, we will work more and get paid less; we will pay more taxes, more fees, and higher bills; we will continue to get defective education and second rate healthcare; we will get poorer while the wealthy get wealthier. Even worse, the government will dig into our pockets every now and then to fix what the ‘untouchables’ messed up. Certainly, this government has reached a point where it does not care how the Moroccan people will find money to survive and pay their numerous bills as long as the elite bank accounts get fatter and their perks keep coming.
It seems to me that our political parties are mere proverbial “mouths” for the elite to eat garlic with. Meaning, our policy is engineered by people who view the citizens as nothing more than pieces on a board who must be controlled and manipulated; ergo, they should not eat their fill or live in comfort so as not to want more. This policy is in keeping with the proverbial “give them an inch and they'll take a mile”. The moneyed elite, who call the shots in this country, want the population to be poor and less educated so that they can better control and exploit it. The increase in the number of the poor and the underclass serves their interests at various levels.
In brief, this government is a far cry from our dreams and aspirations. It has cruelly disappointed us because, as Al Akhbar newspaper rightly said lately, it has fallen prey to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund structural adjustment ploys, and run roughshod over its election promises. So, I would like to give the Prime Minister an advice using Harry Truman’s words, “If you can’t stand the heat, gets out of the kitchen” because these so-called reforms do not augur well for the future wellbeing of the Moroccan poor and middle class.

The challenges Facing 9/4 Elections in Morocco Noureddine Boutahar

The king of Morocco Mohammed VI's intervention in his last speech to remind both

political parties and the voters of the purpose and spirit of elections is a clear and solid proof of the failure of our political parties and our system of education in the formation of ‘good’ Moroccan citizens. For decades now, both – parties and education – have been wasting taxpayer money and time without achieving the desired results. So, here we are again, preparing to start from scratch, with the big question in mind, “can we make it this time?”
I, personally, don’t think so because of the poor educational and cultural level of the people who vote. Bear in mind that the well-educated, the elite class, and the intelligentsia do not usually make it to the polls. So, the remaining poor and less educated who cast their ballots are prone to be deceived, cheated, or even bought because they often lack the protection and power of good education and knowledge to save them from the trickery and intrigues of politicians to make the right and best choice in the election of their representatives.
It's noteworthy that this section of society includes two subdivisions: one population is completely and hopelessly illiterate and the other population is in unenviable semi-illiteracy. The semi-illiterate has received a low-quality education that has made it ‘neither fish nor fowl’. However, both are vulnerable politically and economically because they suffer from a basic knowledge deficit to improve their political awareness in areas like democracy and the workings of political institutions. This is because our Moroccan Makhzen (ruling elite) doesn’t want quality education for all as it is a dangerous force for change which puts its interests at stake. Sadly, a couple of ministers in this government recently blamed the Moroccan people – who are the real victims in our political system - for the problems we have at present instead of the real original obstacles.
The severest and most pressing of these obstacles is education. All the education reforms in this country since independence have been a flop and have produced the kind of people that policy makers and officials are blaming and complaining about. Our education system has hit the skids because there is no real, strong political will to reform it. Reforming it would hurt the advantages and interests of the ruling elite. Consequently, our schools are sending out into the world a generation of young men and women whose majority can ‘neither fly nor walk’ for themselves but who can only follow the crowd. It should be no surprise, then, that people are more selfish than ever before; that our moral standards are rock bottom; that foul language and swear words are filling our streets; that sword-wielding thugs are roaming our streets and raiding people’s homes; and that good manners and right conduct are things of the past. Therefore, it will come as no surprise to anyone that the 9/4 elections, under such circumstances, will fail to achieve their purpose and will fail to have the desired results.
The second contributor in this puzzle is the political parties themselves. They are in a real crisis and cannot activate the citizens or train the candidates. People have grown increasingly frustrated with them because they are too weak to tackle their own perennial internal party problems, let alone the country’s. The major factor that fritters away their credibility is their exaggerated and unrealistic promises in the run-up to the elections: These soon break and decay when they hit the brick wall of reality and Makhzen resistance. Also, people are fed up with political parties bickering and never ending battles. Many of our political parties waste their time - and ours - calling each other names instead of focusing on our priorities. In addition, political parties, admittedly, “base their political action and election program on an ideology”, however, many of our political parties do not have a unifying ideology or principles or ideals; they emerged or were made from a vacuum to serve individual or a group of individual interests.

Let’s not forget also that people are tired of seeing political parties who make it to power spend most of their time wooing the Makhzen and trying to please the deep state. They dare not initiate any kind of real reform or approach the big corruption files lest they get their fingers burned. And because there are too many political parties - more that 30 – means that no one party ever wins an outright majority, and the ‘winning’ one always needs the help of small parties who have their own interests and agendas. This way, the government always ends up with too many spokes in the wheel, which renders it inefficient and impotent to effect any fundamental reform.

In brief, I am steadfast in my belief that the outcome of the September 4th elections will not, once again, yield desired results because our education is bastardized and plagued by failed policies and shortsighted decisions. Our political parties are weak, disorganized, lack strong roots in society and fail to get the support of thinkers, theoreticians, and influential academicians. However, the main takeaway for me is that if the ruling elite do not get off their high horse and make necessary concessions, both political parties and education will remain mired in their problems, which is not in the interests of the country as a whole.