State of the union

After about sixteen months of Casablanca living, I feel it is time to put my thoughts on the experience into written text. As it is impossible to cover all the meaningful issues, I’ll limit this piece to mere daily observations that I deem significant and worthy of note.

In so many ways living in “my Morocco” is great and comfortable. So many things have evolved since my childhood days and so many have stagnated or even regressed horribly.

As a young man, my experience dealing with local authorities and attempting to obtain national ID cards, passports and alike was a nightmarish ordeal, today however for the most part accomplishing those same tasks would be an utter breeze in comparison.

There are noticeable exceptions in my personal limited field of operations; working in the car business I can point to the awful state of the so called “service des mines” or department of motor vehicles.

Said service has simply not caught up with the rest of the Moroccan evolution. Things have gotten worse and the waits gotten much longer while automated systems are being installed we are told.

The economic boom has made car buying an affordable proposition for more and more people that couldn’t think of it before. This increase in buying power has unfortunately engendered a scourge of unending queues of folks clamouring for titles and registrations, all made worse by our total lack of willingness to observe the first come, first served rule. Our eternal desire to find shortcuts and to be first has persisted and as such we continue to experience total mayhem in our government and public offices.

Leaving one country for another often comes with the weariness of the old in the pursuit of the new and with some variable degree of uncertainty toward the future. The anxiety is a bit lessened when the odyssey is taking us back to the homeland for at least we think we know what to expect for the most part.

That could be true or not in Morocco’s case given that so many standards have changed.

What a liberal mind would deem positive, a conservative one may see as negative and vice-versa. On the subject of women’s progress in our society for example I see a natural and positive evolution rather than a tragic end to our good traditions.

I was extremely pleased by the women’s unwitting liberation precipitated by many factors, not the least of which is the refusal of many males to settle down and the strikingly high rate of divorce that in yester years would have made our heads spin.

Now more than ever before, in towns like Casablanca and Rabat, you will readily find young successful but “manless” women living alone in relative peace after dozens of failed relationships. Many such ladies will proudly tell you that given the calibre of the Moroccan man, a life alone is an appealing prospect.

Moroccan women are slowly beginning to enjoy a semblance of equality in status in some circles and this evolution seems to be on a solid steady pace.

On a different front and from the hefty files of the “unreal” I could count thousands upon thousands of striking signs of ignorance and lack of basic civic education in our country:

Where to begin, would be a good question at this point!

They tell me that it is just a matter of time before I am used to the perpetual honking in Casablanca but I really have to disagree vehemently; just as one never gets used to being punched in the face or kicked in the groin, I cannot ever get used to this acoustic pollution.

I do not see how I can fail to be startled at every turn, whether attempting to relax at home, visiting family at a hospital or trying to enjoy a friendly conversation at a café.

Casablancans behind a wheel have become like whales, dolphins or bats communicating by sonar, eternally emitting some sort of sound wave to locate one another.

In this noisy and stressful chaos you may notice that there are in fact several types of horn uses that are now intricately woven into our driving habits, making disarray and chaos our indigenous culture and who we truly are.

-It all begins with the friendly tap on the horn alerting our fellow drivers that the light has turned green; in some cases that it is about to do so.

This problem is naturally created by the simple fact that against all logic, red lights are placed to the right of the line and way too high, in other words where it is absolutely cannot be seen by drivers.

-We also have the “I won’t slow down in this small crowded street, so get out of my way” horn.

-There is the traffic jam “in case you didn’t hear the others honking” here is my contribution, horn.

-We have the “I have no intention of stopping at this intersection so get out of my way” horn.

-One of my favourites has to be the white cabs continually honking to alert passers-by that they have available seats.

-Not to be outdone, bus drivers being the loudest of all, often feel as though passenger cars are somehow not doing the trick when the green light comes on; unsatisfied with the reaction time of the traffic ahead and the noise generated by others, they are quick to help the flow with their heart stopping sirens.

Much could be said about this issue alone but simply put, our driving reflects and mirrors our civilisation, education or lack there of. In Casablanca we see driving as a race to outsmart other drivers rather than a coordinated and synchronised set of rules to be followed precisely by all and for everyone’s equal benefit.

We simply have it all backwards for the most part and my confirmation of this fact is the pride visible on the face of those who among us commit the most frightening yet needless stunts endangering themselves and others. The more hazardous the manoeuvre, the smarter we think we are.

Nowhere in the Moroccan territory do you have bikers thinking they are Evil Knievel while riding their raggedy $50, old Mobylettes or Peugeot 103s weaving through traffic at maddening speeds rocking their bodies along the way adding to their show of acrobatics. Nowhere in the world do you have the vast majority of riders with unfastened helmet latches, completely oblivious to the purpose of this life saving gear.

I often wonder how and where we did go so wrong.

In the case of Casablanca things may be too far gone; one loses hope when educated, well travelled elites in $150.000 cars do not stop at red lights or pass you on the wrong side of the street, pedal to the metal throwing dirty tissue and other undesirables out their windows.

Not even our fellow Moroccans living abroad, returning in their foreign tagged cars are abiding by traffic laws. It is as if they would all leave their civic baggage in their respective host countries, reserving the lawless part of themselves to the homeland.

On a positive note if there is one on the subject, I have to say that no other city in the country resembles or equals the lawlessness that reigns in Casablanca. Driving throughout the country from north to south you sometimes forget you are even here. I spent a week in Agadir and was pleasantly surprised at how people observed the rules and awaited their turns at roundabouts (rond-points) etc.

Two weeks later I had the pleasure of spending time in Tetouan and its surrounding areas and was absolutely stunned at how well this city had absorbed all of its new government money and infrastructure. The place was as spotless as any Swiss town with cleaning crews struggling to find something to pick up.

I was also amazed that these northerners always walked on sidewalks no matter how packed those were. In Casa the sidewalks could be a mile wide, people (from all walks of life) would still choose to walk on the pavement while turning their backs to the traffic and the danger posed by racing drivers barely squeezing by. 

 I would be remiss not to mention some other bright and shiny spots on the Moroccan spectrum. Aside from the innumerable business opportunities available to those who have either money, imagination or both, there is also an environment where young educated folks with good diplomas can actually find decent paying jobs, quite easily nowadays.

A few years back doctors, engineers and alike would rally and riot, clamouring for employment after years of tough study. They would stage hunger strikes and marches to city hall demanding change from a powerless government.

As far as I’ve been able to see, the problem is no longer there should these young professionals agree to be dispatched to rural areas and small towns. I have personally had the pleasure of meeting many such young folks that agreed to a little sacrifice (away from hometown), but gained experience on the field while making themselves and the country better off for it.

I have also witnessed races and a battles by big companies trying to woo the best candidates or rather the candidates with the best diplomas in the car business (my field), engineering and alike. The human resources department is a very busy and pivotal segment of our Moroccan companies. HR reps can find themselves working 7 days a week at times, meeting important prospects in hotels and restaurants at all hours of the night.

I found it encouraging that ever since I accepted my position as a GSM for a dealership a few months ago, I have been courted by other brands repeatedly.

Certainly wages are not yet where we’d want them to be but they are certainly up substantially from years past and with very solid benefit packages, health insurance and so forth.

Unfortunately it is obviously not the case for everybody and every town. The problem in our country is mainly the number of uneducated people and their grim prospects for the future. Things are being done to help but some are simply out of the reach of “civilisation” and do not know where to turn for good guidance.

Other highlights: Morocco is finally realizing that it is a coastal country and that it needed to tap into the ocean view resource to improve tourism and our lives in general. We are beginning to see marinas being built in many cities from north to south, beach front communities are being erected all over the place as housing and private beaches are becoming more and more popular.

Morocco has also averted this latest world recession almost entirely and something has got to be said for that. Not being tied to the stock market has its merits after all.

In summary, I must reiterate what I constantly say to friends and acquaintances that ask:

Yes I unequivocally prefer living here in Morocco! The main reason may be that I feel there is hope for constant amelioration and evolution of myself and those around me. The same could not be said for my latter years in Pennsylvania where I saw nothing but despair and worsening standards of living with very few exceptions.

Things will certainly turn around and what’s up now may be down later but for now I am taking my time to enjoy all that the new fast moving Morocco has to offer; I just have to find a way out of Casablanca.