New Rotterdam Mayor is Moroccan

By Ahmed Dmini

As I grabbed the first page of Saturday’s Los Angeles Times, I noticed an article which caught my eye. The world Mayor and Muslim stood out and a picture of an individual looked, comfortably, familiar.
The article written by Henry Chu, was about the election of Moroccan Ahmed Boutaleb as a mayor of Rotterdam in Holland and the challenges he is facing in performing his job.
The news, new to me, felt great and added to the pleasure I felt when other Moroccans made it to key governmental positions, mainly in Europe. Although we have not heard anything new about John Fitchney's Congress quest, I’m still proud of his political achievements.
It is about time we exported more than Hashish to Europe!
Enjoy the article.
Ahmed Dmini,
Moroccan L.A.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-rotterdam-mayor4-2009oct04,0,636055.story

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beautyinamerica : I am with you Ahmed. Kudos to any Moroccan anywhere in the world who reaches higher!

Zaky2@aol.com : I applaud any Moroccan man or woman who succeeds on any level. But we must be careful about who we applaud. Some turn more right-wing than their right-wing handlers in order to prove their loyalty. Mr. Boutaleb was one of the people involved in the sacking of Mr. Tarik Ramadan as Mr. Ramadan continues to be persecuted for being an influential intellectual Muslim scholar.

Mr. Boutaleb has been mayor of Rotterdam since January and before that he was a deputy minister of social affairs.

Mr. Boutaleb carried the banner for the typical anti-immigration slogan "if you don't like it here, then leave" with all the political implications of this phylosophy between those simple lines. He actually had the audacity to walk into a mosque and deliver this message to worshippers personally so that he can score major brownie points with his handlers.

There are however other prominent Moroccans in Holland to be very proud of such as Khadija Arib, Naima Azough, and Tofik Dibi all of whom are successful MPs and politicians along with a long list of others in sports, media, and arts.

Positive models are what we need more of, not turncoats.

bahrini : Boutaled is no "turncoat". He is a dutch who happened to be of Berber and Muslim heritage. He deserves my applauds and yours despite your "radical" views. I agree with Mayor Boutaled 200% that if you do not like it here, please go home.
You are as welcome to leave as you were welcome to become part of a 1st world/civilized nation. I am just sick and tired of the many that criticize and condemn the regimes in their hosts nations just because they can. I challenge you you to condemn the authorities in Morocco. Enough Said and once again, Kudos to Ahmed Boutaled and to his courage to speak against the backward, radical and uneducated few.

Adil,

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