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A self hating Moroccan in Marrakech
l
4 January 2008 11:04
By Jay Talbi,

For centuries jews have been suffering from anti Semitism, Africans and Asians from racism, and Arabs from general xenophobia. I thought I had seen all kinds of bias until I witnessed with my own eyes a real self-hating Moroccan.



Meet Simo, or shall we call him Mohammed. He is the manager of a nice Riad near Jamma lefnaa in Marrakech. According to the website [www.riadvillaelarsa.com], the place boasts a nice Moroccan atmosphere and décor, except that according to the manager, it doesn’t accept Moroccans.



Yes, you have heard right, the riad, located in Morocco doesn’t accept Moroccans as guests. I found that out when I went to drop off two friends visiting from Belgium. Simo welcomed them and as they were checked in, told me without hesitation that he had recommended to the owner, who is Britsh, not to host Moroccans, and that this was their policy. Maybe it was the Quran verses on my pendant, or maybe the fact that I said “sallam alaykoum” that tipped him off, but I thought it was weird he was telling a Moroccan they would not be in a riad in their own country. I later concluded that he just wanted to preemtively prevent me from making reservations in the future.



The following day, after I came back to pick up my friends for a nice dinner at one of Marrakech wonderful restaurants, Simo shocked me again by firmly telling my guests that they were not allowed to have Moroccans enter the place to meet them. Well, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Simo and I exchanged some nice words that culminated in him insulting my entire family and their ancestors.



I usually don’t try to take things personally, but this one hit home. Like I said before I had seen, heard, and read about all kinds of hatred, but I had never seen a self-hating Moroccan exhibited as strongly as it did in this case.



I call on all wafiners, both in the U.S and Belgium to do the following:

- Write, or call the office and tourism and remind them that Moroccans still remain the largest contributors of hard currency to Morocco.

- Write their consulate and their representatives and let them know that “el hagra” is a very very bad thing

- Write the owners of the riad and remind them that they are guests in our wonderful country and hiring self hating Moroccans is bad for business. (Tel/Fax ; 01584 861 325
email: [email protected] )



Regards,
"Hé ! bonjour, Monsieur du Corbeau. Que vous êtes joli ! que vous me semblez beau ! Sans mentir, si votre ramage Se rapporte à votre plumage, Vous êtes le Phénix des hôtes de ces bois."
a
4 January 2008 15:29
Sadly this is the real deal ,we have I would say the majority of people like this ignorant chap they bread this hatred & pass on to the foreigners working & visiting ma lovely Blaida

I notice this all the times & just 3 weeks ago I landed in Kech during the film Festival then Morocco is only for the elite & foreigners people like me should not be there ( kind of call later & bring some hard earned currency with you type of thing ) they had 2 pretty ladies greeting their guests & 2 passport control windows labelled Festival …we queued by an other & a police officer with his radio asked us to move over to the next window since they were two of them just empty ..as we did a Moroccan chap with a festival magazine in his hand come to me to order me to go back to other window … I did try to tell him that the gay with the radio ….he did not want to know & as soon as a French lady started telling him what I just explained in Arabic he run to get his boss a young French lady with a radio …telling us its only for the festival …when no one was there I did not say a word & I left it to the other passers to explain the situation ..them the guys boss called in a uniform police officer who stood there listened then work off ! We ended up using the same window & the looks I was getting from the Moroccan chap were evils ………..
Well its all the time the same story ….
Action we all need to take after writing ect is to sign a petition to claim back respect to the Moroccan identity & ask for a day to celebrate such thing in all the country so we teach our kids & the rest that we are Moroccans & we proud as for the Riad I feel you need to contact the owners & tell them they will lose 30 millions potential customers & its not a good PR to be labelled as a racist ………………...
a
4 January 2008 15:58
I did try emailing the riad but my email bounced back !angry smiley
l
4 January 2008 20:55
Hey Folks I just got a copy of the mandatory liability car insurance in morocco:


Property Damage 50 000 000 Dhs (yes 50 millions dirhams !!! for what ? I dont really know)

Bodily injury (up to death) 20 000 Dhs (yes no missing zeros over there)



Again it shows how the moroccan citizen value is assessed


I can provide a proof to whom it may concern
"Hé ! bonjour, Monsieur du Corbeau. Que vous êtes joli ! que vous me semblez beau ! Sans mentir, si votre ramage Se rapporte à votre plumage, Vous êtes le Phénix des hôtes de ces bois."
a
7 January 2008 01:42
I know what I would have done in that riad what is the worst senario?

I will be visting Marrakech at the end of the month inchallah. I know a few guys there who will do little jobs for me, for as little as a nice Adidas Tshirt.

\\\///
Moroccan Adidas best
7 January 2008 17:25
I am just curious to know: Do police ckeque these Riads like they do with hotels, or are these riads considered like private, and police have no power over them? Because I wonder, why would people even go to an old and shaby riad, when they can get a more confortable and maybe less expensive stay in a nice hotel? So what's the deal with these riads?
a
7 January 2008 23:42
racines

I'am not if you have visited some of the riads back home ,Marrakech have over 1650 riads plus more springing every day ...No one knows how may we have ,there is no law governing this trade & most of these place do as they please & you could read stories about scandals after scandals .....

Have a quick look at these palces :
[www.kasbahagafay.com]
[www.palais-rhoul.com]
[www.jnanetamsna.com]

Some good places ! but self hating Moroccans did not need the Riads to be so ! its being there well before
8 January 2008 17:32
Thank you for the links. It's unbelievable. sad smiley



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2008 05:34 by racines.
I
25 January 2008 04:04
Dont hate your self. As a 16 years old I worked as a receptionist in a hotel in Tangiers, Moorocco. And wer had a lot of young Moroccans wanting to visit "teir freinds in their rooms" And I refused; Law against homosexualité. Did we save some from aids? I really don't know, but take that intyo consideration
s
27 January 2008 23:54
where is our moroccan IT guys? distroy the website of this riad. the owner must know that we are serious and our country even we live far, we love it.
R
3 February 2008 17:30
It sounds like you got yourself in a real (HARIRA) this time. I can see you now trying to support you accusations by making them worse. I don’t know you personally, but I get a feeling that I know your kind. It seems like you wanted to score with the Belgium chick that night and apparently you thought that being the guy from the US, speaks descent English, and calling himself JAY that it would be easy. You thought that you can integrate with the foreigners and get by Simo. The fact of the matter is that Simo who ever he is, is really just like you. He smelled your type from far away and knew that you wanted a piece of the action. Remember, Simo has been around the block too. He just never got out of the neighborhood-his English writing tell me that he did not learn how to get by in English in school, but rather speaks well because he has been chasing tourist around Morocco for a long time.
So, here is my version based on what I have learned so far form you and Simo and given the fact that I know (Kharoob bladi).
- You happen to be in Morocco during New Years.
- You are feeling good about yourself.
- Got some money in pocket, a couple of fancy moves under your belt, and good enough language skills to get by.
P.S If you are a proud Moroccan why are calling yourse
- You are probably a descent looking guy in his mid-20 to mid 30’s.
- You are in descent shape and have been living in the US for a least 10 years
- Your are from humble family (NOT rich) and NOT connected
- A friend of yours (lives in Morocco) hooked a couple of Belgium chicks travelling in Morocco ( they are into each other (Qarshalat) if you get what I mean)
- Your friend does not have the fancy moves you do so he drags you along.
- You hook up with the chick and they inform you where they are staying and so on….
- Since it happens to be New Year’s Eve, you find it a great occasion to further the encounter. You asked them if they have any plans they say NO. This is obvious because they want to spend the New Years Eve making “Tortillas”.
- You tell them that you will stop by their riad anyway because you are in need to hook up with foreigners- that somehow matches your style. You want to be seen with the Belgium chicks.
- You get to the riad wearing your best for the night and you meet Mr. Simo who automatically measures you up and smells exactly what you are up to.
- You asked him about the chicks by name and pretended that you know them since elementary school of course, forgetting that Mr. Simo knows that story way too well.
- He informs them that you are looking for them and the chicks are now in confused state. They wanted to be alone and did not really want to be bother by heterosexuals. You don’t get the point and asked to go up to their room.
- Now you put Mr. Simo in a bad situation because he has to do his job, and the fact that he has already been through this crap with another of your kind, he is not very happy about it so he say NO and NO means NO.
- You at this time are thrown back to the time when (shabakouni) or (boozriwta) used to chase you away from tourist
- The memories come back and they are not good except now that you have been to the outside you feel that you deserve better and you will not let this little dog bark you out of you prey. You make a seen and you find yourself in a big disappointment over what could have happen.
- What makes things worse is that the chicks don’t even intervene on you behalf because if they were truly interested in you and what you have to offer, they would have come to your aid when Mr. Simo refused to let you in. The least one can do is to let Mr. Simo know that you are his guest and that you have every right to be with them if they welcome you.
- The fact that they did not act increased your frustration and now you have to show the Lesbians that you are worth while and that you have some power over the little dog. Since this did not happen you put your big tail between your legs and you walk away with a burning desire to screw up that riad the owner and Mr. Simo.
- Having some access to computer and familiar with the wafin site you dream of the best way to get back at the riad forgetting that NOT all Wafin readers are idiots and will only believe a one sided story about a Poor Moroccan Man named JAY who was denied access to some fun in his country and decided to make (Mnel houba qoba).

If you were proud Moroccan from a descent home and good background you would not have found yourself in such disposition and instead you would have been spending your time with your family that has not seen you for so long and would have arranged for your family to spend the New Year’s Eve party at home and invite all friend and loved ones, but instead you were out chasing NSARA. Have you not had enough of NSARA abroad??
Again, this is my version and my opinion based on what I gather.
Wa qul bravo! Yak jibta heya hadik!!
Wlad souk may bqaw ghir wlad souk!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/2008 05:33 by Rachidhino.
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
 
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