Cheers!
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Marvine
Howe and I met when I was still at the Consulate in Casablanca.
She was working on a book tracing the modern history
of Morocco since independence in 1956. She was
uniquely qualified to cover this period, having
come to Rabat in 1950 as an au pair for a French
military family. Marvine subsequently started
writing free-lance pieces coverning the Independence
movement, and from there embarked on a career
as an international correspendent. She was referred
to me for some economic background following the
accession to the throne of King Mohammed VI in
1999, but she'd also heard I was embarking on
a new adventure - to develop a Rick's Café in
Casablanca. Marvine and I became friends and she
was a great supporter during the 2 ˝ years I spent
getting the project open. She saw the site in
all stages - with owners and renters still present,
as an empty house and the varying phases of construction.
Marvine thought it would be an ideal subject for
an article in the New York Times' travel section
and said when I was sure of the opening date,
to let her know. Every visit was a frenetic schedule
of hopping back and forth between Rabat and Casablanca
gathering information and interviews for her book
Described as tenacious, there is a story of her
boarding a flight to Algeria during the revolution
by claiming to be a nurse for the wounded; or
another of getting into a Colombian prison dressed
as a nun. If I had known this in advance, I wouldn't
have been as surprised when she used her sharp
elbows to get us two good seats at an overbooked
popular film showing at the Marrakech Film Festival.
But I digress. Marvine's book theme took on more
gravity and found a very topical focus after the
attacks in Casablanca on May 16, 2003. During
a visit in 2000 she was astounded at the democratic
progress, initiated at the end of the reign of
Hassan II and hastened with the accession of Mohammed
VI. After May 16 the reactions were even more
sobering as Moroccons realized the attackers had
been their own people. The Casablanca attacks
were seen as a wake up call to a society that
saw itself as open and primarily secular one in
which the term "extremist" meant the islamic political
party. The jihadists' existance was just not discussed.
May 16 changed all that, and forces are trying
to deal with the security aspects while struggling
to mount a much-needed religious and social dialogue.
Marvine saw the theme of her book was now the
modern history in the Islamic context. In the
aftermath of the Casablanca attacks, Marvine returned
to her sources who gave her illuminating details
of their internal and external struggles while
I charged ahead with my project, more determined
than ever...->
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The opening date was an illusive target for the
NYT article, and I told Marvine during each e-mail
or visit that I'd tell her when I was absolutely
sure. Finally it was set for February 29, 2004
- Oscar night. Marvine had written the basic piece
in advance and when I gave her the date she added
the final details. When asked for a photo, we
were lucky to have a photo of me at the front
door in white dinner jacket attire that we sent
to accompany the article that appeared in the
NYT travel section on February 22. It got everything
going - today people still come to the restaurant
with the article in their hands. Al Goodman from
CNN clipped it for his Morocco file and when he
was sent to Casablanca in April 2004 to put together
vignettes for the first anniversary of the Casablanca
attacks he brought it with him - feeling it was
a good idea to do something positive. Marvine
came back to Morocco for the anniversary of the
May 16 attacks and we spent a great weekend catching
up. She could see the results with Rick's and
for me it was a chance to thank her again for
giving me the encouragement and positive feedback
during the long, lonely process. Her book was
in the final editing stages, she was still adding
sources but it was about ready and was going to
be published by Oxford University Press. So a
year went by, and maybe we exchanged 2-3 e-mails
as she was doing most of the work back in the
U.S. Last month I thought it had been awhile since
I'd heard from Marvine - maybe I'll "Google" her.
And there it was: Announcement from the Middle
East Institute, Book Lunch with Marvine Howe,
June 7 on her just-published: Morocco: The Islamist
Awakening and Other Challenges. Marvine Howe -
who became a journalist in Morocco, went on to
cover Turkey, North Africa, Latin America, the
Balkans, winning international acclaim including
a Pulitzer Prize - has capped a career she began
over 50 years ago by gathering together insights
and observations built up over time and experience
and world events to mount what will surely be
a definitive work on this transitional phase of
Morocco's long history. Here's looking at you,
Marvine!! |
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Bibliography
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The
Prince and I
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Turkey Today
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Portugal, Berlitz Travellers guide
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The
Islamist Awakening and Other Challenges
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