Then what are we fighting for?

''When Winston Churchill was Prime Minister and he was told that there were going to have to be major cuts in arts and culture because of the mounting costs of World War II,

he responded with a simple reply: ‘Then what are we fighting for?’"

Recently, a music festival here in Morocco has encountered an exceptional amount of nation-wide backlash in regards to the amount of money the government is forking over in exchange for some top celebrity appearances - among them Kanye West, Joe Cocker, Cat Stevens, Lionel Richie, and the star in which the most controversy surrounds, Shakira. The week-long Mawazine music festival, which is currently being held in Rabat, has been criticized by the February 20 movement for disposing of national funds irresponsibly as this year's festival budget is rumored to hover around nearly $12 million. The argument they put forward is naturally in line with what the protest movement has been saying all along, that the allocation of government funding is not being put in the appropriate place - with unemployment being at what it is, the price of household items on the rise, and the continual presence of corruption, they argue the money could, and should, be put to better use.

In this Foreign Policy article, they mention that 15% of Moroccans live on less than $2 a day. And when the minimum wage is 10.64 dirhams an hour (which, based on an 8 hour work day, is nearly what a Peace Corps Volunteer's salary is.), they ask how the government can be as ostentatious as to pay Shakira 6.5 million dirhams for a single night's performance. I mean, I get their point. It isn't hard to. A majority of the population is suffering and thus protesting on a weekly basis because of it (though I still vote they should step up their game if they want anything tangible done). And this majority will most likely not be the ones enjoying Shakira this Saturday night. However, there is a significant portion of the Moroccan population who are more than pleased with the presence of a music festival, especially given the fact that it's free. Personally, I am staunchly on this team. This country has always been in love with music - and Shakira for that matter - and enjoy any excuse to dance and celebrate. Whether or not the exact amount the Moroccan government (and more than a handful of private donors) is paying her is reasonable, I can't say, but the principle behind the matter I am in complete alliance with.

What is a country if not a summation of its culture, traditions, and community pastimes? If in the end, Morocco did decide to pull Mawazine's funding, in addition to the upcoming Gnaoua Festival in Essaouira, the Sacred Music Festival in Fes, the International Film Festival in Marrakech, and countless other proudly government-sponsored cultural events, what is the nation working so hard to enjoy? I guess I can only hope to see a sea of smiling faces alongside me this Saturday night.

Addendum:

Here's Shakira's Mawazine performance in its entirety thanks to Morocco's 2M network

National Lampoon's Wiener Vacation

"I hear the rain a comin',

it's rollin' 'round the bend.

And I ain't seen the sunshine,

Since, I don't know when."

- a take on Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues

I don't even know what to say about the weather these days. We had four months of winter without any rain, and then May happened. Since the start of the month it's been non-stop storming. Which, I would complain about more if they weren't accompanied by some epic thunder and lightening. I know I compare this place to Arizona all the time, but these daily afternoon thunderstorms are straight of my childhood vacations to Flagstaff and Sedona. The temperature - thankfully- drops a few degrees and the village comes to a standstill, watching & waiting, until the storm passes a short twenty or thirty minutes later.

Now, there is a lot I would love to write about these days, but somehow it all comes back to feelings tied to, results of, or reactions to the Marrakech bombing and/or the death of OBL. Both of which the Peace Corps has asked us to temporarily suspend our first amendment right on. Though it's a no-go topic for the moment, we'll see how long I can keep my mouth shut for. Probably not that long.

Happy news, however, I'm seeing my brother next week! No, he still isn't allowed to enter the country (note: in addition to military not being able to enter the country, no other Peace Corps volunteers are allowed to vacation here either. It's a complete shutout - Oh, except for us of course) buuuut, I was granted leave on short notice to go meet him in Vienna! So, in addition to seeing my brother, we'll be staying with two of my very good friends and the vacation also happens to coincide with my birthday. Success!

I must say, it has been well earned though. These last few weeks have been chock-full of primary school activities, Medical Clinic preparation, and grant proposal drafting in addition to regularly scheduled classes at the Dar Chebab. Not to mention the copious amounts of GRE studying I'm having to do these days. The five days in Vienna (well, more like three with two days travel) will be a welcome change of pace.

Sidenote: In attempt to come up with some sort of pun for the title of this entry, instead of coming across a classic sausage joke or Schwarzenegger reference, I stumbled upon a mathematical concept of something called a Wiener Sausage... talk about a mind trip. I was SO confused for least 15 seconds.

I got this:

Instead of this:

Ps. It's worth noting that the caption underneath that first picture was: "A long, thin Wiener sausage in 3 dimensions." Not kidding.