TDR Travelogue: An American in Fez; Hearts and Minds Count After All

By Weston Sager | Friday, October 13, 2006

The Arabic Language Study Abroad Program officially began this summer after years of discussion. Twenty Dartmouth students shipped off to the ancient city of Fez in the heart of Morocco for roughly two-and-a-half months to study Arabic. While the Dartmouth Middle Eastern Studies Foreign Study Program has been sending Dartmouth students to Morocco every spring for the better part of a decade, this was the first instance where twenty Dartmouth focused on Arabic language while living in Morocco. What made this unprecedented Dartmouth program particularly fascinating was the time period in which it occurred. The Israeli-Lebanese conflict raged for the duration of the trip, rapidly increasing tension between the West and Iran, and reemergence of terrorism air sabotage left no shortage of topics for the Dartmouth students to engage the locals in conversation. As one of the students on this new Arabic LSA, I feel it worthwhile to relay a number of themes and opinions that I formed in my blisteringly hot summer in Arab North Africa.

Before delving into my editorialized recount of my time in Morocco, some insight into Morocco as a country is vital to understand the proper context. Middle Eastern experts consider Morocco to be one of the more liberal and tolerant countries of the Arab World. With a thriving press industry, few state-imposed social controls, and strong ties with the West, Morocco does not fall under the same hard-line Islamic category as say, Saudi Arabia. As such, many Arabs living in other parts of the Near and Middle East consider Morocco to be removed from the rest of the Arab World, both in location (it is the furthest West of the Arab-speaking countries), and in culture (Morocco was never ruled by the Ottomans and has strong French, Spanish, and Berber influences). Despite its ties to the West and its relative liberality, Morocco maintains a strong Arab and Muslim culture. Even if Morocco should be considered the outcast of the Arab World, it identifies most strongly with its fellow Arab states and holds membership in the Arab League.

And finally, my intent with this article is to dispel downplayed realities promulgated by many American news sources, share cultural anecdotes of my time in the Arab World, and offer possible techniques for solving the problems that exist between the Arab World and our own. Keep in mind that my opinions are culled from my experience, and unavoidably different opinions exist regarding what I outline in the following lines. This article is not meant simply to be a cultural critique. Rather, this article attempts to present observations about true Arab culture, and from these observations, offer ways to solve the ideological issues facing the West in the ongoing conflict with the Arab nations.

Anti-Semitism is Real

While the majority of my experiences with Arab Moroccans were extraordinarily positive, the anti-Semitism professed by nearly every facet of Moroccan society surprised me and my fellow Dartmouth students. My first real encounter with this disturbing trend began with my homestay family. My father, a well educated biology professor at a nearby university, regularly ranted about how much he despised the Jews. Speaking in French to my fellow Dartmouth roommate, he spouted with disconcerting frequency, “Je deteste les juifs.”

My homestay father was not alone in his bigotry. Taxi drivers, having only three minutes to speak as I was en route to a café, would outburst with contempt for Israel and the Jewish people. The twisted conspiracy theory that the Jews started both World Wars and orchestrated 9/11 is common knowledge for the Moroccan citizenry, even amongst the educated class.

The media is teeming with anti-Semitic sentiment. Many of the local Moroccan newspapers lace their text with Jewish conspiracies. The pillar of Arab media, Al-Jazeera, ran a propaganda machine against Israel during the Israeli-Lebanese conflict. Even the MTV-style music channels filled the airwaves with songs in the “We Are the World” tradition to protest Israel’s bombing raids into Lebanon.

Contempt for other religions, however, does not end with the Jews. While Christians arguably receive the least amount of antagonism outside of Muslims, people belonging to other creeds, such as Hinduism, are openly touted as simple and backwards. Even as a Christian, my Muslim homestay family tried to convert me and my fellow American homestay roommate on more than one occasion, albeit for understandable reasons. My experience was not unique among the Dartmouth LSA participants. These encounters ran in direct contradiction to what I had learned about Muslims being historically tolerant of Christians and Jews, who are classified in Islam as the respected “People of the Book.”

While the vast majority of Moroccans I met, Muslim or otherwise, proved extraordinarily generous and friendly, we cannot deny the depth of hatred that the Arabs have for the Jews, even in relatively liberal Morocco. This level of irrational hatred for the Semites is comparable with the Nazis, and the term Islamic Fascist properly encapsulates the true hatred for the Jewish people by the Arabs. Muslim hatred towards Israel and the Jews is disturbingly real, and cannot go ignored.

Cultivating the McImage

The left-leaning American media regularly leads the public to believe that American-based corporations are an evil capitalist machine hell-bent on invading the culture of foreign countries. This is simply not true. The American economic impact I witnessed was more integration rather than takeover. American products complement traditional Moroccan culture. For example, Dove Soap advertised its product with a woman wearing traditional Moroccan dress, and the “McArabia” sandwich, served at any participating Moroccan McDonalds, tasted deliciously Moroccan and American simultaneously. Even with the coming of American products into the country, Moroccan “culture,” whatever that may be, continues to thrive. Local Moroccan cafés selling their signature hot mint tea far outnumber any American establishment, and surely will for years to come.

If anything, American corporations should be encouraged to do more business in these second- and third-world countries. American corporations in Morocco put forth a positive view of America, providing much-needed contrast to the undeniably negative portrayal of America on Al-Jazeera and the other Arab media outlets. As it is true in much of the world, American advertisements help portray America as cool, (or zween, in Moroccan colloquial) to the up-and-coming youth.

This encouraging of American image manifested itself at the McDonalds in Fez. Not your run-of-the-mill McDonalds found off an exit ramp in your typical American town, beside these golden arches stood a beautifully decorated building in Moroccan style with majestic views of the city. With American prices in Moroccan currency, McDonalds topped the list as the most expensive eatery in all of Fez.

However, McDonalds exists as much more than a pricey burger joint. At night, the McDonalds transformed into a bustling night club for Moroccan youth complete with uncensored American rap music. Dressed in American-style clothing, tight jeans and all, young Moroccans would pack themselves into McDonalds after the sun went down. This was the happening place to be seen after dark for the Moroccan youth culture. On occasion, when Dartmouth students were in need of American food, or just an air conditioned place to work, we would go to McDonalds, only to be approached by gregarious Moroccans hoping to practice their English with native English speakers. I nicknamed the McDonalds “The American Embassy” because it presented America in a favorable light: friendly, clean, orderly, and hip.

Overall I was encouraged to see how America represented itself in the private sector. Perhaps this was the most successful tool in introducing Moroccans to a positive view of America, because the Arab media certainly does not promote America in a flattering manner. Witnessing American products sitting side-by-side on a shelf with Moroccan products was one of the few instances of effective East-West integration, and should be embraced rather than stymied, by the American people.

American Television

Innumerable politicians on both sides of the aisle have proclaimed that we “must win the hearts and minds” of the Arab people if we are to win the War on Terror. After my experience in Morocco, I now consider it a most pivotal front in winning the conflict. American companies are leading the charge in winning over Arab people through capitalism, but the American government and the American people must do more if we are to succeed in defeating the ideology surrounding Islamic Fascism.

Contempt for the Jews, Israel, and American support of Israel damages America’s image. The War in Iraq has been grossly skewed by Al-Jazeera to destroy America’s reputation in the Middle East. While America is winning the War on Terror from a military standpoint, and should not waver in its military efforts, more must be done in order to bolster America’s image in the Arab World. Currently, extremist Islamic leaders are filling their ranks with the beleaguered lower classes in Morocco and elsewhere. If we are to truly succeed in extinguishing Islamic terrorism, we must quell the spread of violent Islamism so prevalent in the lowest castes of the Arab world.

First, television should be used as a conduit to present America positively. Television is a key component of Moroccan culture, as it is all over the Near and Middle East. My Moroccan homestay family watched television all the time. The television was on even when no one was in the house. They would stay up until the early hours of the morning just to watch TV. If you thought Americans watched a lot of television, you have not seen a typical Moroccan family on a weekday night. Even the shantytowns we drove by had satellite dishes perched upon ramshackle roofs.

Television is no longer regulated by the state, and the most successful shows, particularly the singing talent show Moroccan Idol, are knock-offs of popular European and American programs. Exposure to the West through television is already having an impact in opening the metaphorical cultural barricades for the Moroccan people, and should be targeting as a means to promote America as a humanitarian nation. I was pleased to see some of this already in place. There exists an American-influenced channel directed at Moroccans, and I even saw an anti-terrorism advertisement watching television with my homestay family. However, more can and should be done to provide a balanced look at the West for the people of the Arab World.

Glenn Beck Can’t Go It Alone

However, television alone will not win over the “hearts and minds” of the Arab people. The American populace, much like in World War II, must do their part on a person-by-person basis in order for us to win this global struggle. This is not the cut-and-dry conflict of WWII and thus requires different means to achieve the same ends.

Americans must engage Arab culture. However, this task should not be misconstrued as solely learning the politically-correct sugar-coated drivel of the leftists, wherein Muslims are perpetually excused as victims of Western interference. Nor should we resign ourselves to the “I know enough about those crazy Muslims and we should kill ‘em all” attitude of Glenn Beck and the far-right. We need to fully understand exactly why Arabs act as they do. Like so many conflicts, the War on Terror has as much to do with cultural misunderstanding as it does with economics and politics.

America must win the battle of ideas. Even a small group of Dartmouth students speaking broken conversational Arabic with Moroccans had a noticeably positive impact in showing that Americans are not out to kill every Arab. Vacationing in the Middle East, frightening as it may sound, is cheap and surprisingly enjoyable, and simultaneously boosts America’s image. Taking introductory Arabic or an Arab culture course helps to create a foundation for understanding the Arab world. When everyone begins to understand the problems facing the nation, we can begin to form the best strategies to solve them.

The problems occurring in the Arab World are not going to go away without greater effort from Americans. This is not some foreign policy fad. While China has seemingly gained the status of “Most Promising Country,” the Middle East will remain the crossroads of the world even after the dawn of the just-out-of-reach alternative fuel revolution.

Nathaniel Fick ‘99, a former Marine and author of One Bullet Away spoke in one of my classes before I left for Morocco, and he said that one of the biggest failures of the Iraq conflict was America’s inability to provide enough aid to the Iraqi people in the time following the fall of Saddam. After living in Morocco, I understand why he highlighted this point in particular. We must fight hard to promote our image. In order for America to win, we must be aggressive in fighting anti-Semitism, promoting our influence in the private sector, and narrowing the cultural divide between the two worlds through personal involvement. The more Americans expose themselves to the Arab World, the closer we come to winning the struggle of ideologies. We need to prove that we are the most virtuous country while asserting that we do not tolerate violence against our people through action. If this is the Information Age, then we all must fight this, the Information War.

TDR Travelogue: An American in Fez; Hearts and Minds Count After All

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