Quimbanda
24
Quimbanda is a living, urban spirit-religion that took shape in Brazil’s port cities over the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, drawing on Central-West African Bantu cosmologies, Indigenous American practices, popular Catholicism, and Kardecist spiritism. Where Umbanda is often described as the “right hand” (linha da direita) that emphasizes healing and moral elevation, Quimbanda is commonly called the “left hand” (linha da esquerda): it faces the gritty realities of desire, conflict, work, sex, money, and protection in the world as it is. Its spirits—above all Exus and Pomba Giras—are not devils in the Christian sense but powerful agents of the crossroads who negotiate paths, open and close roads, and mirror human passion with startling clarity.
Historically, Quimbanda emerged alongside rapid migration, police repression, and racialized poverty. In this setting, its spirits became specialists in boundary spaces: thresholds, bars, markets, street corners, cemeteries—places where rules bend and deals are made. A gira (ceremonial circle) is noisy and social: drums mark the cadence, songs call the lines of spirits, smoke and perfume signal shifts in presence, and mediums incorporate to dance, speak, and counsel. Offerings are direct and sensorial—cachaça (distilled fresh sugarcane spirit), cigarettes, red wine, roses, roasted corn, spicy foods—because Quimbanda is about exchange: you give, you ask, you fulfill what you promised.
Exu in Quimbanda is not the trickster-devil of missionary caricature, nor merely the messenger of Candomblé. He is a class of spirits with names, histories, and personalities—Exu Tranca-Ruas, Exu Sete Encruzilhadas, Exu Caveira—who work at specific “crossroads” (cruzamentos, encruzilhadas). Pomba Gira, often misunderstood through misogynistic stereotypes, is the sovereign of female desire, elegance, and cunning—Maria Padilha, Sete Saias, Cigana—teaching about autonomy, charisma, and the dangers and power of seduction. Together they deal with what is hard to sanctify in polite spaces: jealousy, breakups, court cases, job blocks, spiritual attacks, and the tangled ethics of obligation.
Quimbanda’s ethic is pragmatic and accountable rather than abstractly moralistic. The spirits are not fooled by pompous speeches; they expect clarity, reciprocity, and follow-through. If a petition succeeds, you pay your offering. If you promised a mass for a soul, you schedule it. If you sought a binding or a separation, you accept the web of consequences that comes with bending social ties. Because of this directness—and because outsiders often conflate “left-hand” with “evil”—Quimbanda has long been stigmatized. In Brazil, racist and classist stereotypes have linked it to criminality and evangelical demonization has fueled persecution. Practitioners preach that Quimbanda is a sophisticated technology of negotiation with the spirit world, grounded in community, memory, and results.
Lineages vary. Some houses are fiercely traditional, keeping a tight separation from Umbanda and Candomblé; others are “mixed,” with mediums who serve lines across religions. Some houses work almost entirely with Exu and Pomba Gira; others include male and female “people” of the cemetery, the sea, the forest, or the gypsy caravan—reflecting broader Brazilian spirit vocabularies. There are also differences in cosmology: a few lineages place Exu within a Bantu-inspired schema of forces (kalunga, the line between worlds; nkisi-like principles); others frame him more through Catholic and Spiritist lenses, emphasizing masses for souls, prayers, and moral counsel.
What unites these forms is a shared grammar: crossroads as cosmological hub, offerings as contracts, incorporation as communication, and the conviction that spiritual power answers the problems of daily life. The sacred here is not faraway transcendence; it is the friction and flow of human bonds.
In recent decades, global interest has created exported and hybrid forms of “Kimbanda/Quimbanda,” sometimes trimmed to a grimoire system for private ritual. Practitioners in Brazil often welcome exchange but worry about decontextualization—losing the songs, the humor, the streetwise etiquette that make the spirits feel at home. Many houses respond with public education: teaching that Exu is not the devil, that offerings belong in appropriate places and times, that consent and responsibility matter, and that tradition adapts without abandoning its roots.
To meet Quimbanda is to meet a mirror. It does not promise virtue; it promises clarity about what you want and what it will cost. Its spirits love laughter and flamboyance, but they are exacting accountants of exchange. If Umbanda teaches the balm of light, Quimbanda teaches the courage to walk at night: to stand at the crossing, name your need, make your pact, and carry your word. If you do, the road opens—not because the world became pure, but because you learned how to move through it.
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Morocco, this quiet conviction that still needs to be shared...
409
The saying "One who believes in himself has no need to convince others" is commonly translated into French as "Celui qui croit en lui-même n’a pas besoin de convaincre les autres". It evokes a quiet confidence, inner strength, and the stability of one who moves forward without ostentatious display. This idea finds a particular resonance in present-day Moroccan reality: a country confident in the course it has set, proud of its multiple and diverse advances, convinced of its diplomatic legitimacy, strong in its alliances and international roots. However, it faces a major internal challenge: persuading its own youth, even a large part of its population, of the meaning and scope of its progress and achievements. Winning the trust of the youth, and thereby enabling them to gain confidence in themselves and a shared, radiant, and prosperous future, is a true work in progress.
Moroccan diplomacy, an example of affirmed confidence, demonstrates an unashamed resolution facing any trial. It is characterized by unwavering determination, both decisive and pragmatic. Internationally, Morocco displays recognized strategic serenity. Under the Royal impulse, its diplomacy based on dialogue and continuity stands as a model of balance between cooperation, firmness, and self-confidence.
At the UN, for example, Morocco’s proposal of autonomy in the Sahara issue has become a normative reference, accepted by nearly all international partners. This diplomatic success perfectly illustrates the saying. Confident in its correctness, Morocco did not need to resort to excessive demonstrations to impose its position. Pragmatism, patience, endurance, and determination are the watchwords on this matter. Today, Minister Bourita and Omar Hilal, the Kingdom’s ambassador to the UN, are even seen as stars and are sought after as such at every public appearance, so convincing and credible are they. But is it the same in all fields and sectors?
Beyond the Moroccan Sahara issue, the Kingdom is deploying active economic and parliamentary diplomacy, weaving a solid network of alliances in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and progressively in Latin America and Asia. This partnership-based strategy illustrates this "conviction tranquille" which seeks less to convince than to consolidate achievements. Renewed agreements with the European Union or strengthened cooperation with China, India, Brazil, African countries, and others demonstrate the solidity of this approach.
Yet beyond that, Morocco endures a striking paradox. Its most urgent internal challenge is to regain, perhaps even build, the trust of its youth. Confidence in themselves first and foremost, but also confidence in the country.
This confidence shown outwardly and perceived positively internally contrasts with the impatience and skepticism of some Moroccan youth towards other aspects of life. Faced with socio-economic challenges such as unemployment, insecurity, and the perceived slowness of reforms, many young people express deep doubt about their future. Alongside the endemic weakness in communication, the poverty of arguments, the apathy of official media, and the excesses of many others, young people often also endure nihilistic discourse spread by some media voices or social networks, which undermines their confidence and fuels disengagement and fatalism.
This paradox of a state confident on the world stage but constantly needing to convince internally lies at the heart of the situation. Despite government efforts to improve employment and public services, recurring individual or collective protests reflect this malaise—a deficit in civic and chronic confidence.
How can Morocco then revive common faith and evolve this paradigm?
It seems essential to invest in authentic dialogue with youth so that they fully feel the scope and benefits of the progress made. Initiatives such as renewed civic education programs, support for youth entrepreneurship—especially in rural areas—thorough revision of the school curriculum, and increased youth participation in decision-making bodies are some examples underway or to be developed. The easing of certain regulations regarding taxation, currency exchange, e-commerce, business operations, and digital currencies would surely open up new horizons for this connected youth, eager for success. This would certainly increase this much sought-after confidence capital, crucial today. Why not immediately take the measures that will inevitably be taken in ten years? Then it will be too late. Moroccan youth want to undertake and live at the pace of the world.
The saying "Celui qui croit en lui-même n’a pas besoin de convaincre les autres" would thus become a call to reinvent the bond between the State and its youth: create a collective energy of confidence, not only manifested outwardly but also lived and felt inwardly, to build a shared future.
This seems to have started today. Recent decisions by the Council of Ministers to encourage youth to join institutions, through the revision of the organic law of the House of Representatives, bear witness to this. Lowering the youth age cap from 40 to 35 is a major advance. The possibility for young people to run in elections without party affiliation, as well as the promised financial support for non-partisan youth, are strong incentives against the lethargy that had long taken hold in Moroccan political life. The matter is settled: either political parties open up to youth, or they will be condemned to occupy only backbencher seats. If young people get involved, they will participate in the change they dream of and impose it. Their level of confidence will only increase.
Now, let us wait for the parliamentary debates that will finalize all this. This is an important criterion: for once, we will have a law adopted about nine months ahead of elections. Provided no one throws a wrench in the works.
Only then will confidence be built, like a transparent, inclusive, participatory, and lasting foundation.
One clarification though, the phrase "One who believes in himself has no need to convince others" is generally attributed to Lao Tzu (or Laozi), the Chinese sage and founder of Taoism. However, it is not authenticated as an excerpt from the Tao Te Ching. No matter, the saying takes on its full meaning here anyway.
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Lazy Developers are the #1 Security issue
689
Open-source used to be the best you could do security wise. Someone, or a small team would start a project about a true unmet need, open-source it on the internet, a community would grow around it. That community would be thousands of people strong, working tirelessly 24/7 to make the project better, while the original team would usually serve as "benevolent dictators".
This means that every line of code is in the open and audited by several dedicated programmers before it is officially released. This is an extraordinary efficient model for development and security, that made open-source software the foundation of the internet and much more. This model gave us Apache, GNU/Linux, Git, ffmpeg, pyTorch, MySQL, ... just to name a few. Without it, there is no modern computer science, there is no modern internet, no modern operating systems, no modern AI.
Of course, it is not a bullet proof system, bad actors still try to exploit bugs and integrate backdoors into open-source software. However, these are identified by the community and promptly corrected at a pace that proprietary software can never match. Hardened security through radical openness. This system worked because it is maintained by passionate people with very high technical knowledge and abilities. These projects are all coded in low-level programming languages (means harder), not high-level scripting languages.
Fast-forward to today, a world dominated by nodesjs and scripting languages in general. Scripting languages like Python and Javascript have allowed many more people to integrate the folds of the "Developers". These languages are orders of magnitude easier to learn, do not require compilation, and due to many technological advancements, are now fast enough to be used in serious applications.
However their massive adoption also had the unintended consequence of lowering security standards in open-source and therefore everywhere. Nodesjs is now for many the preferred way of building "full-stack" applications. One single language for both the backend and the frontend is a very enticing premise. However Javascript, was never meant to be a secure language and more importantly the scripting language came with a lazyness culture. Gone are the days where programmers would fight off to show their skills and understanding of the machine, to see would come up with the most efficient, the most elegant and the most secure code. Now there is often expediency and lack of skill disguised as "efficiency". Why reinvent the wheel, when you can just import a free package (under MIT license) made by someone you don't know. That seemingly wise advise has now created a security nightmare of package dependencies that are impossible to audit.
There are now millions of open-source nodesjs packages. Most of these packages, are not, or very poorly maintained, they don't have sizeable communities supporting them. For most of them their makers have either moved on, or don't have the technical abilities to assess wether some piece of code could produce an exploit that some bad actors could use. These millions of packages all prime targets for bad actors looking for ways to insert backdoors into software used by millions. If an application requires 600MB of dependencies, it is not secure. That number should make any security aware person shudder.
Of course you can sandbox applications, but that is not enough.
Write your own code. Use as little dependencies as you can.
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Lazy Developers are the #1 Security issue
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The Emerging Political Maturity of Moroccan Youth: A Legacy of GENZ212
713
The waning of the GENZ212 movement does not signal the end of a generation searching for meaning. It should mark the beginning of the political maturity of a youth until now seen as sidelined or completely uninterested. Between legitimate frustrations, institutional responses, and obvious possibilities of manipulation of which it may be unaware, Moroccan youth is entering a decisive turning point: moving from protest to construction.
Recent decisions by the Council of Ministers to include youth more substantially in political life explain well a fading movement and a generation now questioning itself. The ball is clearly in their court now. They know Morocco will not be made without them and is being made for them.
Born in the digital sphere, GENZ212 ignited social networks and mobilized a youth eager for change. Its energy, initially spontaneous, naive, and sincere, now clashes with reality: lack of a clear, common vision, unclear leadership, and attempts at takeover by opportunistic extremes who saw a golden opportunity and believed it could not be missed.
The momentum quickly weakened, as in any protest based on hollow slogans without clear contours or precise content, but the question remains: what remains of this anger?
The country responded quickly and seriously. The institutional response manifested rapidly. The calm and firmness of the royal speech at the opening of the current Parliament's last legislative session and the 2026 finance bill a few days later redefined priorities around health, education, and social cohesion. Record highs were set for education and health. By integrating youth expectations into public action, the crisis was defused. Morocco, as always, chose listening and reform over confrontation. The trap of manipulation thus quickly closed around these promoters...
In other arenas, some tried to rekindle the flame. The call to boycott the Africa Cup of Nations, for example, illustrates this: presented as a protest gesture, it quickly revealed ambiguities and also some frustration over extremists’ failure. The majority of citizens quickly condemned the boycott promoters, ridiculing them. Many observers concluded it was a political or even geopolitical takeover attempt. The overzealousness of Algerian media in trying to heat up the scene confirms and justifies this suspicion. Some even claim the recent protests are no longer a heartfelt cry but an echo of external agendas. As a result, several young former supporters distanced themselves from the movement. "We wanted change, not to become a tool in invisible hands," say early activists on social media.
Recent innovations encouraging youth to take the political step toward institutions, combined with the historic importance of budgets allocated to health and those planned for education, have shifted the mindset of most young people from protest to building.
As always, rooted in history, faced with drift, the Moroccan state has always favored stability and dialogue. This pragmatic approach continues a deeply rooted tradition: responding to unrest with concrete policies, not empty speeches or sugary promises. Throughout its modern history, the Kingdom has always known the real power of youth is to build, not boycott. Morocco is not undone by despair; it is built through commitment.
GENZ212 served as a revealer, expressing the aspirations of youth wanting to be heard without being manipulated, actors without being instrumentalized, a youth standing up on behalf of their parents and society as a whole. Today, through its calm, it reveals a political consciousness in gestation to which the state wants to contribute by encouraging it to take the step toward representative institutions.
Thus, the anger and demands of this generation will no longer be expressed in the streets or covertly, nor quickly taken over by those who confuse freedom of expression with destabilization. This, of course, while awaiting the day their children will come to shake things up and push them out of their comfort zones, in turn.
In a fragile and uncertain regional context, national cohesion remains the essential bulwark. Moroccan youth seems to have quickly understood and integrated this. A true passage into maturity.
Morocco progresses, sometimes slowly, but surely, combining reform and stability, youth and responsibility.
GENZ212 is not a failure but a step. That of a generation that understands real change does not improvise on social media but inscribes itself in the long term, through action, listening, and participation. Resisting today means refusing to be manipulated. It means building one’s country lucidly, not against it.
Morocco thus enters a new phase where youth becomes consciousness, no longer a force of rupture but an engine of balance.
This is, ultimately, the quiet revolution, a Moroccan evolution throughout its modern history. This is a particularity that only Moroccans can understand: protest, listen, dialogue, respond, combine, project, and envision oneself are the key words. Being Moroccan is a belief. Staying united is a faith. Defending the country is a devotion.
It has been this way for millennia.
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Dreams
910
Dreams
Every morning when I wake up
I remember my dream
I think I saw it in my dreams
I'm caught in a fear that eats away at me
And my heart is beating with fear and desire.
Unfortunately, the unfolding of my dreams is unremarkable
A collection of illogical events
All my memories with her fade like autumn leaves
who yield to the caresses of the breeze
And they ended up washing up on the ground wet with my tears
Witnesses of my misfortunes
I sailed against the winds and tides
Looking at the horizon
In search of a country that would inhabit me
But in vain
A kind of forward flight
It doesn't bode well
What memories born in pain
I apprehended happiness
I hoped with glow
I waited patiently
But it's been a long wait
Very long
Feeling the storm approaching
I hung on the mast
And then I landed at the first port of oblivion
I fell into alcohol and its alchemy
And suddenly my dreams resurfaced
I was shaking and not standing there anymore
And nightmares haunt my targeted nights
And replaced my shattered dreams
Dr Fouad Bouchareb
All rights reserved
October 24, 2025
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The compagnonnage, a forgotten path for reintegrating young NEETs...
981
If there is a situation requiring a quick, very quick response, it is that of the NEETs. These young people will not just disappear. As they get older, their problems, and therefore ours, will become increasingly difficult to manage and contain. The government must find sustainable solutions to reintegrate these young people who are neither employed nor in education or training, the famous NEET: Not in Employment, Education or Training.
An old path could prove surprisingly modern: le compagnonnage. Inherited from artisanal traditions, this form of direct apprenticeship, which has proven itself throughout our history, has not been abandoned elsewhere. In many European countries, workshop-based learning is a cornerstone of vocational training. The idea should inspire a new Moroccan model of integration and skills transmission, restoring meaning to learning through contact with crafts. Not so long ago, this was the case even for some modern trades: hairdressing, mechanics, and others.
It is time to rethink all this and also to look at what happens elsewhere in countries where childhood and its rights are perfectly protected, but where learning a trade in a workshop is not forbidden, in fact, quite the opposite.
In Switzerland or Germany, the so-called "dual" system combines theoretical teaching and practical experience in a company. It enables young people to acquire a recognized qualification while participating in the productive life of the country. It is, for example, the essential pillar of Swiss excellence in watchmaking.
This learning model values transmission and the accuracy of gestures, and helps keep manual and artisanal professions alive while reducing youth unemployment. Yet today, it is clear that many traditional Moroccan trades are in decline and risk disappearing due to a lack of Maâlems.
Le compagnonnage places the relationship between master and apprentice at the heart of the training, along with mobility between workshops and the creation of masterpieces in which the apprentice proudly participates and sees their efforts realized, with client appreciation being the sole measure of evaluation. Vocational schools cannot offer such an emotional connection to trades. Le compagnonnage values patience, excellence, and pride in one’s craft, values that resonate with Moroccan artisanal culture.
In Morocco, the situation is surprisingly paradoxical. Policies combating child labor have certainly made spectacular progress: the number of working minors has dropped by nearly 94% in twenty years. But the legislation, in its protective zeal, does not clearly distinguish illegal work from supervised apprenticeship.
The result is unequivocal: workshops where knowledge of wood, leather, or metal was once passed on are closing one after another, unable to welcome apprentices without breaking the law, while hundreds of thousands of young people are abandoned to the street and its risks.
This confusion between "exploitation" and "practical training" deprives hundreds of young people today of a genuine path to apprenticeship and weakens an entire sector of the national artisanal heritage. To quickly reclaim this historic force for absorbing NEETs, a revised, flexible legal framework is urgent. Once again, the lesson can come from Europe. International comparisons can offer valuable insight.
In Switzerland, vocational training relies on a true alliance between schools, businesses, and local authorities. Apprenticeship is valued as a path to excellence. Young people have the opportunity and good fortune to alternate between classes and workshop practice. They gain solid experience and obtain a recognized federal certificate. This system ensures rapid integration into the labor market while guaranteeing clear protection for minors and institutional recognition of the apprentice status. The result of this pragmatism is that manual and artisanal trades remain alive and respected.
In Germany, the dual model also combines theoretical training and work-based apprenticeship. It allows young people to enter the workforce early with protected and supervised status. The system is recognized for its ability to prevent youth unemployment and maintain a high level of technical skill, especially in industrial and artisanal trades.
Morocco, by contrast, still struggles to structure this link between apprenticeship and training. Artisanal apprenticeship remains largely informal, subject to restrictive legislation that tends to confuse formative supervision with illegal labor. While protection for minors is generally strong, it remains unclear when it comes to practical training. This results in unequal integration of young people depending on the sector, while many traditional trades that create wealth are now threatened with disappearance due to lack of successors.
The guiding philosophy of the necessary reform today should be the rehabilitation of the Maalem's role.
Fortunately, Morocco still has a priceless asset: its network of master artisans, or Maâlems, guardians of centuries-old traditions in ironwork, jewelry, carpentry, and pottery. Giving these masters a legal and formative place would be a first step toward creating a Moroccan compagnonnage, adapted to local realities and oriented towards modernity. This would require reforming child labor laws to distinguish structured apprenticeship from precarious work and creating institutional bridges between traditional crafts and formal vocational training programs.
This is a future path for young NEETs and these thousands of out-of-school Moroccan youth. Apprenticeship with a Maalem is not a step backward but a modern reinvention of the link between knowledge, work, and dignity. The Maâlems is a master, an educator, a transmitter of strong values.
And let us not forget that this is how Fès was an industrial city, how Marrakech has kept an authenticity giving it its unique charm, how Ouarzazate is Ouarzazate, and how Chefchaouen is Chefchaouen.
Framed by the state, recognized by institutions, and supported by local incentives, this model could help restore hope to a youth searching for meaning, while preserving the heritage trades that form Morocco’s cultural wealth, which sets it apart and makes it strong.
In every apprentice, there is the seed of a good citizen; in every apprentice lies a small or medium enterprise.
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He thinks
1136
He thinks....
He thinks that in his nailed hands
I'm nothing but a toy.
I don’t think I’ll go back to him.
Today, everything has changed —
As if nothing had ever happened.
And with the innocence of angels from the skies
in the look in his eyes,
He tells me: I am the keeper of this place,
And that I am his one true love.
He brought me flowers.
How could I not accept them?
And all the naivety of youth
I found again in his gentle smile.
I no longer remember... the fire in your eyes.
How did I find myself in his arms?
I laid my head on his chest, proud,
Like a child returned to their father or mother.
Even my long-abandoned dresses
danced at his feet, all of them.
I forgave him… and asked how he had been.
And I cried for hours under his armpit.
And without thinking, I gave him my hand,
So it could sleep like a bird in his.
And I forgot all my hatred in a fraction of a second.
Who said I held a grudge against him?
How many times did I say I’d never return?
And yet I came back.
My return is wonderful.
To my first love.
Dr. Fouad Bouchareb
All rights reserved
Toulouse, May 29, 2025
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Managing Science is not a numbers game
1152
More people in science does not necessarily mean better results: there is an equilibrium to find, a sweet spot.
There is a fundamental difference between technology, industry and science. In an industrial setting, production is mostly defined by how many units of production you have, and how much ressources are available for production. As long as input ressources are available, you can in theory scale production somewhat geometrically. Double the number of factories, double the output.
Science works differently. Historically groundbreaking scientific discoveries and theories have been made in times of small tight knit communities. The most famous example being the iconic photograph from the Fifth Solvay Conference in 1927, held in Brussels, often referred to as "the most intelligent photo of all time". All the great minds that defined modern physics from relativity to quantum mechanics fit in one single photograph.
In science, instruments are not the means of production, they are the tools used to assess theories. Doubling the money and the people does not imply doubling the output. Science is not about producing stuff it's about producing new ideas.
Science thrives when highly intelligent individuals, extremely passionate about a single topic, get to meet to exchange often and freely over a long period of time. A hyper focused kernel driven by a similar passion. Adding more people dilutes the potential of highly meaningful interactions. That's the first reason why more people can lead to less groundbreaking discoveries. Even if the constituents of that kernel exists, it can never crystallized and reach it's full potential. Too many people to talk to, too many papers to read and too many unaligned objectives.
This also promotes the apparition of dogmatism and "consensus thinking". When there are too many ideas to assess, it is tempting to go with what the majority thinks. However for science, freedom is more important than consensus. Consensus is a political tool used by human beings to govern themselves in matters of opinions. This is irrelevant to science because science is empirical. It doesn't matter how many people think something if it can be demonstrated to be false. Freedom of thought, on the other hand is the essential mechanism that keeps on generating new ideas and points of view. A necessary part of scientific development.
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Managing Science is not a numbers game
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Reform, yes. Imitate, no. Morocco facing the parliamentary illusion...
1191
Everywhere it has been adopted, the parliamentary model shows its limits. In Europe, repeated political crises and short-lived governments multiply, fueling citizen disenchantment. In Israel, the succession of elections within a short period illustrates chronic instability. In Great Britain, the Brexit saga revealed the flaws of a system torn between electoral legitimacy and political fragmentation. Everywhere, the logic of fragile coalitions and opportunistic compromises has transformed parliamentarism into a machine of division and a conduit for populism. Wherever parliament fragments, crisis is assured: France is painfully experiencing this today.
Yet it is precisely when parliamentarism is faltering that some question the country’s institutional balance, mentioning it anachronistically as an adequate model! This observation sparks a recurring debate; some circles, seduced by an imported ideal, propose to further “parliamentarize” the political system, or even to further reduce the institutional role of the Sovereign. An alluring proposal at first glance, but dangerously disconnected from national, historical, sociological, and deeply political realities; the institutional balance in Morocco has been forged by history in coherence with geography and demographic data. Morocco is not like other countries, and its people even less so. It is a nation-state marked by a distinct particularism that stands out among many others in the region and beyond.
Since the 2011 Constitution, the country has advanced on a singular trajectory: that of a balanced constitutional monarchy, combining state stability and genuine political pluralism. This subtle articulation between the historical legitimacy of the Throne and the democratic legitimacy of other institutions has allowed the country to avoid the turbulences that have struck many states in the region, with disastrous consequences, it must be said.
Within this framework, the sovereign does not present himself as a partisan actor but as an institutional arbitrator guaranteeing national cohesion and the continuity of ambitious reforms undertaken. Without this moral and political authority of great subtlety, the country risks sinking into the same deadlocks experienced by other fractured parliamentary regimes torn apart by factional quarrels and personal ambitions.
Shifting the debate about systemic weaknesses and imperfections toward this subject dangerously distances one from the true issue: revitalizing and cleansing political life.
Calls for an increased transfer of prerogatives to Parliament often miss the real problem: the weakness of the party system. The ailment of Morocco’s political system does not stem from an excess of monarchical authority but from a deficit of credibility among other political actors. The monarchy has never prevented parties from showing competence, coherence, or boldness. Too often, they have preferred rhetoric over action, abandoning the ground and responsibility.
The challenge thus lies less in weakening royal power than in moralizing public life, enhancing parliamentary oversight, and demanding competence from elected officials. Democracy is measured not only by the formal distribution of powers but by the quality of their exercise and their impact on daily life and the course of history.
Since independence, Morocco's strength lies in an immutable constant: reform without rupture, modernization without renouncing its foundations. This model, sometimes criticized in the name of an imported idealism and an ideology now collapsed after having caused much harm, remains one of the few to reconcile stability, openness, and ambition.
Succumbing to institutional mimicry would be a strategic error in a global context where even great democracies doubt their own mechanisms. The Moroccan people, for the most part, know this. They are even deeply convinced of it. Some even go so far as to demand that all power be concentrated in the hands of the King; a way to loudly express their exasperation with the functioning of institutions they themselves elected. What a paradox it is to vote for people and then call on the King to rid us of them! Surprising, isn’t it? This is the particularism of this nation.
Morocco does not need a regime change but a political and moral awakening. The monarchy, guarantor of continuity, is not an obstacle to Moroccan democracy: it is its backbone. Unity around it is the singularity of this country that has known how to traverse history, faithful to itself. This model is unique and arouses envy of all kinds.
As Hassan II reminded us, democracy has no single definition. Each people must invent its own. This lesson remains strikingly relevant: Morocco will continue its own path, that of a thoughtful balance between authority and participation, tradition and modernity— a balance that is its strength and foundation of its stability.
Morocco advances, and even in great strides. As for the adventurers and political sorcerers’ apprentices: prisoners of their contradictions, illusions, and failures, they will end up stranded on the shores of history. They advance masked by slogans: the communist suddenly becomes a fervent defender of human rights, and the Islamist discovers a democratic vocation. They simply forget that history has already judged them and that models are plentiful, and Moroccans know it. They are not fooled. This is not about those who have already made their mea culpa and repented, of course, but about all the others.
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Reform, yes. Imitate, no. Morocco facing the parliamentary illusion...
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Video Games and Aggression: How Trustworthy Is the Research?
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"The Effect of Video Game Competition and Violence on Aggressive Behavior" by Adachi and Willoughby (2011) is one of the most frequently cited studies in the literature on video game violence. Its credibility can be partially attributed to the fact that it is published by the American Psychological Association (APA), a highly reputable organization in the field of psychology.
The researchers picked video games with similar levels of difficulty and speed but varying degrees of violence and competitiveness. These four metrics were evaluated in a pilot study in which participants briefly played each game and rated them on a seven-point scale. The researchers then conducted two experiments:
- **Experiment 1:** The violent game chosen was Conan, an action game involving combat with swords and axes, while the nonviolent game was Fuel, a racing game. Both games were considered similarly competitive based on the pilot study. Participants were randomly assigned to play either Conan or Fuel. The experiment aimed to test whether violent content alone would lead to greater aggression after gameplay. The findings showed no significant differences in aggressive behavior between players of the violent and nonviolent games. However, the main concern with this finding is in its measure. The aggression was measured by having participants choose the amount and spiciness of hot sauce to give to another person who dislikes spicy food. A measure that does not fully capture the complexity of what aggressive behavior is.
- **Experiment 2:** They selected 4 games: Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe (Violent and competitive), Left 4 Dead 2 (Violent but less competitive), Fuel (Nonviolent and competitive), and Marble Blast Ultra (Nonviolent and less competitive). The researchers found that competitiveness in video games, rather than violent content, significantly increased "aggressive" behavior. They measured it by having participants compete in a reaction-time button-press game against an opponent. When a player lost a round, the winner had control over the intensity and duration of an unpleasant noise blast delivered to the loser. The participant’s choice of how loud and how long to set the noise blast served as a proxy for aggressive behavior. Blasting the noise could indicate other motivations besides aggression, such as opponent intimidation to win the game, compliance with experimental expectations, or could have to do with the impulse management of the participant. Once again, the measure fails to reflect the multifaceted nature of aggression.
Research papers like these shape the opinions of a significant portion of the public regarding the link between video games and violence, which raises the important question of how well such studies capture the true complexity of aggression and whether their findings should be featured in such reputable journals and directly influence public perception.
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Video Games and Aggression: How Trustworthy Is the Research?
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https://bluwr.com/p/427095952
