Martin Rose is Visiting Fellow at the Alwaleed bin Talal Centre for Islamic Studies, the University of Cambridge.
Martin Rose has lived abroad for most of the last 30 years, in Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Italy, Belgium, Canada and most recently Morocco, where he was the Director of the British Council in Rabat. He now
The author considers how education may impact on a society's growing propensity to resort to violence. This column responds to criticism of the school system in Morocco with some thoughts of its own about the role of English, the lingua franca of international communication.
The author considers how education may impact on a society's growing propensity to resort to violence. This column responds to criticism of the school system in Morocco with some thoughts of its own about the role of English, the lingua franca of international communication.
Our columnist warns western commentators quick to advocate caution to Egyptians, that if they are honest noone knows what is taking place in Egypt in these extraordinary days which we are invited to observe - from above. Down below, there is a small problem with driving, and not just in Ethiopia.
Self-awareness and cultural pride are very important. But are they to be centrifugal or centripetal? The ideologization of this issue is probably inevitable. Our columnist tackles the Berber question, and the continuing decline in Moroccan newspaper circulation.
In which the author increases his understanding of the intellectual and educational condition of modern Morocco with the help of leading historian, Maati Monjib; and, returns to his favourite subject of language, this time with a Gordian Knot just waiting to be cut.
February 17 is the anniversary of the Day of Rage in Benghazi which kicked off the Libyan Revolution in 2011. But behind the rage, our author finds the politics, the hopes, the justified impatience, and his Libyan friend, Salah. Meanwhile, libraries are burning in Timbuktu.
Bookshops are places where the rhizome of culture breaks ground, connected beneath the earth but apparently separate on the surface. But in Morocco at least, something dreadful is happening to girls between the age of ten and 20, and leaching away their early literacy.
Dispassionate analysis of social and political problems is what is needed to build a better society. Thirty Moroccan youth activists seize the chance, in the process moving the author, who meanwhile finds himself drawn into the country’s language wars.
The effects of learning Arabic from two different angles – as a cause of illiteracy in Morocco, and a spurned langue d’immigration in France – prompting reflections on what constitutes a ‘modern foreign language’ in the European mind.
It is generally accepted that we unconsciously airbrush and tweak our memories, for consistency and for comfort. A recent researcher went further, and suggested that we do this in order
A joint openDemocracy /
British Council debate
Humans are not the same. But to survive we need to cooperate, to organise, to establish connections that will help us prosper. Humankind has
