Meeting Notes 11/30

The meeting was chaired by Bob Baker.  There were 15 members present, 2 members on

Zoom and 2 guests- Ron Bernardi (Sunset Foods) and Rives Collins (NW professor and friend of

Moha, our speaker for the day).  Patti did the “thought” of the day by presenting past statements

attributed to recently departed Henry Kissinger, including his conclusion that neither gender will

win the “battle of the sexes” due to there being too much “fraternization.”

ANNOUNCEMENTS-----The New Trier High School Swing Choir will be presenting its

holiday program at our next meeting on December 7th.  The lunch will be catered by the local

Little Honeycomb Restaurant for a $20 per member charge and members are encouraged to

make their reservations promptly.  Barb announced that the Club’s Thanksgiving contribution to

the success of our food drive for Good New Partners was so successful that thy had about $1200

left over which was left with GNP in the form of 63 gift cards to be distributed to the needy.  It

was also reported by members who attended Rich’s recent distribution of coats and books at two

Chicago libraries that this Club activity was very important for the children who received the

coats and visited the libraries, as well as the adults who saw how much such gifts were needed and

appreciated by the children.

ANNIVERSARIES-----There were no recent birthdays announced, but the Club

membership anniversaries were recognized---Jeanne Beckman 35 years, Lee Padgitt 30 years,

Rich Lalley 19 years, and David Birkenstein 14 years.

HAPPY BUCKS-----Fred announced that his family had a recent reunion to celebrate its

contribution to controlling the world population with what he called a ZPG celebration---that is a

family with a “zero population growth.”  Several contributions were made in response to the

Northwestern Football victory last weekend and its coach being considered by many as the

‘Coach of the Year.”  Bob Baker contributed due to Michigan’s victory over Ohio State and that

his old college of Miami of Ohio had a winning season and is going to a post season bowl.

DIG N GRIN; Barb brought a little amusement to the meeting by testing our memories

about famous songs—in 1969 Neil Diamond’s hit was “Sweet Caroline”; 1971 was when the

movie Brian’s Song was released involving the close relationship of Gale Sayers and Brian

Piccolo; in 1979 Pink Floyd released his hit “The Wall” and Bob Baker remembered that was the

year he graduated from college!

SPEAKER MOHA BOUACHA—HISTORY OF MOROCCO:  The Club is fortunate to have Moha as an active Club member and to explain the history of Morocco where he lived. Moha spent a year in New Jersy as an exchange student. He went back to Morocco where he taught English in High school for five years until he came back to U.S. for Graduate school in 1976 where he earned an MBA in International Management. This gave him an opportunity to be a global citizen as he worked in French and Arabic speaking countries as a Marketing representative for a few years. In 1984, he joined Kellogg School of Management in Northwestern University until he retired after 29 years.

The presentation covered a brief overview of the rich history of Morocco where a Homo Sapiens skull was discovered that dates back 350 thousand years. Morocco’s geographical location determined a lot of its history. Indigenous Berber inhabitants ruled North Africa for thousands of years before the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Vandals, and the Byzantines conquered and ruled the area in alliances and collaboration with Berbers monarchs and tribes. The Muslim conquest in the end of the 8th century marked another historical direction in the country. Berber tribes were converted into Islam while keeping some of their customs and culture. Oppression and subjection to taxes and exploitation by Arab Caliphates led to revolts by the Berbers and the creation of successive dynasties that ruled vast empires in North Africa and parts of Europe. Among these are the Almoravids and the Almohads. The current dynasty of Alaouites which has been ruling Morocco since 1660 was the first government to recognize the American Independence as sovereign nation. King Mohammed the third gifted the new country its first diplomatic mission estate in the world in Tangiers and signed the first and oldest friendship treaty with the US that has lasted over 200 years.

The Moroccan political system is a constitutional monarchy where the king has absolute power over military and religious affairs. He also appoints the prime minister from the party with most representatives to the bicameral parliament in a multi-party system through elections every five years. The current government is a coalition of three parties. Population and Ethnic groups. The two major ethnic groups are Berbers (Amazigh) and Arabs. Two groups that are hard to distinguish since they have been intermarrying for thousands of years. There is also a large Jewish population which enjoyed great protection by the king of Morocco from the Nazi and Vichy regime during WW2, has been diminishing since the 60s. 

Economy: Moroccan economy has seen major improvements for the last thirty years. It has seen large investments in infrastructure (highways, high speed trains) manufacturing (cars and aeronautics) and agriculture and fishery products. It remains the first exporter of phosphates/fertilizer and has two thirds of the world’s reserves. Morocco is also a major leader in renewable energy with one of the largest solar energy farms in the south where they have 360 days of sunshine. Plans to export electricity to Europe are under way with plans to provide 20% of electric consumption in England.

For more information on Morocco, go to many google sites such as:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco

https://www.britannica.com/place/Morocco

The following YouTube video symbolizes the Moroccan culture of tolerance and harmony. It is from the Pope’s visit to Morocco in 2019. This shows a Muslim man , a Jewish lady, and Christian lady performing their religious prayer led by the Casablanca orchestra. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MnncEU_gks