Young Flemish writer Naima Albdiouni often writes about the impact of westernization on Muslim countries. In her story for Radio Books, Morocco prepares for the visit of an important dignitary.

Naima Albdiouni - 'Ice-creams at Easter'

Naima Albdiouni was born in 1981 in Antwerp. She is a columnist for De Standaard newspaper and works as an editor for a publishing company. She is also a translator of French and Spanish. Her publishing debut was made in an anthology of new short stories by Flemish writers in the book ‘Read and Approved’ and was a jury member on ‘The Colour of Art’ in 2005, a literary competition of the cross-cultural youth organisation Kif Kif.

Albdiouni’s first novel ‘Voyeur’ was published in 2009. It relates the hard life in Tangier, where traditional and poor Moroccans and free compatriots educated in the West live together with difficulty. People talk on and on but no one communicates and everyone judges on everything that's different. The main character is Abdullah, who has been released from the infamous desert prison Lmart. One of the central questions in the novel is whether people are really as free as they think they are.

Westernization

These days it’s difficult to turn on the television or radio or read a newspaper in Europe without being confronted with something to do with Islam and its current impact on western life. It appears to be monopolising and polarising the political debate.
But what about the impact of westernisation on Muslim countries and the counter force of radical Islam?
 
It’s this that Naima Albdiouni is focusing on with her story for Radio Books. It’s set in Morocco as the country prepares for a visit by the Sheik of Qatar – a visit which highlights stark differences and is the catalyst for potentially catastrophic events.  

“Arab heads of state were invited to see the country, to inspect it and make an offer for whatever had caught their acquisitive eye. Everything was for sale, everything and everyone had a price tag. In the name of progress. The Sheik of Qatar, for example, had bought  a stretch of beach  nine kilometers long on his last visit. He had grandiose plans, intended to install there luxury hotels, designer boutiques, casinos, discos, to give the city a more exclusive, international air. Like a completely renewed, young, beautiful body which was eaten up by a parasitic tumour.”

‘Ice-creams at Easter’ by Naima Albdiouni  was translated by Michael O’Loughlin. The story is read by Chris Chambers.

The series Radio Books is an initiative of Flemish-Dutch Huis de Buren in Brussels, in association with the Flemish radio broadcaster Klara and Radio Netherlands Worldwide.