This Der Spiegel article on Morocco is worth a read. "Morocco’s 42-year-old King Mohammed VI has discovered religion as a means of modernizing his society -- and progress through piety seems to be the order of the day. By granting new rights to women and strengthening civil liberties, the ruler of this country of 30 million on Africa’s northern edge, which is 99 percent Muslim, plans to democratize Morocco through a tolerant interpretation of the Koran." (via Arts and Letters Daily). This short BBC piece is on one of the Berber languages. The Arabs call the Amazigh people Berbers. Berber means barbarian in Arabic, but Amazigh means free or noble in their own language. Berber is making a comeback and the ancient script of Tifinagh is being used to write a language that has been an oral tradition, mainly spoken by some Tuareg nomads. The Amazighs are now allowed (even encouraged) by Morocco’s laws to learn Tifinagh in schools. Progress.