The two papers normally read here are the Casablanca dailies, Le Petit Marocain, obtainable about midday, and La Vigie Marocaine, not obtainable till evening. Both are patriotic, more or less anti-Fascist, but neutral as to Spanish Civil War and anti-Communist. The local paper. L’Atlas, weekly, seems utterly insignificant. Yesterday (15th) in spite of sensational news of Chamberlain flying to Berlin, with which the papers made great play, there was utter lack of interest here and evidently no belief in war being imminent. Nevertheless there have been large transfers of troops to Morocco. Two of the French liners which run Marseilles-Tangiers-Casablanca were more or less completely filled with troops. There has been a large increase recently in the local Air Force and 125 new officers are said to have arrived.
Tags: air force, berlin, communist, fascist, morocco, neville chamberlain, newspapers, spanish civil war, troops
September 16, 2008 at 6:47 am
[...] (1878), Agadir (1911), Chanak (1922), Fashoda (1898) and Venezuela (1895). (Far away in Marrakech, George Orwell can detect ‘no belief in war being [...]
September 16, 2008 at 11:19 am
My father is beginning his senior year at a high school in Toledo OH about now.
September 16, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Where’s the SIEGE, Arthur?
September 16, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Now Orwell is getting interesting! I was starting my freshman year in college, but I can remember worrying about a war starting and hoping we could keep out of it.
September 16, 2008 at 5:45 pm
[...] George: Seventy years from now, the average person getting a gustatory rush from news and information enjoys considerably more than two newspapers. We now have RSS feeds propagating endless items of interest that stop us in our tracks, that we must learn to wrestle with and filter, and that make some of the distinctions between liberal, conservative, and centrist somewhat unnecessary. I say this is all fine, provided one steps away from the computer for long stretches and talks to souls in the waking world. This is not to suggest that pinpointing partisan journalism is impossible. (Christ, you should see FOX News, George. Winston Smith’s varicose ulcer would have likewise expanded across his entire right leg, rather than remained confined to his ankle.) But I suspect this explains, on the writing front, why op-ed remains more in demand than good old-fashioned journalism, and why those who practice “journalism” often do so with a regrettable preference for decor over taut details. Since the tendentious timbre cannot be so easily cracked sometimes, and since the manner of viewing an article has transformed dramatically, it has come down to identifying these sorts of slipshod impulses within the writer himself. Accountability has dropped down to the byline level. A newspaper isn’t only as good as its last article. We expect even the best of newspapers to screw up. But the working journalist? Always judged from what she has just written. The free ride has ended. One would hope that today’s equivalent transfers of troops to Morocco would be more transparent because of these circumstances, but they won’t show coffins or carnage on television. [...]
September 17, 2008 at 5:48 am
Holy Toledo
September 17, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I think this shows the beginnings of his, “If there is hope it lies in the proles” thoughts…considering his language “there was utter lack of interest here.” To me it reads as someone who see crisis and also sees people who are/would be affected by this crisis ignore it for better or worse. This is why I subscribed to this RSS feed!