Since I’m such a Tuareg groupie I was extatic to find J.M.G Le Cle’zio’s ‘Desert’. It covers a wide range of issues from the lives of migrant labourers in Marseilles and life in the coastal Moroccan shantytowns to the lives of the North African desert tribes. It really is no wonder that this book won him the 2008 Nobel Prize for literature.
The book includes really painful descriptions of how these once powerful tribes fought hard to retain their autonomy until they were hunted down and treated as rebels and thieves and eventually massacred as French colonialism drew its lines in blood through North Africa.
The idea that the only thing that can be of any value to the tribes is water, and that everything they possess is carried with them as they trek through the desert from the time they are born till the day they die and the vivid descriptions of nomadic life left quite the impression on me.
Living in 2010 it is almost beyond us to truly comprehend that nothing of real value can be measured monetarily.
Ss as I wish you a wonderful Ramadan I would like to wish for your soul and for mine GRATEFULNESS because in a world so obsessed with accumulating wealth, to be content and to realise that the things worth owning are not paid for with money is to set yourself free.
3 comments:
Ramadaan Mubarak to you too. Will have to see if I can get my hands on this book. At the moment I have so much on my reading list. Still trying to finish a Ken Follett novel. And then there's Noam Chompsky.
Ramadan Kareem dear :)
( as I wish you a wonderful Ramadan I would like to wish for your soul and for mine GRATEFULNESS because in a world so obsessed with accumulating wealth, to be content and to realise that the things worth owning are not paid for with money is to set yourself free. ) what a lovely thing to say. Thanks for the toughts and wishes :)
Hey Sid - Have a great one :) as for the book it's really worth a read so do look out for it.
Hey Wafa - Have a beautiful month :)
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