Word: meccas
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Blessed with a thriving economy and one of the world's most generous political-asylum laws, West Germany has long been a mecca for refugees. That traditional open-door attitude toward political exiles is now being severely tested. Officials estimate that more than 150,000 foreigners will seek asylum in West Germany this year, compared with fewer than 3,000 a decade ago. Most of the immigrants, it appears, come in search of jobs rather than sanctuary, and nine out of every ten refugees requesting asylum will eventually be turned down. But under West Germany's cumbersome judicial...
...region's stability is further undermined by the traumatic changes brought on by oil wealth, such as rapid economic development, huge riches and a massive influx of foreign labor. These have caused violent strains in Muslim orthodoxy, as reflected in the attack on the Sacred Mosque of Mecca and the Iranian revolution...
...MECCA by Ted Whitehead...
...wants guidelines to the cross-cultural resonances in Mecca, currently at Manhattan's Quaigh Theater, ample hints may be found in E.M. Forster's A Passage to India and the works of Paul Bowles and Graham Greene. Conflicting cultures are perhaps less Playwright Whitehead's concern than conflicted lives. All but one of the six Britons who have come to Morocco for a holiday are in perturbed states of sexual disarray, which they tend to cloak in mocking humor and racy banter...
Despite certain obvious contrivances, Mecca is a richly entertaining and captivating drama. Whitehead does not believe in low-profile characterization. Whether spiky or spicy, each of his people, including the Arab resort manager (Arnaldo Santana), has a clear personality. They may not elicit affection, but what they choose to do or not do is never boring...