Round table : Cultural diversity of Moroccans around the world

“Cultural diversity of Moroccans around the world” is the theme of the third round table organized Wednesday, February 18, 2018 of the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad (CCME) at the Book Fair of Casablanca.

Messrs. Mustapha Jlok, anthropologist, Mohamed El Medlaoui, linguist, Chouaib Halifi, writer, novelist and Moroccan university professor, Mohammadi Laghzaoui, professor of linguistics and English literature in the Netherlands and Tijani Boulaouali, professor of Islamic religion, pedagogy and science Didactics in Belgium « facilitated » this roundtable moderated by Mr. Aziz Rifki, works at the CCME.

Mr. Rifki spoke aboutt the Moroccan Constitution, which illustrated cultural diversity in its preamble, that Moroccan identity is “the convergence of its Arab-Islamic, Amazigh and Saharo-Hassani components” and ” is nourished and enriched by its African, Andalusian, Hebrew and Mediterranean tributaries.

Mr. Rifki also highlighted the CCME’s work and publications that “had the purpose of enhancing this diversity and preserving the collective national memory”.

Mr. Boulouani, for his part,  explained that “we can not live in a society without knowing the Other”: “I have been living in Europe for two decades but I have only really discovered the West in recent years and It is sad to see that many of my fellow citizens in European countries have not yet made this discovery.

He also spoke about the gap between Islam and the West widens, “all the components of Western society, including Muslims, must learn philosophy of pluralism that will allow them to live together in the same space despite cultural and religious differences because pluralism is the essence of civilization “.

To get closer to the elements of Western society, it is important, according to Mr. Boulouani, to distinguish between ideology and Western civilization: “Western civilization carries technological progress, cultural wealth and philosophical theories.

Finally, Mr. Boulouani called on Muslims not to remain on the margins of society because “Islam in Europe is no longer an immigrant religion but a national religion”, stating that “the real challenge is to represent diversity and the richness of the culture of origin “without being  prisoner of a psychosocial isolation “.

Mr Laghzaoui explained in his introduction,  that “linguistic and cultural pluralism are closely linked because language carries cultural values”, lamenting “the political statements of some European leaders who are discriminating against the languages ​​of origin.

He also regretted the absence of “Moroccan lobbying for native languages” which is the cause of the linguistic inequality of the immigrant child “and invited all actors” to assert the language of origin which is a real added value for the host society “.

For Mr Halifi, who participated in the production of the CCME box of booklets on the Moroccan personality, “Moroccans around the world suffer from an identity malaise because they do not have the necessary mechanisms to defend their culture of origin. Adding that one must understand oneself before understanding the other.

“Cultural diversity is a human treasure that can not be realized for the Moroccans of the world without knowing the components of this diversity and the CCME has led many actions in this  way,” he said.

Abstract