The inaugural meeting on The “image of Morocco beyond borders: realities and representations”, gathered Mr Abdelllah Boussouf, Secretary General of the CCME and Jean-Pierre Chevènement, French politician and former president of the foundation for islam of France. This meeting was moderated by the French-Moroccan journalist Ouadih Dada.
During the meeting Mr Abdellah Boussouf said “ Five million Moroccans live abroad and we are aware that the image of Moroccan nationals cannot be disconnected from their country of origin”, adding this is the reason why we have to ask ourselves how we are perceived outside our borders and the efforts required to give the true image of the real history and way of life of Morocco”.
Answering the question to the question of the exacerbated nationalism in the world, Mr. Boussouf said “ dialogue and living together should not be kept hostage by extremist movements”.
For his part, Mr J.P Chevènement expressed his high regard to Morocco, “a country to which France owes a lot during the second world war”.
He said “there are 1.5 million Moroccans in France, including 41,000 students, the highest number of foreign student communities, and 50,000 French citizens living in Morocco,” which indicates “the quality of the relationship between our two countries”.
On the issue of immigration, Mr Chevènement explained that development is the real challenge for African countries: “Africa should not be dispossessed of their elites”.
Concerning the question of the stereotypes, he spoke about culture: “writings representative of cultural wealth such as the De LaCroix notebooks, those of Massignon and Jacques Bercque” and “the religious reforms launched by King Mohammed VI are a call for openness “. He added “Morocco is a modern kingdom, I visited the solar energy center in Ouarzazate, the Tanger med port, the International University of Rabat, the aeronautical site of Casablanca, the development of the Bouregreg valley, these are major achievements to bring forward.
Answering the question on how to face the rise of extremism, Mr. Chevènement said “what is happening in Europe cannot be reduced to -what is called- nationalism. Nationalism is a disease of the nation”. In the same answer, he said that the most appropriate answer is culture and the ability to comprehend the other, it is the definition of humanism. Thus we always need to beer the fact that we are humans “.
CCME
