The Moroccan soul is beautiful in essence, made of fraternity, hospitality, openness to others, empathy, joy of living… this soul we must nourish and one of the most important keys to even watering it is indeed culture.
So what does it mean to be Moroccan today?
This question may seem incongruous, yet I think that at regular intervals we need to ask ourselves this question. Personally, it was publications by Moroccan individuals or groups – who call themselves identity – on the social network X (Twitter) of a scandalously xenophobic nature that pushed me to react. Of course Moroccanness is “always and forever”, but an identity cannot be fixed, it is constantly evolving. Each new generation brings its contribution, the surrounding world influences and today new means of communication, social networks, immigration, Moroccans abroad… bring their share of new tributaries. Some, cautious people, see it as a danger, among them – precisely – those who led me to rebel, by their appalling comments on Twitter which advocate a double withdrawal of our society.
However, if we are sure of our History, of our cultural, civilizational, religious anchoring, we must on the contrary congratulate ourselves on being at the heart of an evolving identity.
A frozen identity is a sclerotic identity, most often doomed to disappear.
Of course there is no question here – under the pretext of modernity or evolution – of “swallowing” everything that comes to us, our ancestral values must be preserved. I am talking about values and not about (false) taboos imposed by supporters of a suicidal withdrawal into identity.
However, let us recognize the new contributions, bringing positive changes, an evolution of mentalities and which allow us a reasoned adaptation to the changing world.
I would like to cite a living example of our ability to embrace renewal without losing our soul, I want to talk about our Darija. Constantly evolving, adopting new words, new expressions brought by young people or coming from elsewhere or transforming anglicisms, terms imported from French, Spanish or even “arancia”.
The typical language of social networks also leaves its mark on it.
Does this impoverish our Darija? On the contrary, it enriches it, brings it colors, shows it alive and vivacious…
Where did the idea of this theme for my column come from, quite simply because I was led to measure the extent to which some of our decision-makers were behind our current identity, completely ignoring the codes, the new aspects which obviously induce new desires, new needs, different ways of thinking.
A people is a soul, but a soul must be cultivated, leaving it fallow is tantamount to drying it out, but the Moroccan soul is beautiful in essence, made of fraternity, hospitality, openness to the Other , empathy, joy of living… we need to nourish this soul and one of the keys best able to nourish it is indeed culture.
Memory is identity, diversity is its foundation, we must transmit them to the younger generations, without however refusing or denying the innovative elements carried by this youth. Passing on our past, our identity does not mean locking ourselves into a straightjacket and no one can claim a monopoly on it. Our identity is constitutive of our soul and our soul shapes our identity. To be Moroccan today is to make the effort, every day, to accept “the other”, the (false) identity withdrawal being the gravedigger of the soul.
Let us look around us, a people who lose their share of spirituality, their spirit of openness, their benevolent curiosity are a people who close themselves off and face nothingness.
We are lucky to have this “soul supplement”, let’s cultivate it, it is our specificity, which protects us internally, and represents one of the best vectors of our soft power in the world.
