After filing a complaint against Algeria at UNESCO on the origin of the caftan, Morocco launched a new offensive to appropriate this traditional female clothing common to the Maghreb.
Another dispute in perspective between Algeria and Morocco around an element of heritage. After Zellige, couscous, pottery and even Raï music, Moroccans are returning to the charge for the caftan, the traditional female ceremonial dress, which they are trying to appropriate and challenge in Algeria.
The discussions are likely to be lively as during the numerous controversies of recent years.
From zellige to caftan
The most heated controversy was undoubtedly that of zellige, in October 2022. Moroccans protested against the use by Adidas, equipment supplier of the Algerian football team, of the traditional earthenware patterns of a palace of Tlemcen, for making the Greens parade jersey. The Moroccan government was involved through its Ministry of Culture, and even King Mohammed VI indirectly mentioned the standoff.
Last April, Algeria officially submitted a file to UNESCO for the registration of zellige as an element of Algerian intangible heritage.
A few days later, the Moroccan Minister of Culture, Mehdi Bensaïd, flew to Geneva to meet the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Singaporean Daren Tang.
In a clear allusion to Algeria, the Moroccan minister considered that the PMOI constituted “ an opportunity for Morocco to legally protect the elements of its intangible heritage from attacks, both private and those coming from other States ».
For several years, however, it is the Moroccans who have been trying to deny Algeria the possession of even the slightest element of heritage. Against a backdrop of political crisis between the two countries, the Moroccan offensive was not limited to common heritage such as couscous and Zellige.
She did not spare elements whose belonging to Algeria is obvious, including Raï music and silver jewelry from Beni Yenni, in Kabylia.
The jewelry is purchased in large quantities from the jewelers of Beni Yenni then resold in the shops of Fez or Marrakech to European tourists as being made in Morocco using ancestral know-how.
For Raï, Algeria closed the debate by having it registered with UNESCO in April 2023.
Moroccan Internet users have sometimes caused enormous harm to the entire Maghreb through their actions. In February 2024, they assailed the Galeries Lafayette in Paris with insults and threats after the presentation at the stand “ Village oriental » dedicated to Maghreb specialties, Sellou, a dish common to the entire Maghreb, by Algerian chef Sherazade Laoudedj. The reaction of the Parisian Galleries was to completely close the “ Village oriental ».
Moroccan actions are part of a state strategy which involved King Mohammed VI in person.
In November 2022, just after the outbreak of the zellige affair, Mohammed VI directly targeted Algeria in a message to participants in a UNESCO session held in Morocco under the presidency of the Director General of the UN organization, Audrey Azoulay, daughter of Mohammed VI’s advisor, André Azoulay,
The king had called for “ thwart » which in his eyes were the “ attempts at diversion and monopolization » of Moroccan heritage.
Moroccans return to the charge for the caftan
A new controversy risks breaking out, again at the initiative of the Moroccans.
Many of the kingdom’s press titles have launched a seemingly coordinated campaign to once again challenge Algeria’s ownership of the caftan. “ Morocco protects its caftan against Algeria “, headlines the Bladi website.
The new Moroccan offensive came from the authorities. Friday October 11, a workshop was organized in Fez by the Ministry of Tourism, Crafts and Social and Solidarity Economy for the “ examination and development of specifications and usage regulations for the creation of a label and a collective certification mark for the Moroccan caftan ».
Morocco is thus seeking a way to thwart Algeria, which submitted a file in 2023 for the UNESCO registration of two varieties of the Algerian caftan, the “ goundoura » and the “ m’lehfa ».
Last May, Moroccan media reported that Morocco had filed a complaint with UNESCO against Algeria, accused of stealing ” son » heritage, in this case the caftan.
During the same month, at the 2024 Paris Fair, young Moroccans attempted to remove caftans exhibited by young Algerian seamstress Lina Boussahi at Porte de Versailles, in the French capital.
« In the event that there is a procedure at UNESCO, Algeria will have the files and solid arguments to respond », assured Saïd Hamoudi, advisor to the Minister of Culture, in a statement to TSA last June.
Four months later, the Moroccans are not giving up and are maintaining against all common sense that the caftan belongs to them even though it is proven that it has been present in Algeria since the Ottoman period.
During last Friday’s workshop in Fez, Moha Errich, director of heritage preservation at the Ministry of Tourism, said that ” faced with growing unfair competition, the ministry launched a project to label the Moroccan caftan ».
« Morocco has submitted a request to UNESCO for the inclusion of the Moroccan Caftan as an Intangible Heritage of Humanity for the year 2025 », reports Le Matin.
The newspaper does not hide the party targeted by all this agitation. Quoting Moroccan anthropologist Mustapha Jlok, the media writes that “ a large number of Moroccan Caftans are exported to Algeria. The latter tried to monopolize the famous Caftan Ntaâ of Fez and register it as Algerian intangible heritage with UNESCO ».
« We must find a solution to the informal export of the (Moroccan) Caftan and create a label », suggests the anthropologist.
The accusation is obviously false, Algeria has presented a file for the models which belong to it, the gandoura and the m’lehfa. The agitation risks being in vain, like the previous ones. Algeria has so far won all the battles surrounding its heritage.
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