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The permanent sincerity of the Kingdom of Morocco in its commitment to the principles of multiculturalism and to the diverse identities that make up the whole of this Islamic nation should not be doubted.
This embrace by the government and the general public is real, constant and codified, even synonymous with what it means to be Moroccan today. However, the pluralistic experiences lived by people must take new forms with each generation, and their translation into advanced development is now the call of the nation.
In the last decade, Morocco’s constitution backed by the popular referendum has made the composition of diverse identities unchanging. Public and civil actions to preserve the cultural past of the entire country have seen a commendable acceleration, with the common desire to participate in restoration and knowledge sharing activities when opportunities arise.
However, while it is important to debate and teach about multifaceted national identity, the result of intercultural dialogue and partnership must overcome it. If we want to be honest, and we must be, considering the harsh conditions (and the worsening due to the pandemic) of poverty that affect most people and especially those who live in rural areas, then we must admit that multiculturalism Moroccan is not meeting the Moroccan standard. of translation in sustainable development for all people.
The magnificence of Moroccan politics is that it does not find its fulfillment by preserving, celebrating and promoting religious and ethnic identities alone. Policies find their highest expression only when implemented in partnership with and to meet the human development needs of local communities. And in this sense, the nation is falling short. This is not due to a lack of interest or potential, but more simply because the capacities of how interreligious dialogue can lead, for example, to better public health, are not well built or understood. Let me provide a commendable rural example of how “intercultural dialogue becomes a bridge to human development”, as King Mohammed VI encouraged the nation in 2008 and has done repeatedly since.
One example: agricultural communities in the Moroccan countryside combine to require a few billion fruit trees and medicinal plants as they move away from the traditional practice of growing barley and corn. For communities to grow the trees they need, they need the gift of the land to grow seeds in local nurseries because they cannot give up their own land and not harvest food every year to survive. The Moroccan Jewish community, along with its 600 cemeteries across the country, has vacant land that they are willing to lend at no cost to local agricultural associations and cooperatives to help them meet their tree and plant needs.
Moved by the killings in places of worship of different religions in different parts of the world, having in common that their parishioners unknowingly and enthusiastically welcomed their murderers, I introduced this interfaith agricultural opportunity in a letter to King Mohammed VI of Morocco. He instructed the government to finance (through the National Initiative for Human Development) the construction of the proposed tree nursery on land loaned in kind by the Moroccan Jewish community in Ouarzazate. On November 5, the nursery that will produce 200,000 fruit trees from native seeds was inaugurated on a new one-hectare agricultural terrace built into the side of a mountain above the 1,000-year-old sacred cemetery of Rabbi David-Ou-Moché. .
Cabinet officials of the Moroccan Minister of the Interior declined the opportunity to receive additional funds from abroad for this project, preferring instead that it be financed and executed entirely on the basis of Moroccan partnerships. There is a moving significance globally that the Kingdom of Morocco spent public resources to build a nursery of organic fruit trees needed for and for its people on land provided free of charge by the Moroccan Jewish community.
If this interfaith collaboration were taken to a national scale, tens of millions of trees could be generated annually, an essential contribution to achieving the imperative of alleviating rural poverty.
The demonstration of this form of social solidarity is timely for Morocco; Agricultural development is now a cornerstone of the country’s economic recovery plan from the pandemic. Morocco’s union of intercultural dialogue with human development is fundamental to its own sustainable future, as its self-determined message is an example to the world.
As exceptional as this nursery project is, it is also so rare. Morocco’s religious leaders must find it uncomfortable and unacceptable that the preservation of houses of worship and cemeteries, and even the celebrations of its vastly rich cultures, along with the necessary financial investments, occur amid dense and debilitating poverty.
Morocco should, for example, demand that all restored historic mosques, synagogues and churches be not only for their own good and that of international visitors and faithful, but also as a continuous meeting place for local communities to jointly plan their development. future, to participate in workshops that strengthen their capacities to design and manage new projects and forge alliances, and to be work spaces for development, mobilization and community action.
Finally, public leaders should strongly encourage conferences, associations and initiatives that promote an appreciation of Moroccan multiculturalism, to dedicate themselves fully also to the fusion of human development at the core of their cause.
These approaches need to be strengthened, including by training Morocco’s diverse religious, ethnic and cultural leaders to facilitate multi-stakeholder planning. Their dialogue and collaboration must necessarily result in poverty alleviation and growth initiatives, especially with women and youth.
However, for representatives of religious and ethnic groups to achieve that cooperative position, it will be necessary for them to first strengthen their relationships through their own honest exchange of stories of fears and doubts of the other, and offering expressions of regret derived from past discrimination. in case they do. feel and needed to be said and accepted. Only then will the expanded and lasting foundation of cohesive partnerships for sustainable livelihoods and environments be formed.
Despite the fact that Morocco has created a social and political environment that sincerely encourages interreligious dialogue, association and actions, the collective efforts of interested individuals and organizations are still required to manifest these opportunities that enhance local and national life. One of the barriers that prevents these projects from being implemented is the lack of third-party organizations that simply dedicate themselves to consensus-building among religious groups to forge alliances that result in jointly designed and managed cultural projects that are also educational and educational. developing. Civil society groups, with their flexibility to engage with individuals and agencies at all levels and sectors of society, can be uniquely positioned and effective in this facilitating role.
It is up to other nations to decide what lessons can be informative from the Moroccan example. As an American, for example, now reflecting on the faith-based White House office that coordinates community programs in nine federal agencies, I recommend, borrowing from the Moroccan case, requiring that funded activities incorporate interfaith collaboration not just to enhance sustainability and social cohesion, but also to better ensure the protection of religious freedoms for people who receive social services from this government subsidy.
Working in the way that is really the Moroccan intention will not only be the true safeguard of the multiplicity of the national identity, but will allow its full proclamation of all the people of the nation because in fact it became the bridge to our higher self.
Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir is president of the High Atlas Foundation in Morocco.
