“Diversity is embedded in our DNA! And Morocco offers the answer to the questions the world is asking and the problems it is facing today, our DNA has been fed by this diversity we are discussing today”, said, on Thursday, the King’s advisor André Azoulay.
Azoulay was giving a lecture at the School of Arts and Humanities of Mohammed V University, on the theme “diversity at the core of social modernity in Morocco: challenges and promises for tomorrow”.
Speaking about the concept of diversity, he said that he considers himself as one of the incarnations of this concept, being a Moroccan Jew, Berber, and Arab, who grew up in the city of Essaouira, where he learned about diversity”.
“Morocco succeeded where everyone has failed”, Azoulay said, while enumerating efforts made by Morocco to preserve the memory of Moroccan Jews, through the restoration of synagogues and cemeteries, a fact that mirrors the pefect Jewish-Muslim harmony.
He also mentioned the contribution of Moroccan Jews to the Moroccan heritage and their massive cultural heritage, which is evidenced by a large number of literary productions, music, and architecture…
Azoulay underscored the features of Morocco, adding that “diversity is not a theoretical, historical or abstract concept, it is a reality that we live in today in Morocco”, stressing the role of education and universities in preserving this uniqueness, which he called “Tameghrabit”.
Azoulay also discussed the importance of “liberating our minds”, saying that “we were able to liberate the land from colonialism and now we are working to liberate our minds”, referring to the specificity of the Moroccan “compass” in leading the country toward the future.
Talking about the ability of Moroccan Jews to preserve their identity, Azoulay pointed out that “every new generation of Moroccan Jews is more Moroccan than their parents, because they carry Morocco wherever they go…they learned that here”.
He concluded by saying that “we have to narrate our entire history with all its mistakes and successes…to fight the instrumentalization of the past”.