Moroccan traditional craftsmen reject Algeria’s seizure of the kingdom’s caftans and zelliges

In light of Algeria’s continued attempts to steal a number of symbols of Moroccan intangible heritage, the latest of which was its rush to register the Moroccan caftan as part of Algerian heritage with the United Nations, the Chamber of Traditional Industry in the Rabat-Salé-Kenitra region called for an end to this practice, which was also described by the Ministry of Tourism, Traditional Industry and Economy. Social and solidarity “dangerous phenomenon.”

This came during a symposium organized by the Chamber of Traditional Industry of the Rabat-Salé-Kenitra region, in partnership with the Heritage and Arts Club, and in cooperation with UNESCO – Morocco, today, Monday in Rabat, where the Chamber called for “protecting the national heritage from theft and obliteration.”

The Chamber of Traditional Crafts in the Rabat-Salé-Kenitra region officially confirmed its objection to “the Algerian file’s nomination to include the Moroccan caftan and the traditional Moroccan zellij on the UNESCO heritage list,” as stated by the president of the chamber, Abderrahim El-Zemzami.

The same spokesman, on behalf of the traditional craftsmen in the Rabat-Salé-Kenitra region, called for “the need to expedite the issuance of a request to include these two heritage components on the list of Morocco’s intangible heritage, and later, as a proactive step, the rest of the Moroccan cultural and artistic products, as an international protection for them from obliteration and theft.”

The Chamber of Traditional Industry in the Rabat-Salé-Kenitra region, under the supervision of the Ministry responsible for the sector, will submit a recommendation to the responsible departments and write to the Moroccan Ambassador, Permanent Representative to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, regarding the matter.

Al-Zamzami pointed out that there are “maneuvers that attempt to circumvent the Moroccan identity, and strive to harm the cultural identity, and one of its most important symbols, by trying to strike at our cultural and civilizational history, which derives its existence from more than twelve centuries of time.”

The same speaker stopped at the caftan and the zellij, highlighting that the first “has been established in our belief based on history and the present that it is an authentic Moroccan garment whose existence was linked to the dress of the kings and sultans of the Moroccan Alawite state,” adding that the zellij “is considered one of the important Moroccan creations, along with the art of gypsum and wood carving. “In which the traditional Moroccan craftsman excelled.”

For his part, Moha Al-Rish, Director of Heritage Preservation and Innovation at the Ministry of Tourism, Handicrafts, Social and Solidarity Economy, described what he called “the desperate attempt at piracy to which the Moroccan craft product has recently been exposed by some countries” as a “dangerous phenomenon.”

The same spokesman added that the communication meeting organized on the topic of “Moroccan caftans and zellij” “indicates the commitment of all of us, government, people, institutions, civil society, and various groups of society, to protecting and preserving the components of the Moroccan heritage, which is characterized by diversity and richness, which reflect the cohesion and diversity of the components of the national identity and the fusion of its various components.” “.

The same official pointed out that “traditional craftsmanship constitutes a distinctive cultural and artistic asset that distinguishes the Moroccan identity rooted in the depths of history, in addition to its economic and social role that has contributed to the development of our country.”