"Almaghrib" issue #3, page 35. Literary supplement. April 21st., 1938.
One needs but to engage any European who hardly spent a week in Morocco in a free conversation to hear from him a full report on the farthest parts of the country, and a detailed description of traditions you never paid attention to their existence, even if they are part of your daily life. You will discover him in his field of predilection. His cup is overflowing of knowledges, having passed by all the places worth being visited for the beauty of their sites and their historical interest. As for the traditions, he describes them to you meticulously and with a pertinent sense of observation, dissecting the Moroccan mentality in such a way that it can be better understood.
The Moroccan who was born in this country, ignores all about the neighbouring localities of his birthplace, for the simple reason that the only places he ever visited are those which were by chance located on the itinerary of his perigrinations. When he is asked about any aspect of his native town, either he has no idea of its historic origin, or he acknowledges that he never set foot on it. Such unqualified negligence is not the consequence of the one and only ignorance in the thick squelching mud of which most of our compatriotes are bogged down, it is also that of the laziness which flourishes within the cultivated milieux.
The enterprizing spirit is practically non-existent among the young people as well as the less younger ones. This lack of engagement is the result of several causes linked to one another, the most important of which being due to the fact that we did not receive a solid social education. The only image we have from life is that of the family within its four walls and some friendly relationship, in the narrow sense of the word, that we entertain with one another on a strictly personal basis.
The absence of assotiations and the very little interest we grant to the meetings and other demonstrations of cultural or educational character are as many brakes in the search for solutions to the difficulties that we don't succeed to resolve on an individual level.
The europeans wo reside in our country take part in hundreds of associations activities. Each of these associations aims a clear and precise objective and offers to its members the opportunity to share the same ideals with a group of participants having the same community of interests. They organize every year a series of meetings in cultural, artistic, scientific, political, and sporting matters.
The french press gives a large cover to such events and devotes a significant editorial space to detailed accounts on the main subjects which were under debate in the meetings. Thanks to these sessions of brainstorming, the europeans who reside in Morocco achieve their knowledge of our country, whereas we, Moroccans, sleep the sleep of the "unjust".
The european who chooses Morocco as a destination for tourism or for a study trip, does not start his journey before studying its history and having a precise idea of the past and the present of all the places he intends to visit. He generally comes to our country as a participant im an organized group initiated by a tour operator or a newspaper, or within the framework of a congress trip. He gains thus a maximum of benefits of his tour, enjoying the group spirit which reigns among the participants, seeking to discover the secrets of Morocco which are withdrawn from the sight of the others, contemplating its beautiful landscapes and noting his fugitive impressions on his travel journal, unless he fixes his souvenirs on a painting or a picture. Thus, he brings back home, a precise documentation which he will probably use if he intends to publish a book on his voyage, or to organize a painting or a photographic exposure illustrating his morocca adventure.
The tourists coming from Europe are not the only ones to act in this manner. The europeans wo are established in Morocco, too, do not let any feast or weekend pass without seeking to further deepen their knowledge of our country and its problems. Each weekend, they go for a picnic in the edges of the forests, with their luxuriant vegetation or for an excursion in the historical places. Some prefer spending an agreeable moment at the edge of the river or near a water cascade down the mountainside. Those are the happy ones who benefit from Morocco's resources, appreciate their beauty, and let themselves fascinate by their enchanting charms.
As for us, we have no other concern than to cloister ourselves the whole day long, within our four walls, spending time and energy in meanlingless conversations and sterile discussions which testify to our misery and misfortune and attest that we are prey to disorder and mental disequilibrium. When we meet between friends, we exchange bagatelles of an astonishing futility, and we do not cease uttering insults. We spend thus most of our time, exerting ourselves with such invectives in almost all our conversations.
In the spring season, when we express a certain sensitivity to the beauty of the nature surrounding us, and we convene the organization of a feast in the open air outside the city, our concern is to fill the belly, to play cards, and take part in quarrels, forgetting the charm of the new season and the vivifying freshness of its breeze.
As for our voyages, they are limited to a displacement from one city to another, with the aim to seek what the two cities have in common instead of what differenciates them from each other. We will not draw from them any teaching suceptible to improve our knowledge. As long as we don't know that the voyage is a practical lesson of life, we shall remain a marginal nation which not only ignores the rest of the world but, beyond the ignorance of its own country, remains not conscious of its own existence.
