Raymond Sadik.🇲🇦

The Sahara helped make Morocco: its dynasties, its trade routes and its identity. 1/2 Morocco’s identity was shaped over centuries through the meeting of Amazigh, Arab, Saharan, African, Andalusian, Jewish and Mediterranean histories. These inheritances overlap and enrich one another. The Saharan dimension runs deep through this shared history: in the formation of political power, the development of commerce, the circulation of people and the transmission of culture. The clearest starting point is the Almoravid movement in the eleventh century. It emerged among the Sanhaja Amazigh populations of the western Sahara, notably the Lamtuna, Gudala and Massufa. From this Saharan setting came a movement that reshaped Morocco, established Marrakech as its capital and extended its authority into other parts of the Maghreb and al-Andalus. One of the great formative chapters of Moroccan history therefore developed through a movement from the Sahara towards the north. Saharan populations supplied rulers, religious leadership, military organisation and networks of solidarity and alliance. They helped build the institutions and political traditions inherited by subsequent generations. Under the Almoravids, populations beyond the desert gave allegiance to rulers who themselves came from the Saharan world. The relationship between Morocco and the Sahara was reciprocal: Saharan societies helped constitute Moroccan political power, while successive Moroccan dynasties maintained relationships with the wider Saharan world. This history also illustrates how closely Morocco’s different inheritances intertwine. The Almoravids were simultaneously Amazigh, Saharan and Muslim. Their rule connected the desert, the Atlas, Morocco’s cities and al-Andalus. They embodied several dimensions of an identity that developed through encounters and exchange. The importance of the southern oasis world appears again in later dynastic history. The Saadians emerged from the Drâa region, while the Alaouite dynasty has its Moroccan roots in Tafilalt. These are distinct histories, but both demonstrate the contribution of southern regions to the formation and renewal of Moroccan authority. The archaeological history of Sijilmasa records the inhabitants’ appeal to Moulay al-Sharif in 1631, an important moment in the emergence of the dynasty that reigns today. The oasis regions of southern Morocco were centres of political initiative, religious authority and economic influence. Trade provides another essential connection. For centuries, Sijilmasa, near present-day Rissani, was a major caravan centre linking the Maghreb with the Sahel. Its commercial importance and gold coinage placed a Saharan oasis at the heart of a much wider economic world. Morocco’s historical relationship with Africa was sustained through these routes, their settlements and the people who travelled them. Merchants, scholars, pilgrims and families carried knowledge, beliefs and cultural practices across the desert. The Sahara was a space of movement, commerce and political influence. Understanding Moroccan history requires looking south across these networks, alongside looking north across the Mediterranean and towards al-Andalus. This Saharan dimension remains a living cultural reality. UNESCO describes the Moussem of Tan-Tan as a gathering bringing together more than thirty tribes from southern Morocco and other parts of northwest Africa. Such gatherings express a cultural geography whose relationships extend across modern borders. Oral traditions, poetry, music, craftsmanship and social customs transmit this inheritance across generations. Their shared regional character helps explain how Saharan heritage can be integral to Moroccan identity while also connecting Morocco with neighbouring societies. Cultural belonging does not require exclusivity. @MichaelShurkin

Marruecos, Marruecos, Marruecos… ¿Por qué tanta obsesión? Anoche, durante una cena en Rabat, unos amigos españoles me plantearon una pregunta que merece una conversación serena: «En España hablamos todos los días de Marruecos. Marruecos, Marruecos, Marruecos… Muchas veces desde la desconfianza o en términos negativos. Aquí, en cambio, parece que se habla mucho menos de España y se la mira con mayor simpatía. ¿Por qué?». Era su impresión, nacida de lo que conocen de España y de lo que estaban viviendo en Marruecos. Pero la pregunta invita a reflexionar. ¿Por qué un vecino ocupa tanto espacio en nuestro debate público? ¿Qué imagen construimos de él cuando aparece sobre todo asociado a inmigración, fronteras, delincuencia o crisis diplomáticas? ¿Cuánto conocemos de su sociedad, de su cultura y de su vida cotidiana? ¿Qué peso tienen los medios? ¿Y las redes sociales, donde la indignación encuentra tanto eco? ¿Puede resultar electoralmente rentable presentar al vecino como una amenaza y cualquier acuerdo con él como una concesión, un chantaje o una muestra de debilidad? ¿En qué momento una crítica legítima a las decisiones de un Gobierno se convierte en prejuicio contra todo un país, o contra las personas de ese origen que viven entre nosotros? Y, sobre todo, ¿por qué a veces atribuimos al vecino tanto poder para explicar nuestros problemas? ¿Nos ayuda a entenderlos o nos permite eludir preguntas incómodas sobre nuestras propias decisiones y responsabilidades? También cabe preguntarnos a los marroquíes: ¿hasta qué punto esa simpatía hacia España es compartida? ¿Qué prejuicios nuestros debemos reconocer? ¿Cómo preservar la cercanía entre las personas cuando surgen desacuerdos entre los Estados? Entre amigos españoles y marroquíes, estas preguntas pueden ponerse sobre la mesa con franqueza y afecto. ¿Nos conocemos de verdad o conocemos, sobre todo, los relatos que circulan sobre el otro?