Celebración virtual del octavo Ftour Plural, símbolo de la convivencia entre confesiones y culturas en Marruecos
"This year, our meeting is certainly virtual, but paradoxically history will recall that it brought together the largest number of participants eager to welcome the exceptional convergence of the pioneering and visionary strategy applied by His Majesty the King with the maturity shown by our people to give all their chances of success to this Moroccan response to the COVID-19 pandemic," said Royal Advisor André Azoulay, who attended Atalayar on Monday by telephone. The co-president of Three Cultures of the Mediterranean Foundation was one of the participants in this eighth edition of the Plural Ftour, an event that brings together every year Muslims, Jews and Christians of Morocco to break the fast together on a night of Ramadan. A celebration of coexistence and pluralism in Morocco.
"This year, in which we had to meet virtually because of the confinement, has been the most beautiful," said Ahmed Ghayat, president of the organization Marocains Pluriels (Plural Moroccans) and founder of the Ftour Plural initiative, to Atalayar. This Sunday night's event broke records: more than a thousand people broke their fast through computer screens. In addition to the aforementioned André Azoulay, the Imam Omar El Mrini, the Rabbi of the Grand Casablanca Josef Israël, the Archbishop of Rabat Cristobal Lopez Romero, the Apostolic Nuncio in Morocco Vito Rallo, the writer Asmaa Lamrabet, the Islamologist Moulay Abdellah Chérif Ouazzani and Professor Jaafar Heikel were present, among other personalities from civil society, intellectuals and young people from various associations.
The initiative, born in 2013, has been bringing together - although this year the health crisis has prevented it - five to several hundred people at the Stade Olympique Casablancais Simon Pinto in Casablanca. Born in the Maghreb country, this event for coexistence has crossed borders and is also held in cities like Paris, Tunis, Beirut or Montreal. "The aim of our virtual Plural Tour is to gather around a shared moment, to make brotherhood and sharing live that this sacred month symbolizes; to show that our nation is now and always a beacon of coexistence", summarizes the entity.
"This year's celebration has once again served to show that Moroccan Arab-Andalusian heritage is alive and well. There is increasing interest in this legacy and initiatives such as this Plural Tour among Spaniards living in Morocco and among Moroccans living in Spain. The north of the Mediterranean was looking forward to meeting the south shore. Reuniting is the best remedy against all types of viruses," Ghayat told this publication. "We felt that the communities were separating, the young Moroccan Muslims knew nothing of their Jewish compatriots or of the Christians of the country; there was a need, and still is, for pedagogy and mutual knowledge," he adds.
Recently awarded the Medal of Andalusia for Solidarity and Concord, the Royal Advisor Andrés Azoulay did not want to miss this year's virtual meeting: " Ever since the existence of these Plural Ftours I have not missed such an emblematic meeting with the richness of all our diversities and deeply rooted in the national consensus". Moreover, Azoulay has encouraged the Moroccan people to persevere in their values to face the current health challenge. "Each of us is a potential victim in the face of this challenge, but we are also potential carriers of part of the solution," added the advisor to the Moroccan sovereign, highlighting the "culture of social solidarity with which we Moroccans have always identified.
Finally, the co-president of the Three Cultures Foundation wanted to pay tribute to "our scientific and medical community, our security forces and all those who form the chain of resistance and resilience in Morocco against the COVID-19". Finally, Azoulay expressed "his pride as a citizen to see his country recognized and acclaimed by the Community of Nations in its tribute to the far-sighted leadership of His Majesty the King and the action of the entire system put in place by Morocco in the face of this pandemic".
Marocains Pluriels, the organizer of this special Ramadan fasting tour, expressed its views in a similar way. "It is an occasion to show the world that our country - behind His Majesty King Mohammed VI - is a plural and united Morocco: our heritage of diversity continues to give life, in concrete terms, to the preamble of the Constitution, whatever the dangers that the world may face".
The entity has launched a Facebook page to spread the initiative and its message of coexistence and celebration of diversity and brotherhood. Ftour Pluriel has also asked that each Muslim family, if they have the possibility, share with a Jewish, Christian or other family or denomination a Ramadan dinner with the food and typical dishes of Morocco, stressing that this year it should be done "leaving them in front of the door of the neighbors to avoid too much contact". Jewish and Christian families in Morocco are also encouraged to offer dishes from their traditions to their Muslim neighbours.