Participation of Racines to conferences and meetings, in Morocco and internationally

Aadel Essaadani, Racines’ General Coordinator, was invited to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Arterial Network, the 10th of March 2017, in Abidjan (Ivory Coast). The anniversary gathered the testimonies of several African cultural actors, to evaluate the achievement of the network and to reflect on its potential development. Aadel Essaadani was the deputy-chair and the chairman of Arterial Network, respectively from 2011 to 2013 and from 2013 to 2015. 

• Aadel Essaadani, Racines‘ General Coordinator, was invited to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Arterial Network, the 10th of March 2017, in Abidjan (Ivory Coast). The anniversary gathered the testimonies of several African cultural actors, to evaluate the achievement of the network and to reflect on its potential development. Aadel Essaadani was the deputy-chair and the chairman of Arterial Network, respectively from 2011 to 2013 and from 2013 to 2015.
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• On May 2016, the German parliament, in response to the events of Cologne in 2015, have pronounced that Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco are “safe countries”. This question gathered on March 1st, 2017 in Berlin militants from the Maghreb, to discuss about the human rights situation in their respective country. This meeting was organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation, which invited Mehdi Azdem as the General Director of Racines, to talk about the current situation in Morocco especially on the problem of the public places, different cases of censorship and violation of freedom in the public place. Also invited to debate: Mrs Khadija Ainani representative of the Moroccan association of human rights (AMDH), Mr Rummy Khouily, Tunisian activist who presented the present situation in Tunisia as regarding human rights and public space, as well as Mr Volker Beck, a member of German Parliament, expert on the concepts of migration, human rights and religion.
• The Creative Tracks Day was organized by the RobertoCimetta Fund in Paris on  March 7th, 2017, under the topic “Independent cultural entrepreneurs driving artistic creation”. This seminar brought more than fifty professionals from all over the world, to discuss the situation of the cultural and artistic markets in their respective countries. Mehdi Azdem was part of this meeting, for presenting the situation of these markets in Morocco and Maghreb. Several themes were discussed in relation to cultural entrepreneurship; Mobilities, collaborations, financing and the cultural and creative industries.
• Rajae Hammadi, board member at Racines’ association, animated a debate on public space in Morocco, in the framework of the 3rd edition of “Café Citoyen“, that was organized on March 9th, in Dare Space, Rabat.  The theme of the debate was chosen because of the frustration expressed by citizens regarding the exploitation of public space. It should be a space for freedom of expression, of creativity and social inclusion, while respecting universal human rights. 

• Within the project “Li tgal yddar – 2017 “, Racines, in partnership with Heinrich Böll Stiftung – Rabat, North Africa, develops three activities on the theme of “Accountability and Citizenship”. It also organizes “Hackathon meetings” that deal with four different themes: Environment, Urbanism, Education and Culture. The first meeting took place on March 11th, 2017 at Racines’office, with the participation of seven young Morrocan people, active on social media and the web, who were selected from a call of participation. They have to create publications related to the question of accountability and matched with environment problems in Morocco. The goal is to make buzz on the Web and social media. The participants then created 30 publications which we share one by one twice a week on our Facebook page “li tgal yddar”. Each “Hackathon meeting” also aims to prepare the arrival of every tour in 4 different regions in Morocco along 2017. These tours bring together civil society and representatives to debate on the question of accountability. The first one will take place on March 25th, 2017 in Marrakech.