Rabat – Abdou El Fadl Baadji, the Secretary General of Algeria’s National Liberation Front (FLN) sparked controversy after claiming that the Moroccan cities of Oujda and Guercif in the oriental region were part of the Algerian territory.
“Since Roman times, the city of Oujda and others, including Guercif belonged to Algeria, until 1845, the date of the signing of the Treaty of Lalla Maghnia,” he claimed.
The politician accused France of giving these two regions to Morocco as part of the treaty “in exchange for the commitment of Sultan Moulay Abderahmne” to fight Emir Abdelkader.
Emir Abdelkader was the military leader who led the fight against the French invasion of Algiers in the early 19th century.
France and Morocco signed the Lalla Marnia or Maghnia convention on March 18, 1845, to mark the border between Morocco and Algeria.
Baadji’s remarks came in response to Morocco’s lawsuit against Adidas, accusing it of the cultural appropriation of Moroccan heritage in its new Algeria culture wear.
Last week, Morocco’s Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication instructed President of the Morocco’s Lawyers’ club Mourad Elajouti to file a complaint against Adidas for cultural appropriation of Morocco’s heritage.
The culture wear, according to Adidas, was inspired by the architectural design of the El Mechouar palace in Tlemcen, but Morocco accused the sportswear company of appropriating Moroccan Zellige designs, a type of mosaic tilework.
“We have warned the corporation that this practice constitutes cultural appropriation, an attempted robbery of a form of traditional Moroccan cultural heritage, and the use of that heritage outside of its intended context, all of which contributes to the loss and distortion of the identity and history of these cultural elements,’’ Elajouti said.
In response, Baadji accused Morocco of “wanting to steal everything that is beautiful in Algeria.”
Several Moroccans commented on Baadji’s controversial remarks. Moroccan History said on its Twitter account: “When Algerian leaders take hallucinogenic substances, they say this kind of thing.”
Concerned about threats to the country’s cultural heritage, Morocco’s Minister of Culture announced the official patenting of Zellige of Fez by the World Intellectual Property Organization.
This is not the first time Algeria is linked to cultural appropriation accusations. Mbarka Ait Ouahssi, a Moroccan artisan of homemade traditional carpets filed a lawsuit recently against the Directorate of Culture of Tlemcen in Algeria for unauthorized use of her artistic photograph to promote the city.
