Fes Festival update no. 6: Calling all Moroccan students

FEZ FORUM
The Spirit of Fes Foundation, organisers of the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music, is inviting Moroccan students to attend the Fez Forum, free of charge.

The Forum takes place from 09h00 to noon, 4-8 June at the Batha Museum in Fez. With the general theme of 'Giving Soul to Globalisation', this year's event goes under the title 'The debate on wisdoms'.

Director General Faouzi Skali explains that in recent years, the fate of the world seems to have come to rest on two opposite poles: western culture that is dominated by reason, creativity and technology, and societies that are agitating for new, irrational beliefs based only on identity or religion.

"What is important, and indeed urgent," he says, "is to unlock our systems of thinking, our mental habits and automatic responses, to allow us to become more attentive and receptive to other sources of wisdom, other paths, and other words.
It doesn’t matter if our resources are supported by old or new philosophies, whether they come from north or south, east or west. What is essential is that by recognising them, they can support our relationship with the world. And through this exchange of resources what will emerge will not be just a quantitative diversity justified by some kind of relationship between cultures, but true diversity, both demanding and rich in thought and social ideas, looking out at the world and inward to ourselves."

Here is the programme:

Saturday 4 June: Which wisdoms for our times?
Sunday 5 June: What future for the Middle East?
Monday 6 June: The Arab Spring: New horizons for the Maghreb
Tuesday 7 June: The roots of the financial crisis
Cultures, governance and corruption
Wednesday 8 June: The ups and downs of democracy
Ecology as a political strategy

The Forum always attracts a wide range of people with specialist knowledge who can contribute to the debate. Among the invitees this year are Rajmohan Gandhi, Katherine Marshall, Salamatou Sow, Edgar Morin, Majid Rahnema, Wim Wenders, Leila Shahid, André Azoulay, Karen Amstrong, Bariza Khiari, Jacques Attali, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Michel Thao Chan, Michael Barry, Leili Anvar, Katia Légeret, Mohamed Valsan, Assia Alaoui Bensalah, Marie Miran-Guyon, Mohamed Ghalmi, Kamal Oudghiri, Xavier de Catheu, Patrick Busquet, Henri Joyeux, Patrick Viveret, Jean-Claude Carrière, Amal Arfaoui, Saad Khiari, Nahal Tajddod, Abd Al Malik, Setsuko Klossowska de Rola, Adel Rifaat, Pierre Rhabi, Bahgat Elnadi, Joseph Maila and Zeyba Rahman.

Debates are held in French and Arabic, with simultaneous translation in English.

If you're a Moroccan student and would like to make your voice heard on these topics, contact the Festival at contact@fesfestival.com.