The director and scene, playwright and Franco-Moroccan director Mohamed El Khatib, author of the play “Stadium”, wishes the victory of the Atlas Lions, “in a Panarabe movement”.
by Guillaume Fraissard
Author, director and director, Mohamed El Khatib, 42, was born into a family of Moroccan immigrants who arrived France in the 1970s. Football passionate, he played in the French junior team and refused a contract At Paris Saint-Germain at the age of 17 to continue his studies while keeping a close link with the round ball. One of his pieces, Stadium (2017), mounted with 58 Lens Racing Club supporters, questions the link between a football club and its aficionados while approaching very political questions.
what is The symbolic significance of the France-Maroc match that is played on Wednesday evening?
Mohamed El Khatib: She is extraordinary for me. I am crossed intimately, politically, sociologically and historically by this meeting. My heart is really shared between the two. And at the same time, politically, Morocco must win. Of course, if France is in the final, I will be the first French supporter. I really liked the Cover of the Team today who speaks of “half brothers”. Indeed we are in a recomposed family, who is still looking for each other, but I think it’s time to kill the father.
to what extent is it essential politically?
The little music that I hear at the moment is that ultimately the Moroccans are in the semi-finals, that it is already a beautiful course. And, through that, I can’t help but hear something benevolent, a little paternalistic. For me, it translates the whole colonial-tourism unconscious, on the theme “it’s already great that you are there”. In a way, we integrate domination, that it is a gala match. Now, for me, the meaning of history would be that, in a Panarabe momentum, Morocco beat France.
It is played much more than a simple match?
Football is still the only place where international power relations can be thwarted, unrestrained. No one was waiting for Morocco at this level, but it is there. Morocco will never be part of the G7; By cons his team is part of the G4 of football. We were world champions in 1998 – and I say “we” because I am binational – but, behind the momentum, the myth “Black -Blanc -Beur” has completely smashed. We can tell stories of happy fraternity. Nevertheless, there is behind all this a colonial unconscious which reappears, a social marginalization always present of young suburbs. And so there is a difficulty that makes the situation still explosive. This is why I would like Morocco to win. For France, one more or less a World Cup, it will not change much. For Moroccans, it would be a great recognition.
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