Training students in conflict transformationCasablanca, 16–17 December 2017Author: Maati Monjib
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INTRODUCTION
The repeated clashes between different student currents on most of Morocco’s university campuses have brought this phenomenon to the fore and aroused public interest. The Cordoba Foundation of Geneva, in partnership with the Mada Centre and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, organised a workshop on “Helping to Reduce Violence on University Campuses in Morocco” in Istanbul on 18 and 19 March 2017. The workshop was a first step towards exploring the possibilities of rapprochement between different student factions. Twenty-three participants took part, including fourteen Moroccans and two Tunisians, representing student movements of different ideological persuasions. The workshop also benefited from the presence of political figures and five activists and experts. The first day was devoted to training in conflict transformation; on the second day, participants discussed the underlying causes of conflict on university campuses and the possibilities of finding common ground.
The students who took part in the first workshop explained that it was the first meeting of its kind in which students from different ideological camps had met to address the question of violence. Proposals for practical initiatives were also discussed, notably an initiative to set up an early warning and rapid response mechanism and to establish a simple mechanism to facilitate communication between the different student factions. Following these recommendations, the Cordoba Foundation organised a workshop in Casablanca on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 December 2017. After the representatives of the Cordoba Foundation and of the Mada Centre for Human Studies and Research had presented the aims of the meeting, the concept of conflict and its analytical tools were discussed. Conflict was first defined as a dynamic relationship between two or more parties, whether individuals or groups, that have, or believe they have, antagonistic or contradictory goals.
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