Former den of suicide bombers now a cultural hub

CASABLANCA, Morocco - "Teaching young people to dream again" is the vision of a Moroccan cultural center in a run-down district of Casablanca, once home to a group of suicide bombers who killed 33 people in 2003.

Based in a white building next to a tramline and opposite a mosque, the Stars Cultural Center in Sidi Moumen regularly hosts more than 300 young people for classes in music and music theory, classical dance, hip-hop, English and French.

"When we tell young people that violence is not a means to express themselves, we must find them other means," says filmmaker Nabil Ayouch, who co-founded the center with artist Mahi Binebine.

Ayouch's connection with the district began with his film Horses of God, which looked at how young people in the neighborhood were becoming radicalized.

When he organized a screening of the film in Sidi Moumen, Ayouch realized something: "Even in an area without rights, there is the right to hope."

That seed of an idea eventually led him to set up the center in the district that was home to 12 suicide bombers, who carried out the May 2003 terrorist attacks in Casablanca.

Yacine, 14, is studying piano and music theory and hopes that one day he can become a concert musician and perform with an orchestra.

"The training is much better than at the Casablanca Conservatoire," he says.

Students' families pay for the lessons but those on limited means receive subsidized rates.

The center offers free film screenings, hosts foreign artists and gives shows that attract spectators from far and wide.

"Back in 2014, there was nothing - no culture, no cinema," says the center's assistant manager, Soumia Errahmani.

But funded by private donations and foreign cultural institutes, the center has shown that "there are also stars and not only terrorists" in the district, she says.

The 24-year-old says the project had taught her that "if you want, you can".

She herself signed up for a class because she had "always dreamed of playing guitar and percussion".

She put together a band, Africa Vibes, and stayed. Now she manages student registrations at the center and works to "reassure parents".

In Morocco's conservative society, "the relationship with art in general, and with dance in particular, is very difficult," she says.

But today, "parents come to see the shows, they are proud of their children," she says. "Mothers, who were worried about seeing their daughters dancing, come to ask for advice."

Ayouch, who grew up among the tower blocks of the working-class Paris suburb of Sarcelles, says the center aims to break down the "invisible walls" both mental and geographical, which "confine culture to the city center".

In November, he opened a similar center in the Beni Makada district of Tangiers, a neglected, overcrowded neighborhood known for drug-dealing and police raids.

Director Annafs Azzakia Ben Sbih says the center aimed to "show that there are also young talents" and change the way people see a neighborhood many would previously have avoided.

Further centers are planned in disadvantaged districts of Marrakech and Fez.

Ayouch says the idea is to create "a network with similar and shared programs, with passionate teachers who are well-trained and rewarded, who can open doors for young people to take advantage of".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE