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Politics

Mother tongue in education: a development imperative...

I would like to extend my warmest thanks to the many people who have responded to my previous articles on the issue of language in Morocco. Opinions continue to differ on the use of the Moroccan mother tongue in education. Some, without the slightest argument, oppose it with immeasurable fervour. False debate, say others. In fact, almost all teachers already use Darija to explain the content of their lessons, particularly in science subjects. So much the better. What is perplexing, however, is the logic of opposition that some people are striving to impose between Arabic and Darija. In fact, scientifically, what is required in teaching, particularly in the early years, what is recommended by all the international bodies concerned, what is concluded by almost all the scientific research on the subject, is a linguistic continuum, in the complementarity between the language used at home and the other languages, Arabic first and foremost in the case of Morocco, since politically we have made it the language of the country. Darija and Arabic complement each other perfectly. The advantage of learning in the mother tongue during the first years of schooling is precisely that it allows a transfer to other languages without fractures or breaks, ensuring normal mental structuring. The child is not shocked and develops psychologically, normally, in the continuity of its linguistic, genetic, historical, civilisational and social baggage. Logically, as has proved to be the case in countries that have long opted for the use of the mother tongue in education, the salutary effect of this approach is that learners assimilate knowledge easily and confidently, adopt social values without difficulty and integrate civic values more easily. The school is here a component of life, perfectly integrated into its environment. Unfortunately, doing things the way we've been doing them up to now is the exact opposite of this logic. Our way of doing things encourages a split personality, to put it mildly. As soon as a child starts school, he will adopt a behaviour for school, a behaviour for his family and later another behaviour for the street and everyday life. They will develop a language for each of these spheres. This is conducive to many mental abnormalities and is the main cause of school drop-out rates, which in Morocco are reaching rather worrying figures, not to mention the colossal budgets spent for little return. The result is unfortunate public spending and unbelievable amounts of money that have been squandered shamelessly for a long time without question. Children who have not properly assimilated the language of learning imposed on them are simply discouraged and will eject themselves from the school system. Later on, young people who have not succeeded at school will find themselves to be a sub-human and see themselves as such. Whatever professional knowledge they acquire later on, as long as they are unable to express it in classical Arabic or French, they are considered ignorant. The citizen they are about to become is excluded, for example, from official information, which is only provided in the two languages mentioned above, if not in Amazigh and Spanish. Little by little, they become disconnected from "official life", drop out of cultural life, stop reading, stop writing and soon fall back into primary illiteracy. This abnormal situation creates a divorce between these citizens, who are unfortunately very numerous, and the public sphere, for example. They are no longer able or willing to take part in social life, let alone political life. This rejection is normal because these citizens no longer feel concerned and see themselves as living on the margins, the language or languages used being foreign to them. In the logic of things, the most embittered will go so far as to develop a rejection and then a hatred of public affairs. They are the breeding ground for nihilism and, why not, fundamentalism. Children begin by rejecting and hating their school, and will then transfer this attitude to their entire environment, and in particular to institutions. The violence that is developing in our society can find a plausible explanation here. That, in a nutshell, is the problem of mother tongue denial. It's not just a technical or linguistic issue, but an existential one for a society. It is intimately linked to human development and hence to the country's development as a whole. Any reflection here must be conducted with intelligence, far from any partisan ideologies or immutable convictions. The mother tongue is by its very nature a structuring factor, and nothing can replace its effectiveness or its richness.

Everyone nowadays claims to be an AI expert, a concerning reality!

Include Artificial Intelligence in your speech, and you'll sound fancy and expert. That's the sad reality nowadays. People are confused between being fans of Artificial Intelligence and being experts. It's kind of funny when you think about it. Being an expert in AI requires years of experience, traceable achievements, and a deep understanding of the field. I've been working with artificial intelligence every day for a while now, and I can say I'm still not close to being an expert. A fan, yes, but not an expert. These days, it's too easy to pretend you know more than you do. You could just ask ChatGPT for a quick summary or some tools about something you don't really understand, and boom, you can make it look like you know a lot. This makes things confusing for people trying to hire the right person, and it's why trust and reliability are becoming rare. We need to bring back honesty and the human touch that's missing in AI. If we rely too much on AI, we might end up losing what makes us human. So please, let's keep it real. Note: This text was not generated by AI.

13th african games: exceptional results in athletics

The athletics competitions at the 13th All-Africa Games in Accra- Ghana left no one indifferent, of course because of the quality of the infrastructure and organisation, the exceptional enthusiasm of the public, but certainly because of the exceptional quality of the results obtained. A great number of specialists dwelt on the very positive results of these competitions, the number of records, the numerous best world performances and the density of these high level performances in more than one event. In the video linked here, Carole Fuchs, a leading specialist, is the guest of Anna Legnani, a lesser-known specialist who worked for the IAAF in the media field for many years. They both go into detail about these exceptional results and put them in perspective for the next Olympic Games. This was part of the podcast that Anna regularly hosts: Love Athletics. All that remains now is for this exceptional rise in African athletics, which has been the trend for nearly twenty years, with a marked acceleration over the last few years, to be confirmed at the next African Championships, scheduled for Douala in June, and of course to take shape at the Paris Olympics. Thank you Anna Thank you Carole The video link is here below.
youtu.be/RVkUPnpO27Q?si=EmfO7g-p...

Track and Field, the most representative sport on the African continent

4 months ago I published this article in French. Today, as I'm getting ready to leave for Accra for the All African Games, I thought it would be a good idea to republish it, this time in English. It's a reminder of the dynamism of African athletics and its place on the continent and the world stage. I am here using an old wording: instead of Athletics i used Track and Field as title...A kind of nostalgia of the old days. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX One of Africa's most dynamic sporting bodies is the Confederation of African Athletics. This dynamism is obviously the result of the fact that it manages the continent's most representative sport, but it also comes from its component parts, which are of course the national federations, of which the CAA is simply an offshoot. Its role is to encourage, channel and coordinate efforts to develop athletics on the continent. Athletics is the sport that has won, is winning and will continue to win the most titles and glories for the continent for a long time to come. To this end, the CAA, under the leadership of its President Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, has made great efforts to develop the sport. It has succeeded in setting up an initial ten-year strategic plan, the objectives of which have almost all been achieved: in particular, revitalizing the most precarious national federations and developing youth sport by introducing regional and continental competitions for U18s. This plan was aimed at popularization and more quantitative aspects: number of countries and athletes taking part in African competitions, number of African countries and athletes taking part in world competitions. The 2nd plan, launched in 2019, also covers a ten-year period and aims to consolidate and strengthen the gains made by moving a little closer to the quality of the activity as a whole, by reducing the disparities between members and regions. Aware of the importance of scientific aspects for the development of athletics, the CAA has based a large part of its strategy on collaboration with universities in each of its member countries: for the training of executives and for research and development in governance and management. If Africa accounts for more than 35% of world athletics, it is because it also has close relations with the world body, which is done in perfect harmony. There are, of course, points of disagreement that the two parties are trying to overcome to ensure perfect complementarity. World Athletics has delegated a number of prerogatives to the CAA, including development. This policy of decentralization is working rather well, to the satisfaction of both parties. The CAA's other major partner is ANOCA (Association of National Olympic and Sports Committees), with which we are in the process of establishing a close working relationship. ANOCA is the IOC's arm on the continent. This body, which has a major impact on sporting activity on the continent, particularly since it took over responsibility for the All-Africa Games, has entrusted the task of developing sport in Africa to M Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, President of the CAA. The athletics development model thus inspires all sports in Africa. A great deal of cooperation has also been undertaken with the African Union, which is linked to the CAA by a very important agreement with multiple objectives. Of course, the AAC will not succeed without collaboration with its members, their respective governments and the respective NOCs. Funding remains the major challenge. It is difficult to put forward figures as it is impossible to compile all the money spent or invested in athletics. We have the involvement of local authorities, governments and the NOCs, as well as what is certainly a very significant contribution from individuals and civil society through associations and clubs. If today athletics is practiced in all 54 African countries and all of them take part in continental competitions, it is because this is accompanied by substantial budgets. But more is still needed. Paradoxically, there are some countries, without naming them, that invest more than 10 million dollars a year in the running of their athletics federation and hundreds of millions in infrastructure. Others don't spend more than 20 or 30 thousand USD. This is understandable, given the GDP of some countries and the lack of interest shown by some governments in athletics, even though it is the most basic of sports. Funding is made difficult in many countries by the weakness of the economic fabric, characterized by monopolies, low levels of consumption and the stranglehold of certain multinationals, which make no effort to promote local development and are far from supporting the development of young people through sport. CAA has placed youth development at the heart of its strategy. It has made this its exclusive mission. It believes that the development of athletics on the continent must be centered on the athlete. Based on this philosophy, management training is a key lever. Young people need to be supervised by competent managers. As a result, it now has eight centers whose mission is to train managers as well as athletes. These are known as AADC: African Athletics Development Centers. And it's working so well that new centers are being planned. A center has just been launched in Abidjan in 2023 and another is about to be launched in Praia, Cape Verde, for Portuguese-speaking countries. This is how CAA, its partners and member federations are responding to the pressing need for development, by bringing its actions closer to the beneficiaries. The CAA has also signed agreements with federations in "wealthy" African countries to ensure that their infrastructures and know-how benefit the "less wealthy". In particular, it has signed an agreement with the Royal Moroccan Federation and with those of Ethiopia and South Africa. The CAA has also set up training units in more than one country. These are groups of talented youngsters who train under the guidance of qualified coaches appointed by the CAA. All financed by the CAA. The aim is to improve standards in the continent's least developed events and to help countries that are having difficulty setting up a good athlete training system. The CAA believes that African athletes should have the opportunity to compete on the continent, and has thus ensured the continuity of a competition system that Covid has unfortunately disrupted. In addition to the African championships in three age categories in cross-country and athletics, the CAA organizes an African Tour of one-day meetings in three categories Gold, Silver and Bronze, in addition to the Diamond League in Rabat, the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi and the Botswana Golden in Gaborone.
caaweb.org

The Death of Liberalism: Nature and the Steppe

Liberalism has failed. The liberal paradigm, which began during the Enlightenment, is collapsing. We are at the end of a great civilizational cycle. Another dark age is upon us. But out of this dark age will emerge afresh the doctrine of nature, and new barbarians to revitalize the West and direct it towards a new destiny. The fundamental failure of liberalism is that it does not address the problem of nature, and it moreover conceals it with the idea of natural rights, when no such thing exists. Failing to recognize the fundamental laws of nature and concealing them with idealistic human laws of convention is one of the most fatal errors a civilization can make, and may in fact be why all civilizations fall. The Greeks devoted much of their philosophy to the relationship between Physis, nature, and Nomos, law. Yet the idea of nature, the discovery of nature, is quite rare throughout human history. In Selective Breeding and the Birth of Philosophy, Costin Alamariu argues that the idea of nature emerges out of a “refinement, abstraction, or radicalization of the aristocratic way of life and of the principle that underlies aristocratic life and the aristocratic worldview.” He writes, “When the idea of nature merged, it did so in opposition to convention or ‘custom.’ Cows graze, wolves hunt by nature; but different tribes of people deal differently with the dead—cremation, burial, etc.—by custom or convention. It is a notion distinctly similar to our ‘nature versus nurture’ or ‘nature versus culture’ or ‘nature versus social construct.’ The question of what was ‘by nature’ or ‘by convention’ animated much of Greek intellectual life, and had important political meaning, for example, with the aristocratic party generally favoring the side of nature and the democratic party generally favoring the side of convention. In the first chapter I try to explain how a rudimentary idea of nature could have emerged out of the ‘primitive’ or ‘prehistoric’ mind, out of the mind as ruled exclusively by ancestral convention or custom.” He later continues, “The answer is that it could not. The moment us discovery of nature—which is the precondition of both philosophy and science—is the preserve of one very unusual people, the ancient Greeks, and, long thereafter, those parts of Europe where Hellenistic civilization was promoted, first by Rome, and later in a considerably modified form in Christianity and various Christian states that had inherited some of the roman institutions.” The idea of nature emerged in the late stages of Athenian aristocracy, as a response to the aristocracies many critics; as a solidification and abstraction of the aristocratic worldview. But we then must ask the origins of the aristocratic worldview. As we have talked about at length on this channel, the first aristocracies were formed out of nomadic, pastoralist peoples conquering sedentary farmer populations and imposing their hierarchies and worldview upon them. This means that the aristocratic worldview, and the first seeds of the idea of nature, was born among pastoralists peoples. The sedentary, tribal life of the farmer is ruled by convention and custom, and he is therefore unable to separate what behaviors he has inherited through custom or religion and which through biology and nature. However, a nomadic people would have been able to observe a great many peoples and their differing way of life, allowing them to see the behaviors which remain consistent across the species and formulate a rudimentary idea of ‘human nature.’ Further, the harsh conditions of the nomadic way of life, which relied on the breeding of strong herds, and later, the domestication and breeding of horses, would have made ideas of heredity and breeding, of nature and biology, especially important. Darwin’s natural selection would have been self-evident: only the strong—the fittest specimens—survive the harsh life on the steppe. And sexual selection would have been just as evident: if the fittest specimens are bred, they will improve the quality of the herd over time and even lead to behavior alterations, like the domestication of horses.
youtube.com/watch?v=odrXxFy97Mw

Man, people and humanity

People have always aspired to freedom and prosperity. They always wanted to live from their work. Their pleasure is to see their offspring play, learn and prosper. People have always wanted peace as a way of life. Living in peace…a whole concept, a chimera. Alas It has never been completely like this. Except for brief, precious and rare moments that history could not remember. These moments remain exceptional, they were brief, even ephemeral. People have always sought to not be exploited by anyone, all the while they tend to exploit others. Sometimes, unfortunately, by dehumanizing with immeasurable cruelty. A history of exploitation while giving yourself a clear conscience. In fact, peoples are groups of humans with common traits. People are formed over time and coalesce around common interests. To defend himself and his interests, man can only live in community among a people. Man aspires to freedom and peace; humans say they have values but humanity does not care. The course of history unfortunately demonstrates this. Humanity imagined a way to aspire to this freedom to live in harmony: Involve everyone in the decision and give man the impression that he is part of his destiny. Nothing better than a word with Greek etymology to make it serious and credible: Democracy. This sounds very good. Yes, Democracy is there in principle to free us and make our voices heard. To realize our desires and respond to our need to live in peace. To live together. To respect others in their human dimension. To limit ourselves to our rights without encroaching on those of others. Democracy is a sort of safeguard for each and every one. At least that is how it was perhaps imagined and designed. It allows us, in theory, to express ourselves, defend and assert our rights from the most basic to the most sophisticated. Democracy is sold to us as the one and only model for the prosperity of people and their moral and material well-being. Now democracy is playing a dirty trick on us: handing over with tied hands the most mediocre among us, the most ferocious, the hungriest, the most bloodthirsty; to those who rejoice when graves are dug, when blood flows, when a child cries or a woman cries. Downside... I was born in a moment of peace, one of the few, just a few years after a cruel war started by Europeans. At the beginning they killed each other. They will then involve poor Africans as cannon fodder. Absolute cruelty for years. Millions of innocent people thrown underground. The break will be short. Without wasting time, humanity will experience the Korean War, that of Vietnam, that of Iraq, that of the Falklands, lots of squabbles in Africa and so on...The instigators and authors are always the same. Each time it's good versus evil...Each time democracy is involved, rightly or wrongly. The democratic world against the other...A democratic world which defines itself in absolute, total, integral contentment, with double standards as the only alternative of "reasoning" and "judgment" too; eliminating all others from the good square at will. Each time, genocide, each time cruelty, each time dehumanization. Each time faced with the helplessness of the man who only wants to live in peace. As for whether humanity ever existed. Will it exist one day... You understand, I don't want to talk about Palestine, the wound is still fresh and the criminals are still alive. Aziz Daouda

Sports performance, Africa has only one choice...

The extraordinary experience of Nezha Bidouane, Hicham El Guerrouj, Khalid Skah, Brahim Boutayeb, Nawal El Moutawakel, Salah Hissou, Hasna Benhassi, Zahra Ouaziz, Said Aouita, Jawad Gharib, Ali Ezzine and so many others has made Morocco a super power of world athletics. At that time, Morocco was among the notable countries in world athletics with dazzling results and a continuity of almost a quarter of a century. Morocco was even fifth in the world in 1999, during the world championships in Seville. Very high-level performances, charismatic athletes, Moroccan coaches trained properly in Morocco, an inspired federal policy, unconditional support from the State, generous royal concern have made this Morocco great for athletics. At the world level, for the training of high-level athletes, there are two successful and time-honoured experiences, two ways of training and producing performance and a third which is gaining a good place, which is even becoming the more productive, the one invented and implemented in Morocco. This Moroccan method has been emulated. It was adopted by the IAAF at the time, by the African Confederation and also by more than one country. Roughly speaking, you have the American system with large, very rich universities having all the means to train very high-level athletes. American universities are developing scientific research in sports performance, investing in large laboratories in exercise physiology, psychology and other cognitive sciences, sports sociology and all other areas of physical activity for well-being and the production of sports performance. They invest in sporting performance to improve and consolidate their respective image, in a major inter-university competition. They are therefore the most productive in the world, benefiting from developed knowledge, an unrivaled level of supervision and an inspiring historical record. They are a super power and provide the USA with all-round sporting power. So the USA has always been one step ahead of the rest of the world. Alongside the American system there is the European system with large clubs supported by very rich local authorities and very generous sponsors. This system therefore produces the second largest sporting power in the world and this is seen at the various world championships and the Olympic Games every four years. In Africa we have neither of these systems, nor could we have one in the near future. So, in Morocco, we invented our own path which is to design and set up a national institution which brings together very talented young people selected from a good prospecting and talent detection system. The selected ones are then placed in an environment of high competence, optimized performance, under the leadership of 100% Moroccan executives. Having an exclusively national framework is of great importance on a cultural, sociological and emotional level. We must never forget that sporting performance is a cultural expression. Everyone's motivation is the same: to represent the country with dignity. This is what allowed us for more than 20 years to be among the ten greatest nations in the world, to have dozens of titles and world records. I think this is the path for African countries. In Kenya too, almost all athletes come from a similar system initiated by certain equipment manufacturers and by the IAAF in the past. Ethiopia has adopted the same path. This is also the path that the CAA is currently developing by multiplying the African Athletics Development Centers -AADC-. These are executive training and training units for young athletes. Unfortunately the system is threatened by lack of resources, World Athletics having chosen not to follow the CAA in this voice. Such a system can only work on the basis of an intelligently thought out and effectively carried out detection system. Why don't we see new generations of great Moroccan athletes, would be the question that more than one would ask me? Sports performance, if it depends on the will of leaders and a favorable environment, it depends above all and above all on the men who work in the system, on their commitment and their genius. Structures and funding are not sufficient to generate high performance. We are here in a cultural domain of permanent creativity, based on a vision which combines will with cultural aspects but without neglecting the consideration of scientific advances at the highest level. The foresight of decision-makers, the level of confidence in management, the continuity of the system are all factors which will impact the process of producing sporting performance. As soon as one of these factors is disturbed, the machine jams. We must therefore conclude that to produce sporting performance, the continent has only one choice: that of training centers. This is what football does brilliantly in certain African countries including Morocco. Aziz Daouda

But what is Gamal Abdel Nacer still doing in Conakry...

What was my surprise when I was told that for my stay of only 3 nights in Conakry, I was going to stay at the « Hôtel de L'Université » which is in fact called Gamal Abdel Nacer University. We must return to both the recent and distant history of Guinea Conakry to understand what Gamal Abdel Nacer is doing, or rather was doing, in this region of Africa. The University is now some 60 years old. It has no less than 35,000 students and some 620 teachers. The students represent nearly twenty countries. It is a university that aims to be innovative and competitive in the service of socio-economic development and environmental balance in Guinea, in the region and in the world. Built with the support of the Soviet Union in 1962, it was known until 1984 as the Polytechnic Institute of Conakry. The University was then named in honor of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. It served for a long time to provide the country with its elites. Here Gamal is honored, elsewhere he was named Paper Tiger or even Tiger of Falouga, so much so that he puffed out his chest and suffered a series of defeats and disasters that his country continues to pay till today. An excess of "philosophical" vision undoubtedly misguided, meaningless slogans, based on an ideology without anchor, neither social nor even less cultural or historical, if not just a dream. The Officer who called himself free had, with a group of friends, overthrown the very young egyptian Monarchy as a Kingdom. Previously, Egypt had Sultans. Fouad II overthrown by Gamal and his barracks friends, acceded to the throne in July 1952, aged only 7 months and 10 days, after the abdication of his father Farouk. Farouk thought that by abdicating, leaving the throne to his baby with a regent who seemed to be accepted, he would calm the ardor of the officers and thus save his young monarchy. It didn't work. Farouk ended up leaving the country with honors, thus avoiding a bloodbath and confrontation between the military and pro-monarchist forces. The free officers will then name Mohammed Naguib president of the Arab Republic of Egypt in June 1953. An Arab Republic in Africa, heir to the greatest civilization that the African continent and the world had given birth to. Gamal was appointed prime minister in April 1954 but not for long...A few months later, on November 14, 1954, poor Naguib was kindly thanked and Gamal succeeded him quite naturally. Naguib born in Sudan will then go and write books...At the time it should be remembered, Sudan was part of Egypt but under shared sovereignty with the United Kingdom. Sudan will be declared an independent state in January 1956. The free officers of Egypt in fact, carried a project of national independence, believing that Egypt was not in fact free and that the English still had an ascendancy over the monarchy. There was also there, and above all an air of revenge of the common people, who were the young army officers, on a Cairo bourgeoisie or even nobility, speaking mostly in French, moreover, of Turkish or very close. The officers naively promised and no doubt dreamed of rapid economic development for the benefit of all...A somewhat special vision of communism and a socialism which was sought for a long time without ever succeeding, based on the doctrine of the Baathist Michel Aflak, a Syrian which skillfully combines socialism and pan-Arabism. Michel Aflak is a fan of secularism and freedom from Western interests. The Baath subtly opposed socialism to Marxism, a way of satisfying the deeply religious populations, predominantly Muslim and not only, and for whom Marxism was synonymous with atheism. We are here in the Middle East, the cradle and heart of all monotheistic religions... The Baath found in Gamal the ideal tribune. His inflammatory speeches met with an immense echo in Egypt and the Arab world: the army then appeared as the savior of an enlarged nation. The Arab Nation… Nacer's speeches mobilized and inflamed crowds at home and beyond. Its Cairo Radio, then received on short wave throughout the so-called Arab world, would play a capital role in propaganda that would restore pride to populations who had not yet emerged from the yoke of colonization in the region. Mohamed Abdelwahab will add a nice layer with the song Douae Echark (Call of the Orient) to the words of the great poet Mahmoud Hassan Ismail. It is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful pieces of music by the Egyptian virtuoso. Oum Kaltoum will do his part in 1964 with Ala Bab Masr (At the Gates of Egypt); words by Kamal Echanaoui and a composition once again by Mohamed Abdelwahab. She will also sing among others Ya Gamal ya Mital Alwatania (Gamal Example of nationalism or patriotism...). But the one who sang the most on the occasion of the July 23 celebrations was the young singer of that time, Abdel Halim Hafez, notably with his famous song Ihna Chaab (We the people). In fact, we are here faced with an extremely well-oiled system serving a cause that wanted to be pan-Arabist in the service of a military regime that wanted to be exportable to all countries with the Arabic language as the common denominator. The revolution was intended to be Egyptian but was to extend to the entire Arab world. It will succeed in overthrowing regimes almost everywhere, in Iraq, Libya, Syria... it will settle in Algeria and fail to make Hassan II of Morocco bend for example... The war of sands (Guerre des sables) was imposed to him but his solidity and his political sense will surprise them...

Africa, the share of sport in the economy

It is difficult to assess the true share of sport in GDP across the African continent, as it is clear that this share varies greatly from one country to another. In Morocco, for example, this share is estimated at 1%. The study of market shares in the sports business also shows that Africa only picks up crumbs. Africa is barely present in global statistics. The continent is undergoing globalization but benefits very little from it. Africa only plays the role of talent reserve; a kind of nursery. The weakness of Africa's weight in the world economy is glaring here. The continent benefits little from the financial windfall from sport, just as it benefits little from the fair value of the wealth it “generously” offers to the world economy. The very nature of sporting activity generates this anachronistic situation. Sport in America or Europe and increasingly in Asia as well, lives in part thanks to the talents that only Africa can provide on a genetic and phenotypic level. Many sports, particularly the most popular and economically promising, require particular qualities and human potential that fit perfectly with the type of young people Africa abounds with. It is almost the only continent to offer this particularity. There is also the informal economy which has established itself as a saving palliative for young people since it allows them to benefit from cheap sports equipment. Even counterfeit or second-hand, this particularly individual equipment still allows a certain practice at a certain level. This informal activity, if encouraged and guided, can constitute the basis of a local sports economy and move into the formal sector. Aziz Daouda