Cold Winds in North Africa
By NINA EPTON C6 I N OROCCO," gushed the elderly lady at the table .next to mine at the Minza in Tangier, " is like a superb colonial exhibition." " But, Madam," protested an impeccable French officer in her group, " it is not an exhibition—it is very real." The exhibition surface is so very lovely that one can almost forgive the escapists who refuse to see the cracks in the structure. Marrakesh, with salmon-pink minarets against the snowy -summits of the Atlas mountains. Fez, whose mediaeval muslim architecture is almost too theatrical. Rabat, the administra- tive capital, always looks newly whitewashed and very bourgeois in spite of the tropical setting ; it also contains Lyautey's simple tomb with its Franco-Arabic inscriptions, a place of pilgrimage surrounded by an aura of military mystique, for he has become a kind of colonial Napoleon.
As far back as 1916—four years after the Treaty of Fez, by which France undertook to " reform " Morocco for an unstipulated period of time—Lyautey declared : " Nous nous trouvons en presence d'une elite politique, religieuse a economique qu'il serait insense d'ignorer, de miconnaitre et de ne pas utiliser." There are no more Lyauteys in Morocco, however, only an unending stream of Quai d'Orsay-appointed Resident-Generals who are soon recalled when they show signs of becoming realistically liberal (as was the case with M. Eirik Labonne). At the moment General Juin is the French Resident-General of Morocco. Occasionally he is seconded to other areas, such as Indo-China, which are deemed to require firm methods. Far-sighted Frenchmen are frankly concerned about the wisdom of a policy which has produced a- permanent and widespread state of unrest and disc,ontent among the native population, from the Sultan downwards, but they are still a minority in France and less than a handful in the mass of colonists in Morocco itself.
The Sultan, who is young, shrewd and -haughty and belongs to the august Sherifian dynasty, never forgets his prophetical lineage and chafes under the Protectorate system, which is supposed, in theory, to maintain his sovereignty but, in fact, preserves him as a mere puppet in a palatial prison, with a widely assorted harem. This does not prevent him, however, from demanding Moroccan independence at every possible opportunity. Officially invited to France last July with his eldest son and heir, Prince Moulay Hassan, he found time, between the many lavish receptions and banquets held in honour of an oriental potentate's weakness for ostentation, to ask for a revision of the 1912 Treaty of Fez. He was bowed back to his palace after having been told, politely but firmly, that " Morocco is not yet ripe for self-government and, anyway, the nationalists are only represented by a few rich bourgeois who cannot claim to speak for the nine million people of Morocco." It is true that the Sultan, unlike M Habib Bourguiba, the democratic (and, incidentally, most uncommunistic) leader of the Tunisian Nationalist party (known as the " Destour."), is not backed by a well-organised and informed political party. The French are right when they say that the Moroccan Istiqlal party is mostly composed of bourgeois elements. The Sultan, during his stay in Paris, did not even deign to see M. Bourguiba, who has the confidence of the Bey of Tunis apart from being the country's most respected and active leader. Yet His Sherifian Majesty obtained less in the end than the incorruptible M. Bourguiba, upon whom the French certainly did not spend any
money in entertainment! • On the whole the Moroccans are inclined to be despotic. Even their veiled women, so demure and timid-looking when out of doors, often turn out to be viragos behind the gracious columns of their tiled courtyards. I have seen them. I know. It must be admitted, however, that French example does not encourage them along democratic lines. As Monsieur Pierre Parent (President of the French Moroccans Veterans Association and ex-Resistance leader), who has lived in Morocco for thirty years, remarked a little while ago in L'Observateur : "There is a constant contradiction between the generous principles which we proclaim to be ours and our deeds, which are all too often directly opposed to them." He was alluding in particular to the ban imposed upon Moroccan meetings, newspapers, trade unions and even travel. Only 5 per cent. of the Moroccan children of school-going age actually go to school and out of the 15 per cent. allotted to education in the Budget, half goes to European schools. (There are 300,000 Europeans against nine million Moroccans.) It is true that the Moroccans are not yet ready for self-government, but it would appear that their development has been retarded long enough. There is certainly no sign of any " Morocconisation " scheme being planned in Rabat's maze of administrative buildings, but rather a mental Maginot line of resistance to any basic and far-reaching reforms.
The general atmosphere is even more chilly next door in Algeria, the first of the North African territories to be conquered by the French, in 1830—and transformed by a stroke of the pen into three French " departments." Both sides have been more ruthless here than anywhere else in North Africa, so that it is not to be wondered at if the tension is high.
The French did not find an elite in Algeria, but a " dust of anarchy " under the tottering Dey, in a nest-bed of pirates. The piratical streak is still apparent ; it might be converted into more constructive channels, for it has given the lean,sallow-faced Algerians the sharp enduring qualities of an old Toledo blade. I have seen these nationalists at work. They are patient—extraordinarily patient for a quick-tempered race—efficient, selfless and essentially democratic. The weakness of the Algerians, apart from their legal 'difficulties due to their peculiar position vis-a-vis the metropolis, is that the nationalists are divided into two camps—the popular M.T.L.D. party (Mouvement pour le Triomphe des Libertis Democratiques ; leader : long-bearded Messali Hadj, who is con- tinually under house arrest) and the Ferhat Abbas party known as the " intellectuals " party, which has always been more moderate. The spirit of compromise, however, rarely flourishes in a Mediterranean climate. In Algeria, therefore, where repression is rife, the situation is particularly unhappy, and here, as elsewhere in North Africa, the French settlers are hostile to any reforms. There are over a million French settlers, who are not always on the best of terms with the " mother country " and who are determined to stay firmly put. Their lack of flexibility, their refusal to face the fact of an ever-increasing nationalist force in the country, do not augur at all well for the future.
The triangular tug-of-war between the French in France, nationalists and French colonists, is just about coming to an angry head in Tunisia—the smallest country of the three, with a population of three million and the best-organised nationalist party of the lot : the Destour, led by Habib Bourguiba. Details of the Destour's struggle with the French authorities would fill many volumes. So many reforms have been announced so many times, on paper, and have remained on paper, that Tunisian patience is rapidly becoming exhausted. So many petitions have been sent to Resident- Generals and to the Quai d'Orsay (of which some are occasionally lost in transit), so many vague promises have been made and not kept, that there is a danger of negotiations breaking down completely. This would, indeed, be a pity because the Destour and their leader are the most reasonable and statesmenlike people that the French have to deal with. The Tunisians are not a sanguinary people , the Arabs even say " The Tunisian is a woman. . . ." No, this is not a country in which it should be necessary to " maintain law and order " and yet, if basic concessions are consistently refused to them, the Tunisians will undoubtedly " start something " as a gesture of despair...and to rivet international attention to their cause.
The French Government announced a fresh series of reforms last summer soon after the appointment of a new Resident-General, M. Periller, and agreed- to start negotiations with a view to modifying the Tunisian constitution. The Destour took the French at their word and for the first time in their history agreed to enter the Government , the Secretary of the Destour, Maitre Salah ben Youssef, was appointed Minister of Justice in the new Government, after lengthy deliberations within the party, on condition that he would retire if Tunisian hopes were found to be groundless. Only
a few superficial " reforms " were made, however, and then the Resident General announced that there would be a " pause " in the political sphere, so that he could get on with economic and social matters. The word has now become historical. Never has a pause been so unpopular. The Nationalists protested. M. Bourguiba made yet another journey to Paris in order to impress his views upon the Quai d'Orsay—and to threaten to go into opposition unless the Tunisian Cabinet is given much greater power. Last week he asked that a joint conference be convened in order to re-examine the entire question. If the French allow the Destour to go back into opposition, all points to the danger of the break becoming permanent and then the situation could all too easily get completely out of hand. The French are afraid of three things : first, the French Tunisian colonist element in Tunisia who protest violently against any and all reforms ; secondly, the emergence next door to Tunisia of the brand new independent state of Libya ; and, thirdly, the possible reper- cussions all this might have upon the other two North African territories of Algeria and Morocco. The question before them seems to be: " To change or not to change ? " which they have so far tried to settle by not changing at all fundamentally while giving the impression that they are. The exasperation engendered by this long drawn-out game cannot possibly be profitable to them in the long run. Things have gone too far, and the North Africans are not going to turn back now.
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