Johann Gunter Candles

Sidi Boubker, memory of the century

Portrait of one of the last signatory of the Manifesto of Independence tutelary figure of the Istiqlal and close the three kings that have occurred in Morocco.

All those who know him affectionately called Sidi Boubker. Or haj, or Chrif or Kadiri, simply Sidi Boubker. The best sign perhaps of the respect he has earned by its simplicity more than by descent, its culture than by its power. Despite the weight of years, man has lost none of its luster: a mischievous look and crisp, almost haughty approach (for a century), and a verb that never betrays his memory. Boubker El Kadiri gets home. It supports the usual greetings of an essential "bismillah ..." and then hold in his favorite chair, sitting cross-legged, like any self-respecting alem. Only then the eyes sunk in his oval brown eyes, you can embark on a journey through the century. Because that is what it is: the turbulent history, sometimes bruised, an activist of Independence who has rubbed shoulders with the greats of Morocco, the story as a grandpa pioneering which forged generations of nationalist consciousness.

Awakening the Nation

Boubker El Kadiri born in 1914 in Salé in a family of 6 children. Descended from a line of notables Shorfa he has no father to 8 years and grew under the tutelage of his older brother. At school Koran, he sharpens his teeth as a future activist Independence. He has 16 years to sign the Berber Dahir and just integrate the French school of notable son of Salé. It's time to convert his irresistible arguments for independence. As a generation of Moroccans, Boubker El Kadiri detected in the Berber Dahir last attempt by the French Protectorate to break the awakening of the Moroccan nation, by preparing the Berbers against the Arabs. But Arabism which it claims is that of language than that of blood. El Kadiri thus incorporates the School of son of notables in the specific context of his awakening to politics. He who has never mastered French, is aware that the confrontation with the occupier is gaining control of its codes. In studious student, older than his peers (who did not Koranic school), so he devotes himself to learning the language of Molière. Not for long. Following an altercation with a supervisor commonplace, it is excluded from the institution and earns, with the French authorities, a rebellious reputation. Never mind, after an experience fast and failed commercially, the young Boubker decided to devote himself to teaching. It is the birth of Annahda (Renaissance), School mythical independence that will sell to the state in the 1970s. Boubker El Kadiri, for the time, a progressive conception of education. No more dourouss provided to students seated on mats, up to the blackboard and desks, also places the ladies. Life Boubker El Kadiri to Independence is then punctuated by his political activism and intellectual and some frequent stays in prison. From 1935 to 1955, he totaled five years imprisonment, each time for political reasons. This time he seems to keep a good memory, recalling the solidarity among prisoners and activists in the various prisons of the kingdom, cement friendships strong and durable. So for Abderrahim Bouabid Zhiri Kacem, Abdellah Ibrahim or Hachmi Filali, all signatories, January 11, 1944, the Manifesto of Independence. In the meantime, Boubker El Kadiri founded the Association for the Preservation of the Qur'an (1932). In 1934, he participated the establishment of the National Action Committee (Koutlat Al Watani Al Aamal) , which is one of the leaders and the Young Muslim Association and the Koutla (1936) . It will also co-founder of the National Party (Al Hizb al Watani) in 1937, and the Istiqlal party in 1944.

Between light and shadow

The independence achieved in 1956, El Kadiri Boubker sign for the beginning of a new life: the official and not illegal, a shared responsibility between culture and politics. Hence his destiny as an intellectual and a theorist, political leader more than first class. In 1956 he was appointed a member of the National Advisory Council. Two years later, he participated actively in the organization of the Conference of Tangier, carrying the dream of a united Maghreb. In 1960, he entered the Constitutional Council. And, more than 20 years later, Hassan II appointed him the same member of the Council of Regency. Man of consensus and reconciliation, he plays good offices to try to reconcile the warring brothers of the Istiqlal and the UNFP after the split of 1959. But Boubker El Kadiri finally know more honors than glory. He was not the closest to Mohammed V since, in the independence movement was Mohamed El Fassi who was linked with the Palace during the years of almost underground. And he never occupy a leading position. Moreover, it does not seem to want: in the 1980s through Boucetta Mohamed, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hassan II offered him the portfolio of Islamic Affairs. Boubker El Kadiri refuses. A refusal poorly digested by Hassan II, but which the monarch would not seek revenge. Throughout his life, indeed, the former King to testify his affection monarchist what, after all, Sidi Boubker. These many signs of friendship have been dutifully recorded by the historian of the kingdom Abdelwouahab Benmansour. Yet Boubker El Kadiri not really the soul of a courtier. Maybe even his life reveals she a crack: that of having failed at the gates of the first Moroccan parliament in May 1963, in his stronghold of Salt. This failure to Moulay Mehdi Alaoui sounded the death knell for his career an elected promising yet (it was mostly disgusted by the behavior of his opponents considered improper, contrary to its values). Never again would he stand for other than partisan elections. He remains a member of the governing bodies of the Istiqlal he was Inspector General since independence. Later, he would rather indulge in theoretical considerations, mainly the Palestinian issue. He in particular who, as secretary general, will give over 25 years its luster to the Moroccan Association for the Support of the Palestinian struggle. Although seen at the top place, but far from the spotlight, Boubker El Kadiri is finally in the place he loves, that of intellectual and man of letters. Privileged witness of his age and productive, in the vanguard of the struggle for education and unrepentant militant of the Palestinian cause, Sidi Boubker embodies the old Istiqlal missing in Morocco: monarchy, but never courtier.

When The Body Produces Too Much Blood

The intimacy of a king

Privacy, public life

Addressing the privacy of public figures, let alone when it comes to monarchs, is still a risky exercise. Where does the right to information and begins the realm of the unspeakable? As to complicate things, all over the world, two elements in part to escape the private sphere and impose a public inquiry, as their effects can be significant public interest, which must be the goal of any political system. I am of course talking about the fortunes of Heads of State and their health. Under the whole heaven, property of the Head of State is a particularly sensitive topic. In republican regimes, the question is partly supplanted by the no less important, financing a campaign, and more particularly, to an electoral victory. In monarchies, the question becomes even more acute: the treasure of the royal family is often the sign of dynastic continuity, an insurance against possible setbacks.

In Morocco, one is for sure far from transparent. It would have been otherwise: At the beginning of his reign, Mohammed V, unsure of last, battled to save his fortune away. In 1958, before his Socialist finance minister, Abderrahim Bouabid, very picky about the expenses of the palace, Mohammed V could only bow, after having unsuccessfully demanded that the government offers him a palace in Casablanca. A few years Later, the balance of power had already reversed. Under Hassan II, the "civil list" has exploded, along with the king's private fortune. Mohammed VI was expected to show himself less inclined than his father frantically to make it grow. Quite the opposite happened. In relative transparency, certainly, but with a clear desire of accumulation, which shocked many.

As for possible health problems from a head of state, they question necessarily on its ability to exercise power: common sense readily admits that a sick president can not govern. That's why, for example in France, the various presidents have always enjoyed the mystery about their health. Moreover, a legal perspective, the health of head of state is subject to medical confidentiality, as well as any other citizen. However, France still, many voices were raised calling for the release of medical reports of the President of the Republic, the name of transparency, the very foundation of democracy. But the result inconclusive so far: despite its promises, Francois Mitterrand lied about his prostate cancer, Jacques Chirac has simply never reported on the subject. Nicolas Sarkozy, meanwhile, is not really better than its predecessors. Then the health of French presidents, a taboo subject?

But what about the Moroccan case? health of the monarch is of course surrounded by a halo of mystery ... which embroiders the rumor. After Mohammed V, who died by accident surgery benign after Hassan II, a cancer long hidden, here in 2009 the rumor of the disease affects Mohammed VI, who has visibly gained weight, and whose TV appearances are not made to reassure the populace.

That's no thine, 26 August 2009, Mohammed VI took everyone by surprise. It starts with a statement from the Department of the Royal Household, Protocol and Chancellery, published by the MAP. In short, " His Majesty King Mohammed VI has a rotavirus infection (...) that requires a five-day convalescence. The state of health of His Majesty the King does not warrant concern . The announcement, first of its kind in the era Mohammed VI, is essential information for the media ... who treat their risk and peril. Ten journalists will eventually be heard by the judicial police, five will be charged and the court will make a case for example. On October 15, 2009, Driss Chahtane is thus sentenced to one year in prison, with immediate imprisonment for publishing " in bad faith " and " false information likely to disturb public order . Its publication, Mishaal Al guilty of having gave voice to a doctor explaining the nature and symptoms of rotavirus, as well as interviewing the English journalist Pedro Canales saying its medical sources in Paris had assured him that Mohammed VI was suffering from an incurable disease. Spreading rumors or real investigative journalism? The Moroccan justice ruled: it does not gloss over the king's health, any more than investigates it.

The intimacy of the Head of State remains as an impenetrable wall, even when the utmost interest to the smooth running of the state. The problem is that the Moroccan king staged his privacy when she shows it to his advantage. Who does not remember pictures of Mohammed VI in jet ski on the edge of his reign, as if by magic bloomed in all the kingdom medina? Who can forget the images of the grand royal wedding duly broadcast by all media in the country? Mohammed VI also plays its intimacy as the ultimate reward. The proximity of the sovereign is, in fact, become a power struggle between courtiers. In an incredible mix of styles between privacy and public life, Mohammed VI does in his private officials that the most faithful and those who hunt in his eyes, demerit. The intimacy of the king is so dreamed and fantasized. It becomes a component of the hiba Sharifian the opposite of a transparent democracy.