A column published in Zamane , the first magazine devoted to the history of Morocco.
November 2010
FACTS. We February 26, 1961, the day when everything changed. That day, the king of Morocco must undergo medical benign. Despite the advice of her surgeon usually unfavorable, Dr. Henri Dubois-Roquebert, Mohammed V has accepted a trade to his ear to mitigate the debilitating vertigo from which he suffers. General anesthesia is necessary and the operation is performed by a Swiss doctor. But against all odds, Mohammed V died of cardiac arrest, despite all the care of his personal physician, sent urgently. The news of the death of the sovereign is broadcast on Moroccan radio this Sunday, February 26, 1961. Crown Prince Moulay Hassan was officially inducted a few days later, on March 3.
The rest we all know: the new king, sworn enemy of the Moroccan left, is suspected have endorsed the kidnapping of Mehdi Ben Barka in 1965, ten years after its accession to the throne, he suffered two hurricanes policies, which take the form of a failed coup, he managed to regain control the mid-1970s thanks to his "brilliant idea", the Green March, which also opens the painful chapter of the years of lead, redemption comes at last to the edge of the 1990s when old and ill, Hassan wants to make his enemies an instrument of monarchical transition he wants peaceful. Ultimately successful mission ... But as time wasted!
CHANGE HISTORY. So back to that famous Sunday, February 26, 1961. Mohammed V, already considered by the people as the father of the Moroccan nation wakes up smoothly from its general anesthesia. A week later, fresh as a roach - although he did 42 years - he resumed his normal activities as Chairman of the Governing Council, but with a greater involvement than in the past. His son, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, who is also vice-chairman, may erode its brake: it will not, in his words, that "the brilliant second of a king called last . Especially since his father is listening very carefully to his former comrades in the struggle for independence, the chiefs of the Istiqlal and the National Union of Popular Forces (UNFP) founded in 1959. Moreover, Mehdi Ben Barka inroads in the international arena as a leading Third World inevitable, leader of a Africanist, progressive third way.
Reluctant to the showdown, the sovereign understands that his interest is to reverse and, perhaps, to give up the Presidency of the Council. Why not revive a leftist government, as was the case for 16 months between 1958 and 1959? Would not this the best way to cut the grass under the feet of Ben Barka become too cumbersome? This was done October 29, 1965. While the Moroccan socialist leader is busy preparing for the Tricontinental Conference to be held in Havana in January 1966, Mohammed V took everyone by naming him short at the head of government. A victory for Ben Barka and progressives Moroccan, but a pill difficult to swallow for Moulay Hassan, who is, in fact, stripped of his government prerogatives. No worries, Morocco moves, Morocco advance and, under the leadership of Ben Barka, adopts its first constitution, ten years to the day after independence. Now, Morocco is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary effective. Admittedly, its territory remains amputated "southern provinces" and "chair of the North, but the Maghreb Union is on track. Instead, therefore, rapid economic development and in all directions.
AFTER 20 YEARS. Mohammed V passes the weapon left in 1981. He is 72 years old and leaves his son, 20 years his junior, a peaceful kingdom. The new King Hassan II can continue his life of princely pleasures without unduly worrying about the running of his kingdom. The time of kings who ruled rose. Place today, Moroccan land, peoples who self-determining, in a sort of pax romana with the monarchy.
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