Published in Zamane / December 2010
Murdered at age 19, the 1 st March 1956, the eve of our Independence, the first Moroccan woman driver best embodies the lost illusions of independence. Memories.
In Casablanca, the street has hardly changed. His name, always the same: the Rue de Bergerac, sandwiched between the districts of Mers Sultan and Derb Sultan. The building is still there: three-storey white washed. One of the oldest derb remembers: " I arrived nine years after the death of Touria Chaoui. The story still circulating . The story of course, is that of fate broke Touria Chaoui, an icon of the triumphant march towards Independence of Morocco in the early 1950s.
The 1 st March 1956 Touria Chaoui is driving his car, accompanied by his brother Salah Eddine, eight years her junior. Arrival in their building, she puts her head through the door to talk to his mother calls out from the balcony. That's when a gunman, whom nobody paid attention, she shoots from close range. Touria Chaoui died instantly, before the eyes disconcerted his mother, his brother and some neighbors. The killer, known as Ahmed Touil, will himself murdered some time later.
As a st March 1956, the death of Touria Chaoui is not a trivial event. It is indeed a symbol. The first aviator Moroccan - she had no more than 15 years old when she got her pilot's license - so perfectly embodies the bright future of the future independent Morocco. His death sounds like the end of an illusion.
Hope named Touria
The fate of Touria Chaoui has drawn early. A native of Fez, his family moved to Casablanca in 1948. His father, Abdelwahed Chaoui, is then recognized a journalist, one of the few Moroccans have been drilled in the drafting of a French newspaper (Le Courrier du Morocco), coupled with a pioneer of the theater and film Morocco. In 1948, he also holds a leading role alongside Georges Marchal and Maria Casares in The Seventh Gate , a film directed by André Zwobada and turned in Fez. So in an intellectual milieu that grow Touria and his brother Salah Eddine younger. Young people also rub Chaoui, not always understand the big names of Moroccan nationalism, Allal El Fassi and Ahmed Balafrej particular, because their father, a man of letters who respects himself, necessarily spawn with the Istiqlal.
Touria that, since very young, dreams of becoming a pilot, is strongly encouraged by her father who must scramble to enroll in school Tit Mellil hitherto reserved for French. Recorded after many steps, it follows a copy of schooling and obtained his patent in 1951. The event did then press the A Moroccan and international: 15 years Touria Chaoui is the first woman pilot of the Arab world, it is also the first pilot Moroccan men and women. The young native of Fez becomes a national celebrity: she poses with Jacqueline Auriol, test pilot and niece of President Vincent Auriol, it is received by Sultan Mohammed Ben Youssef and soon become a familiar princesses.
One of his former close friends says: " He was a very simple and it was very appreciated. I knew then she was already famous, but she came to me when I moved into his building. We had roughly the same age and we quickly became inseparable . At that time, Touria is a girl of her time with a head full of dreams and a very full agenda already. Its reputation and its exemplary form soon her an ambassador for women's cause within the institution Lalla Amina (name of the youngest daughter of Mohammed Ben Youssef was born in exile in Madagascar) dedicated to helping young girls and defense the empowerment of women.
Flight parade and funeral march
Like all Moroccans of his time, Touria lives intensely violent period preceding independence and calls for his best wishes to return the Sultan exile. Her family is not safe from the vindictiveness of French Presence group that carries out actions to prevent terrorist Independence. Salah Eddine, Touria brother, who now lives in France, still remembers their abrupt departure from the house they occupied in the former Rue Bonaparte. One day, a trader Abdewahed advised to leave, telling him that a member of French Presence came to learn about the schedules of the household. The same evening, the family, settled for the night in a hotel at the end of the street, narrowly escaped death: an explosion hit the house they just left, causing no casualties.
In November 1955, when Mohammed Ben Youssef returned from exile, the worst appears avoided. This is a time of joy and jubilation. Aboard his seat airplane, Touria welcome in his own way the arrival of the Sultan on the tarmac of the airport of Rabat forcefully loops and other aerobatics, dropping leaflets and welcome to the glory of the sovereign.
The rest we know it: Touria Chaoui dies murdered a few months later and is buried in Casablanca. A large crowd accompanied his last parade. His family will never recover from bereavement. Touria parents are quick to move. As for his brother Salah Eddine, he is still bitter. Based in France, Vichy past fifteen years, he saw with sorrow the tragedy that was played before his eyes, 54 back. Mourning is more difficult than the motive remains unfathomable. Touria she was the victim of French Presence group, or a settling of accounts between nationalists? Salah Eddine, one thing is certain: "We knew we risked something. Moreover, Allal El Fassi had advised my father to settle some time abroad . The tragic end of Touria Chaoui, on the eve of Independence, ultimately leaves the taste of a terrible mess, like a party failed even before started.
History shows, however, is forgetful and unfair to the memory of Touria Chaoui, which is our best proof of what a woman could be so far ahead of its time ... maybe our Joan of Arc to us.
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