This is an article by Kathleen Voss Woolrich published on wafin.com :
Paris is Burning
By Kathleen Voss Woolrich
The American media reports The savage sons of the Magreb are burning dear ParisOr so it seems This is not the first time blood has been shed in the streets of Paris No mention is made of what France did to deserve this Like a school boy being beaten for a long forgotten crime The Aures Mountains hold the key The cradle of revolt and gaunt skeletons of French watch towers Algerians just say "A page has turned" Moroccans often do not remember 1952 and what the French did in Casablanca Gunning down 100 innocent Moroccans in the streets The French Foreign Legion in Bel Abbes holds no trace of the "Beau Geste" The 1 R.E.P. marched out in 1961 Leaving shattered souls in Algeria Leaving Morocco with heartache as well They never asked to be colonized Even the house of Ali La Pointe is gone The streets have been renamed The pain remains in the hearts of Algerians It remains in the hearts of economically marginalized Moroccans in France and Europe Who were sold lies by the French I am so sorry, Frenchmen That you cannot dump 200 bodies in the Seine like you did in 1962 Camus said that "Everything fades..save the memory" I am so sorry that I read Alistair Horne's A SAVAGE WAR OF PEACE, written in 1972 I am so sorry, France But you murdered Algerians and tortured them You murdered 100 Moroccans in the streets of Casablanca You enslaved the Magreb You prostituted its women You pushed Catholicism You ravaged a nation And now that their grandchildren demand a share of its riches You recoil from horror You had your revolution Let the OULED EL HORMA reclaim what you stole from them Let the world look at what France did a hundred and 20 years ago Let the world see how you economically abused the Algerians and the magreb Let the Americans ask questions The French accuse Americans of being killers Who started this mess? It lies in the streets of Paris and in the graves of the killers and rapists of the French armies Now Listen Paris You cannot tell the world a lie Let the Algerian martyrs speak from the heavens and name your crimes Algerians claim your lives It remains in the hearts of the massacred in Casablanca and their families And in the memories of the elderly of Morocco The page has turned BUT TELL THE WORLD WHAT THE FRENCH DID TO YOU
ISAAC : K,
a political leader had once predicted that France would be one day the Lebanon of Europe, his prophecy is now in action. This is quite disturbing... Noone had asked you to be the Maghrebian's attorney, we can talk better about what happened to the Maghreb under French colonialism and what is happenning right now in Paris. The French had multiple colonies and none of them had started such amplified troubles.
Areb : Thank you Kathleen,
It's so nice to read that people do not forgot what they did.
aymanetus : What happening in France is prety sad .. and that no lie .. France doesn't remember that when they needed to rebuild the country they had to get people from united Maghreb and from french speaking African coutries , those people setteled down in France they had there own famillies children that are french , but the sociaty look at them as first generation of immigrant ( mean they have no education and no manners ) wich is some how the result of the poor life they had ... and now they are in Revolution ( that what made france in fire ) , Nikola Sarkuzi added that those immigrant who lives in the suburbs are just garbage ,wich is Racist even if he didn't mean it
chikrea : The French are guilty of colonialism for sure but they did NOT enslave the Maghreb, they certainly did NOT prostitute its women (not sure where you got that one) and finally they did not push catholicism. I do not know of a single catholic Moroccan, Algerian or Tunisian do you?
They did commit horrors in the past, but they are not now, unlike America that only now is trying its luck at this colonialism thing (under the banner of freedom spreading). I, for one see what good the French did for us in spite of it all. Morocco was never a colony but rather a protectorat (a euphimism perhaps). France built our infrastructure and helped educate us. They certainly did move us forward. I am not sure where we'd be had they not come and gone.
The youth that is now rebelling has good beef but violence is not the answer. They are basically like the black youth in America; they just feel marginalized despite the fact that many of them are mega stars in France from the Cinema to sports with Zidane and others. They are acting out as the blacks did in LA a short time ago. It is absolutely uncalled for. I do hope however that somethhing good does come of it.
Vive la France and all peace loving people!
philau : I understand poverty is a result is result of oppression, but I don`t think we should celebrate those kinds of behaviors. Let`s not celebrate violence.
kwoolr : Really Chickrea
Now you rewrite history.
As far as France not marginilizing Moroccan women.mmmmmmmm
I am personally in possesion of over 200 postcards of old Morocco. In the early years of colonization, French erotic photographers travelled to Morocco and photographed Berber women in various erotic poses and sold them throughout France as early pornography. If you are in doubt, go to ebay and google postcards and search through the thousands of postcards NAKED MOORISH GIRLS, NAKED BERBER GIRL, EROTIC FRANCE, just keep looking. You will be horrified at what early 20th century French did to Berber women, photographing them nearly naked and selling them in the streets of Paris as pornography. You apparently do not know the history of the history of women in your own country and how they were subjugated in both Algeria and Morocco under French colonization. The OULED NAILS district was set up in Algeria to service the FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION and consisted primarily of Algerian minority Kabilyes.
In 1911, over 1500 berbers were killed in uprisings against the French. Berber women were kidnapped and raped by the French Foreign Legion and forced into travelling brothels, memorialized in Legion Lore.
I find it to be very pathetic when you are given a platform, Mr Liberal, to condemn the acts of Colonial France, you jump to the defense of the French instead of your own people.
Ya HARKI. How pathetic.
No one advocates violence against anyone.
I guess the 200 bodies floating and bloated in the Seine in 1962 are not a clear enough picture for you of what France has and has always been capable of doing to North Africans.
I invite you to read the following news account from 2001. It is very interesting. It is to France's credit though that this idiot was stripped of his medals.
Tsk tsk, ya harki
An 83-year-old retired general went on trial yesterday for condoning the French army's use of torture and summary execution during the Algerian war of independence, and said defiantly that he "would do it again today".
"I didn't enjoy it, it gave me no pleasure," he said. "But I have no regrets."
General Paul Aussaresses, whose memoirs caused a furore earlier this year, may be jailed for up to five years, for his writings rather than his actions, even though he has said he personally tortured and killed 24 suspected rebels in the 1954-1962 conflict.
A second world war resistance hero, Gen Aussaresses is charged with "complicity in justifying war crimes". The actual crimes are covered by an amnesty offered in the 1960s to all French soldiers who served in Algeria.
He told the court yesterday that the late president François Mitterrand, who was justice minister at the time, had been informed daily of his actions by another general.
Before the proceedings, Gen Aussaresses, who was stripped of his Légion d'Honneur by President Jacques Chirac and barred from wearing his army uniform earlier this year, said he was "entering this trial in serenity".
"I would do it [the torture and killings] again today if it were against Osama bin Laden," he said. "These were not reprisals... It was a case of stopping actions which were being prepared for deeds that would cause the deaths of French citizens in Algeria."
In his book, Special Services: Algeria 1955-57, Gen Aussaresses said that the government of the day was fully aware of those practices, and that he had only followed orders to eradicate terrorism.
"The best way to make a terrorist talk when he refused to say what he knew was to torture him," he wrote in one of the 19 passages singled out by the prosecution.
Of the hundreds of Algerian independence fighters summarily executed on his orders, he said in another passage: "I was indifferent. They had to be killed, that's all there is to it."
He and his two publishers, who are similarly charged, have called 15 witnesses, mostly former soldiers, to testify that torture and summary executions were routine and were implicitly approved by Paris.
The League of Human Rights, which brought the case, sees it as a vital step towards official recognition of the crimes committed in Algeria. France has never formally acknowledged the atrocities its forces committed there.
There is no reason for the innocent to be killed. But the French set themselves up for the turmoil in the steets of Paris and until they acknowledge their dirty past and mistreatment of the OULED EL HORMA, the violence will continue. They need to apologize to the MAGREB and give them jobs and economic equality and to help Moroccans, Algerians and the Tunisian children of France have exactly what French children are offered.
I am not even Muslim yet I am horrified at the SCARF ban taking place in French schools. They colonized North Africa and they don't seem to care about their subjects. They got what they wanted from the OULED EL HORMA. Now they are done with them and want to make them quiet and disappear. I think I am less of a harki than you. Now run along now and tow the party line. Bash America and call us the monsters. France made messes all over North Africa and you defend them. How sad? I guess the guilty never pay. I guess the USA massacred thousands in North Africa, excuse me MILLIONS. The berbers secured the liberation of Morocco and the Moroccan people shed their blood for nothing. I guess Uncle Sam decided to walk across the magreb and I guess its our fault that Ben Bella couldn't even speak arabic in the 1960's when he tried to address Egypt. Yeah. The USA did it. You are so ....oh I just cannot say it... I just cannot..
Read some books about the PIED NOIRS
Read A SAVAGE WAR OF PEACE by ALISTAIR HORNE
While your at it, why don't you ask some berbers about what they know about the French Foreign Legion from their elderly family members?
Oh I forgot... The French didn't do a darn thing to deserve ANYTHING of what is happening
Have you been to Paris lately? I have. Have you been to BOBIGNY or to BARBES? Have you ever noticed or talked to a BOER and asked them about job availiabilty or how they graduate from school and because their name is Arab they cannot be employed. Their is a mercedes plant in France without one muslim arab worker. They don't have to bash arabs. They do it in economic marginilization, the systematic dehumanization of North Africans through the eradication of their culture and their language. These young men have nothing to live for. Let civil rights legislation be passed to ensure equal opportunity to Arabs and that they can have access to the same jobs. Let them speak and be heard.
I never want to see anyone hurt or killed or marginilized but what is happening in Paris is the result of the marginilization of North Africans for years and years. The police force cannot massacre them and throw them into the SEINE like they did in 1962.
Guess what
The USA has nothing to do with this mess , baby. You better read some books and know your history. Your lack of investigation into the crimes of the French is showing. The French themselves are admitting to it and understanding their past. Why can't you? Because to do that would make you have to pick another monster besides the USA and that doesn't fit into your intellectual library
Harki
speederdj : WHAT A GOOD ARTICLE! I HAD TO PRINT THIS ONE OUT TO SHARE WITH OTHERS!
"Yes... virginia there is a santa clauds" begins the story of " The night before Christmas", a fairy tale in which Virginia finds out that even though there technically is not a Santa Claus, there is because WE BELIEVE IN HIM.
I want to believe that French people are open minded and kind and really care about the North Africans in their midst. I really do. I talked to a Moroccan friend of mine who told me the Algerians deserved what they got. I was horrified. I also asked him if he knew the horrible sacrifices that the BERBERS made in the liberation of Morocco. He knew nothing of the 1911 massacre.... I told him a fairy tale.....THE FRENCH TRIED TO TAKE THE BERBERS HEARTS BUT THEY COULDN'T. Don' tell me that France was good for Morocco..... Maybe all the moroccans would have been perfectly happy just being left alone.....
A little Moroccan fairy tale
African Amazon Queen and famous Ancestress of the Tuaregs.
In Abalessa, the ancient capital of the Hoggar region, there is the tomb of the famous Tuareg queen Tin Hinan. About this famous ancestress of the Tuaregs following story is told: Tin Hinan came in the company of her maid-servant Takamat from Tafilalet in South Morocco to the Hoggar. There she became the first Tamenokalt (= Queen) of the Tuaregs and her fame was so great, that even today the Tuaregs call her »Mother of Us All«.
The end... or is it? I think Moroccans should really learn about all the wonderful women in Moroccan history.
Yes Khalid.. THERE IS A KAHINA
Yes Fatima... THERE IS A KAHINA
And they all lived happily ever after, respecting BERBERS and Moroccan traditions that have nothing to do with France.. French is a distraction to the real beauty
r-talal : Dear brothers and sisters and everyone in between,
My comment here will concentrate on the way the stories of the riots coming out of France played out in the media especially the visual particularly Fox News. This so called Fair and Balanced channel was trying pathetically throughout all of its reports to pin the riots to Islam. I mean they invited every Islam hating, Muslim bashing pinhead to confirm that its because of the teachings of Islam that they rioted. Oh, they also found out thanks to the geniuses they had that this could breed another "army" of terrorists. I was utterly disgusted with this channel and I don't recommend to anyone fearing for his brain. For those who try to praise the works of France in Morocco I say wake up and smell the Harira. A colonizer is not going to come to your country for your good, never. If they built roads is to move our riches out of the country quicker and move their tanks and jeeps with ease not for us to ride our donkeys without creating a cloud of dust. If they educated us is to erase our identity and our mother tongues. They used our sweat and brain to rebuild France after World War II but they thought those Moroccan workers would leave soon after instead they setteld for good. Please stop trying to justify any occupation of a peoples under the pretext that the citizens of that country can't handle their affairs by themselves. We Aeabs and muslims don't have to look at the West to learn a damn thing, we can look at our own civilization to bring the days of glory that we enjoyed.
r-talal : Dear brothers and sisters and everyone in between,
My comment here will concentrate on the way the stories of the riots coming out of France played out in the media especially the visual particularly Fox News. This so called Fair and Balanced channel was trying pathetically throughout all of its reports to pin the riots to Islam. I mean they invited every Islam hating, Muslim bashing pinhead to confirm that its because of the teachings of Islam that they rioted. Oh, they also found out thanks to the geniuses they had that this could breed another "army" of terrorists. I was utterly disgusted with this channel and I don't recommend to anyone fearing for his brain. For those who try to praise the works of France in Morocco I say wake up and smell the Harira. A colonizer is not going to come to your country for your good, never. If they built roads is to move our riches out of the country quicker and move their tanks and jeeps with ease not for us to ride our donkeys without creating a cloud of dust. If they educated us is to erase our identity and our mother tongues. They used our sweat and brain to rebuild France after World War II but they thought those Moroccan workers would leave soon after instead they setteld for good. Please stop trying to justify any occupation of a peoples under the pretext that the citizens of that country can't handle their affairs by themselves. We Aeabs and muslims don't have to look at the West to learn a damn thing, we can look at our own civilization to bring the days of glory that we enjoyed.
chikrea : YO Kwoorl!
Once again, I really have no idea what you are talking about. What relevance does any of this history lesson you are giving, have to do with what my reply was to you?
You are trying way to hard to show us your knowledge of the region's history and in doing so you are bringing up and mixing all sorts names, issues and topics that have nothing to do with one another.
What does Ben Bella's knowledge of Arabic have to do with the riots? I am really dying to know.
Do you not see it? You brought up every possible reference and keyword that could remotely be linked to the region, from Berber to Kabili, to various names of writers etc, to what end?
We all know that colonialism was wrong horrific and unjust. The French today know it and talk about it openly. I, as a Moroccan am treated with perfect dignity when I often go there as I treat the people with the same respect I receive. Nothing more, nothing less.
There are racists everywhere and we cannot change that.
Every single country has skeletons in its closets, America and France are no exception.
France has given these people all sorts of free social services they would not dream of getting here in the US. The rest is up to them. They have to work hard to make it like everyone else. There is NO system in place to keep them down.
Thugs will be thugs! Sure, their social environment is not condusive to their overall betterment but the same goes for all lower social classes in every country of the world. That is just the way it is. Some are privileged and some are not. Going out there burning cars is totally wrong no matter what the circumstances for they are only hurting more innocent people.
I do think something positive will come out of this as awareness of their plight is raised.
France and Britain did evil things in the colonial years and will pay for some it as time goes by. We cannot however condone violence on any side of the fence.
tendrara : Dear Chikrea, I really think that you tried to fend off what Kathleen was throwing at you but instead you just stuck your foot in your mouth even deeper. I can't believe that you could not even grasp what Kathleen was trying to say when she brought up the Ben Balla analogy. Colonialism and Alianation, both Cultural and cognitivive. I can only reiterate on ething that Kathleen has already suggested and that is that you really need to READ.
beautifulwmn : It is noble to speak your free opinion in this forum. However, if you are not Moroccan, then you cannot really feel what Moroccans feel regardless of your studies and what people tell you. I am bothered by this behavior. These people are making Moroccans look bad in my opinion. I am against Violence. How can people celebrate Rammadaan and then do something like this? They even killed an innocent man who was trying to put out a fire. The fact is that when Arabs kill or destroy they will be looked at by the whole world as lowlifes. People who do not know Arabs think that this is what we teach our children. I raised two children by myself, and I taught them to have respect for others, and to respect themselves. This is the way my parents taught me. I don't disrespect other people and I would never destroy someone's property. If someone tries to kill me then that is another story. I have many friends including my aunt living in France. They are shocked and saddened by this. If you think this behavior is okay then you are lowering yourself to this level, which is the same as what the United States is doing to Iraq. It is wrong and I will continue to speak against it. Sure racism is wrong too, but we have to live with it everywhere. So what would you think if they did this in America? I can guarantee you that Mr. Bush would declare an all out war on Arabs in America. I am surprised at the restraint France has shown. They dont have to let any Arabs live there.
al3ajab1 : Salam dear Kathleen, God bless you, I love those who speak nothing but logic, those who have said things against your article are as few say in MOroccan (bay3een lmatch-Have sold the game) I swear, or if they want a softer term ignorants! It is simple, those guys in France live in confusion, most of them were actually born there, but yet they are called "sale arabes" in France, and zmagriya in MOrocco, I believe that they actually have found the true meaning of being a human! People who are against the riots in France, just think: When the French president admits that there's a social problem, and you are actually for it, you are no different than those who use to tell the French occupiers back in the Protectorated Morocco the whereabouts of Moroccan resistance ! Go and learn about true Moroccans " Abd alkhaled Zerktouni" and such... Live free or die! Cars and buses that have been burnt are actually a cheap price to expressing an idea, at least they are not killing people! And moreover, that'll admit the potential of the North African community in France, they are the ones who helped Chirac be re-elected! Isaac>> It's not that bad! It's not Lebannon! Those guys are not mad because they want the French to revert to Islam, they just want their rights and identity to be respected! Hamid>> Good luck getting a Greema or an appartment in the Shooka on les champs elyses! When was it your France! you are talking like a Ghetto woman speaking of her Fried Chix! " U Uh don't miss with my Fried Chicken" knowing that she will actually get heart strokes because of it! Moreover, no country in the western European hemisphere sells a culture of its own, it's always been hours! I want to remind you, that in times London was dark, Arabs had a lit highway from Marakesh to Cordoba, a thousand miles highway of lit candles! And that we have given France the ground to built a foundation on it! Be proud of being a Moroccan, and be proud of those who haven't sold their pride, and stood for freedom! Thanks a lot Kathleen I appreciate you talking of European hypocrisy! Rachid
kwoolr : Let me help you Chickrea
Ben Bella not knowing how to speak arabic was because the French in Algeria discouraged the speaking of other tongues in the best of schools.
The link between the kabilyes and berbers in Morocco? Language, opression and a position of underclass even in modern day North Africa when they were there first and there is nothing wrong with being a native in the land of the Mohicans. I know why you failed to get it and others did. You are not a berber. I am a celt. My mother is pure Irish and if you may remember that the Irish were subjugated under the English and subjgated to the point that in the 1860's, more than 600,000 died of hunger because the English took all the good food out of Ireland to feed themselves and babies and old people died on their way to cork. They went on coffin ships to the USA and now we have O' Neils, O'Briens and Murphy's all over the USA. A little thing called the IRA was founded ( which I do not agree with) and there was a little thing called the IRISH REVOLUTION but I guess I far too removed from your intellectual library to pull any correlations between Ireland ( A REPRESSED COLONY and ALGERIA and MOROCCO ( which incidentally the BERBERS SHED THE MOST BLOOD IN THAT LITTLE.. what did you call it.. um protectorate.
You fail to see or understand the connections because you are not berber and I am sure that you know very little about all the berber blood that was shed in the land of the Kahina.
I will help you with a brief history of colonized Morocco
Please correct any blood shed that you find incorrect
During its protectorate, France made first Morocco get more in debts that killed progressively its economy. It imposed many reforms that aimed mainly at weakening the impact of Islam on the Moroccan, especially the Berbers (Berber Dahir (law) in 1930) and rural communities, through removing or diminishing the Islamic laws for which they substituted the French ones, or still by arguing that it was anti-democratic. That caused Islam being assimilated into local, and in fact pagan, rites; the populations strayed increasingly from the teachings of Islam and therefore from speaking Arabic. For the same purpose, the Muslim schools were closed or abandoned, so the children were most uneducated. The agricultural and "habous" (of which the profits are reserved by their owner for socio-Islamic uses) lands were requisitioned and then shared among occupiers, and phosphates were exploited through the "Office Chérifien de Phosphates" (Phosphates Agency). And in order to satisfy expansionism needs, France modernized the infrastructure and Morocco was in works during the first half of the 20th c. The protectorate intended to create two different classes: a middle but submissive one in the towns with few taxes; and a poor, revolted and uneducated one in the countryside and in the Sahara, that was heavily taxed.
Meanwhile, neither large-scale popular revolts nor small-scale ones had stopped. In 1912, Sahara tribes led by Hiba ben Maa Al Aynayn rose up; their fight lasted until 1934. Northwards, Abdelkrim led the Berbers of the Rif to revolt against the Spaniards, beginning with the battle of Anoual in 1921; the so-called "War of the Rif" was violent and fierce, but nevertheless France allied itself to Spain to win it finally in 1926. Thanks to these revolts, that all took place in remote areas, and to the promulgation of the Berber Dahir by France, citizens got aware of the reality of occupation. Therefore, from 1930, Moroccan intellectuals and the élite of the country, who were most graduated from French schools or from the University Al Qarawiyyin at Fez, gave birth to riots among town-dwellers, especially small shopkeepers and artisans. The fight was yet a political one: in 1927, a nationalist press appeared but only in French, since the Arabic one was prohibited. The same year, Mohamed V, then aged 18 was enthroned; he forcefully supported popular resistance. Later, in 1934, Allal Al Fassi, Mohamed Ouazzani and Ahmed Balafrej founded the Moroccan Action Party and demanded that France respected the agreement of Fez. Moreover, they presented global reform measures: local and regional elections, Chambers of Commerce, liberties, tax equality for countrymen... However, the Action party split in 1937 into the Istiqlal (independence) Party and the Popular Movement Party, that were both forbidden and their leaders, Al Fassi and Ouazzani, exiled, the former to Gabon and the latter to Sahara. From then, the nationalists' ranks kept on growing, and they claimed independence and not only reform.
During the World War II, the Moroccan fought in Europe in return for the Allies promises; they next obtained the American support in the Anfa conference in 1943. Therefore, sultan Mohamed V showed his support for the independence movement that was even more important. The Independence Manifesto was presented to the "general resident" on January 11 1944 and claimed no-condition independence and Morocco territorial integrity. Then on April 9 1947, sultan Mohamed V delivered his historical speech in Tangier, which marked the revival of resistance to foreign occupation. In 1951, France made Glaoui, the pasha of Marrakech, turn against the sultan. As conflicts between Moroccan sultan and France increased, Mohamed V was deposed on August 20 1953 and exiled with the royal family to Corsica and then to Madagascar, before the "general resident" imposed Ben Arafa: it was the beginning of the "Revolution of the King and the People".
Was there anything else I can help you with Chickrea?
I mean I am just a stupid American. I cannot read.DUH
chargement...
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