During his state visit to Rabat, from October 28 to 30, Emmanuel Macron gave a speech before the Moroccan Parliament in which he recalled the period of the French protectorate in Morocco (1912-1956). Doctor in contemporary history from the Paris-I Panthéon-Sorbonne University, Benjamin Badier sees in this speech the perpetuation of “commemorative oblivion” that characterizes what was the colonization and decolonization of the kingdom.
You describe Emmanuel Macron’s speech as “good postcolonial memory”. So that ?
Because the president’s speech places the Moroccan case as a good example of the memory of colonization. This good memory is, in reality, above all an oversight, because in France there is no real memory of what the colonization and decolonization of Morocco were. We know that the country became independent in 1956, but it is an event without historical depth. Indeed, the 1999 law on the official recognition of the Algerian war, an expression that replaces what until then was called “operations”also covers the “fights” led by France in Morocco and Tunisia.
But if the Algerian war speaks to almost everyone in France today, very few know the period that preceded Morocco’s independence. It would also be a good memory, if we stick to the presidential speech, because all the negative aspects of decolonization are obscured, be it the divisions between Moroccans or between French, as well as the numerous acts of violence that took place at that time. . Finally, we cannot help but think that this memory is considered positive compared to the Algerian case: there would be no postcolonial resentment in Morocco, due to a decolonization perceived as peaceful.
However, Emmanuel Macron highlights that France “broke in” in Morocco and explicitly mentions the “violence of colonial history”.
His speech effectively distances himself from the topic of the aspects “positive” of colonization. But it is understandable, given the diplomatic context, that it says nothing about the military conquest of Morocco. [1907-1934]which was long and violent: the French historian Daniel Rivet raises the figure of at least 100,000 Moroccan deaths. Nor anything about the Rif War. [1921-1927]nor about the forty-four years of administration and domination of Morocco by France. In doing so, it makes colonization a simple parenthesis.
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