Moroccan politician Mohamed Ben Said Ait Ider (Al Jazeera)
On February 7, Palestinian flags were flying at the Martyrs’ Cemetery in Casablanca, on the occasion of the funeral of Muhammad bin Said, which is the cemetery that contains the remains of the martyr Muhammad Al-Zarqtouni (the first martyr of the Moroccan resistance, who ended his life so as not to divulge the secrets of the resistance), and Muhammad Khidir (from The two historical leaders of the Algerian revolution were assassinated in 1965 in Madrid, and Abdel Rahman Al-Youssoufi (federal leader and former prime minister).
Huge crowds carry the deceased to his final resting place. Many of them wrapped keffiyehs around their necks or wore them. This symbolism was an indication of what the deceased pledged his life to, namely the emancipation of all of the Maghreb countries, the unity of the Arab world, and the centrality of the Palestinian issue.
The man was a scholar, associated with decisive stations in the history of modern Morocco and the Arab world. He immersed himself in the national movement as a young man, and joined the Istiqlal Party. The assassination of Tunisian trade unionist Farhat Hached (1952) was a turning point in his path, and he became involved in the resistance (field work in cities).
Then after that in the Liberation Army, first in the north, where the Spanish administration was less oppressive, then in the actions of the Liberation Army in the south, which posed a threat to the French colonial power, so it colluded with Spain to suppress the Liberation Army’s movements, used warplanes, and killed cattle and camels, Innocent people were subjected to what is known in the conscience of the population as “air strikes” (air strikes). Muhammad bin Said was influenced by the leader Mehdi Ben Barka, and he embraced the leftist trend that split from the Istiqlal Party.
Muhammad bin Saeed's orientation was nationalist and leftist. He believed in the issues regulating the Arab world, including the centrality of the Palestinian issue, until the last breath of his life, just as he believed in the leftist trends that spread throughout the world since the 1960s, from the Vietnam War and the Cuban Revolution.
I do not think I am exaggerating if I say; Muhammad bin Said is the third of three Moroccan politicians mentioned by the horizons outside the borders of Morocco, the first of whom is Muhammad bin Abdel Karim Al-Khattabi, who held the title of invader, and the second is the international leader Mahdi Ben Barka.
The funny thing is that this nationalist man was not Arab, but rather an Amazigh, from the Souss region. He learned the colloquial Arabic language when he was young, and his accent betrayed him when he recited his sermons in Arabic or spoke in it.. He was of a background that did not distinguish between Arabs and Amazigh in the Maghreb. They have always been immersed in values and embraced crucial issues.
He was an expression of a segment that remains loyal to the past, is not hostile to the future, and is not estranged from the present. The second irony in the man’s life is that this staunch leftist, a supporter of justice issues wherever they may be, received traditional training, or what are called in Morocco ancient schools. But for him, heritage was not separate from a spirit or a purpose. It wasn't just a mummified mummy.
What distinguished Nidal Muhammad bin Saeed from other men of the national movement was that he was the only one who did not indulge in power and did not show any flexibility towards it. He rejected the proposed constitutions, and considered them to be granted constitutions that legitimize individual rule, or tyranny, and rejected the rituals of authority, or what is known in Morocco as established traditions. He did not kiss the king’s hand, nor kneel before him.
Therefore, the authority did not provide it and restricted it, since the adoption of the first constitution in 1962, which the opposition rejected as legitimizing individual rule. Bin Saeed traveled to Algeria, which was the Mecca of the revolutionaries, or the Mecca of the Revolutionaries as it was called.
Then the authorities in Morocco quickly sentenced him to death in absentia. He was alongside a group of Moroccan politicians close to President Ben Bella, and therefore he chose to leave Algeria in 1967, and lived in exile between Switzerland and France, in difficult financial circumstances, with Algerian identity papers.
In France, he met a group of nationalists. His life was simple to the point of asceticism. He remained in the same way until the end of his life, living in a modest apartment in a popular neighborhood on the outskirts of Casablanca, and abstaining from gaudiness and appearance.
He returned to Morocco in the early 1980s under a general amnesty and established a party that included a group of young people who were under the influence of nationalist rhetoric and a Marxist orientation, the Organization for Popular Democratic Action, in 1983.
This was to emphasize the democratic option, or the struggle from within the institutions, in contrast to the option that was called the revolutionary option to change the system of government. Ben Said's goal was to change the rules of government, not just the system of government, as replacing tyranny with tyranny is of no use. Ben Said won a seat in Parliament in 1984, and he was the voice of the voiceless, as was said about him. He was the only one, during his parliamentary terms, who dared to ask a question from the dome of Parliament about the terrible Tazmamart prison, and the subject was taboo.
He created a weekly magazine, “Anwal,” and he chose its name after the site of the battle in which Muhammad ibn Abd al-Karim won the victory over the Spaniards, in 1921. The weekly was one of the most important cultural chapters in the contemporary history of Morocco, along with the “Lam Alif” magazine, which was published. In French, it refers to the negative letter “no”.
The weekly “Anwal” (which later turned into a daily) was a cultural ferment, with a decidedly nationalist orientation. It was an intellectual platform and arena for exposing human rights violations.
Muhammad bin Said's organization - as the Islamic preacher Abdel Salam Yassin described it somewhat simplistically - was an army made up of generals. The organization truly included the best Moroccan intellectuals.
Mohammed bin Said's involvement in the democratization of political life and respect for human rights was clear, and his party was one of the pillars of the Democratic Bloc that was established in 1992, and was able to extract from power the review of the constitution.
However, Ben Said and some of his companions refused to vote on the 1996 constitution, which did not provide guarantees for an effective transfer of power and mechanisms for balancing powers. The organization experienced a split as a result.
In addition, Bin Said’s involvement in national issues was beyond doubt, such as in the Iraq Defense Committee, the Moroccan-Palestinian Committee, or his participation in the Islamic National Conference in Beirut 1994.
Ben Said remained a conscience. He shied away from responsibility in the late years of his life without shying away from commitment. The United Left Party, made up of several sects, embraced and supported the February 20 Buds during the “Arab Spring”, defended the detained journalists, defended the detainees of the Rif Movement, sought to establish paths of dialogue with the Polisario, and hesitated to visit Algeria on the horizon of Moroccan-Algerian reconciliation. He remained in contact with its activities, and even with elements of its authority. He remained preoccupied with the Palestinian issue, following it.
He was not a brilliant orator, like the outspoken politicians, but he had common sense, sincere commitment, and simplicity in all aspects of his entire life, and that was one of the sources of his strength.
Zaman magazine (French) devoted a file to him in its monthly issue, after his death, and called him the last of the two friends in the magazine’s title. The leftists called him the monk of the left, and one of the Polisario veterans called him the seal of the mujahideen. Even the authorities recognized his status, as the king’s brother, Prince Rashid, attended his funeral. It was truly a smelling mountain.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.