On Ziraoui Street, which is one of the most famous streets in the Moroccan city of Casablanca, stands Lyuty High School, one of the most famous educational institutions in the economic city. Like the Parisians while he is in Al-Bayda, a society within society, he has his own customs, aspirations and outlook on life that does not stray far from France's philosophy and its definition of progress, civilization and freedom.
Putting the name “General Lyautey” on this educational institution in particular was not arbitrary. Rather, it came to memorialize the first and most famous resident general in Morocco, a believing Catholic who raised the banner of protection and worked on a comprehensive colonial project, flying over the countries that colonized it with two wings.
The first is military and security, and the second is religious and cultural, through which France flew into the heart of these colonial countries to spread its ideas and defend its interests, making itself a mecca for the dreams of enlightenment that many non-Frenches yearn for.
Christianity in the service of secularism
Here lies Louis Hubert Lyautey, the first Resident-General (ambassador) of France in Morocco, who died in the womb of the Catholic religion, where Louis, in the framework of his deep faith in it, obtained the last Christian secrets.
A sentence written on the tombstone of General Lyautey in Morocco
The French Revolution was based on a number of basic principles and ideas that the French, government and people, still remember to this day. One of these principles was the dwarfing of the role of the Catholic Church, which had large areas of authority during the monarchy, after the revolution made it subject to the values of the new republic.
But despite the great difference in the area of Catholic religiosity inside France before and after the revolution, the French governments continued to use Christianity externally to support their colonial interests and subjugate the peoples that dominate the destiny of their countries, and then after the end of the colonial period, to preserve their gains and external weight in a number of countries.
Going back to history, the interest in Christian missionary in Africa was not strong during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, as Christian activity remained limited until the middle of the seventeenth century to the Portuguese missions that were active through churches overseas, but this Portuguese activity soon knew some upcoming competition Some of the neighboring European countries, led by France, which established in 1663 the so-called Forum of Foreign Missionaries, but by 1770, the French preferred to focus more on missionary activity in Asia, while not showing much interest in Africa, which was considered a source of slaves only.
After 3 years, France established the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, which confirmed its entry as a strong party in the field of evangelization of the Christian religion and the Catholic doctrine in particular.
But by the middle of the eighteenth century, and on the eve of the French Revolution, the relationship between the ruling authority in France and the missionaries began to know a kind of coolness, as the organization of the "Jesuits", which included about 3000 active missionaries, was dissolved in 1764 after its previous dissolution in Portugal. Spain was supported by Pope Clement XIV.
This step left some problems between Catholic countries and missionary organizations, and negatively affected Christian preaching outside European lands, as missionary activity was limited to Protestant movements, which were more free and lively.
Pope Clement XIV
The missionary activity of France eased relatively after the revolution, giving way to a great activity of Protestant and Anglican missionaries, but Paris quickly returned to the missionary line again in the nineteenth century AD, and it was among the most prominent countries that ensured sending Catholic missionaries to the areas that occurred or will be located After that, under its colonial grip, Christianity was an important factor for the French to establish control over other societies, especially Muslim societies that stemmed from their religious faith to reject foreign colonialism.
The French authorities were keen to use the Catholic clergy for this task, despite the lack of mutual trust between the two parties, and this alliance was very pragmatic because each party realized its great need for the other, despite the partial difference in goals. Christianity was helping the colonial authorities to subjugate a number of peoples - especially The African-spiritually, while the missionaries, despite their good relations with parts of the colonial societies, needed the scourge of power in order to help them enter other lands and to punish some local officials who were showing leniency or sympathy with the spread of Islam in some African parts.
Islam remained a real enemy of the French colonial tendencies because of the Muslim peoples’ departure from the religious and legal ground to confront France as a “push jihad”, so it was necessary to tame these religious trends by allowing Christian movements to have a greater presence within the colonial societies, and the important example here would be Morocco, the country that He signed the protection treaty with the French Republic in 1912. After arriving in the country as the first resident-general in Morocco, General Lyautey worked on developing a different strategy that steered clear of everything that is security and military, and concerned a lot with everything that is cultural and religious, to create a good relationship with Moroccan citizens.The strategy of the French general relied on appearing as a man who respects the religion of Moroccan society, and who does not want Moroccans to change their religious convictions, but rather aims only to carry out a number of reforms stipulated in the Fez Treaty (protection), besides that the French authorities were keen to avoid exaggeration in showing support. Direct Christians and Jews, because this might mean a challenge to the Moroccan Muslim community, and provoked it against the colonizer.
General Lyautey
In parallel, Lyautey tried to control religious movements within Morocco, under the Franco-Spanish treaty signed on November 27, 1912, which gave France the right to control religious orientations in the areas under its control after it was a hotbed of Spanish clergy, and as a result of this The treaty The French presidency issued a decree regulating the work of the Military Guidance Authority and the nature of its activity within the French colonial army, and this step aimed to establish a legal framework for the work of different monks, whether those who provide religious aid to soldiers inside the military barracks, or others who try to work within Moroccan society itself to spread Christianity .
Despite the resignation of General Lyautey from public residence in Morocco due to the results of the Rif War, his strategy of relying on Christianity as the spearhead in the country remained. On February 4, 1924, the French Parliament addressed a report prepared by the Foreign Affairs Committee that stressed in one of its paragraphs the need to establish missionary centers In many medium and small Moroccan cities, as a result of these recommendations an additional 200 monks were sent to Morocco, the majority of them women, and the missionary arsenal was supplemented by a number of Spanish monks who continued to work in the areas under French colonial rule.
With the increase in the pace of missionary work, the movement of active Christian schools appeared, in addition to the creation of many social and medical institutions that were all under the supervision of missionary bodies.
Christian Mission Schools..a community within a community
"French in Morocco is not a language and it is enough, but a way of life"
Farid Al-Ansari, Book: Political Immorality and the Islamic Movement in Morocco
The French colonial authorities would not have been able to expand and control, then, without the presence of this cultural and religious machine. The "Christian Mission" schools were one of the most important mechanisms that guarantee France a presence within the countries that were formerly colonizing, until our time.
Schools appeared early as an aid and essential factor to help missionaries spread, and these schools constituted a more acceptable alternative than the nurseries of churches with a clear religious dimension, and the academic content of these educational institutions remained light on the explicit religious load, which helped them spread, especially as they give A special social position for teachers and students who are lucky enough to join it.
In order to give priority and importance to this Francophone education, the French authorities had to fight the Arabic language. In Algeria, for example, the French educational policy that aimed at eliminating local culture and spreading French education was evident early on, by controlling religious education and its institutions under the name of "education reform", in exchange for Expanding the establishment of French schools that competed with the angles, mosques, and free schools.
In Morocco, the matter was not much different. The schools of the French mission landed in the country before the arrival of colonial convoys, and it is true that these schools carried a religious dimension, but they soon became a powerful tool through which France spreads its secular faith through many organizations that revolve in its orbit. Headed by the French Education Abroad Agency.
Of course, these schools and cultural projects have developed greatly over the years, but they have maintained their colonial dimension by spreading "French civilization" and promoting Paris' interests and orientations.
In the Maghreb, these schools are considered “schools for the elite” founded by France as a basis for the formation of Francophone elites that help in running these countries that were living under the weight of colonialism, and for this reason these schools formed closed Francophone societies, consisting not of French only, but of students from Arab and Muslim families She wanted to move up the social ladder, which now classifies the French language as a language superior to Arabic or local dialects.
Over time, the curricula of these institutions contributed to several phenomena, the most important of which is the formation of a state of cultural alienation for Arab students who live on their land. In simple language.
The paradox does not depend on language, for example, but extends to culture. Students know the history of France and the geography of France and Europe, with great ignorance of the history of their countries as well as the history and geography of the wider Arab and Islamic world.
These results are not arbitrary. Rather, a full French educational policy is behind them. In fact, the French educational system abroad was more focused on creating this Francophone social segment than the internal French education, which is more open than its counterpart directed to foreign countries.
After the formation of these young people on the French lifestyle, and a taste of the history, language and culture of France, most of them head to the country of Marshal Lyautey, Molière and Charles de Gaulle to continue education and work in France, while some remain in their countries where they form within the community a society with its customs, traditions and cultural orientations, but rather and different religious.
France does not hide its goals for spreading this type of schools. A report prepared by Samantha Caspon, the French deputy for Emmanuel Macron's party, on French education abroad, stated that attention to this file helps spread the "radiance" of France and the French in the world.
The report concluded that it is necessary to raise the budget for external education, to strengthen the ties of French families residing abroad with this type of education, and to maintain deep relations with the graduates of these schools, French and others, because they will constitute the political and economic elite of the countries to which they belong.
In the same context, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, had said in a statement to activists defending Christian minorities in the east that the French state, with the participation of the "Over Dorian" association.
Christians of the East.. Nail Juha
"The relationship between church and state is damaged, and my role and yours is to repair it."
Emmanuel Macron, in a speech at the Bishops' Symposium in France
Well, we cannot talk about the use of Christianity in French political movements without talking about France's great desire to appear as the protector of Christian minorities in the Levant.
This interest was evident on a number of occasions attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, who described on one occasion France's support for Eastern Christians as a "secular commitment" and a "historic mission".
Although these political trends are electoral calculations imposed by a number of right-wing candidates heading towards the east to play the defense card for Eastern Christians against “Islamists and jihadists” in order to tickle the feelings of the large right-wing electoral bloc, France has shown interest in this religious minority in Islamic countries since the era of the Ottoman Caliphate .
Even during the period when France was preparing for the religious presence in social life prior to the formulation of the famous law on the separation of religion from the state in 1905, Paris continued to show its desire to include the Christians of the East under its banner and to appear as a protector of this minority from the unstable conditions in the East, in 1913 France signed an agreement with the Ottomans authorizing it to impose its protection on the Catholic minorities living in the Holy Land.
The French governments continued the same strategy of showing great interest in the Christians of the East. France hosted a number of casualties in the bombing of the “Sayeda Najat” Cathedral in Baghdad in 2010, then the French presence in the Levantine scene increased after the emergence of the Islamic State, and this presence had 3 main reasons: The first is that Paris sees Christian minorities as an extension of the Christians of the West, as they share culture, values and some language with other Christians.
The second reason is that France sees this commitment as stemming from its “civilized” role in defending the values of freedom, human rights and the right to practice religious rites for all without “terrorism” or “discrimination”.
As for the last and most important reason, it is that France sees the file of the Christians of the East as an important opportunity to achieve many political gains. The decision-makers in Paris believe that the dissemination of Western political principles such as democracy and secularism can only take place in the Middle East with the presence of the East Christians component who play It also played a role in protecting the West from "extremist Islamic tendencies", which often take violent forms.
In order to achieve these goals, France intensified its military and diplomatic moves. In addition to inciting armed confrontation with Islamic organizations, it organized some events and meetings, such as the September 8, 2015 symposium hosted by Paris to shed international light on the victims of violence from ethnic and religious minorities.
In its moves, Paris is trying to change its previous strategy that it pursued in the colonies by distinguishing Christian and Jewish minorities and giving them an exceptional character. This method did not help the minorities, but rather increased their isolation. Therefore, France today sees that the real solution is to integrate Christians into the fabric. community in the Middle East.
This final goal, although it is really clear, France will try to achieve many gains in light of it by emphasizing that it is it, and not the countries to which these citizens belong, that ensures the protection and comfort of these minorities, which makes them see them as a liberator from some internal problems, as well as It happened in Lebanon, where Macron received the conquerors in the wake of the Beirut port explosion due to the loss of a large segment of the Lebanese people hope to find any internal solutions, and then France appeared in the image of the savior and the alternative.
France is therefore fighting the religious presence internally, imposing its secular creed on everyone, but at the same time it does not mind using the same religion paper in order to achieve its political and cultural goals, giving itself a spiritual responsibility far from the identity of its secular republic, and perhaps this new dimension that France has become in need It internally and externally - and it began to appear clearly with the rise of right-wing currents with a Christian background - may reflect on the general trends of the country, which may be on its way to a new implicit reformulation of the relationship between religion and the state, for the first time since the time of the revolution.