Paris Runs The Alawite Palace From Behind The Scenes

A French historian named Bernard Logan compares the French colonization of Algeria with the French protection of the Moroccan regime, and provides details and particulars that undermine the credibility of the Alawite regime in Rabat, and make it a mere puppet in the hands of France, which still views the Kingdom of Morocco to this day as a protectorate and backyard for the former colonizer in what the French administration calls the “Overseas Territories”.
Although this “historian” is known for his strange proposals and his defense of the Moroccan regime’s expansionist positions in the Maghreb region, he exposed the nature of the relationship between the Alawite Palace and the French state, which are relations that are still in effect today, 68 years after the declaration of the independence of the Kingdom of Morocco (in 1956).
In an opinion article published on Wednesday, August 27, 2022 in the newspaper “le 360”, which is owned and managed by the palace (by its owner, Mounir Majidi, the private secretary of the Moroccan monarch, Mohammed VI), Bernard Logan compared the French colonization of Algeria with the French protectorate of the Kingdom of Morocco, and concluded that what Algeria was exposed to during the occupation period was an attempt to annex France and destroy the Algerian people in their strength and distort their religious and national identity.
As for the Kingdom of Morocco, according to the aforementioned historian, it had been managed since 1912 by Marshal Hubert Lyautey, the founder of the modern Alaouite kingdom, who controlled the authorities under the false slogan of “the first servant of the Sultan”, as Casablanca still preserves a commemorative statue of him to this day.
Historian Logan says: “Algeria was considered part of the motherland of France, as it constituted three provinces. The policy that Lyautey followed in Morocco was different. He respected the Moroccan institutions and authorities”, and he described himself as “the first servant of the Sultan”, and the aim of this was to show that “the French Resident General did not want to manage Morocco in the same way that Algeria was managed”.
The French historian confirms what he said that the situation in the Kingdom of Morocco is no different today than it was before 1956 (the date of independence). The palace, which was previously managed from within Morocco and specifically by the French Resident General in Rabat, who gave orders to the Sultans of Marrakech to implement without discussion, is now managed from Paris. It is no wonder that King Mohammed VI holds French citizenship and owns palaces in France where he spends long periods of time, leaving his duties as the first official in charge of the kingdom.
The French colonization of Algeria was completely different and was characterized by iron and fire practices. Logan says: “After the French military defeat by Prussia in 1870, the civil republican regime succeeded the military regime in Algeria. Its adherence to strict centralization, its contempt for the indigenous population, and its secularism, which made its representatives appear as infidels in the eyes of Muslims, had devastating effects and caused great shock in the country.” He adds: “The decrees of October 24, 1870 placed Algeria under the authority of a civil governor-general under the Minister of the Interior, Adolphe Isaac Crémieux.
The latter fought the Arab offices, accusing them of practicing “anti-national policies (meaning France) for opposing the expansion of settlement. By decree of December 24, 1870, the Political Bureau and its branches were abolished, thus decapitating the apparatus, which was then emptied of its content by decree of January 1, 1871, which transformed it into the Office of Native Affairs, and confined it to the lands of the south.
He acknowledges that colonialism committed brutal discrimination against Algerians: “Under the Native Code of 1881, its indigenous population was granted a special status, since they had become, in a way, subjects of the French Republic, while the French and Jews were full citizens. More precisely, the population of Algeria was then divided into three categories: true Frenchmen or Europeans born in Algeria, Jews granted French nationality and French Algerians.
He further underscored that the decree of August 26, 1881, established the “annexation” system that stripped the Governor-General of his last powers, as all the main administrative interests in Algeria were placed directly under the authority of the Parisian ministries. Therefore, in 1892, this “annexation” was denounced before Parliament by the elected representatives of Algeria, and then this system was abolished by the decree issued on December 31, 1896.
The French historian, who frequently visits Moroccan resorts, concludes that the policy pursued by Lyautey in Morocco was completely different. He respected the Moroccan institutions and authorities, and even described himself as “the first servant of the Sultan”, or rather the first commander of the Sultan.