France, Alternative Libertaire AL #253 (Oct) - Fifty years ago - 1965: Mehdi Ben Barka was kidnapped and murdered

(en) France, Alternative Libertaire AL #253 (Oct) - Fifty
years ago - 1965: Mehdi Ben Barka was kidnapped and murdered (fr, it,
pt) [machine translation]

On October 29, 1965, Mehdi Ben Barka, considered by General Juin as "the most dangerous 
opponent of the French presence in Morocco" is removed by two French policemen in front of 
the Brasserie Lipp in Paris. The discovery of the truth about the disappearance and murder 
of the anti-colonial activist still faces reason of state today. ---- Mehdi Ben Barka was 
born in Rabat in 1920. Its history is strongly marked by the years of the twentieth 
century when colonized peoples fighting for their political independence but for the end 
of the tutelage of the former colonial powers, with their economic development perspective
, social and cultural; it leads to prepare the necessary break with the capitalist system 
that is at the heart of colonialism, but also to rethink relations with the States called 
"socialist". It is claimed but not of the libertarian movement of the socialist heritage, 
through the construction of a revolutionary force clearly rooted in the class struggle and 
articulated with the struggles for the emancipation of peoples.

Colonialism neocolonialism

From the age of 14, Mehdi Ben Barka joined the Moroccan Action Committee which later 
became the National Party before rename the Istiqlal party, that is to say, the 
Independence party. Student, he was active in the Association of North African students, 
of which he became president. It is a signatory of the Manifesto of Independence, 
published January 11, 1944; he is also the youngest signer. It is then imprisoned, like 
other leaders of the movement, and will be fired from his teaching position. At its 
release, it revitalizes the activity of the Istiqlal party, of which he became the 
administrative secretary. It is in the sights of the leaders of the colonial state and the 
Protectorate[1]. Deported in March 1951 south of the Atlas, he was released in October 
1954. Mehdi Ben Barka played a major role in the movement which led to the independence of 
Morocco, officially granted on or after 2 March 1956.

A few years later, he critically analyze the conditions in which this independence was 
achieved: "This is the end of this evolution that objectively put to the agenda the role 
and objectives of urban working people, the need their connection with the peasant masses, 
the problem of violence, not in a narrow framework, but in an anti colonialist perspective 
increasingly large, what the compromise reached to Aix-les-Bains[...] Why national 
liberation movement had not understood and made clear, the fundamental reason for 
activists, essential problems of colonial exploitation, and therefore the requirements of 
a real liberation?[...] The story gave us the means to do clarification work we had to do 
as revolutionaries. The compromise that we spent with colonialism, we have presented as a 
compromise? That is to say, an agreement by which we had both won and lost momentarily. "[2]

His activism does not stop to independence and in 1959 he was one of the founders of the 
National Union of Popular Forces, which says "progressive and revolutionary." Forced into 
exile and hiding in July 1963 he was sentenced to death in absentia twice by the Royal 
Military Court.

The Tricontinental

Besides denouncing the regime of Hassan II and popularization outside the country 
struggles to Morocco, Mehdi Ben Barka also acts internationally, including preparing the 
Tricontinental Conference[3], to be held in Havana in January 1966, whose aim was to bring 
together representatives and representatives of peoples in Africa, Asia and Latin America 
confronted with imperialism.

Four points are on the agenda[4]: - The fight against imperialism, colonialism and 
neo-colonialism. - "Hotspots" of the anti-imperialist struggle across three continents, 
particularly in Vietnam, in Santo Domingo, in Congo, in the Portuguese colonies in 
Southern Rhodesia, Palestine and in the Arab South. - Anti-Imperialist Solidarity among 
the peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America in the economic, social and cultural fields. 
- Political and organizational unification of the efforts of the peoples of Africa, Asia 
and Latin America in their common struggle for liberation and national construction.

Although the "friendly regimes" (USSR, China ...) did not allow the movement to develop 
autonomously, the agenda of the Tricontinental Conference shows how many countries 
authorities could worry about his outfit and meet the disappearance of its main promoter.

Ben Barka, in charge of political and material preparation of this conference was to meet 
a producer and director of a film that was to be called Basta and was to be screened at 
the opening of the Conference.

Abduction

Mehdi Ben Barka, "This death will have a hard life, that death will have the last word" 
(Daniel Guérin)
If those are two French policemen, Louis Souchon and Roger VOITOT, who kidnap Mehdi Ben 
Barka October 29, he was immediately taken to the house of a French gangster, Georges 
Boucheseiche in Fontenay-le-Vicomte. It flew to Morocco on November 1 and will remain 
there until his death in 1972. The producer claimed, George Figon, which attracted Ben 
Barka await you, "suicide" January 17, 1966.

The investigation of two investigative journalists from the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot 
published in March 2015 provides relentless clarification on what we already suspected 
strongly, namely the direct involvement of the Israeli Mossad. In the early 1960s, Israeli 
intelligence services settled in exchange for active cooperation in eliminating the 
Algerian FLN, a base in Paris to plan their operations in Europe. Israel considered its 
relations with Morocco as strategic and the two countries have managed to find common 
interests. King Hassan II facilitates the migration of Moroccan Jews to Israel in exchange 
for technology assistance and training of Moroccan soldiers. In September 1965 this deal 
allows Mossad agents to obtain vital information on the summit of the Arab League, which 
is being held in Casablanca. This is also in part on the basis of this information that 
the IDF recommended the government to Levi Eshkol to launch what would become the Six Day 
War in 1967.

Israel is then owe a debt to Morocco, which requires, in compensation for this 
collaboration, the head of Ben Barka. This is how the Mossad was able to locate Ben Barka 
in Geneva at the kiosk where he raised his mail. The operation will be carried out by the 
Moroccan services with Mossad technical assistance (supply of cars and passports to the 
Moroccan and French involved in the case so they can quickly escape). This is also the 
Mossad that develops the ambush of a documentary to attract Ben Barka in Paris.

Ben Barka was kidnapped and tortured, possibly to death, cigarette burns beatings, 
electric shock and drowning simulations. Israeli intelligence services are then disappear 
the body dissolved in acid using chemicals bought at several pharmacies, and buried at 
night in the forest of Saint-Germain.

Fight for truth

It was one of the many battles fought by Daniel Guerin[5]. A quest for the truth, but for 
what purpose? Bechir Ben Barka explains in the interview in 1995: "What drove us, which 
pushed Daniel was this desire for justice but not only justice for justice. What pushed 
him through this search for truth, besides the determination to reveal all the 
responsibilities it was, I believe, the will to stay true to a certain ideal and pay 
tribute to that, for many peoples third world, represented by its commitment ".

For fifty years, the State of obstruction is total. Already in December 1981, Daniel 
Guérin concluded his book with this sentence: "Bashir[Ben Barka] expressed the hope that 
political change, resulting from the presidential election on May 10, 1981, finally allows 
to discover the truth about the murder from his father. "Thirty-four years later, we know 
that is not so: Mitterrand and Hollande did nothing more than Chirac or Sarkozy. Fabius at 
Buffet Duflot through or Mélenchon and many others, the socialist ministers, Communists 
and environmentalists marched in the ministries, no one and no one has publicly denounced 
the outrageous wall of silence maintained on this "case of State (s) "and they are well-es 
became accomplices. Most ridiculous, in 2014 and then in 2015 it is the lawyer for the Ben 
Barka family that is taken to court for a pseudo "violation of the secrecy of the 
investigation." The complaint came from one of the persons subject to international arrest 
warrants[6] not acted upon for years.

Restart the case

A new Committee for Truth in the abduction and disappearance of Mehdi Ben Barka was 
formed. As recalled its manifesto, it is urgent to revive the case because "both the 
Moroccan side that perhaps the French side, witnesses in possession of some truth are 
still alive, the archives can provide answers must still exist, especially those of the 
CIA. "The international letter rogatory addressed to Morocco since September 2003, renewed 
in spring 2005, has still not been executed and the French political authorities refuse 
the lifting of military secrecy on all the documents relating to the case.

Our libertarian communist current is particularly committed to this fight, including the 
important role played over the years by our comrade Daniel Guérin; it has left, on this as 
on many other issues, a political heritage which is one of the benchmarks that underlie 
the activity of Alternative Libertaire. It is in this extension we support the newly 
reconstituted Committee.

Gisèle (AL Paris North East) and Christian (AL Transcom)

MEDHI BEN BARKA, MY FATHER ...

Bechir Ben Barka
Bechir Ben Barka is the son of Medhi Ben Barka. He leads the Committee for the truth about
Ben Barka affair. In this interview, conducted in 1995, it summarizes the reasons that led 
to the death of his father[7].

Medhi Ben Barka, my father, was arrested at the Brasserie Lipp, October 29, 1965, by two 
French policemen. He followed them as they showed him their cards and confident, he rode
with them in the car service. Besides the two policemen, an officer of the French secret 
services and a mobster took place in the car that led them to Fontenay-le-Vicomte in the 
home of mobster. My father entered the house and after we do not know what happened. It is 
assumed that he was murdered but we do not know how and we never found his body.[...] 
There will be a convergence of interests to end my father's activities. This convergence 
will be observed among the protagonists of the case. First, the Moroccan Minister of the 
Interior, an agent of French services, mobsters responsible do the dirty work, agents of 
American and Israeli secret services.[...]

There had been two trials in 1966 and 1967 where the kidnappers of my father were tried 
but could never answer basic questions because we ran into reasons of state. In 1975, we 
file a second complaint for the murder of my father to avoid that the case be definitively 
closed by prescription. Daniel Guerin had discovered a new element. In 1966, when the 
first survey, the so-called film producer was wanted by the French police and when he was 
to be arrested, he "committed suicide" by two bullets in the back. In his case, they found 
a police-type questionnaire for the interrogation of my father. And nobody paid attention. 
Still, in 1970 a second questionnaire was found but with handwritten comments. This is 
Daniel Guerin who concluded that the writer was none other than a certain Pierre 
Lemarchand, former Gaullist MP and former heads of spooks. Despite promises to bring as 
soon as possible the evidence of his innocence in court, it has not seen fit to reconvene 
until today.

Cabu draws the trial for the abduction of Ben Barka in October 1966 for Figaro. "Officials 
of SDECEE, MM. Klein and Como, such as President Pérez was able to see them. Left one 
recognizes the defendants and their lawyers; right the plaintiff. "
Second lock, that of SDECEE[8] which is hiding behind the defense secret and refuses to 
provide records. After the election of Mitterrand, Pierre Mauroy ordered the Secret 
Service to open the files. But they provided only elements which we already know. Twenty 
to thirty years after the kidnapping of my father, there was still no political will to 
achieve the truth. I would say that there was a political will not to reveal the truth.[...]

[1] The Protectorate of Morocco was then the political system; the French colonial State 
applied the same regime in Tunisia and countries of Indochina (Annam, Cambodia, Laos, 
Tonkin). Of "possessions" to "departments", via the "protectorates" or "territories", 
colonialism is not short of words to maintain its domination.

[2] Mehdi Ben Barka, revolutionary Opinion in Morocco; Bachir Ben Barka quoted ("Mehdi Ben 
Barka, or real politics")

[3] Mehdi Ben Barka was the Chairman of the Preparatory Committee of the International 
Tricontinental Conference.

[4] Brieux Jean-Jacques, the "Tricontinental" in Foreign Policy, 1 - from 1966 to 1931 
year. pp. 19-43.

[5] Daniel Guerin, Ben Barka and his killers, 16-year investigation, Plon, 1982.

[6] Miloud Tounsi was targeted by an international arrest warrant in 2007 in connection 
with the kidnapping of Mehdi Ben Barka. The four others are General Hosni Benslimane, head 
of the Moroccan Royal Gendarmerie, Abdelkader Kadiri, former head of the Directorate 
General for Research and Documentation (military intelligence), Boubker Hassouni, nursing 
and agent Cab 1, one of the units Moroccan-secret services, and Abdelhaq Achaachi also 
agent Cab 1 (information from the Defense Association of Human Rights in Morocco).

[7] The entire interview is available at: www.danielguerin.info

[8] External Documentation Service and cons-intelligence, renamed Directorate for External 
Security (DGSE) in 1982.


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