MONARCHY SPEARHEADS NEOCQLONIALIST ASSAULT ON ALGERIA
PARIS, Oct. 21 -- The outbreak of hostilities in the Sahara between the. Moroccan Royal Army, equipped with U.S. and French aircraft and tanks, and the Algerian National People's Army with its assortment of arms remaining from the seven-and~a-half year fight for freedom, marks a new stage in the imperialist and neocolonialist effort to block Algeria from pro-= ceeding down the road to socialism.
The timing of the assault is ‘significant. “Hassan chose to. send his troops pouring across the border in co-ordination with a dagger blow in the back of the Algerian government -- the armed rebellion of the so-called "Pront of Socialist Forces" centered in Kabylie.
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That the King started the conflict is proved by a single eloquent fact, He rejected an Algerian proposal for a cease-fire and withdrawal. of both sides to the positions held as of October 1. His counter proposal | was a cease-fire with both sides remaining in the positions held on Octo-= ber 8. The King wants his troops to stay in the positions they » ‘seized — between those two dates.
The area where the fighting ; is now going on in the southwest Sahara. has been pictured by the-capitalist press as nothing but desert sands. The aim-of such propaganda is to help the Moroccan king hold the positions he seized by making them seem unimportant.
There is a good deal of wasteland in this wide region but there is also a string of vases along a water course coming down from the snowy summits of the Atlas mountains. They contain a million palm trees, The region contains fertile populated areas. It is the crossroads for considerable trade between primitive peoples and the outside world.
It also happens to be an extremely rich mineral area. The iron ore deposits at Tindouf are estimated to be the second in importance in the. world. At Fort-Gouraud is another immense deposit owned by MIFERMA, an international trust controlled by the Rothschild ‘group.
The Rothschilds, seeking control over the railway from Fort- Gouraud to Port-Etienne where they. could load ore ships, carved out the "independent" state of Mauritania. A. rival French~Spanish group is collaborating with the Moroccan government to establish a tight grip on the Tindouf deposits which they propose to load at Spanish~controlled Rio de Oro...
An Algeria rapidly developing towards socialism puts a big qestion mark on the safety of this tempting area ~-- safety, that is, for capital~ ist profits.
Other capitalist promotion schemes in this area could be cited to explain the avid interest of the Moroccan monarchy in these "desert sands,"
- Aside from this, the Moroccan grab can be considered a "pilot" operation. -If the King succeeds, there will be other African puppet governments that will try their hand at moving into the ill-defined border area at the expense of the Algerian government and its socialist orientation.
The fundamental reason for the present outbreak of hostilities, however, is not economic in the immediate sense, but political.
- The war represents a gamble by: the reactionary Moroccan government, backed by American, French and Spanish imperialist interests, to stem the growing influence of the Algerian Revolution among the Moroccan MASSES.
The fact'is that the disintegrating Rabat regime feels that its days are numbered,
With the victory of the Algerian Revolution over French imperialism and the achievement of political independence, class contradictions and political tensions in neighboring Morocco have grown sharper.
The March 1963 decrees socializing the "vacated properties" and
e introducing self-management in the socialist sector of the Algerian economy greatly heartened the Moroccan workers and peasants and encouraged them to seek a similar deep-going agrarian reform. The effect of the March decrees can be better grasped if it is recalled that seven years after winning independence, Morocco has not yet seen even the beginning of an agrarian reform.
It is this growing influence of the Algerian Revolution that led to the astonishing defeat suffered by the reactionary court clique in the 1963 general elections, Notwithstanding propaganda mobilized on tremen- . dous scale by the King himself, thirty-four per cent of the votes was all that this unattractive ruling group could garner,
In revenge for this defeat, the King organized a nation-wide witchhunt, starting it like a military operation last July 16. Alleging discovery of a "plot," he arrested hundreds of leading figures in the UNFP [Union Nationale des Forces Populaires], the left-wing opposition party.
Following these arrests, the King turned the witch-hunt against the trade unions, arresting all tne main figures,
Then came sweeping arrests of student leaders on the eve of the congress of tne Union des Etudiants Marocains.
The total number of arrests in this witch-hunt has not been revealed, but some sources estimate that as many as 4,000 were thrown into prison. Out of twenty-eight left-wing members of parliament, twenty-one are behind bars. Nearly all local trade-union leaders are in jail. On the only leftwing daily in the country At Tahrir, the entire staff was arrested.
Torture is used against working-class opponents of King Hassan II. Mohamed Salmi, a trade-union leader, died under torture. Mahdi Alaoui, a member of parliament from Salé, was tortured from eight otclock one morn-~ ing until ten in the evening.
The Moroccan and Tunisian Students Union appealed August 29 for an international inquiry into the mass torture and terror used by Morocco'ts rulers against the left-wing working-class and peasants political opposi-~ tion,
These are the real features of the crowned regime in Rabat that dares claim it is defending "democracy" in the Sahara against the "brutal dicta-~ torship" of Ben Bella!
The disorganization of the Moroccan opposition under the impact of the witch-hunt made it quite natural for the masses of Morocco to turn towards revolutionary Algeria all the more for inspiration and leadership. Hassan II is aware of this. Through war, he hopes to mobilize the counter forces of "patriotism" and of hatred for the "foreign enemy" so that Algeria will look less like a potential liberating power.
But this calculation can prove to be a disastrous mistake. The war started by the King also brought fresh vigor to appeals to throw him out.
Ben Barka, leader of the UNFP living in exile in Cairo, publicly appealed for the defeat of the royal Moroccan army and the victory of the
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Algerian Revolution. Other opposition leaders have joined him in this courageous stand.
The Algerian News Agency today reported that a detachment of the Royal Moroccan Army at Ish had mutinied and that the outpost was attacked by troops who -- for the moment -- still remain loyal to the King,
In Algeria it is well understood that the social and political character of the conflict makes it a potential showdown between the © neocolonialist and revolutionary forces in the. whole Maghreb.
It became the signal for a new wave of mass mobilizations of extraordinary scope, intensity and fervor.
And the Revolution took another step forward with a sudden decision to stop. the free transfer of capital between Algeria and France and to establish controls over the outward flow of money.
To the credit of the Algerian government and the general staff of the Algerian National People's Army, any expression of hatred for the Moroccan people has been barred. Yet strong appeals have been made to the national sentiments of the Algerian people which became very deep during almost eight years of bitter war for freedom from French imperialism.
Instead of whipping up hatred for Morocco, the Algerian leaders have sought instead to transform the neocolonialist aggression into a civil war within Morocco itself, concentrating their fire on King Hassan II, the court clique and the propertied classes of Morocco, In revolutionary ~~ fashion they have appealed to the Moroccan soldiers to stop the war. between two brother nations and to overthrow the King instead.
As the Algerian Revolution enters its socialist stage, its international extension has thus been put on the agenda. This fendency had already been revealed in the exceptional support which the Algerians have given the Angolan and South African freedom. struggles.
Imperialism has enormous interests at stake in this struggle, ‘It can. be expected to rally big forces behind the Moroccan monarchy. The international working-class movement must throw its weight on the other side of the conflict, on the side of the Algerian Revolution.
Let socialism sweep the whole Maghreb} Full help and solidarity to the Algerian Revolution! Stop the criminal aggression of Moroccan re- _action and its imperialist masters!
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