Word: bourguibaism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Given Word." In Tunisia, the returned hero was Habib Bourguiba, no Sultan but a French-educated lawyer and the father of Tunisian nationalism...
When Mendes-France offered home rule last year after a long series of strikes and counterdemonstrations, Habib Bourguiba, 52, a Paris-trained lawyer and probably the ablest and most farsighted North African political leader, emerged from some ten years of French exile and imprisonment to accept. Tunisia was significantly quiet during the Moroccan eruption...
Where to Stop. In Bourguiba, France had no lackey, but what might be better: a Moslem moderate who went to school in France, married a French girl, and wants to work with the French. There was no sign that the French colons appreciated their good fortune. The diehard Présence Française called on all European settlers (250,000 in a nation of 3,300,000) "to unite to prevent the application of all measures interfering with their dignity, their persons or their wealth...
Colonial officials sneered. "Bourguiba's crazy and sick," said one. "There's no telling what he'll do." Added another: "The Neo-Destour is a fascist movement. Today their line is cooperation with us. But soon they'll start getting rid of their enemies. First it will be the Vieux Destour (nationalist extremists), then the Jews, then the French. All this enthusiasm has been a victory for France's policy. But it must stop at internal autonomy...
...Bourguiba was not willing to stop there. "This is the preamble to complete sovereignty and entire independence.'' he insisted. That insistence, and the resistance of French colonials, may yet jeopardize the agreement; if it fails then all of French North Africa (including Morocco and Algeria) will be in trouble. Bourguiba preferred to be optimistic. "The French are conservative people," he said. "They're not against us; they're just against what they don't know...