Main Division The testimony of historian Pierre Vermorin in the right of the amazighs, who specializes in Maghreb history and criticism of colonialism.
The French historian, professor of contemporary history at the Sorbonne, Pierre Vermeren , has many characteristics that distinguish him from other contemporary French and Western historians, as he is a historian who lived in the Maghreb countries for many years, including 6 years as a teacher of contemporary history in Morocco. He strongly criticizes the continuation of the manifestations of his country's colonial policies in a number of regions of the world. He also strives, through his many writings, to clarify the crimes and violations committed by French colonialism in a number of regions of the world, whether in the Indochina war or in a number of African countries in which France committed atrocities that were not covered by the media. To a large extent, such as Cameroon, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.
In 1966, the French historian Pierre Vermorin was interested in studying the Maghreb elites and the role of education in the countries previously colonized by the French. He also studied the negative impact of French colonialism on the natural development of the social, political and economic dynamics of the countries that were victims of colonialism. Predatory colonization of natural resources and adopted an ugly exploitative approach to human resources and did not think at any point in developing the economy of the colonized country or focusing on its infrastructure, unlike the Anglo-Saxon colonialism, which left behind the infrastructure and some state features in the countries that were victims of its colonization, with the exception of paving some roads that Access to some minerals and heritage was necessary, because French colonialism did not develop the Moroccan and Maghreb spheres, but rather drained the wealth of these countries, enslaved the sons of the colonies, and exploited their youth in the foreign wars waged by France externally.
Likewise, French colonialism preserved the traditional authoritarian structures and backward social and religious mentalities, and even persevered in defending them in order to continue its plundering of the wealth of the peoples it colonized with the help of puppet local forces of protectors and commanders who were installed by France to suppress their own people. In Morocco, for example, which was ruled by the French resident, Louis Hubert Al-Yuti between April 1912 and October 1925, an approach in which the French resident had a colonial policy based on the confiscation of all fertile agricultural estates for the benefit of the centenarians and an approach to the policy of bringing the notables and notables closer at the expense of the poor people and trying to build the elements of a Jacobin central authority that marginalized the structures of the margins and the outskirts of the capital at the expense of deep Morocco And the forgotten.
Therefore, it is not surprising that after the independence of the Maghreb countries from French colonialism, the independent countries found themselves in a disastrous situation economically, socially and culturally, which affected the situation of their peoples. The French colonialism also resisted the Maghreb Amazighs and marginalized their culture, but rather worked to eradicate the Amazighs and try to obliterate it because it is the source of the village resistance that confronted the armies French and Spanish colonialism, which refutes some nationalist theses that falsely accused the Amazighs and attached to them accusations of collusion and that they are allies of Lyuty and France. On the contrary, the Maghreb Amazighs were victims of Arabization and arbitrary annexation to the East.
:"..this statutory, it's nous qui l'avons imposé aux kabyles en arabisant leur pays par le caidat et l'introduction de la arabe language ».
Pierre Vermorin attributed the low situation that development indicators currently define in the countries colonized by France to the policy of plunder and impoverishment pursued by the French colonialism. Out of the world's 44 poorest countries, 17 of them are former French colonies. Also, the policy of “divide and rule” that was pursued by the French colonial policy in the countries it colonized has left behind a political society divided against itself, uneven in its education and mentalities, and class par excellence in its economy.
While France tried to French certain elites of notables and protectors in order to tighten its repressive security grip on the countries it colonized, at the same time it forced all peoples to live in abject poverty, rampant illiteracy, and laws that facilitate the seizure of their fertile lands and their estates. Pierre Vermorin says: “However, the centenarians and the influential were not the only ones who were lucky in this country. Just as there are European popular circles (as in the surrounding neighborhood of Rabat), there is also a Moroccan urban bourgeois power on the one hand, and feudal and military-religious power on the other. And they succeeded In consolidating their economic base during the era of protection.
And it was the introduction of Morocco, prompted by the European bourgeoisie, in the exchanges in the nineteenth century, which enabled the Fasi bourgeoisie to have “large” family fortunes (Mohamed Kanbib 1996). That wealth, especially since these families have become the main financiers of the authority of the Sultan. They obtained, in return, a set of rentier jobs (in customs) and allied themselves with the religious and scientific aristocratic families (honoraries and scholars) and with the Makhzen families (holding the highest positions in the state) (R. Luturno 1987)
Vermorin is considered one of the few French and even Western historians who believe in the existence of a forgotten and marginalized Amazigh cause that was sacrificed at the expense of coercive political and cultural arrangements in North Africa. He is one of the intellectuals who consider that French colonialism is the reason for the marginalization of the Amazigh s in the Maghreb and making their cause forgotten, and he is responsible for the fragile situation. In which national identities live in the Maghreb countries, but rather “promises” that the Amazigh issue will float to the surface of events with the increasing awareness of peoples, the receding of the national ideological tide, and the sag of the remnants of cultural colonialism.
Pierre Vermeren is also considered one of the researchers who supported the experience of the yellow vests in France and the democratic movements that the region witnessed in 2011 and the subsequent slight and fragile changes towards democracy. His progressive positions on progressive and liberal issues brought him resentment from the North African regimes, and he became a disturbing and independent intellectual who does not hesitate to say what he thinks.
Finally, we cannot forget that Pierre Vermorin is a descendant of a left-wing democratic school, one of the leaders of which was his doctoral supervisor, Roni Galissou, the historian who advocated people's revolutions and wrote important writings about the labor movement in the Maghreb countries. He also contributed to the investigation of the rural revolution in Morocco and contributed to the historical foundation of the Moroccan trade union movement.
Our goal in the article is to shed light on a real historian and an actual fighter in the field of historical research who works with a deconstructive scientific methodology to research the excavations of colonial monuments in the Maghreb political, social and cultural structures.
Source: websites