{"id":2081,"date":"2016-02-06T15:18:39","date_gmt":"2016-02-06T15:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amazighworldnews.com\/?p=2081"},"modified":"2018-02-24T07:46:43","modified_gmt":"2018-02-24T12:46:43","slug":"53-years-after-death-mulay-muhend-still-an-undeserving-idol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amazighworldnews.com\/53-years-after-death-mulay-muhend-still-an-undeserving-idol\/","title":{"rendered":"54 Years After Death, Mulay Muhend Still An Undeserving Idol"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mulay<\/p>\n

Today, 54 years ago, on the sixth of February, Abdelkrim elKhattabi, or “Mulay Muhend”.\u00a0the lion of the Rif left this earthly realm. His name arouses a special kind of emotions among the Amazigh of the Maghreb. His achievements have stunned friends and foes, and taking into considerations the limited means available, the greatness of his design and the impeccability of his reputation, we are left with the question: was there anyone greater than him in North Africa in the last 200 years?<\/p>\n

Starting with some 124 rifles, which were considered for his time outdated, he initiated a military campaign against the Spanish army that ended with the liberation of the Rif-region of Morocco. But more than the liberation of a part of the homeland, the victory over a European colonial power in the first part of the 20th century provided a framework of hope for other colonized people all over the world. If Japans victory over Russia in 1905 was the first victory of a non-white power over a white power in the modern world, then Abdelkrims victory over Spain was the first major victory of an indigenous people over a European colonizer.
\n\"MulayAbdelkrim was born in 1882 in Ajdir, a small village in the north of Morocco. A promising student in the oldest university of the world, Qarawin in Fes, he managed to get a job as a journalist for the Spanish newspaper Telegrama del Rif before being appointed by the Spanish as the chief judge of Melilla in 1914. In 1917 he was imprisoned for more than a year because of his alleged anti-colonial activities. It is true that he was influenced by the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist ideas spread by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad ‘Abduh and Rashed Reda. But it was not until 1920 that Abdelkrims name would be engraved in the history of the Maghreb. It was then that he started a guerrilla war against the Spanish, whose encroachments in uncolonized parts of the Rif greatly disturbed him.<\/p>\n

He\u00a0issued a warning to General Silvestre, the commanding officer of the Spanish, and warned him that if he crossed the Ameqran River, Abdelkrim would consider this a declaration of war. General Silvestre is said to have laughed, and comically responded with for the Berbers of the Rif famous saying: ‘tomorrow I will drink tea in Abdelkrims house’. The self-confidence of the general stood in high contrast with the reality that would soon ensue on the battle field. A skirmish at Dhar Oubaran on the first of June 1921 ended in a victory for Iriffien Amazigh, and roughly 600 Spanish soldiers were killed, and the others forced to flee. It was the prelude to the greater battle of Annoual, which took place 20 days after the skirmish at Dhar Oubaran. Abdelkrim who had managed to unify most of the tribes in a usually divided Rif was still outnumbered, and despite their inferior equipment they attacked the Spanish at Annoual and routed their army, driving the Spanish star General Silvestre as far to commit suicide. That 21 of June, 3000 Berbers defeated a modern European army killing 15.000 and imprisoning 700. A military miracle indeed.<\/p>\n

\"Mulay
\nAnnoual was and remains a symbol. It was more than a military defeat for the Spanish, or a victory for the Berbers. In a world filled with racist ideologies, the Spanish were not only defeated by an adversary that was inferiorly equipped, but more importantly by one who was racially inferior. It was the victory of a colored people over a white nation, the revenge of the East on the West.
\nThis humiliation shook the political world and it caused a coup d’etat in 1923 in Spain by General Miguel Primo de Rivera’s, who instated a military dictatorship which eventually led to the collapse of a centuries old monarchy in 1931.<\/p>\n