Elle is interrompue, a fait bouger lentement the pierre la plus proche d'elle dans la poussière, avant de reprendre:
— Au fond, ça veut dire quoi toujours ? Tu sais, ici tout le monde pense que la ville n'appartient à personne, que c'est différent du reste du pays. This is what Tanger is special, the ensemble is free, different, grouillant, with tapestry and arcades. If you look at one of the cars in your car, you will have a different version that can begin in the sun.
— Mais ce qu'André disait...
— André est comme beaucoup ici, je lui répète souvent qu'il pense comme si les choses étaient vouées à ne jamais changer. Ton père a dû t'expliquer la situation avant que tu n'arrives. Au Maroc, the protectorate in France, couvre the ensemble of the territory of 1912 and, in part and in other parts of the country, the Rif and the desert are so authoritative in Spain. À Tangier, it was also chosen encore. The city is an international zone, an autonomous territory that you prefer, so that you can control the additional power of other regions.
I'll raise the tête, all the while continuing to grat the land on my feet. Le sol encore chaud, caressé par le vent de l'après-midi, refusait de s'assouplir sous mes ongles. You want to know that my father is waiting for me, the reason for our presence in a country that is not, the reputation of Tangier, is liberated, but it is not saved before the commencement. J'avais consacré plusieurs heures à apprendre par cœur le nom des villes tout autour de celle-ci, celui des différents quartiers, mais tout m'échappait encore.
Jeanne, les yeux toujours rivés vers l'océan au loin, ajouté:
— Avant, je me disais qu'on était protégés ici. Après tout ce n'est pas vraiment le Maroc... J'ai longtemps fermé les yeux sur les événements et je me suis dit que ça ne viendrait pas jusqu'à nous. Mais j'avais cake.
— What events?
Elle m'a regardée comme si elle avait oublié ma presence et a soupiré:
— I arrived at the place in the French language, with the independence of the Sultan of Maroc, and with the advice of Tangier, just a town apart from others, a town in the second half of the world. J'ai essayé de l'ignorer, c'est toujours plus simple de faire comme si… André dit toujours ça. Mais il ya un an, à la fin du mois de Mars, tout s'est précipité.
— Pourquoi? Que s'est-il passé?
— Le jour du quarantième anniversaire du protectorat, il ya eu a big manifestation popular au départ du cinéma Rif. On l'a vu tout à l'heure, place du Grand Socco, tu te souviens ? The resistance nationaliste monte dans la partie française et le movement independent prend de l'ampleur un partout, même à Tangier. Je ne sais plus quoi penser quand je parle aux gens autour de moi, dans les dîners. Ce sont souvent des Français, des Anglais, des Américains. On frequent peu de Marocains, finalement, hormis this famille qu'on compte te presenter, les Ameziane. This is the distance from the apartment to one person and in different times to the world. I don't have the right to André, but he tells me that he can't compare anything, in a certain way, which is on the rest of the étrangers.
The vent is levé and is frissonné. With a glissant foulard on my épaules, Jeanne a murmuré:
— Tu sais, Manelle, je n'arrive plus à me dire qu'un jour j'ai été loin. Tangier nous happe, on est ici, on naît aussi. Et si ça ne partait jamais?
Morgane Az, The other part (Plon, 2023).
— I don't know. This isn't my home, and yet…
She paused, slowly moved the nearest stone in the dust, before continuing:
— What does that basically mean? eternity You know, everyone here thinks the city belongs to no one, that it's different from the rest of the country. And that's true, because Tangier is special; it seems free, different, teeming, full of noise and mystery. But if you listen around a bit, you'll find there's another truth, just beginning to blossom.
— But what André said…
— André, like many here, I often tell him he thinks as if things are destined never to change. Your father must have explained the situation to you before you came. Morocco has been a French protectorate over the entire country since 1912, and on both sides of the country, the Rif Mountains and the desert are under Spanish rule. Tangier is a bit different. The city is a so-called international zone, an autonomous territory, if you will, under the control of several foreign powers.
I nodded, continuing to scratch the dry earth beneath my feet. The still-warm ground, caressed by the afternoon breeze, refused to soften under my fingernails. I wished she could explain what my father hadn't been able to tell me: why we were in a country that wasn't ours, the allure of Tangier, its freedom, but I didn't know where to begin. I'd spent hours memorizing the names of the towns surrounding the city and the names of its various neighborhoods, but it had all still eluded me.
Jeanne, whose eyes were still fixed on the ocean in the distance, added:
— I used to think we were safe here. After all, this isn't really Morocco… For a long time, I turned a blind eye to what was happening and told myself it wouldn't reach us. But I was wrong.
— Which events?
She looked at me as if she had forgotten my presence and sighed:
— Sometimes I think about my place as a Frenchwoman, about the independence demanded by the Sultan of Morocco, and about what would happen if Tangier were just another city, a city in a country outside our own. I've tried to ignore it; it's always easier to pretend… André always says that. But a year ago, at the end of March, everything happened very quickly.
— What was the reason for this? What had happened?
— On the 40th anniversary of the Protectorate, there was a large public demonstration that started at the Rif Cinema. We saw it earlier in the Place du Grand Socco, remember? Nationalist resistance is growing in the French part, and the independence movement is gaining momentum everywhere, even in Tangier. I don't know what to think when I talk to the people around me at dinner. They're often French, English, or American. After all, we hardly ever interact with Moroccans, apart from this family we want to introduce you to, the Amezianes. But it's strange to say that the city belongs to no one and yet to everyone. I would never say that to André; he would reply that I haven't understood, but in a way, we remain strangers here.
The wind picked up and I shivered. As Jeanne slipped a shawl over my shoulders, she whispered:
— You know, Manelle, I can't imagine anymore that I was ever far away. Tangier grabs hold of us; we're here, we're born here too. And what if it never leaves? 1
This article is written in German and can be found at https://rentree.de. Automatic translations into English and French are available. English, French.
Notes- "'I need to know everything, the smells, the sounds and above all the light of Tangier, which finds its way through the narrow cracks in the blinds at dawn, no matter where the sun is.'"With these words, Manelle's first days in Morocco in the early 1950s begin. With these words, Lina learns of the twenty years her grandmother has just left to take with her the place she kept secret. She decides to take a round trip to retrace her steps through this still-unfamiliar country. Behind the black-and-white postcards of the time, which Manelle said could be used to invent anything, the city of yesterday opens its doors with the sound of voices from Radio Cairo, street tales, and cafés high above the sea. With its international status, it harbored the spirit of the Beat Generation, for which it is still known today, but was also the scene of a shadowy resistance against the Protectorate and the emergence of the first women's organizations fighting for their demands. From her first steps in Tangier, Lina, in turn, is immersed in the fire and freedom of her predecessor, touching her own history and the unspeakable memories that shape our heritage." And thus answers the questions that guide each of our losses: Who will become of us when we are left behind? What place in the world do those who leave give us?>>>
