Seventy years ago, on 9 April 1947, King Mohammed V delivered a speech in Tangier calling for Moroccan independence. Two days later his daughter, Princess Lalla Aicha Alaoui, gave her own speech calling for the education of women. This year’s annual April Seminar, held in partnership with the Office Cherifien des Phosphates (OCP), focused on “Tangier 1947 — Two Speeches: Independence and Women’s Education.” Presenters considered the historic nature of the speech and its reverberations in Moroccan society to the present day.
This first part includes opening remarks by TALIM President Dr. Dale F. Eickelman, Professor Emeritus at Dartmouth College (14 min), and a presentation by Dr. Bernabé López Garcia, professor from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, on “The Events of April 1947: A Spanish Perspective” (33 min).
In subsequent podcasts Dr. Assia Bensalah Alaoui, Ambassador-at-Large of HM King Mohamed VI, addresses “The Primacy of Education, Especially of Women, in the Progress of a Nation”; Dr. Karim Bejjit, Professor at Abdelmalek Essaadi University, speaks on “US-Moroccan relations in the 1940s: A New Beginning”; and Dr. M’hamed Benaboud of Tetouan Asmir Association speaks on “Princess Lalla Aisha’s Historical Speech in Tangier of April 1947 in the Light of the Varela Archives.”
