Towards a Women’s History of the New Left in Tunisia and Morocco. A Memorialization of Militancy and Political Violence

Abstract

This article explores the transmission of memory by female militants from the Tunisian and Moroccan New Left. In both Maghreb countries, the rise of the New Left was linked to the global momentum of the late sixties that generated new radical political alternatives. Under the regimes of President Bourguiba and King Hassan II, the New Left movements faced intense repression that would ultimately lead to their collapse. Seeking to contribute to the rediscovery of women’s participation in the leftist social movements, this article analyzes the organization of the Tunisian and Moroccan New Lefts, the repression of women, and their civic re-engagement in human and gender rights. The contribution then focuses on the most recent process of memorialization, concerning the past militancy of women and the violence they endured, examining public and intimate memories related to their activism in the Tunisian and Moroccan New Left. Drawing on archival materials, testimonies, interviews, and press sources, this article contributes to a reconceptualization of women’s political engagement in the twentieth century, highlighting contemporary forms of gendered “memory activism” in the Maghreb.