In June of 1933, the Salé branch of the National Movement was presented with a proposition emanating from one of its most influential members, the young and dynamic, Mohammed Hassar, to put together a list of grievances. They were called upon to put together this list to contradict the allegations by the protectorate administration that they had neither an organized program nor grievances to submit and that their only interest was to irritate and roil the public order. The proposition's initiator provided a supporting document outlining several points that would serve, after a detailed review, as a catalog of the objectives they hoped to achieve and as a draft of the agenda for their national movement.

Said Hajji, still abroad in Damascus, was informed of the project and upon his return to Morocco in July was asked to join a small group. This group would consist of Mohammed El Yazidi, Omar Ben Abdeljalil, Hassan Bouayad and Said Hajji to carry out the development and elaboration of the list of demands by the Moroccan people based on the assumption that they would gather the support of leaders of the principle cities of the country. The text of this document which took forty days to prepare began with a statement of the principles that drove the focus on the demands. This included the specifics of the methods of application and the definition of the mission assigned in order to give voice to a nation deprived of its legitimate rights and liberties and the resolve to restore the latter by peaceful means through dialogue and cooperation.

In its first sentences one can read a citation by Marshal Lyautey, the first General Resident of France in Rabat, "All reforms can be made only with the respect for the country's traditions, its religion and the royal prerogatives of the Sultan, the essential guarantor on all matters. This respect is mandatory because by virtue of the Protectorate Treaty, Morocco is an independent state, governed by a Sultan who is sovereign and placed under the protection of France."

After this preamble, the introduction itself provides an overview of Moroccan history, a country that was able to safeguard its independence throughout the centuries and stated that the protectorate regime imposed on it actually did nothing to deprive it of its sovereignty as a nation. The monarch was to continue to exercise his sovereign prerogatives across the kingdom.

The protectorate mission must limit itself to assisting the Moroccan government in putting into place the reforms essential to the nation. Whereas in reality one is forced to conclude that the protectorate power, instead of introducing a succession of desirable reforms, has applied a segregationist policy and has taken unpopular measures that Moroccans categorically reject.

Administratively, the report calls for radical reform of the existing structures to be replaced by an administrative body that conforms to the requirements of international norms. It demands the abolition of legislation that facilitated the passage to a system of direct governance by the protectorate and demands the respect of the Moroccan character embodied by His Majesty the Sultan. It also tackled the issues concerning the Moroccan borders and insisted on the need to safeguard the integrity of the country's territory.

The report analyzes the composition of the government and the powers vested in it then focuses on the structure of the administration and the requirements of recruitment of its staff. It then reviews the municipalities, their organization requirements and function. It then proceeds to a study of the areas of interest of the chambers of commerce and highlighted the composition of the National Council and the terms for the election of its members.

It then tackles the issue of public and private liberties and demands the freedom of expression and opinion to be consecrated by appropriate legislation. It also highlights the right to freedom for assembly and forming associations as well as the abolition of the anachronistic formality of requiring passports between the three sectioned areas of Morocco, to wit the southern zone under French influence, the northern zone, called the Khalifian zone under Spanish influence and the international zone around Tangiers.

Moreover, pending the adoption of a Code for Nationality and Civil Status, the report drafts reforms that are needed to introduce into the mechanisms of justice that require the adoption of a judicial system and a body of laws that draw their authority from Islamic doctrine and jurisprudence. It recommends the creation of courts specifying their procedural rules and their jurisdiction according to which type of infractions, public, private or criminal, are brought forth.

It puts at the forefront the demand for the separation of powers and the protection of judges presiding over internal administrative issues and encourages an accelerated effort to develop a body of magistrates and a reorganization of the lawyer and prosecutor professions. It demands that the municipal and countryside prison system be reviewed and improved and that the conditions for detaining political prisoners must account for the fact that they are not incarcerated for having committed a criminal act but simply for having freely expressed their views and demonstrated their support for the national cause.

The report then moves on to social issues recommending a radical overhaul of the educational system that requires a unified program in all the scholastic establishments. It demands special attention to educational programs for agriculture, commerce, industry and the military as well as religious and free instruction that so far have been stymied by all sorts of obstacles. Not to be omitted the report also calls for the development of trainers and teachers.

The demands document would like a review be made of the functions of the Administration of the Muslim Habous (Muslim Endowments) in charge of managing the unclaimed assets and donations entrusted to it so as to perpetrate social and cultural charitable works. It would like that a Superior Council of Habous be created to supervise the preservation and good management of the assets under its protection.

In the area of public health and social welfare, the report highlights the need for hospitals, community clinics, maternity hospitals, hospices to receive the elderly and those in need of care. It demands the shutting down of places that sell alcoholic beverages, the prohibition of gambling houses and of public or hidden prostitution.

The report then gave special attention to the worker issues, insisting on the application of international norms to the Moroccan workforce including the stoppage of work after eight hours each day and providing authorization for unions for Moroccan workers to protect their interests.

In general, economic reforms and policies were subjected to an appropriate expanded review in the List of Demands document. It criticized the colonial policies and demanded reform for the agricultural sector, the abolition of abusive confiscation of property for so-called public use, the development of Moroccan experts in agriculture, the protection of farmers against usury practices and against the constant battery to which they are exposed and the protection of the rights of tribal areas to have access to bordering forests.

With respect to the financial sector, the List of Demands Document demands on the creation of a Superior Council that will be in charge of managing the communal plots in the rural areas and to redistribute abandoned lots to the impoverished peasants with the exception of those that are properties of the Makhzen (Moroccan Administration).

Then the report tackled the fiscal system and demanded that the authorities raise taxes only on revenues, transactions and products provided for by law and to proceed to the reduction of all indirect taxation.

Within the miscellaneous demands, the report demands the protectorate power to retract its decision to apply its Berber policy, to prohibit evangelic missions to Muslim centers and to acknowledge Arabic as the official language of the country and to use it in all public and private sectors.

Lastly the List of Demands Document requires the respect for the Moroccan flag, Islamic holidays and demand that the anniversary of the enthronement of the Sultan be proclaimed a national and public holiday.

Abderraouf Hajji