Background and excerpts from Said Hajji's notebook. Summer 1934
While Said Hajji was in Damascus, Syria to pursue his higher education he received two letters, one from Abou Bakr Kadiri, the other from Mohammed Hassar. Both letters informed him of a draft of a Petition for Redress submitted by Mohammed Hassar intended for review by the leaders of the National Movement. The draft contained several points the author proposed to use as the framework for establishing a strategy for national action and at the same time for a program targeting specific objectives for all to engage in their implementation.
Abou Bakr Kadiri wrote in his letter: "the decision was made to implement a work plan for reforms which requires mobilization of all efforts to ensure its realization."
Mohammed Hassar, in his letter added: "the French administration does not take us seriously because we have neither a plan of action nor any demands to assert and, from their perspective, our sole concern is to foment trouble and to create anarchy. Hence I thought of making a draft of a framework for establishing a list of grievances to which a list of demands by the people would be formed as well as a plan of action that we can try to implement."
From Said's notebook one reads his followup:
"Our colleagues Mohammed Hasser and Abou Bakr Kadiri wrote to us in Damascus to announce a project introduced by Mohammed Hassar to draft a broad plan of action for the National Movement combining a comprehensive list of Moroccan grievances. When I returned to Rabat for the 1933 summer vacation, Kadiri relayed to me the details of the project; and I was to learn elsewhere that a delegation from Salé had submitted it to our colleague Ahmed El Yazidi. The latter also discussed with me the project and informed me that the Fez chapter of the National Movement was reviewing and further developing this concept, but wished that its study be conducted with utmost secrecy. To ensure it remains ultra-confidential, they proposed I join a small group to consist of Haj Omar ben Abdeljalil, Mohammed El Yazidi, Haj Hassan Bouâyad and myself. This group would commence its work after consultations with Allal El Fassi, Mohammed ben Hassan El Wazzani and Mohammed Ghazi when the latter was in Rabat in transit to his home in Safi. The group began to meet twice each day at Mohammed El Yazidi's home from nine o'clock in the morning till noon, then from two to seven o'clock in the afternoon. The meetings lasted for forty straight days with no interruption and were informative and fruitful. We studied all sectors (of our society) that needed reform and performed a thorough analysis on a number of specific current issues. We resorted to read up on many topics to be better informed. Each item we focused on was the subject of internal discussions. We consulted with others outside our group who were well versed with the problems faced by Morocco while maintaining our commitment to keep secret the place and purpose of our meetings. At the conclusion of the forty days it took for us to accomplish our mission, the Moroccan Petition for Redress was ready on the whole, even if it might require some minor editing or changes in detail. By the end of the summer, the reviews of the Petition for Redress were concluded. It was re-examined only after the shock of the next summer in 1934 following events associated with the suspension of the royal visit to Fez and the unannounced return of King Mohammed V to Rabat.
When I returned to Syria in 1934, Mohammed El Yazidi informed me that the Petition for Redress which we had established last summer was brought to the attention of Mekki Naciri and presented to him as if it was but a strawman to aid the project that Omar Abdeljallil and he were collaborating on to draft and submit for review. This was done so as to not offend Mekki Naciri who perhaps would not have accepted why he was not asked to participate in the (original) small group. Naciri studied seriously the document submitted to him, made several modifications and added more input to the listed demands so much so that the reworked text was more coherent with a more solid structure. Later when I saw him again, he informed me about this project of which he supposed I was not aware. He told me that it was for the greatest good and could not stop praising it. I pretended this was a new revelation for me and showed my deepest admiration for the work that was done."
