Che, Abdelkrim and Imam

Forty years ago Che Guevara was assassinated..today he is still alive..\
he shared the legend with Adelkrim and Sheik imam.

They all shared the love for freedom. They said it out loud. They fought for it.
Who could have guessed that the most iconic figure of “people’s liberation”, Che Guevara, would be a humble student of Abdelkrim Khattabi the engineer of the Rifan revolution in the 1920s. Che would have wished he me this mentor in the Rif but… They met in Cairo (1959) where Abdelkrim was exiled. During one of the meetings Guevara was reported to have spent many hours talking to Abdelkrin, his Guerillaro Mualim.

le 14 juin 1959, à l'ambassade du Maroc au Caire. “Abdallah Ibrahim a présenté Che Guevara à Abdelkrim Khattabi, alors en exil au Caire. Puis Guevara et Khattabi se sont isolés au fond du jardin de l'ambassade pour une conversation de plusieurs heures sur l'expérience de la guerre du Rif”. (Telqulel)

Che visited Morocco many times in private and by invitation from the first socialist government of morocco. A story told Telquel (Fr) sheds the light on the different layers of Che’s experience in morocco and how he got arrested by the Moroccan police before the Prime Minister Abdellah Ibrahim goes himself to liberate him from Balima Hotel/jail and takes him to a private residence.

The Egyptian exile of Abdelkrim did never prevent him from sharing his knowledge with all the movements of liberation in through t the world as well as his experiences: the battle of Anwal to the declaration of the first Republic of the Rif to the lost hopes in the communist parties of France and Spain. In His book La question berbere.. , Ammar Ouerdane generously gives an a account of these relationships. In fact, Tangier was the international city that hosted different diplomatic and business communities right there on the Riffan coasts. Non of these were ready to recognize the new Riffan Republic then, although promises of had flooded after Anwal (1921) was won by Abdelkrim and his companions.

Egypt was the classroom where Abdelkrim would teach the knowledge and the experience of a movement of liberation and a republic that did not last too long.

It is the same classroom where Sheikh Imam sang for freedom and for the poor for decades before he had to live his own country. he sang for the poor and for all those who fought for them.

“Guevara Mat” ( Guevara died , Video) is one of his most famous songs written by Ahmed Fouad Najm, his companion and comrade. (lyrics Ar.) .

These are the three icons that are still inspiring the world and reminding everyone that a better world can be possible regardless of the corporate iconism.