On this day 60 years ago, the 29th of October 1965, Mehdi Ben Barka – key figure of the Moroccan national independence movement, opponent of King Hassan II, and eminent leader of the global anti-imperialist liberation struggle – was abducted from the streets of Paris. He ‘disappeared’: the circumstances of his murder were never elucidated.
Closely associated with the labour movement, trade unions, and left-wing youth, Mehdi Ben Barka’s political thought and radical commitment to social and economic justice reverberate fully into the present, as demonstrated by the recent mass mobilization of Moroccan youth known as GenZ 212, protesting current government spending and demanding better public services like healthcare and education.
To mark this historic date, Moussem compiled a reading list that accompanies the evening Les Meurtres Coloniaux taking place on the 22th of November in Espace Magh. The programme brings a roundtable discussion into dialogue with two artistic interventions that are both concerned with a prolific leader of the anti-colonial fight: Hamza Halloubi’s latest video work centred on the spectral presence of Mehdi Ben Barka, and Tim Natens’s theater monologue on Patrice Lumumba’s murder.
The reading list comprises speeches and writings of the two revolutionary politicians themselves, as well as a few books or short articles engaging with their life, political legacy, and shared panafrican convictions.
- Mehdi Ben Barka’s speech at the conference “Global Palestine” (Cairo,
May 30th to April 6th, 1965).
Read it here
- Mehdi Ben Barka, Écrits politiques 1948-1965. Paris: Éditions Syllepse, 2021.
Find an excerpt here
- Bachir Ben Barka. “Mehdi Ben Barka, ou la politique du vrai.” In: Autres Temps. Cahiers d'éthique sociale et politique. N°48, 1995. pp. 70-76.
Read it here
- Bachir Ben Barka. “Lettre Ouverte: Affaire Ben Barka. Soixante ans de combat pour la vérité et la justice.” In: Orient XXI, published on 28/10/2024.
Read it here
- Jacques Raynal, David Servenay, Ben Barka – La Disparition. Paris: Futuropolis, 2025.
- Patrice Emery Lumumba, “Discours à la cérémonie de l’indépendance congolaise.” Léopoldville, 30 juin 1960
Read it here
- Rodrigue Buchakuzi Kanefu (Ed.), Pleure, Ô Noir, frère bien-aimé. Anthologie de textes de Patrice-Émery Lumumba. Genève : Globethics.net, 2015.
Find the entire book here
- Sibo Rugwiza Kanobana, Lumumba’s droom - Wat zijn gedachtegoed ons vandaag kan leren. Amsterdam: De Geus, 2025.
- Samy Manga, La dent de Lumumba – Régicide contre la colonie. Bruxelles: Météores, 2024.
- Paraska Tolan-Skilnik, Maghreb Noir: The Militant-Artists of North Africa and the Struggle for a Pan-African, Postcolonial Future. California: Stanford University Press, 2023.
