107 Destination Iligh

A lot has happened in the past year in regards to the continuing story of Iligh, but nothing found its way to the blog. At the moment I'm recovering from major surgery. I'm not making sketches yet, but I did feel like 'playing' with drawings I made for, in and around Iligh. A small booklet in the making: 'Bestemming Iligh', Destination Iligh. Here the cover illustration.

75 Paolo de Mas in Iligh in 2011

Paolo de Mas only came back to Iligh in 2011 with a TV crew with presenter Daphne Bunskoek. The Dutch national broadcaster made a series about slavery and the Dutch: a rather controversial and neglected subject. One part of the series was dedicated to Dutch hostages or the so-called Christian slaves. They weren’t really slaves they were hostages held for ransom. But of course when they weren’t paid for they ended their lives as slaves. In the meantime they were set to work: for instance on building the city walls of Meknes. The rulers in Morocco tended to hold all Dutch sailors for ransom that stranded on Moroccan shores or whose ships were looted. In the 17th century that were quite a lot: among them was also Dutch rebel warrior Piet Hein. The VOC had a ‘ransom fund’ for these occasions. But crews of ships that weren’t part of that organisation had to rely on private or parochial fundraising to be bought out. The House of Iligh also held Christian sailors for ransom and among them was a number of Dutch. Michiel de Ruyter describes in his diaries how he could buy out a number of them but also had to leave behind some as he didn’t have enough funds and he didn’t know if he would be paid back for his troubles. To highlight this story Paolo de Mas took the TV crew to Iligh. They were welcomed in the White Castle by his old friend Hamdi Aboudmiaa. Most shots were taken amid the rundown southern part of the village: not even in the ‘court’. And by the look of it, the weather was cold and miserable. But it is a great story and Paolo told it well in front of the cameras.

74 Paolo de Mas 1975-1982

From 1975 to 1978 Paolo de Mas was in Morocco for the REMPLOD project Willem Heinemeijer was doing for Dutch minister Jan Pronk: Reintegration of Emigrant Manpower and the Promotion of Local Opportunities for Development. For this project the University of Amsterdam, UvA worked together with the INSEA in Rabat: the Institut National de Statistique et d’Economie Appliquée. For this project De Mas visited Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa for the first time in 1975. Later he would stay there for a while. Him and the other project members would stay in the building the Friends of Iligh would later have lunch. When the project was done, Paolo de Mas and others didn’t want to leave Morocco yet and went on the look out for another opportunity. They found it in the building in the lot next to that of the INSEA. It was the INAV Institut National Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II in Rabat. In this institute Paul Pascon set the tone. From 1979 to 1982 the UvA and Paul Pascon worked together. First on the REDRA project in the Rif: (Ressources en Eau et Développement dans de zônes Arides). In 1979 however Paul Pascon published his inventory of the documents on the trade the House of Iligh conducted in the first half of the 19th century. After this publication he wanted to conduct an in depth study of not only the trade, but also the political and social history of the House of Iligh. In October 1980 he took Herman van der Wüsten and Paolo de Mas on a fact-finding trip to Iligh. After that Paul Pascon collected a large ‘equipe’ around him and VD Wüsten contributed Dutch funds for the Iligh project that would last till 1982.

73 Who was Willem Heinemeijer?

Bert Hogervorst was given a copy of the book by Paul Pascon about Iligh as a present by Herman van der Wüsten. The former owner had written his name inside and that was not VD Wüsten. The name didn’t mean a thing till our conversation with Paolo de Mas in the 1ste Klasse Wachtkamer in Amsterdam Central railway station. Suddenly we read what had been written: W. Heinemeijer. The name brought back memories. This man had not only had a very important influence on the life of Paolo de Mas, but I had also known him in a totally different context and only very shortly. Who was he? Willem Heinemeijer was born in Amsterdam in 1922 and died there in 1999. He didn’t live anywhere else, but apart from Amsterdam he loved Morocco. Paolo de Mas told us the story that Willem’s father was as stamp collector corresponded with the (French) postmaster of a small village in the High Atlas. One day Heinemeijer saw a picture of the postmaster’s daughter and fell instantly in love. He hitchhiked via Marseilles and Algeria to the high Atlas. At the time both Algeria and Morocco were French colonies. His infatuation with the daughter didn’t pan out and instead Heinemeijer fell in love with the country. Heinemeijer studied Social Geography at the University of Amsterdam and later became professor there. Reflecting his continued interest in the country his 1968 phd thesis was about National Integration and Regional Diversity in Morocco. Heinemeijer wasn’t just a academic he also loved to mingle in popular political and social debates. In particular where it touched on his ‘beloved’ Amsterdam. In the mid nineties I came to know him as member of a think-tank set up by the squatters of the Nineteenth Century port of Amsterdam. We, the squatters wanted to make an ‘alternative’ development of the old port possible based on ‘what was already there’. The city wanted to make as much money as possible on the land and location. Heinemeijer and a few of his old ‘cronies’ helped us. Paolo de Mas knew him a very long time. He got to know him as a very inspired and inspiring teacher and hands-on intellectual with whom he became fast friends and who stimulated his choices. As a Social-Geographer he saw ‘development’ and ‘under-development’ in the context of the dynamics between the land and the communities that develop there. Exactly what we did as squatters in the old port of Amsterdam (The Turning Tide, Buchel, Hogervorst, Vermaase, 1996 Amsterdam, see my website: www.petibuchel.com). A pungent detail for Dutchs fans of the author Gerard Reve: in his acclaimed novel ‘De Avonden’(the evenings) Heinemeijer and his wife are both portrayed . Eduard Hoogkamp is Heinemeijer.

72 Paolo de Mas and Morocco

Paolo studied Social Geography under Willem Heinemeijer in Amsterdam. Heinemeijer stood at the foreground of research into migration and in his youth had ‘done’ Morocco hitchhiking. When in the mid-seventies the then Socialist minister for ‘Collaboration with the Developing World’ set aside billions for research into the effects of immigration in the home countries Heinemijer got the moneys meant for Morocco. Paolo de Mas was one of the promising students whom Heinemeijer trusted with the job. The two focus areas were the Rif in the north and the Souss region in the south. That was where the bulk of the Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands came from. Paolo de Mas started his Moroccan adventure touring the country with a friend for a month to get ‘a feel for the place’. After that he settled into the research job in a village in the Rif near El Hoceima. Later he moved (of all the possible villages in the Souss region) to Sidi Ahmed Ou Moussa for more research on the impact of migration on rural communities. If I remember correctly the Social Democrat government was looking into the possibility if they could make it a policy to provide the ‘returning’ migrants with the infrastructure to help building a ‘better’ community at home. In the Netherlands the need for un-schooled labour had shrunk. They wanted to stem the tide of incoming migrants. If there was job opportunity at the place they came from there would be no need for immigration was the reasoning of politicians. Paolo de Mas remembered those years as him being an ‘elephant in the porcelain cupboard’. Meaning: probably doing more harm than good. I think that that was exactly what was wrong with the attitudes regarding ‘aid’ that were in ‘vogue’ at the time. At least it was not overtly greed driven... yet. By the time the research should have led to policy Thatcher had come into power in England and everything changed. However Paolo de Mas came away from his research job with a lasting love for Morocco in his heart.

71 Paolo de Mas

Paolo de Mas was one of the Dutch experts who didn’t come to the Reunion Des Amis d’Iligh. He had prior engagements. However he was one of the Dutch connections with Iligh. All through the preparations for the Iligh project he also had been extremely helpful. Chapter 5 of the Graphic Story that had to deal with Paul Pascon had him as the protagonist. We had boldly made that choice although we didn’t have a clue what he had really done during Pascon’s stay in Iligh. He wasn’t on the cover of the book. Herman van der Wüsten was as was Daniel Schroeter and Mohammed Tozy. Bert set up a meeting with him in the ‘1ste Klasse Wachtkamer’ at the Amsterdam Central Station for May 8. Before we went we read up on him. There was an in depth interview with him and his brother on the Internet. He was the son of Italian immigrants who came to Alkmaar in the Thirties and started an ice-cream parlour there. Paolo and his brother were second-generation immigrants. When he went to school in the fifties and sixties other waves of immigrants came to the Netherlands: Italians, Spanish, Yugoslavians and from the early sixties onwards Turks and Moroccans. According to the interview on the Internet Paolo keeps close ties with the village of his parent’s birth in the Dolomites. He visits it at least once a year and takes part in the community. He also cherishes his diploma Professional Ice Cream Maker. From childhood on he was fascinated by maps and geography. When he went to study at the University of Amsterdam he chose Social Geography. His professor there was Willem Heinemeijer and that man had a great influence on Paolo’s life.

Chapter 4 another Dutch-Iligh connection

In Chapter 4 of 'The Tears of Iligh' Aicha introduces another connection with Holland. Aisha tells about the secret documents both in Arabic and Hebrew and both on paper and parchment and how in 1982 a Moroccan scientist Paul Pascon was allowed to look into some of the documents. He had won the trust of the family. He wrote a study about the economical history of the small realm of Iligh. To him it was special for several reasons and he wanted to come back and write more and even start digging in the ruins that surround the Casbahs. Unfortunately Paul Pascon had died in a road accident in 1985. Some people thought it suspicious how he had died. Aisha then remembered there had been Dutch among the students who had done research with Paul Pascon in Iligh. She couldn't remember their names however. Back in Amsterdam Bert was on the internet again. She found the study: La Maison d'Iligh. It was out of print. One of the names listed on the cover was Herman van der Wüsten. That sounded Dutch. He was a retired professor and so was the other Dutchman Paolo de Mas. In contrast to Van der Wüsten, Paolo de Mas had kept up an interest in Morocco. Het had been director of the Dutch Institute in Morocco and had written a book about its history with another Dutchman. In 2011 he had been back to Iligh with a TV crew. Paolo de Mas proved helpful and a source of information even though it was given in fits and bounds. It had been 25 years since any outsider had had access to the archives of the family. At last meeting Aisha again now in the company of Peti Buchel the artist of graphic stories in Agadir, she promised that her father would not only receive them, but also give them access to the archives of Iligh. There was one catch, the two had to promise to bring Iligh again under the attention of the academics. The sketch is made after a photo depicting Paolo de Mas in 1984 in the company of a then young scion of the Aboudmiaa family, Hamdi.

Aicha meeting the Dutch experts

Aicha Aboudmiaa met the experts on Iligh, the history of Morocco, the Tashelhyt language and the former students of Paul Pascon in Leyden University. She gave a talk on the history and heritage of Iligh, the family's documents and the need to have them preserved. Her presentation was very well received. The gentlemen, most of whom were retired from active work reacted positive to her invitation to come for a reunion to Iligh. Paolo de Mas and Herman van der Wüsten were with Paul Pascon in Iligh in the early eighties. Herman who became Professor Social Geography at UvA, Amsterdam University admitted that after his adventure in Iligh never did research on Morocco since. Paolo de Mas on the other hand became director of the Dutch Institute in Rabat and had visited Iligh with a TV crew as recent as 2011. He also wrote a book about the history of Morocco with Herman Obdeyn. Herman Obdeyn a retired diplomat still publishes about Morocco. He also was friends with the Moroccan scientist who died in the car crash with Paul Pascon in 1985. Recently he wrote a history book about 400 years relationships between the Netherlands and Morocco together with Morocco Dutch publicist Abdelkader Benali. Harry Stromer also retired is an expert on the Tashelhyt language that is spoke in the region of Iligh and has published and impressive library full of literature in the language and in translation. His life's work is a dictionary and grammar of Tashelhyt. He took us after the meeting to his home to view his work. On the way back to Amsterdam we were very conscious of the pressure of time as people with knowledge are getting very old and the state the documents are in is deteriorating.

Discoverings about Iligh

The Graphic Story about 'Maison d'Iligh' and its history got as provisonal title: The Tears of Iligh. Bert started on the research more or less right away. Earlier she had discovered that two names kept popping up: the Dutch 17th century admiral Michiel Adriaanzoon De Ruyter and the French Moroccan social-geologist Paul Pascon. Paul Pascon had written extensively about Maison d'Iligh. But the book wasn't in print nor was it second hand available. Aicha Aboudmiaa told Bert in Agadir that among the participants of the research project of Paul Pascon was a Dutchman, but she had forgotten his name. Then Bert finds in a footnote somewhere on the Internet that the co-writer of Pascon's book on Iligh H. Van der Wüsten was. With a name like that he must be the Dutchman. She contacts him. He is pleasantly surprised and send her immediately a copy of 'La Maison d'Iligh'. For a learned non-fiction book it was riveting reading. Herman van der Wüsten also gives Bert the name of another Dutchman who was part of the group that helped Paul Pascon: Paolo De Mas. De Mas was also co-author of a history book about Morocco. Bert also contacted him, but he didn't seem to have reacted to her email. In July 2017 Bert and I contacted Aicha. Yes, her father would be glad to see us. We booked our next trip to Iligh for September 26 to October 6.