Page 160 - The Winter of Islam and the Spring to Come

THE WINTER OF ISLAM AND THE SPRING TO COME
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At the beginning, Bourguiba, who
had received a French education since
his childhood, seemed to follow an
Islamic line to attract popular support.
During his youth he opposed the
French colonialist administration and
planned to gain popular support that
way. He even went to prison a number
of times, and tried to present the image
of a popular hero by fleeing from Tunis
to Cairo.
Throughout his years in power,
Habib Bourguiba, a high-level When he returned to Tunisia he
freemason, always put the interests
of the French High Lodge before encouraged the people to rebel without
those of the Muslim Tunisian people.
a cause, thus preparing the ground for
a bloody French intervention. When the French occupation came to an
end in 1956 he came to be France's representative in the country. When
the colonialist French regime abandoned the country, it left behind it
administrative teams exceedingly loyal to it. These teams were part of
the Bourguiba administration, and they defended France's interests
and were crueller to the native population than even the French them-
selves.
Bourgiba took sole and indefinite power in the country in 1959,
and later declared himself "president for life." He ruled Tunisia single-
handedly for the next 31 years, until on Nov. 7, 1987 he was removed
from office by Prime Minister Zein al-Abidin on the grounds of mental
instability. Throughout this period he made the country culturally,
economically and politically dependent on France, and transferred
Tunisia's wealth to that country.
One of the striking features of this anti-Islamic dictator was that
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like many similar figures, he was a senior freemason. For Bourguiba,
freemasonry was more important than Islam or being Tunisian. He
gave priority not to the Muslim people of Tunisia, but to the interests of
the French Great Lodge. He demonstrated that by waging a great war
against Islam in the country.