The Constitutional Liberal Party (, '), most commonly known as Destour, was a Tunisian

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

, founded in 1920, which had as its goal to liberate

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

from French colonial control.

History

The term ''Destour'' is usually translated as ''constitutional'', and referred to the Tunisian constitution of 1863—the first in the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

. It is probably of Persian origin through the presence of Turkish in Northern Africa during the 17th to the 19th century. There is no trace of this word in the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

spoken during the pre-

Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

period, nor in the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

hadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

s, nor in the Arabic language literature during the period preceding the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, during which this word began to be used in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. The party wanted to remove all French influence from Tunisia and return to an earlier time. The students, faculty, and alumni of the

University of Ez-Zitouna Ez-Zitouna University (, ) is an Ancient higher-learning institutions, ancient public university in Tunis, Tunisia. The university originated in the Al-Zaytuna Mosque, founded at the end of the 7th or in the early 8th century, which developed into ...

became an integral part of the 1920s Destour party. As time passed, graduates from Sadiki College took high level positions in the party, while Zitouna graduates formed its lower and middle cadres.Micaud 93. In 1934, a radical wing of the party, led by

Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian politician and statesman who served as the Head of Government of Tunisia, prime minister of the Kingdom of Tunisia from 1956 to 1957, and then as the first president of Tunisia from 1 ...

, split away and founded the

Neo-Destour The New Constitutional Liberal Party (, '; French language, French: ''Nouveau Parti libéral constitutionnel''), most commonly known as Neo Destour, was a Tunisian political party founded in 1934 in Dar Ayed, the house of independence activist Ah ...

, which would quickly become the leading force in the Tunisian nationalist movement in the following years. After Tunisia's independence Destour progressively fell into irrelevance and was eclipsed by Neo-Destour. It continued to publish its newspaper ''Al Istiklal'' until 1960 and was eventually disbanded in 1963, when Neo-Destour was declared the only legal party in Tunisia.

Leaders

Abdelaziz Thâalbi Abdelaziz Thâalbi (عبد العزيز الثعالبي, September 5, 1876 – October 1, 1944) was a Tunisian politician. He was one of the founding members of the Destour party. Early life Abdelaziz Thâalbi's father was a notary whos ...

(1920-1923) * Ahmed Essafi (1923-1935) * Salah Farhat (1935-1963)

Founding members

* Ahmed Taoufik El Madani * Ahmed Essafi * Salah Farhat * Ali Kahia * Mohieddine Klibi * Hamouda Mestiri * Ahmed Sakka *

* Habib Zouiten * Hassen Guellaty

Notes

References

* Micaud, Charles A. "Bilingualism in North Africa: Cultural and Sociopolitical Implications." '' The Western Political Quarterly''. March 1974. Volume 27, Issue 1. p. 92–103
Available on

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