Souffles (magazine)
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''Souffles'' or ''Anfas'' () was a
francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...
and
arabophone Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic, including ...
quarterly socio-political literary magazine published in
Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...
,
Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
, between 1966 and 1972.


History and profile

''Souffles'' was established in 1966 as "a manifesto for a new aesthetics in the
Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...
" by a small group of self-professed 'linguistic guerrillas':
Abdellatif Laâbi Abdellatif Laâbi (; born 1942) is a Moroccan poet, journalist, novelist, playwright, translator and political activist. Laâbi, then teaching French, founded with other poets the artistic journal Souffles, an important literary review in 1966 ...
, Mostafa Nissabouri,
Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine Mohammed Khair-Eddine (; ) (1941 – November 18, 1995) was a Moroccan poet and writer. He was among the most famous Moroccan Amazigh literary figures of the literature Life Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine was born in Tafraout, a Berber town in the Souss- ...
, Bernard Jakobiak,
Mohamed Melehi Mohammed Melehi (; 12 November 1936 – 28 October 2020) was a Moroccan painter associated with the School of Fine Arts of Casablanca#Casablanca School, Casablanca school, a modernist art movement active in the 1960s in Morocco. Early life Mele ...
, Hamid El Houadri, and Mohammed Fatha. The magazine became a conduit for a new generation of writers, artists, and intellectuals to stage a revolution against imperialist and colonial cultural domination.Issandr El Amrani, "In the Beginning There was Souffle", ''Bidoun''.
/ref> The starting point for this revolution was language. It was based in
Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...
. From its first issue, ''Souffles'' posed an aggressive challenge to the traditional
Francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...
and
Arabophone Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic, including ...
literary divides by encouraging experimentation, translations and collaborations. It was not long before its trademark cover emblazoned with an intense black sun radiated throughout Africa, the Arab world, West Indies and the Black Atlantic. A manifesto of
Adunis Ali Ahmad Said Esber (, Levantine Arabic, North Levantine ; born 1 January 1930), also known by the pen name Adonis or Adunis ( ), is a Syrian people, Syrian poet, essayist and translator. Maya Jaggi, writing for The Guardian stated "He led a mod ...
, a Syrian poet, dated 5 June 1967 was published in the magazine. Abraham Serfaty joined the editorial board in 1968. In 1969, in the aftermath of the crushing Arab defeat in the 1967 War, ''Souffles'' published a special 15th edition dedicated to Palestine entitled "" ("For the Palestinian Revolution"), marking a new direction for the magazine. Motivated by the crushing Arab defeat in the
Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...
and the Paris uprisings, its founder, editor and publisher
Abdellatif Laabi Abdellatif Laâbi (; born 1942) is a Moroccan poet, journalist, novelist, playwright, translator and political activist. Laâbi, then teaching French, founded with other poets the artistic journal Souffles, an important literary review in 1966 ...
declared that "Literature was no longer sufficient." While the magazine still featured poetry, it went through a major redesign for legibility and there was a major shift in its political editorial line, with a new, clearly Marxist–Leninist tone and coverage of national and international affairs, including the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Palestinian Citizenship Order 1925, Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory ...
, the
decolonization of Africa The decolonisation of Africa was a series of political developments in Africa that spanned from the mid-1950s to 1975, during the Cold War. Colonial governments gave way to sovereign states in a process often marred by violence, political turm ...
, and the independence movement in the
Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...
. In 1970, Serfaty and Laabi founded "Alif"—later called " Ila al-Amam" ( "forward")—a clandestine Marxist–Leninist party, while their affiliates in the new Moroccan left founded "Ba"—later named " Harakat 23 Mars" (حركة 23 مارس "March 23 Movement"), in honor of the victims of the
1965 Moroccan riots The 1965 Moroccan riots were street riots in the cities of Morocco, originating in Casablanca in March 1965. They began with a student protest, which expanded to include marginalized members of the population. The number of casualties incurred is c ...
. The magazine emerged as a firebrand organ of the revolutionary group Ila al-Amam and as the mouthpiece of the Moroccan left. In 1971, the magazine launched its Arabic version: ''Anfas'' (). el-Wali Mustapha es-Sayed is presumed to have participated in writing an article entitled "" ( ) in the December 1971—January 1972 double issue, the last issue before the journal was shut down by Moroccan authorities. The article reflected the stance of ''Ila al-Amam'' with regard to the Sahara—which contrasted with that of '' Harakat 23 Mars—''that "the notion of the territory’s '' must be set aside, giving priority, instead, to movements across the region coming together in solidarity to liberate the territory." The magazine's new political agenda caught the attention of the authorities and in 1972 the magazine was banned after publishing nearly 22 issues. Laabi and Serfaty were arrested, tortured, and condemned to life sentences under
Hassan II Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People *Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scotti ...
. While in prison, Laabi was awarded several international poetry prizes. After a long solidarity campaign, he regained his freedom in 1980. Serfaty, who had gone into hiding until 1974, was only released in 1991, when he was exiled and stripped of his Moroccan citizenship.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Souffles 1966 establishments in Morocco 1972 disestablishments in Morocco Arabic-language magazines Defunct literary magazines Defunct magazines published in Morocco Defunct political magazines Magazines established in 1966 Magazines disestablished in 1972 Mass media in Rabat Quarterly magazines