In 1956, Morocco and Tunisia emerged from French protectorate rule, marking a profound political and historical shift. Independence was declared, flags were raised, and new futures were imagined. Seventy years later, those futures continue to unfold. Independence is remembered and experienced differently across generations and communities. It is shaped by culture, language, and lived experience, celebrated, questioned, reinterpreted, and carried forward differently in everyday life.

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To mark the 70th anniversary of independence in Morocco and Tunisia, we are organising a special ftoor gathering: an evening of shared food, music, and conversation as we reflect together on the meanings of independence, then and now.

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The evening is organised and hosted by Dr. Nadia Bouras (Leiden University) and Dr. Farid Boussaid (University of Amsterdam), in collaboration with the University of Amsterdam and NIMAR / Leiden University, and is part of Woorden Leven at MAQAM. They are joined by Prof. Dr. Amade M’Charek, Yassin Akouh, and Prof. Dr. Michael Willis for a panel conversation that brings together different voices and perspectives on Morocco, Tunisia, and their shared histories.

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The evening will open with a contribution by Fenna Ulichki, Chair of the Amsterdam West district council.

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The panel:

Yassin Akouh is a Belgian journalist whose work focuses on Morocco, social movements, and geopolitics, with a strong commitment to bringing the history of the Rif region into the forefront.

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Prof. Dr. Amade M’Charek is an anthropologist at the University of Amsterdam whose interdisciplinary research explores race, colonial legacies, and migration. Her work addresses urgent social and political realities.

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Prof. Dr. Michael Willis is a scholar of Maghreb politics and history at the University of Oxford and the author of Politics and Power in the Maghreb, a key study of Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco since independence.

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Date: 27 February 2026
Time: doors open at 18:00, ftoor starts at 18:20
Location: Maqam, Jan van Schaffelaarplantsoen 2, 1061 DN Amsterdam

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