Communication, Propaganda and Censorship in the Spanish-Moroccan War (1906-1923)

Abstract

The colonial penetration in Morocco became a strategic objective of Spanish policy after 1900. One of the pitfalls of achieving that aim was the Spanish public opinion. Our hypothesis is that the different governments as well as a number of private organizations such as the Africanist League and Hispano-Moroccan Trade Centres intervened in the media to create a new colonial patriotism in public opinion. Through first-hand documentation, found in the General Archive of the Administration and the Central Archive of the Military Historical Service, some actions, which were intended to encourage a new discourse, (journalistic, literary, film, etc.), are reconstructed in support of colonialism. The controls that governments established over the press which is critical with the war are also studied (censorship, the use of reserved funds, etc.) The study concludes by pointing out the centrality of the colonial matter. It also establishes the combination of control and stimulus mechanisms towards the media that various governments provided to be sure that the public opinion could see their penetration in Morocco as “their civilizing mission”.