page_title: Ksar Hellal Congress
section_title: Founding of the Neo Destour
hierarchical_section_title: Ksar Hellal Congress / The congress / Founding of the Neo Destour
caption_attribution_description: English: Congress of ksar Hellal
context_page_description: The Ksar Hellal Congress was the first and founding congress of the Neo Destour party. The 1934 Neo Destour Congress was organized by the secessionist members of the Destour party, in Ksar Hellal, on March 2, 1934. It ended, that very night, with the creation of a new political party.
  Upon the weakening of the Destour, that adopted a "shy" policy towards the Residence, the colonial French administration in Tunisia, a new generation of provincial thirties, with a European education and a close relationship with the French socialists, emerged. Mainly compounded of Habib Bourguiba, Mahmoud El Materi, Bahri Guiga, Tahar Sfar and M'hamed Bourguiba, it acquired a huge popularity thanks to its bold articles in newspapers, such as L'Action Tunisienne. However, the differences they had with the elders of the party led them to resign from the executive committee, the party's leadership, following the Tunisian naturalization issue.
  The congress was held on March 2, 1934 to discuss the continuity of this youth's activism which ended with the founding of their own new political party, the Neo Destour, starting, thanks to its new methods, the renewel of the Tunisian nationalism and its movement.
context_section_description: On March 2, 1934, 48 members of the Destour attended the event, mostly originating in the Sahel: 19 delegates represented the Sahel in Ksar Hellal while 9 for Tunis and 20 for the rest of the country. Even though invited, neither the members of the executive committee nor that of the cells that remained loyal to it had sent representatives.
  During the congress, Sfar denounced the Destour leadership's methods that he judged elitist, accusing them to maintain the people into ignorance. The delegates of the South, such as Metouia and Gafsa, supported these words and confirmed them. Bourguiba then asked the attendees to adjudicate and choose the "men that will have to defend the country liberation on your behalf". For the first time, he stated the Destour leadership of being "ancient" and declared: "We have neither the same conception nor the same views in terms of means of action". The congress proceeded with the proposal of Habib Bougafta, delegate of Bizerte, to declare forfeiture of the executive committee while Belhassine Jrad, delegate of Metouia, required their exclusion from the party.
  Once the decisions made, Sfar chaired the adoption of the internal regulation of the new party, making it a strongly hierarchical pyramidal organization, composed by local cells that answer to the Political Office of the party via regional committees and a national Council. The attendees withdrew their endorsement of the executive committee declared "unable to defend the claims of the Tunisian people". Thus, it was replaced within the new party with a Political Office presided by Mahmoud El Materi while Habib Bourguiba was designated General secretary.
  A national council (Majlis Milli) was established and composed by 19 delegates, such as Youssef Rouissi and Hédi Chekir. It decided to maintain all the delegates as head of their regions, adopting as a strategy to be in the continuity of the nationalist movement while marginalizing the former leadership.
caption: Delegation attending the congress.
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