Burroughs moved to the Tangier International Zone in 1954, shortly after the publication of his first novel Junkie. He was attracted by its reputation as a place with few restrictions on drug use or homosexuality, as portrayed in the works of Paul Bowles, and declared his intention to "steep myself in vice".[10] Bowles himself briefly appears in Naked Lunch under the name Andrew Keif.[11][12]
While living in the zone, Burroughs witnessed violent clashes between Moroccan nationalists and French authorities over its political status. Burroughs did not take a strong stance on the conflict, at one point calling himself "the most politically neutral man in Africa". He defended the riots as just and denounced the brutality of European imperialism, but worried about the impact of Islamic rule on individual freedom. As the conflict went on, he seemed to become less sympathetic to the nationalists. This political upheaval and Burroughs' ambivalence informs the depiction of Naked Lunch's Interzone, which is also marked by riots and imperial control. The narration exaggerates and caricatures both sides of the conflict, but avoids moral judgment and does not align itself politically.[13]
