FRANCE: Fifty years after the end of Algeria's bitter war of independence, Algerian activists who worked for the cause in France reflect on the conflict and its legacy

Record ID: 574068

  • Title: FRANCE: Fifty years after the end of Algeria's bitter war of independence, Algerian activists who worked for the cause in France reflect on the conflict and its legacy
  • Date: 13th March 2012
  • Summary: COVER OF FRENCH MAGAZINE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR WITH HEADLINE "L'ALGERIE: L'HISTOIRE OUBLIEE" ("ALGERIA: THE FORGOTTEN STORY")
  • Embargoed: 28th March 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France, France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2GOAMAC1WHJ35RY6T52XPOHQ7
  • Story Text: Few of the visitors to Galerie Archima understand the importance it played in one of the defining episodes of North African history last century.
    These days, the gallery jostles for position among the dozens of art establishments on Paris' Left Bank.
    But in the 1950s and 1960s, it was the focal point for Algeria's struggle for independence, which turns 50 this year and which saw more than a million people die and countless hundreds of thousands of injured.
    It was here that people like Arezki Ait Ouazo, with the French wing of the National Liberation Front (FLN) gathered to meet with his fellow activists.
    The war itself played out on Algerian soil but the FLN also relied on the Algerian community living in France itself. The French Federation of the National Liberation Front was founded to mobilise this community, to ensure their loyalty and support for the fight for independence waging in their homeland. A quasi-totalitarian organisation which surveyed all aspects of the life of these Algerian expats, it wanted to create a base behind enemy lines in France.
    Fifty years on, it's a time to reflect. Some activists recount their stories of the struggle, while some are disillusioned by what they see in the country today.
    Ait Ouazo joined the organisation in 1955 as a 17-year-old. He was responsible for the FLN in eastern France.
    "Our role was to organise and structure the Algerian community across the whole of France. We had to put in place systems for raising money. To fund the war we had serious requirements, most notably money. We needed it to purchase arms, military hardware, we needed to help the victims," he explained.
    Ait Ouazo himself was wounded and imprisoned during the conflict. His first spell behind bars was in 1958, and he was arrested again in 1960 in a café in Strasbourg. He was drinking a coffee with some Algerians when the police came in and asked for his identity papers. He recounts what happened: "When I put my hand in my pocket to hand over my papers, a policeman hit me with his baton which made me drop the gun which was also in my pocket. The pistol fell to the floor and the policeman was taken aback. Then he hit me and bundled me up."
    In 1956 the French wing of the FLN already had over 8,000 members; by 1960, its membership had jumped to 136,345.
    Fadela Sadaoui was one of these recruits. She joined in 1959 at the age of seventeen to help her father. Her entire family supported the cause, with her father being an active militant. She explains her role: "I was in charge of transporting packages to NLF militants. I didn't know what was in them. The packages themselves were wrapped in newspaper. I went to drop them off outside hotels run by Algerians."
    The signing of the cease-fire on March 19 1962 marked the end of the fighting.
    On July 1, of that year, 99.72 per cent of Algerians voted in favour of independence and the official proclamation of independence was made two days later.
    In Algeria today, Independence Day is celebrated as a national holiday on July 5.
    Fadela Sadaoui does not regret her involvement in the war, but she believes the legacy of the conflict is mixed.
    "What I take away from the war years is a sense of total engagement, of solidarity. We had an ideal in our heads: a free, modern Algeria. All Algerians would be equal. But that's not what's happened today. There are more and more people who earn money at the expense of others. There's misery, there's injustice. Is that why the activists were fighting? No. Under those circumstances, it would have been better if the French had stayed in Algeria. Just look at the country today: all the young people have left," she said.
    END
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