Algeria

Why Frantz Fanon’s call to rise against racism still resonates today

Frantz Fanon was a giant of the fight against colonialism. Chris Newlove hails a revival of his ideas—and argues for taking them further, not letting academia tone them down

Recalling the victory of the Algerian revolution

Algeria won independence from France in 1962 after a revolutionary war that cost more than a million Algerian lives. The French had invaded in 1830, but it took them almost two decades to crush Arab and Berber resistance.

Film: Free Men

This French film is set in 1942 in Nazi-occupied Paris. It follows the fortunes of Younes (Tahar Rahim), a young Algerian man who finds himself drawn into the French Resistance.

Ahmed Ben Bella: 1918-2012

Ahmed Ben Bella became the first president of independent Algeria, after leading the struggle against the brutal rule of French colonialism.

Interview: 'Fanon was a brilliant charmer and disciplined militant'

Pierre Chaulet and Claudine Chaulet joined the struggle in Algeria in the early 1950s. They were part of a small group of Algerians of European origin who were committed to the revolution.

Letters

Legacy of fascism still poisons French politics I read with interest your story on the 1961 mass killing of Algerian protesters by French police (Socialist Worker, 8 October).

Eyewitnesses to the 1961 Paris massacre

11 October 2011
Hadj Abdel Aziz A senior steward hurried to give me a green armband as I arrived. I effectively became a traffic warden, except that I was directing Algerians—women and men, old people and children.

17 October 1961: Massacre in Paris

11 October 2011
Fifty years ago police in Paris killed over 200 Algerian protesters and threw their bodies into the River Seine. Historian Jean-Luc Einaudi exposed the murders in his book The Battle of Paris. He spoke to Sellouma from France’s New Anticapitalist Party

Outside the Law

17 May 2011
French-Algerian film director Rachid Bouchareb challenges the myths of French colonialism in his new film Outside the Law.

Britain sells death

22 February 2011
Bahrain: assault rifles, tear gas, ammunition, aircraft partsEgypt: bombs, missiles, body armourLibya: ammunition, tear gas, crowd control equipmentYemen: body armour, ammunitionAlgeria: combat helicoptersTunisia: gun parts Kuwait: military software, anti-riot shieldsMorocco: bomb partsSyria: ammunitionLebanon: body armour, shotgunsJordan: armoured vehicles, gun parts, gas mask filtersUnited

Iness Mezel interview: singing puts ‘my stone on the path’ as a Berber

08 February 2011
Iness Mezel is a Berber Algerian singer and songwriter. Her songs are inspired by relationships and the struggles in the world around her.

Riots rock North African regimes

11 January 2011
Uprisings are shaking the authoritarian regimes of Tunisia and Algeria in North Africa.

Liberté - Khaled

02 June 2009
This new album has Khaled, the king of Raï music, returning to the source of Algeria’s rebellious music.

Intimate Enemies: a distant portrayal that ultimately fails the test

29 January 2008
Two million French soldiers fought in Algeria between 1954 and 1962 in a vain attempt to stop Algerian independence. An estimated 300,000 to 600,000 Algerians died compared to 27,000 French people. France did not officially recognise that a war had taken place until 1999.