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Algeria

Picturing Algeria

[Cover of Pierre Bourdieu,

Pierre Bourdieu, Picturing Algeria. Edited by Franz Schultheis and Christine Frisinghelli. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012. [This review was originally published in the most recent issue of Arab Studies Journal. For more information on the issue, or to subscribe to ASJ, click here.] In a poignant interview included in Picturing Algeria, Pierre Bourdieu notes that “Yvette Delsaut wrote a text about me in which she very rightly says that Algeria is what allowed me to accept myself.” Indeed, in recent years, Bourdieu’s early fieldwork in Algeria has been regarded as central to his conceptual apparatus. This edited volume features Bourdieu’s photographs from 1957 ...

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Algeria: The Revolution to Come?

[Front and back cover of Hocine Belalloufi,

Hocine Belalloufi, Democracy in Algeria, Reform or Revolution. Coédition Lazhari Labter éditions / Editions Apic Alger, 2012. On the shelves of bookstores in Algiers, a book appeared a few months ago whose cover immediately stood out.  Under the image of a large classic-looking compass, in large and bold letters, is the question that Hocine Belalloufi tries to answer in roughly five hundred pages: Democracy in Algeria, Reform or Revolution[1]? Since 2008, this former editor-in-chief of Alger Républicain and regular contributor to La Nation has issued a "plea for a new Arab revolution[2]." He undoubtedly draws on the political openings using the ...

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Les manifestations à Ouargla : le besoin d’une stratégie de développement axée sur la création d’emplois en Algérie

[Des jeunes manifestent en Algérie. Image par Fidet Mansour/Magharebia.]

[Un appel du Comité national pour la défense des droits des chômeurs (CNDDC) a rassemblé  des milliers (plus de dix mille personnes, selon certains) de personnes sur la place de la mairie dans le centre de Ouargla, dans le sud de l’Algérie le 14 Mars 2013.  Malgré les accusations du régime selon lesquelles Tahar Belabbès (le coordinateur national du CNDDC ) a “comploté contre l’intégrité de son pays” avec l’aide du Qatar et des autres pouvoirs étrangers, Belabbès a insisté sur le « caractère national et pacifique » des revendications des chômeurs, lesquels demandent des emplois et le développement égal des régions du sud du pays. Cette manifestation ...

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Qatar Moving Closer to Algeria?

[Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, right, speaks with Qatar Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani at his arrival at Algiers airport Wednesday, 18 May 2011. Image by AP Photo/Sidali Djarboub.]

Officially, Emir Hamad visited Algiers on 7 January 2013 to conduct an evaluation of the bilateral cooperation and to sign partnership agreements between the two countries. This visit was struck in a cordial tone between the heads of state, even though real tensions exist between the two countries following two years of frosty relations due to differences regarding the Arab Spring. In this respect, the recent rapprochement between the two states could suggest some shift in the foreign policy of Qatar and Algeria, the first from the perspective ...

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Poems from the Maghreb: Introduction and Selections

[Cover of

[To celebrate the publication of Poems for the Millennium: Vol 4, edited by Pierre Joris and Habib Tangour (University of California Press, 2013), a comprehensive anthology of the written and oral literatures of the Maghreb, Jadaliyya is publishing the editors' introduction and a selection of poems (Mehdi Akhrif, Omar Berrada, Ahmad Al-Majjaty, Djibril Zakaria Sall, and Cheikha Rimitti. For more information and to purchase the book, click here] Introduction This book has been incubating in our minds for a quarter century now, and we have been gathering material for even longer—with the aim of assembling and contextualizing a wide range of writing from North ...

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Seule la vérité

[David Cameron avec Premier ministre Abdelmalek Sellal à Alger. Image par Number 10/Flickr.]

À l’occasion de sa visite à Alger, David Cameron a souligné la détermination du Royaume-Uni à aider l’Algérie dans sa lutte antiterroriste. « Lorsque le terrorisme se développe dans différentes parties du monde, il atteint nos peuples et nos intérêts non seulement dans ces parties du monde, mais également chez nous, dans notre pays », a-t-il déclaré. Plus de quinze jours après son « coup de gueule » concernant la gestion de l’attaque du site gazier d’Ain Amenas par les militaires algériens, Mr. Cameron rend visite à l’Algérie officielle pour décider de la stratégie sécuritaire à suivre dorénavant. Le Premier ministre britannique est clair : ...

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لا أسف ولا ندم

 [.جيرارد لونجوي بإشارة غير لائقة لوزير المحاربين القدامى الجزائري شريف عباس. المصدر فيديو صفحة السينات]

 لا أسف ولا ندم: الحنين الاستعماري في أوساط اليمين الفرنسي المتطرف في السابع عشر من أكتوبر 1961، تظاهر مئات الآلاف من الجزائريين سلمياً في باريس للاحتجاج على الانتهاكات التي تحدث لحرياتهم المدنية.  في خضم حرب الاستقلال (1954-1962)، انخرطت جبهة التحرير الوطني في نضال عنيف ضد فرنسا اعتمد على الحشد داخل المدن الكبرى إضافة إلى القتال في الجزائر. وكنتيجة لجهود جبهة التحرير الوطني، فقد فرضت الشرطة الفرنسية حظر تجوال على ما يقرب من خمسة عشر ألف جزائري يعيشون في باريس في ذلك الوقت (والعديد منهم كانوا يعتبرون فرنسيين). إن تفاصيل ما حدث في تلك الليلة لا تزال مثيرة للجدل، ولكن المؤكد هو أن العشرات، إن لم يكن المئات، من الجزائريين غير المسلحين قتلوا وألقيت بالعديد من ...

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Algeria, an Immense Bazaar: The Politics and Economic Consequences of Infitah

[French President Francois Hollande, left, and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika stand in a car as they drive through Algiers Wednesday, 19 December 2012. Image by Anis Belghoul/AP Photo.]

In the last few months, Algeria has witnessed a frenetic activity of economic and trade delegations visiting the country. In November 2012 alone, Algiers received tens of high profile delegations succeeding each other from European countries such as Spain, Italy, France, the UK, Romania, Finland, and Turkey to Arab countries, including Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. With its substantial foreign reserves amounting to more than two hundred billion dollars, it seems that Algeria has become a hot destination for foreign investment at a time when Europe is undergoing a deep economic crisis. Even for the highly-mediatized visit of French President Hollande (that some ...

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Focus sur le Mali, deuxième partie: Une guerre qui menace toute la région

[Des combattants islamistes armés traversent à vive allure la frontière entre la Mauritanie et le Mali le 21 mai. Image de Jemal Oumar/Flickr.]

[Cet article est le deuxième d'une série de trois, avec des perspectives différentes sur les développements au Mali. Le premier article - « Mali in Focus, Part One: The Jihadist Offensive Revisited » ] « …Ce conflit est légitime et vital pour la sécurité des Français. Nous ne pouvons pas espérer conserver nos modes de vie et notre prospérité si nous n'allons pas à l'extérieur du territoire national participer à la stabilisation et au règlement des crises, à l'éradication des menaces qui finiraient immanquablement par venir nous menacer à l'intérieur du territoire national. » Ces mots ont été prononcés par le général de division ...

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December Culture

[Art by Saddam Al-Jumaily (Iraq). Image from Artist]

Our last culture bouquet this year features poetry from Syria and Palestine, fiction from Algeria/France, and two reviews. Marilyn Hacker translates two chapters from Leila Sebbar's I Don't Speak My Father's Language. Kamran Rastegar reviews Ahmad Ghossein's My Father is Still a Communist. Syrian poet Golan Haji co-translates four of his poems. Fady Joudah translates poems by Ghassan Zaqtan. Amin Alsaden reviews a current exhibit about Baghdadi architecture: * "Leila Sebbar's I Don't Speak My Father's Language" (tr. Marilyn Hacker) * "My Father is Still a Communist" (reviewed by Kamran Rastegar) * "Four poems by ...

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Memory Wars and the Messiness of History: An Interview with Jim House on the Commemoration of 17 October 1961

[Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, left, greets French Interior Minister Manuel Valls before a meeting in Algiers, Sunday, 14 October 2012. Photo by Sidali Djarboub via AP.]

[Dr. James (Jim) House is a Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Leeds. His research interests have focused on the history and memory of the Algerian War of Independence along with antiracism in France. His monograph, "Paris 1961: Algerians, State Terror, and Memory," which he co-authored with Neil MacMaster, looks at the events the 17 October Massacre in the context of colonial violence and social memory. Dr. House's current research focuses on shanty-downs (bidonvilles) in Algeria and Morocco.]   Muriam Haleh Davis (MHD): Were you surprised by French President François Hollande’s decision to officially recognize the massacre of 17 ...

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Plurality, Hybridity, and the Self: A Review of Benjamin Stora's "Voyages en postcolonies"

[Cover of Benjamin Stora,

Benjamin Stora, Voyages en postcolonies. Paris : Stock, 2012.  Si je dis “L'Algérie est un pays musulman,” on m'accuse de faire le jeu des intégristes. Si je dis “L'Algérie n'est qu'un pays républicain,” on me rétorquera qu'il ne faut pas oublier qu'elle est un pays musulman. La France fonctionnne par images fixes, alors que l'Algérie échappe aux définintions simples. Une sorte de mixité, de métissage, de pluralité, de circulation sur fond d'héritages multiples a modelé le pays. If I say "Algeria is a Muslim country," I get accused of supporting (Islamic) integrism. If I say "Algeria is a republican country," I'm told that you ...

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Algeria Between “la Boulitique” and la Politique: A Tale of Two Youths

La politique est une réflexion sur la manière de servir le peuple.
 La «boulitique» est une somme de hurlements et de gesticulations pour se servir du peuple. La politique is a reflection on the manner to serve the people. La boulitique is an accumulation of screams and gestures (invoked) in order to use the people. - Malek Benabi Rarely is the noise in Algiers as deafening, or the traffic as disorderly. If young Algerians are often depicted as hittistes, hanging out in public spaces with no ...

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Protests in Ouargla: Focusing on Job Creation in Algeria

[The National Committee for the Rights of the Unemployed (Comité national pour la défense des droits des chômeurs, CNDDC) made a call for protests that brought together thousands (more than ten thousand, according to some) of people in Ouargla, in the south of Algeria, on 14 March 2013. Despite the regime’s accusations that Tahar Belabbès (national coordinator of the CNDDC) was "plotting against the integrity of his country" with assistance from Qatar and other foreign powers, Belabbès stressed ...

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Human Rights Organizations Continue Efforts to Aid Families of the Disappeared in Algeria

[The following statement was issued by Alkarama, the Collective of Families of Disappeared Persons in Algeria (CFDA), and TRIAL on 22 March 2013.] The United Nations Human Rights Committee will meet on Monday, 25 March 2013 in order to monitor the implementation of its decisions regarding cases of human rights violations. In preparation of this meeting, Alkarama, CFDA, and TRIAL wrote to the Committee denouncing the complete lack of implementation of sixteen decisions issued by the Committee ...

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London Event -- Algeria, Mali: Another Chapter in the “Global War On Terror”? (9 March)

Algeria, Mali: Another Chapter in the “Global War On Terror”? 9 March 2013, 4:30 p.m.  Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, London As the dreadful hostage crisis at the BP-operated In Amenas gas plant in Algeria came to an end on January 19th, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron claimed, like George Bush Jr and Tony Blair before him, that the country faced an "existential" and "global threat" to "our interests and way of life". Ten years after the ...

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Positioning Gender Fluidity in Francophone Maghrebi Literature

The journey of self-discovery is a recurring theme in Francophone Maghrebi literature and film. Authors and directors place characters in a struggle against forces in both French and Maghrebi society, evoking various themes through which characters define themselves. While these characters embark on different paths in terms of their search for self-discovery, they prove that identities are not rigid. A multitude of factors contribute to the formation of these identities, illustrating a fluidity that ...

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New Texts Out Now: Natalya Vince, Saintly Grandmothers: Youth Reception and Reinterpretation of the National Past in Contemporary Algeria

Natalya Vince, “Saintly Grandmothers: Youth Reception and Reinterpretation of the National Past in Contemporary Algeria.” The Journal of North African Studies, 18:1 (2013). Jadaliyya (J): What made you write this article? Natalya Vince (NV): The Algerian War of Independence (1954-62), or at least a selective and glorified version of the war, has played a key role in both the formation of Algerian national identity and the legitimization of political elites. For the past fifty years, museums, monuments, ...

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On Algerian Civil Society and the Prohibition of Assembly

Despite the fact that its laws allow the assembly of people on the streets and squares of Algeria, the public space remains firmly blocked by the Algerian state. This closure is assured in two ways: firstly, through the restrictions placed by law on civil associations, and secondly, by the ways in which the police control crowds.  The most recent amendment to Algerian law on public assembly details the administrative process required to form a legal public protest. In chapter II, on “public ...

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Early Perspectives from Algeria on Northern Mali and French Intervention

Thus far, Algerian press coverage and reactions are divided on France’s military intervention in northern Mali, Operation SERVAL, as well as the additional thrusts in the south by Mali’s jihadist coalition. Skepticism that has been prevalent in Algerian media coverage of calls for the internationalization of the Malian crisis remains a strong thread in opinion and editorial writing nonetheless. While significant strands of elite opinion—especially at the political level—appear to have somewhat rallied to ...

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Mali in Focus, Part One: The Jihadist Offensive Revisited

[This article is the first of a three-part series featuring different perspectives on the recent developments in Mali.] Although the jihadists in northern Mali share the same radical Islamist substrate, we were expecting to see Iyad Ag Ghaly’s Ansar Eddine (AD) movement cloak itself in a more moderate attitude in return for having obtained a respectable status in the Azawad conflict. This was the wish expressed by several international mediators—namely Algeria and Burkina Faso—given the different ...

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Leila Sebbar: I Do Not Speak My Father's Language

From Leila Sebbar's Je ne parle pas la langue de mon père Translated from the French by Marilyn Hacker.   I Do Not Speak My Father's Language   A few useful dates so as not to get lost in the maze of memory: My father is born in 1913 in Tènès. From 1932 to 1935, he studies at the teachers’ college in Bouzaréah, in Algiers, where he meets Mouloud Feraoun, assassinated in March 1962 by the OAS. He will be a schoolteacher and school principal: from 1935 to 1940, in El-Bordj from 1940 to ...

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Neither Regret Nor Remorse: Colonial Nostalgia Among French Far Right

[On 17 October 1961, tens of thousands of Algerian protesters peacefully demonstrated against violations against their civil liberties in Paris. In the midst of the war of Independence (1954 – 1962), the FLN (Front de libération nationale) was engaged in a violent struggle against France that relied on the mobilization within the Metropole as well as combat in Algeria. As a result of FLN activities, the prefecture of police French state imposed a curfew on all of the approximately 150,000 Algerians ...

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الحدود والرؤوس المومئة: مرحلة ما بعد الاستعمار والذكرى الخمسون لاستقلال الجزائر

قد يقول البعض إن الجزائر تعد بامتياز نموذجاً لمرحلة ما بعد الاستعمار. لقد أعطت حرب الاستقلال طويلة الأمد والتي أصبحت نموذجاً لصراع العالم الثالث، والحزب الوطني الذي كان فرانتز فانون متحدثه الرسمي، دفعة لكلمة algérianité (الوطنية الجزائرية)، والتي كانت كلمة طنانة في كل البحوث التي تناولت مرحلة ما بعد الاستعمار. إضافة لهذا، فإن جبهة التحرير الوطني، والتي أعلنت نفسها الحزب الوحيد حتى 1989، لم تفز بالحرب ضد الفرنسيين فقط (وضد خصوم جزائريين) أثناء الثورة وحسب، ولكنها بقيت في السلطة بعد انتخابات مايو 2012 ...

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