The parallel with the famous “Black is beautiful” is patent and purposeful. The African American cultural movement of the 1960s which aimed to value the black identity became prominent in the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko in South Africa in the 1970s.
The recent protests of the Algerian people have also given birth to an Algerian Consciousness Movement which is envied in more democratic countries such as France where the protests of the Gilets jaunes have been characterized by clashes between police and demonstrators with shop windows broken, prestigious avenues transformed into dustbins in the Champs-Elysées and so on.
The Algerian protest marches have featured a peaceful and civilized people chanting, helping each other, convivial and enjoyable. Youths, adults, men, women, children and babies took back the streets to colour them with green, red, white, yellow and blue, the colours of the Algerian flags. The slogans tell the genius of a people long oppressed by its unelected rulers. One can make an anthology of sayings and quotes from the different witticisms exhibited on the banderoles, the sheets of paper, the cardboards and every kind of inventive means. “Now Loading the 2ndRepublic”, “Yetnahaw Ga3”, “game over”, and “l’Algérie pays de héros dirigé par des zeros” are some of the slogans whose originality betrays the genius of the people.
The languages used are those spoken by the Algerians, that is, colloquial Arabic, French and Tamazight. The division between Arabs and Amazighs is no longer topical; the Algerian identity alone accounts. Indeed, the Algerian ‘hirak’ has dispelled the racial division along with the racist beliefs which posit that Algerians are lazy, violent, unclean, and ‘ghachi’. Since the beginning of the ‘hirak’, news of harragas have ceased, the Algerian diasporas is proud of its Algerianity and some of them even flew back to the country to seize the magic moments that characterise the revolution. I bet that revolutionaries from all over the world will be ready to come to Algeria as Che Guevara, Mandela did in the 1960s. Frantz Fanon was inspired by Algeria, Fernand Iveton, Maurice Laban, Henri Maillot and others foreigners who sacrificed their lives for this country.
Algeria is beautiful now more than before because of the magic sociopolitical upheaval which has mainly been the consequence of political delinquency, corruption and mediocracy. Colossal amounts of money spent in diplomatic trials to sell the Algerian image failed, but spontaneous and popular protests demanding justice, democracy and radical change have succeeded to bring forth the Algerian identity which is multiethnic, multilingual, but Algerian.
Place Maurice Audin.
Please do not forget MAURICE AUDIN who scarified his life for Algeria. He was a French who was abducted at night by paratroopers in 1957, tortured and killed by the French state. In 1963, Algeria baptised in his honour an important Place in downtown Algiers near universities.
Thank you.
Thank you for the comment. I forgot to mention Audin, but he is probably not the only one. There is an interesting article in Le quotidien d’Oran of 03/11/2016 about these foreigners who gave their lives for us. You would probably read it and I also suggest that yiu read the book ‘De nos Frères bléssés’by Joseph Andras. When I read the book, some timle after I had written the article, I felt proud of my article.
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Thank you Harem. A beautiful article. Tahia El Djazair!
Thank you. The articles we write are crowned with success and beauty once you read them and enjoy them.
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An interesting article. The parallel with Black is beautiful and Steve Biko is relevant. Thanks
Thank you. You are visibly aware of the Black Afro-American movement and Steve Biko, and this is encouraging for us.