ALGERIA CELEBRATES ITS 64TH REVOLUTION ANNIVERSARY
This year we celebrate the 64th anniversary of the Great
Revolution of Algeria. I want to say on this occasion that if the French Revolution of 1789 liberated the individual, the National Liberation War for the Independence of Algeria liberated the peoples of the world.
The Algerian Revolution was unleashed by the Algerians on 1 November 1954 against French colonialism. 33 attacks were synchronized and launched throughout the Algerian territory against military and industrial targets. It was the beginning of a long and violent war for independence, which cost the Algerian nation 1.5 million martyrs.
Nationalist parties existed in Algeria for many years, but they became increasingly radical as they realized that their goals were not going to be achieved through peaceful means. They tried several times to negotiate specific issues with the French government, but the settler population made barriers to any evolution of their rights. Who were those settlers? We have to go back to the history of Algeria to understand who they were and what happened.
French colonialism began in April 1827, when Dey Hussein, the last Ottoman provincial ruler of Algeria, angrily struck the French Consul with a fly whisk. This incident was a manifest sign of Dey’s anger toward the French Consul brought on by what had soured Franco-Algerian relations in the preceding years, France’s large and unpaid debt. Another factor was the French government’s seizure of the famous Algiers’s Treasure, after the collapse of the formidable Navy of Algeria, after the battle of Navarino, which was fought on 20 October 1827. This battle occurred during the Greek War of Independence, between Russia, France, and Great Britain on one side, and the Ottoman, Egyptian, and Algerian flotillas, on the other.
This battle saw the destruction of the Algerian flotillas and facilitated the occupation of Algiers.
Resistance against the French colonists started from the first day that forces tread upon the Algerian soil. From 18301847, Emir Abdelkader, the central figure of the Algerian struggle, led a resistance on a national scale. Ahmed Bey, who was the governor of the region of Constantine, directed another huge resistance in his territory for seven years. After
After eight years of violence and blood, independence was proclaimed on 5 July 1962. The human cost for Algeria was about 1.5 million martyrs, around 3,000,000 inhabitants relocated to new settlements.
them, the resistance of the people of Algeria spread to all of the regions of the country through different groups.
The first group were the Algerians who gained access to French education and earned their living in the French sector, often called the Assimilationists. They pursued gradual, reformist tactics. This group was organized under the name of Young Algerians and from 1912 was led by the grandson of Emir Abdelkader.
The second group consisted of Muslim reformers. They were headed by Abdulhamid ibn Badis, who was the president of the Association of Algerian Muslim, which was established in 1931. This association fostered a strong sense of Muslim Algerian Nationality among the Algerian masses.
The third group were more proletarian and radical. The Star of North Africa (ENA Etoile Nord Africaine), was created by Massali Hadjand was organized among the Algerian workers in France in the 1920s. It included Tunisian and Moroccan political leaders with a goal of achieving unity of the Great Maghreb. From the beginning, the political party demanded and proclaimed for the independence of Algeria. Under the leadership of Ahmed Messali Hadj, the party disbanded in 1937, and Messali was put in jail. After his release, Messali created the PPA, Party of Algerian people (Parti du Peuple Algérien). This party gained extensive support in Algeria, primarily because he preached nationalism without nuances. Messali openly demanded independence.
In 1954, a group of former The Special Organisation (OS) members split from the Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties (MTLD) and formed the Revolutionary Committee of Unity and Action (Comité Revolutionnaire d’Unité et d’Action (CRUA)).This movement created the National Liberation Front (FLN) and would later trigger the National Liberation War. The FLN issued leaflets stating that its purpose was to restore the sovereign Algerian state. It advocated social democracy within an Islamic framework and equal citizenship for all Algerian residents. The preamble indicated that the movement would use two weapons: guerrilla warfare at home and diplomatic activity abroad, particularly at the United Nations (UN).
The war in Algeria began at midnight on 1 November 1954. Exactly 33 attacks in the different regions of the country were launched against French targets. The armed uprising soon intensified and spread, gradually affecting larger sections of the country.
In 1955, the French army erected two electric-barbedwire fences which were illuminated at night by searchlights. The fences closed the borders with Morocco and Tunisia in an attempt to isolate the Algerian fighters from receiving weapons and ammunition from the countries’ frontiers. More than 12 million mines were also created along the Tunisia and Morocco frontiers.
When President Charles de Gaulle came to power in June 1958, he practiced the policy of two irons on the fire. First, he decided to increase the French presence to 1,000,000 soldiers. Secondly, he implemented, “The plan of Constantine,” which intended to stifle the revolution by building 200,000 homes across the country and distributing 250,000 hectares of land for the Algerians.
The FLN opened an office in New York in April 1956 and tried to promote the Algerian question at the General Assembly. Finally, at the XI Session, on15 February 1957, the General Assembly of the United Nations expressed hope that in the spirit of cooperation, a peaceful, democratic, and just solution would be found corresponding with the principles of the United Nations.
In February 1958, the Village of Sakiet Sidi Youssef, which is located on the frontiers between Algeria and Tunisia, was bombarded by the French air force. The bombardment left indelible impressions on the international community and quickly led to the international recognition of the Provisional Government at a congress on 19 September 1958 in Cairo, Egypt.
The Algerian emissaries crisscrossed the world searching for support from free governments that no longer accepted colonialism. The FLN had representation in all of the Arab countries, the socialist countries, etc.
After eight years of violence and blood, independence was proclaimed on 5 July 1962. The human cost for Algeria was about 1.5 million martyrs, around 3,000,000 inhabitants relocated to new settlements, and 3,000 destroyed villages.
Immediately after independence in 1971, the Algerian revolutionary government nationalized agrarian lands, mines,
Out of all of the African countries, Algeria is third for the Human Development Index. On the world scale, Algeria is in 85th place.
banks, insurance, ports, hydrocarbons, and more.
In the matter of economic and social development, after the Seychelles and Mauritius, it can be said that out of all of the African countries, Algeria is third for the Human Development Index (HDI). On the world scale, Algeria, with a population of 43 million, is in 85th place.
Algeria adopted a policy of supporting national movements and lawful causes. From 1960-1980, it became the Mecca for revolutionaries. Even during its struggle for independence, Algerian revolutionaries, among many others, received Nelson Mandela, the leader of the African National Congress (ANC), who was committed against the Apartheid in South Africa.
One of the main principals of the Algerian external policy is to support those striving for independence throughout the world. Algeria has supported independence in all of the countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin-America. On the question of Western Sahara, our position is clear. We hope that the United Nations will find a just solution to settle the longstanding conflict between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front, which believes that Western Sahara should be
an independent state.