Algerian Nationalism Research Articles

Literary Aftershocks of the Revolution: Recent Developments in Algerian Literature

Most Algerian Francophone literature has been written since 1950, and thus the development of that literature has been intimately linked to the political events which forged the Algerian nation. Especially influential was the 1954-62 war of independence which for many years was a major contextual element in the literature. With the passage of time, the Revolution has begun to be less and less cognitive in the lives and works of the young writers. For some, Revolution lives on in the oneiric evocations of horrors glimpsed, for others it is something relegated to history, whereas for yet others it has become a political and social device.

From colonialism to national independence: Algiers' social ecology

Algiers social ecology was formed by conflict between French colonialism and Algerian nationalism. In colonial time Algiers is dichotomized in an European urban core, interrupted only by some precolonial settlements (Kasbah of Algiers and Sidi M'Hamed) and the Algerian outer zones. The transformation of this ethnic-economic urban pattern into socio-economic urban zoning in post colonial time is shown by cross-sectional and longitudinal factor-ecological analysis. First analysis explores the changes in ecological structure by comparing two data-sets of census in colonial time (1954) and national independence (1966). Second approach explores the structure of ecological change interpreting the differences of variables in both points. Significant socio-ecological processes were Algerisation, diffusion of social groups, immigration and segregation of postrevolutionary elite. A model of decolonization spatial pattern is built up. The results are briefly discussed with other known ecological “trend analysis”.

Asylum (Algerian Refugee) Case.

Aliens — Admission of — When entitled to asylum — Political persecutees who are not refugees within terms of Geneva Convention of July 28, 1951 — Algerian nationalists — The law of Germany.Aliens — Position of — Treatment by receiving State — Status of refugees — Whether Algerian nationalists fighting French rule in Algeria are refugees within meaning of Geneva Convention, 1951 — Whether entitled to political asylum — The law of Germany.

Algeria: The Last Ordeal

some ways the last year was the worst. Tension had never been higher. Disenchantment in France at least had never been greater. The mindless cruelty of it all had never been more absurd and savage. This last year, stretching from the hopeful spring of 1961 to the cease-fire of March 18, 1962, spanned a season of revolt, shadow-boxing, false threats, capitulation and murderous hysteria. French Algeria died badly. Its agony was marked by panic and brutality as ugly as the record of European imperialism could show. In the spring of 1962 the unhappy corpse of empire still shuddered and lashed out and stained itself in fratricide. The whole episode of its death, measured over at least seven and a half years, constituted perhaps the most pathetic and sordid event in the long twilight of colonialism. It was hard to see that anyone of importance in the tangled conflict came out of it well. Nobody won the conflict, nobody dominated it. It had raged on almost uncontrolled, destroying men and institutions and principles of conduct. No one could win. It was simply agreed between the two principal parties to the struggle that the war should end. The myth of Algeria as an integral part of France collapsed. The myth of an Algerian nation was left in the ruins of empire to be made concrete. The story of the last year was the story of French capitulation, delayed by military revolt and unsuccessful policy of hardbargaining which disintegrated finally before the unyielding attitude of the rebel Moslem elite backed by the mass of Algerian Moslems. It was characteristic of the devious and futile policy of France that the rebel Government's agreement, March 17, 1961, to open peace talks should have been cancelled by de Gaulle's foolish attempt to weaken the Ferhat Abbas administration by bringing in Hadj Messali's rival, moderate and small,

Efforts of the ICRC on behalf of French prisoners of the ALN

While continuing its numerous efforts on behalf of Algerians detained by the French authorities in Algeria and France, the International Committee of the Red Cross has continued to intervene with the Algerian nationalists on behalf of Frenchmen who have fallen into their hands. These efforts are usually made through a representative of the " Algerian Red Crescent", in Geneva, a body which is not officially recognized but with which the ICRC maintains working relations for the benefit of the victims of the conflict. On different occasions the ICRC has also intervened directly in Tunis with members of the GPRA and senior officers of the " Algerian Red Crescent ".

Arab League

The agenda of the Arab League Council meeting in Cairo during the last three weeks of February i960 reportedly centered around consideration of “the whole Palestine case in all its aspects,” comprising such problems as organization of the Palestinian people, formation of a Palestine defense army, use of the waters of the Jordan River for irrigation purposes, representation of the Palestine people by a legitimate body to speak in their name, and proposals for reactivization of the UN Arab-Israeli conciliation commission.’ The agenda also included discussion of the Algerian question, with representatives of the self-proclaimed Algerian provisional government expected to ask the League to support proposals put forward by the recent All African Peoples' Conference in Tunis for the organization of a force of Arab-African volunteers to help the Algerian nationalists. The first debate of the meeting was said to have occurred over the absence of two League members, Iraq and Tunisia, the leaders of which were at odds with President Nasser of the United Arab Republic. Cablegrams stressing the importance of their participation in the Cairo discussions were dispatched to the two countries at the suggestion of the foreign minister of Jordan.