Algeria

So, while America is recovering from their fourth of July celebrations Algerians (as well as Venezualans, and the citizens of Cape Verde and the Isle of Mann) are ramping up their own celebrations. 5 July: Algerian Independence Day. 1962.

Hey—I’ve heard of the Berbers for years, but ignorance strikes again. For some reason I had no idea they inhabited what is now Algeria since at least 10,000 BCE. How was that? I need to ask more questions. Of course, I knew about the Cathaginians, who started establishing settlements along the coast from 1000 BCE. With the advent of the Punic Wars, the Berbers became independent of Carthage (I wonder if they had a day?) before being taken over by Rome. When the Roman Empire collapsed, the Berbers became independent again—though the Vandals took over some parts of their territory. Then the Byzantine Empire came and took over for a while, until the Arabs arrived in the 8th century. Musical chairs? Yes, it’s the way it goes.

When Algeria became part of the Ottoman Empire, its modern boundaries were established, and its coast became a base for corsairs. (A word forever linked in my mind with Byron.) And, of course, lets not forget the privateering. Piracy directed toward American vessels caused the first and second Barbary Wars. (Yet another term I’ve heard of, and yet I never knew the details. War cause by pirates! How could I not know?) The Barbary pirates continued their wicked ways until 1816 when a raid by Britain’s Royal Navy, assisted by the Dutch, destroyed the port of Algiers and its Barbary ships.

And then came the French. In 1830 they invaded Algiers, and over time conquered Algeria. This, apparently, was a long and bloody process, and about a third of the Algerian population “disappeared”—I presume this means that there was a combination of large-scale killing, and flight. From the end of the nineteenth century, people of European descent and native Algerian Jews became full French citizens. And—here’s something poetic—after independence these citizens were called Pieds-Noirs, or black feet, because the Europeans wore black shoes. Meanwhile, most Muslim Algerians did not receive citizenship.

1954 was the start of the Algerian War of Independence. (Like good films? See The Battle of Algiers.) When a plebiscite was eventually held, there was a landslide vote for independence, and most of the Pieds-Noirs (over a million) fled the country. More recently, with tensions arising from a large youth population that couldn’t relate to the previous generations’ preoccupation with the war years led to protest movements and civil war. By 2002, most guerrilla groups had either surrendered, or been stamped out. Now Algeria is in recovery, and with the high price oil fetches these days, the new government is improving Algeria’s infrastructure.

While searching for housing in DC last year a met a self-proclaimed Algerian epic poet. Interesting experience. Today’s poem, however, is not by the epic poet of Glover Park, but by Mohammad Dib, an Algerian poet who now lives in France, writing in French. It comes from A Crack in the Wall: New Arab Poetry.


The moment

That very moment
And the moment after,
No war, no dead.

When people open
Their eyes and fall asleep.
Wherever flowers grow.

However much they’re loved,
However lovely, near or far.
Their look never changed


—Mohammad Dib.
from A Crack in the Wall: New Arab Poetry
translated from the French by James Kirkup