I Was a French Muslim
Memories of an Algerian Freedom Fighter
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
GQ: Best of Modern Middle Eastern Literature
This engaging memoir provides a vivid account of a childhood under French colonization and a life dedicated to fighting for the freedom and dignity of the Algerian people.
The son of a butcher and the youngest of six siblings, Mokhtar Mokhtefi was born in 1935 and grew up in a village de colonisation roughly one hundred kilometers south of the capital of Algiers. Thanks to the efforts of a supportive teacher, he became the only child in the family to progress to high school, attending a French lycée that deepened his belief in the need for independence. In 1957, at age twenty-two, he joined the National Liberation Army (ALN), the armed wing of the National Liberation Front (FLN), which had been waging war against France since 1954. After completing rigorous training in radio transmissions at a military base in Morocco, he went on to become an officer in the infamous Ministère de l’Armement et des Liaisons Générales (MALG), the precursor of post-independence Algeria’s Military Security (SM).
Mokhtefi’s powerful memoir bears witness to the extraordinary men and women who fought for Algerian independence against a colonial regime that viewed non-Europeans as fundamentally inferior, designating them not as French citizens, but as “French Muslims.” He presents a nuanced, intelligent, and deeply personal perspective on Algeria’s transition to independent statehood, with all its inherent opportunities and pitfalls.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The life of the late Mokhtefi(1935–2015), a key figure in Algeria's struggle for independence, is vividly depicted in this stunning translation by his wife, Elaine Mokhtefi (Algiers, Third World Capital). Mokhtar begins by painting a heartfelt portrait of his childhood growing up in a traditional Muslim family in a small Algerian village—lovingly recalling mundane yet touching moments, such as teaching his father what a "pajama" was. He relates how, before junior high, his precociousness enabled him to get into a French school, which positioned him to become a leader at a young age in the independence movement. At the age of 22, he enlisted in the National Liberation Army, and trained in Morocco as a signal corps operator, returning to Algeria to fight against "the many injustices... repression, lack of freedom" wrought by the French. After the revolt eventually succeeded in 1962, Mokhtar became head of the Algerian national students' association, where he frequently spoke out against the inequality that shaped his country. Ending on a particularly powerful note, he refers to a dispiriting encounter with an illiterate soldier that reminded him how "ignorance out of the barrel of a gun is preparing us for bitter tomorrows." This multifaceted story inspires.
