Algeria : from revolution to fratricide

Abstract

Any comprehensive discovery and discussion of an Algerian reality requires both writer and reader to detach the country from its regional belonging. While pertaining to the Arab Maghreb, and to the Islamic world on a wider basis, Algeria's true personality cannot be identified unless it is analysed on its own merits. Several factors, physical and historical distinguish Algeria from her regional milieu legitimising an argument that implies individuality and uniqueness. Some general characteristics certainly contribute in forming a global perception on al-Jazaaiar, as the country is better known in Arabic language. The role of Algeria as an Ottoman regency, which verged on virtual sovereignty stands in sharp contrast to the country's enforced subordination to French colonial rule. Algeria's experience as a direct French colony, as opposed to the Protectorates of Tunisia and Morocco was bound to have irreversible consequences on the shaping of Algerian history. Al-Jazaaiar was the first country to be subjected to French colonial rule and the last to be freed from it. The struggle for national liberation was one of the bloodiest in its kind, spanning over a period of eight years. The brutalities witnessed during the war of independence shaped and moulded Algerian political culture and a whole set of ideological beliefs. In the tormented years of post-indipendence Algeria soon emerged as a frontline state in African, and at a later stage, Arab affairs. Its standard-bearers were an outright challenge to imperialism and colonialism, and a propagation of liberation movements in those countries still under foreign rule.