France - Algeria: A Painful Past that Resurfaces - Colonization Algeria - Documentary - MP

Oct 21, 2024 | In February 2017, shortly before his election, Emmanuel Macron alienated the pied-noir community for comparing the colonization of Algeria to a crime against humanity.

More than half a century after independence, the Algerian question remains a taboo subject in France and arouses passions as soon as it is addressed.

Whatever the words, whatever the decisions, there will always be a side that feels wronged.

But how did it get to this point? Why can't time erase resentment and aftereffects passed down from generation to generation? "Une affaire de famille" is a historical fresco, told through the prism of personal stories.

This documentary was made for educational purposes and may contain images that may offend some people. If you are a sensitive person, watching this documentary is not recommended.

A film directed by Dominique Fargue and Isabelle Quintard
On an original idea by Laurent Delahousse
A Magnéto production

Ludovic - Imam and Gay | DW Documentary

Oct 7, 2023 | Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed wants an Islam that is more tolerant of the LGBTQ community. He’s fighting for gay Muslims to be able to live their lives openly without fear or shame.

Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed trained as an imam in Algeria. In his homeland he didn’t dare talk about being gay. It was only in Marseille, France that he came out. Zahed is the founder of France's first inclusive mosque and the CALEM Institute in Marseille, where he trains new imams in a more progressive Islam. Same-sex marriages are taboo in Islam, but Zahed wants to break new ground. He’s not afraid to circumvent this taboo and bless the marriages of LGBTQ couples. A report by Simon Laurens and Susanna Dörhage.

Libya and Morocco: Two Very Different Responses to Catastrophe

THE GUARDIAN: The aftermath of an earthquake in Morocco and flooding in Libya has shown up the state of the two nations

Not one but two disasters have struck in recent days – the earthquake in Morocco and devastating flooding in Libya.

At least 2,900 people are known to have died in the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that struck in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains a week ago, and the authorities say the death toll will rise.

Three days later, on 11 September, intense flooding in Libya led to the collapse of two dams that unleashed a torrent of mud and water into Derna, destroying large parts of the eastern city.

On Friday morning, the Libyan Red Crescent said the number of people who had died in the city had risen to 11,000 and was expected to rise further as rescue teams arrived and helped to retrieve more bodies from the mud. Officials said 30,000 people were missing.

The full scale of the disaster may be far greater, as few international aid agencies or news reporters have been able to reach the flood-hit area. This area is controlled not by the government in Tripoli but by a rival warlord.

Morocco and Libya may be geographically relatively close to each other – just a 2,000km hop across Algeria – but they could not be two more different countries. This has had a huge impact on their ability to respond to the disasters. » | Rupert Neate and Peter Beaumont | Friday, September 15, 2023

Former Algerian Minister of Defence Indicted in Switzerland on War Crime Charges

THE GUARDIAN: Khaled Nezzar is to be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity during 1991-2002 Algerian civil war

Khaled Nezzar (pictured here in 2016), a former minister of defence in Algeria, is to stand trial in Switzerland. Photograph: Nacerdine Zebar/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
Victims of the 1991-2002 Algerian civil war have been given hope that they will finally receive justice after the highly unusual announcement by Swiss authorities that a former Algerian minister of defence is to stand trial in Switzerland on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Khaled Nezzar is set to be the highest-ranking military official ever tried for war crimes under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows states to investigate and prosecute people suspected of having committed international crimes regardless of where they were committed, their nationality, or the nationality of the victims.

Switzerland’s office of the attorney general (OAG) filed an indictment in the federal criminal court against Nezzar on Monday. » | Kate Connolly in Berlin | Tuesday, August 29, 2023

‘Like a Blowtorch’: Mediterranean Gripped by Wildfires as Blazes Spread in Croatia and Portugal

THE GUARDIAN: ‘There is no magical defence mechanism,’ says Greek prime minister as fires burn in northern Africa and southern Europe

Wildfires were burning in at least nine countries across the Mediterranean as blazes spread in Croatia and Portugal, with thousands of firefighters in Europe and north Africa working in extreme heat to contain flames stoked by high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds.

High temperatures and parched ground sparked wildfires in countries on both sides of the Mediterranean, with at least 34 people killed in Algeria, where 8,000 firefighters on Tuesday battled blazes across the tinder-dry north. Fires burned in a total of 15 provinces, leading to the evacuation of more than 1,500 people.

Witnesses described fleeing walls of flames that raged “like a blowtorch”, destroying homes and coastal resorts, and turning vast forest areas into blackened wastelands. (+ videos) » | Helen Sullivan and agencies | Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Algeria Wildfires Kill Dozens of People Including 10 Soldiers

THE GUARDIAN: About 7,500 firefighters trying to bring blazes under control and 1,500 people evacuated as heatwave spreads

Thirty-four people including 10 soldiers have been killed by wildfires in the mountainous Béjaïa and Bouïra regions of Algeria, as a heatwave spreads across north Africa and southern Europe.

About 8,000 firefighters were trying to bring the flames under control, authorities said, adding that about 1,500 people had been evacuated.

Algeria’s interior ministry said operations were under way to put out fires in six provinces and asked for people to “avoid areas affected by the fires” and to report new blazes on freephone numbers.

“Civil protection services remain mobilised until the fires are completely extinguished,” the ministry said.

The defence ministry said 10 soldiers were killed in the fires, but provided no further details. » | Agencies in Algiers | Monday, July 24, 2023

Omar Sharif Jr. | Coming Out in the Middle of a Revolution | 2016

Omar Sharif Jr.'s talk at the 2016 Oslo Freedom Forum. See more talks like this at oslofreedomforum.com and follow @OsloFF for updates.

For your information, this blog, as far as I am aware, has NEVER had even one visitor from Egypt! I get visitors from ALL OVER THE WORLD, but never from Egypt. That repressive government doesn't even allow its citizens to access gay-friendly blogs; and let's get this straight: This website is nothing but a gay-friendly blog. It is NOT a gay blog as such.

Further, I do frequently get lots of visitors from Morocco, and some from Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. I even get visitors from from Saudi Arabia – daily! Kudos Saudi Arabia! But never from Egypt! That tells its own story. – © Mark Alexander

Macron Responds to Truss Saying 'Jury's Out' on Whether French President Is Friend or Foe

Aug 26, 2022 French president Emmanuel Macron has said Britain and France will maintain friendly ties irrespective of who becomes prime minister. 'If we are not able, between the French and British, to say whether we are friends or enemies – the term is not neutral – we are headed towards serious problems' said Macron during a state visit to Algeria.

Macron responded to a remark by the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, at hustings in Norwich in which she cast doubt on whether she considered Macron a friend or foe of the UK. 'If I become prime minister, I'll judge him on deeds not words,' she said.

‘Serious problem’ if France and UK can’t tell if they are friends or enemies, says Macron. Liz Truss criticised for saying ‘jury’s out’ on Emmanuel Macron being friend or foe


What a stupid bloody woman Liz Truss (Ms Trust) is! Such an injudicious comment on our closest neighbour and our friends’ president. This woman is unfit for the office she is running for. – © Mark Alexander

Negative Views of Russia Mainly Limited to Western Liberal Democracies, Poll Shows

THE GUARDIAN: Annual global survey of attitudes to democracy finds many countries maintain positive views of Russia

In Asia, a majority of people were against cutting economic ties with Russia over Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Photograph: Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/Kremlin pool/EPA
The sharp polarisation between mainly western liberal democracies and the rest of the world in perceptions of Russia has been laid bare in an annual global poll of attitudes towards democracy.

Within Europe, 55% of those surveyed for the Alliance for Democracies said they were in favour of cutting economic ties with Russia due to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, whereas in Asia there was a majority against, and in Latin America opinion was evenly split.

Negative views of Russia are largely confined to Europe and other liberal democracies. Positive views of Russia have been retained in China, Indonesia, Egypt, Vietnam, Algeria, Morocco, Malaysia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. » | Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor | Monday, May 30, 2022

Ukraine war: Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov denies Putin illness: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denied speculation that President Vladimir Putin is ill. »

The Quiet Flight of Muslims from France

THE NEW YORK TIMES: All the talk of France’s presidential election campaign is about immigration. But it is the expanding emigration of French Muslims that points to a deeper crisis for the country.

PARIS — France’s wounded psyche is the invisible character in every one of Sabri Louatah’s novels and the hit television series he wrote. He speaks of his “sensual, physical, visceral love” for the French language and of his attachment to his hometown in southeastern France, bathed in its distinctive light. He closely monitors the campaign for the upcoming presidential elections.

But Mr. Louatah does all of that from Philadelphia, the city that he began considering home after the 2015 attacks in France by Islamist extremists, which killed scores of people and deeply traumatized the country. As sentiments hardened against all French Muslims, he no longer felt safe there. One day, he was spat on and called, “Dirty Arab.”

“It’s really the 2015 attacks that made me leave because I understood they were not going to forgive us,” said Mr. Louatah, 38, the grandson of Muslim immigrants from Algeria. “When you live in a big Democratic city on the East Coast, you’re more at peace than in Paris, where you’re deep in the cauldron.” » | orimitsu Onishi and Aida Alami | Sunday, February 13, 2022

America’s Afghan War: A Defeat Foretold?

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Recent history suggests that it is foolish for Western powers to fight wars in other people’s lands and that the U.S. intervention was almost certainly doomed from the start.

An Afghan security forces outpost on the edge of Kunduz in July. Bredit: Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
NEWS ANALYSIS
It was 8 a.m. and the sleepy Afghan sergeant stood at what he called the front line, one month before the city of Kunduz fell to the Taliban. An unspoken agreement protected both sides. There would be no shooting.

That was the nature of the strange war the Afghans just fought, and lost, with the Taliban.

President Biden and his advisers say the Afghan military’s total collapse proved its unworthiness, vindicating the American pullout. But the extraordinary melting away of government and army, and the bloodless transition in most places so far, point to something more fundamental.

The war the Americans thought they were fighting against the Taliban was not the war their Afghan allies were fighting. That made the American war, like other such neocolonialist adventures, most likely doomed from the start.

Recent history shows it is foolish for Western powers to fight wars in other people’s lands, despite the temptations. Homegrown insurgencies, though seemingly outmatched in money, technology, arms, air power and the rest, are often better motivated, have a constant stream of new recruits, and often draw sustenance from just over the border.

Outside powers are fighting one war as visitors — occupiers — and their erstwhile allies who actually live there, something entirely different. In Afghanistan, it was not good versus evil, as the Americans saw it, but neighbor against neighbor.

When it comes to guerrilla war, Mao once described the relationship that should exist between a people and troops. “The former may be likened to water,” he wrote, “the latter to the fish who inhabit it.”

And when it came to Afghanistan, the Americans were a fish out of water. Just as the Russians had been in the 1980s. Just as the Americans were in Vietnam in the 1960s. And as the French were in Algeria in the 1950s. And the Portuguese during their futile attempts to keep their African colonies in the ’60s and ’70s. And the Israelis during their occupation of southern Lebanon in the ’80s. » | Adam Nossiter | Saturday, August 21, 2021

Luxembourg PM Takes Arab Leaders to Task on Gay Rights at Summit

THE GUARDIAN: Xavier Bettel says his same-sex marriage would condemn him to death in some countries

Luxembourg’s prime minister, Xavier Bettel, has confronted Arab leaders over the repression of gay rights, telling them his same-sex marriage would condemn him to death in some of their countries.

The conference room at a summit of EU and Arab states fell silent when Bettel made his statement, according to a German TV journalist.

Retweeting this account, Bettel wrote: “Saying nothing was not an option for me.” The tweet was signed with his initials.

Bettel, the first EU leader to be married to a same-sex partner, had planned to make the intervention before arriving at the summit, which was the first gathering between the EU and Arab League.

Homosexuality is punishable by death under sharia law in Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen. Other countries in the region prohibit same-sex acts, including Algeria, Morocco, Oman, Tunisia, Syria, Kuwait and some of the United Arab Emirates. » | Jennifer Rankin in Brussels | Thursday, February 28, 2019

Arab Nations Ask UN to Designate Western Wall as Muslim Territory

FOX NEWS: False rumors about Israel's designs on a site held sacred by both Jews and Muslims helped trigger the bloody wave of attacks plaguing Jerusalem, but a tangible plan by six Arab nations to purge the Jewish State's claim to its holiest location will be voted on Wednesday by the United Nations' cultural arm.

A UN draft decision circulated by Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates reviewed by FoxNews.com “affirms that the Buraq Plaza is an integral part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque” – a statement that would specifically fold the Jewish Western Wall into Islamic domain on the Temple Mount.

“This is a clear endeavor to distort history, in order to erase the connection between the Jewish People and its holiest site, and to create a false reality,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Monday statement. » | Cody Derespina | Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Morocco Terror Warning: Officials Raise Threat Level to HIGH for British Holidaymakers

The level of terror threats at popular tourist hotspots

EXPRESS: RISING support within Morocco for extremist organisations has seen the British Government raise the terror threat level for the north African country up to HIGH.

And Morocco became the latest no-go holiday destination for Brits as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) took the decision to bring the nation in line with nearby states such as Algeria, Libya and Tunisia.

The stark warning to British holidaymakers heading to the north African country comes a week after Spanish and Moroccan police smashed a terror cell plotting an attack in the popular tourist hotspot.

A FCO spokesman said: "This change is due to the increased terrorist threat linked to the growing number of Moroccans sympathetic or belonging to international terrorist organisations operating in Syria, Iraq and Libya."

The evil Islamic State (ISIS) group has a high presence in all of those countries. Read on and comment » | Rob Virtue | Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Is Russia Banning Islam?

HUMAN EVENTS: Russia appears to be taking serious moves to combat the “radicalization” of Muslims within its border.

Recent pro-Islamic reports are complaining that Russia is banning the Islamic hijab—the headdress Islamic law requires Muslim women to wear—and, perhaps even more decisively, key Islamic scriptures, on the charge that they incite terrorism.

In the words of Arabic news site Elaph, “Russia is witnessing a relentless war on the hijab. It began in a limited manner but has grown in strength, prompting great concern among Russia’s Muslims.”

The report continues by saying that women wearing the hijab are being “harassed” especially in the “big cities”; that they are encountering difficulties getting jobs and being “subject to embarrassing situations in public areas and transportation. The situation has gotten to the point that even educational institutions, including universities, have issued decrees banning the wearing of the hijab altogether.” Moscow’s Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University appears mentioned as one of the schools to ban the donning of the hijab on its premises, specifically, last September (the New York Times bemoaned an earlier instance of anti-hijab sentiment in 2013).

While this move against the hijab may appear as discriminatory against religious freedom, the flipside to all this—which perhaps Russia, with its significant Muslim population is aware of—is that, wherever the Islamic hijab proliferates, so too does Islamic supremacism and terrorism. Tawfik Hamid, a former aspiring Islamic jihadi, says that “the proliferation of the hijab is strongly correlated with increased terrorism…. Terrorism became much more frequent in such societies as Indonesia, Egypt, Algeria, and the U.K. after the hijab became prevalent among Muslim women living in those communities.” Read on and comment » | Raymond Ibrahim | Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Isis Leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Calls on Followers to 'Erupt Volcanoes of Jihad Everywhere' in Newly Released Recording

THE INDEPENDENT: It is unclear when the recording was made, but whether he is alive or dead, wounded or healthy, the tone of the message was deliberately defiant and incendiary

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis, has purportedly issued a defiant call for followers to “erupt volcanoes of jihad everywhere”.

The 17-minute audio recording, in which he vowed to fight to the last man, was his first public statement since Iraqi officials reported he had been injured in air strikes last week.

In the recording, which appeared to be genuine but has still to be confirmed, the self-appointed “caliph” claimed the group now has bases in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Algeria.
Br /> He specifically called on Isis fighters to launch attacks in Saudi Arabia, particularly on its rulers, and in Yemen. A previous broadcast by al-Baghdadi is thought to have inspired militants in Algeria to kill and behead a Frenchman. » | Lewis Smith | Thursday, November 13, 2014

Britain Has Sold Its Soul with the Qatari Deal

David Cameron has signed a security agreement with the
Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al[-]Thani

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Our latest defence accord is with a country that plays host to terrorists at home and funds them abroad

Cars bearing the logos of Islamic State (Isil) drive around the streets. Within sight of the city centre lies the only official overseas mission of the Taliban. Jihadis sowing instability in perhaps 15 countries, from Algeria to Pakistan, direct their operations from pleasant villas in the suburbs – or, in the case of the terror group Hamas, from suites in the best hotels, where they can sometimes be seen relaxing by the pool.

The mosques host some of the world’s most influential extremist ideologues, their words pinged round the globe via their personal television channels. Hundreds of millions of pounds flow to organisations defined by Britain as terrorist, much of it from the government itself.

An official of that government, Salim Hasan Khalifa Rashid al‑Kuwari, channelled many such dollars to al-Qaeda while working for the interior ministry, according to the US Treasury department. The foreign minister’s cousin was detained in Lebanon, also for financing al-Qaeda; he was then convicted in his absence, after his government reportedly applied intense pressure on Lebanon to free him before trial.

This is Qatar, the country with which David Cameron has just signed a defence and security agreement. Did the deal, perhaps, include a promise by the Qataris to stop this sort of behaviour? Did it commit Qatar to end its support for the Islamist militias who have helped reduce Libya to anarchy, or to kick out the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood? It did not.

In fact, it was Britain that made the concessions, committing to share its classified intelligence and expertise with the Qatari state, and agreeing to work more closely with its security forces. We were told that Mr Cameron would talk tough at his meeting with the Emir of Qatar last week. Instead, he seems to have spent much of his time asking for money. Read on and comment » | Andrew Gilligan | Friday, November 07, 2014

My comment:

When I look at Cameron's visage in the newspapers, I see nothing but a weak, ineffectual fool of a man. By the time this man finishes, he's going to make Neville Chamberlain look like Genghis Khan!

Our country is certainly not safe in Cameron's hands.

I speak as a died-in-the-wool Conservative: The sooner we get rid of this clown, the better it will be for all of us. He's a menace to British society. – © Mark Alexander

This comment also appears here

People & Power: Algeria: The Revolution That Never Was

Does 'progressive leadership' or something more complex and sinister explain why Algeria's 'Spring' never materialised?

Yves Saint Laurent: Fashion on Film

Yves St Laurent was the original superstar designer

BBC: Yves Saint Laurent became head of one of the world's great fashion houses aged 21. Until his death half a century later in 2008, he was one of fashion's dominant figures. This year sees the release of two feature films about his tumultuous professional and private life. The first opens this week in the UK.

Earlier masters of Parisian couture such as Christian Dior or Cristobal Balenciaga shaped fashion around the world. But until Yves Saint Laurent, no designer found such personal fame with the public.

In the 1960s and 1970s he was a regular in gossip columns, photographed endlessly with the likes of the Rolling Stones, Andy Warhol and the most gorgeous models of the day.

Born in colonial Algeria in 1936, Saint Laurent became an extraordinary prodigy.

Always obsessed with fashion, as a painfully shy teenager he moved to Paris to work for Dior. Three years later, Christian Dior died and Saint Laurent took over as artistic director at just 21. Many in the fashion world were astounded but it was clear a star had arrived. » | Vincent Dowd | Arts Correspondent | BBC World Service | Wednesday, March 19, 2014

If Spain Welcomes Back Its Jews, Will Its Muslims Be Next?

The Alhambra in Granada, Andalusia, was built by Moors
beginning around AD 889, who officially stayed in Spain
for several centuries.

THE GUARDIAN: A proposed law will fast-track naturalisation of Jews whose ancestors were expelled 500 years ago. Now the descendants of Muslims who were ousted are also seeking the right to return

Perched dramatically on a rocky mountain, the small city of Toledo overlooks a bend in the Tagus river. Within its maze of cobblestone streets are buildings that once housed mosques, churches and synagogues, hinting at the varied cultures that once called this medieval city home.

Earlier this month, about 50 miles away from Toledo, the Spanish government sought to strengthen its ties with one of these cultures, announcing plans to fast-track the naturalisation of Sephardic Jews, whose ancestors were expelled five centuries ago from Spain.

The bill, said the Spanish government, would "correct a historical wrong". The legislation has yet to be approved by parliament, but already consulates in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem said they have been flooded with requests for information. Up to 3.5 million people around the world are thought to have Sephardic – Hebrew for "Spanish" – Jewish ancestry.

Now the descendants of another group who figured prominently in Spain's colourful past – before also being expelled – say it's only fair that the same right of return be extended to them.

Shortly after banishing the country's Jewish population, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand turned their attention to Spain's Muslims, forcing them to covert to Christianity or face expulsion. The Muslims who converted, known as Moriscos, often did so in name only, holding on tightly to their customs and traditions.

In the early 1600s – nearly 120 years after Jews in Spain were told to leave – the Moriscos were also expelled. An estimated 275,000 people were forcibly resettled, the majority of them heading to Morocco, some to Algeria and Tunisia.

A group representing Moriscos in Morocco recently sent a letter to Spain's King Juan Carlos asking the country to make the same conciliatory gesture to the descendants of Muslims. Speaking from Rabat, the president of L'Association pour la Mémoire des Andalous strongly criticised Spain's double standard in offering to naturalise the descendants of Jews ousted from Spain but not Muslims. The Spanish government "should grant the same rights to all those who were expelled", Najib Loubaris told news agency EFE. "Otherwise the decision is selective, not to mention racist." » | Ashifa Kassam in Madrid | Monday, February 24, 2014