Aangirfan: The Battle of Algiers

Wednesday, 25 October 2023

At 26 October 2023 at 05:27 , Anonymous said...: Am seeing it suggested that Algeria's independence win against colonial France is the model for Palestine to win now.

France also thought Algeria was 'France', their 'ancient lands', the French there since the 1830s. France had everything, all the power, even 'nuclear weapons' starting in 1960, which some French talked about using against Muslims at the time.

But the waves of Muslim fighters were just too much, and the French hold finally collapsed.

And now we have tens of millions of Muslims ready to give their lives for Palestine, while most Israelis of means have a 2nd passport, quietly knowing that time may run out for 'greater Israel'.

Algeria was where the famous Martinique-born psychiatrist, Frantz Fanon (1925-1961) practiced, documenting the trauma of colonialism in his 'Wretched of the Earth' and other profound books.

Fanon noted how colonialism harms the minds of the occupier as well as the occupied. He also spoke of how one shouldn't over-romanticise the victims, as their trauma leads not only to violence against the occupier, but sometimes to bursts of anger at others generally. Fanon also spoke of how the 'coloniser mentality' haunted post-colonial governments, their corruption and poor conduct another lingering result of colonisation.