#tahiya all djazair horra

[sissa-arrows]

Happy Independence Day to my beloved Algeria.

Allah yarham chouhada.

Translation of the testimony of a man who lived through that day as a child.

“July 5th 1962: The independence of Algeria. What can I say: the joy in the streets, people colonized for 132 years gaining back their freedom… I was a kid of the Casbah, I was 12 back then. The moment was crazy and filled with euphoria. The French of Algeria (colonizers) had started to leave in May and they were leaving faster now. For them it was “A coffin or a suitcase”(1). They didn’t see it any other way. Bab El Oued, Michelet street and Isly street(2) were emptied of their residents. During the last days, they were panicking. The “yes” had gotten 99,72% to the referendum of July 1st, the first loyal voting process in 132 years(3).

For at least 10 days, Algiers wasn’t a city anymore but an endless party. Women were not talking anymore we only heard their zagharit(4) all day long. Children were children again. The older ones too. There was a sort of happy anarchy. It was a permanent happiness, an event I will never forget even if I was to lose my mind. After the constant persecutions, the constant fear and nightmares, it was like a divine revelation and a new birth.

They (the French colonizers) called us Muslims, Arabs, savages(5) but never Algerians. The Arabs who were barbaric, lazy and filled with excessive pride. The contempt from the Europeans and the humiliations made the Algerian into a bad guy, a rebel, a revolutionary filled with the desire for freedom and justice.

Being able to live without that fear, imagining that we were able to move freely, screaming our joy without having to justify ourselves it was something unheard of, it was almost unbelievable. They forbade us to be Algerians, strangers in our own land, us the b****, t**** d* f******, r*****, c********, s*****, b*********, (6) subhumans, on that day everything was allowed everything seemed possible.”

[…]

“The biggest joy was the return of my two brothers. They came back home alive and safe, in a free country after having be jailed in Serkadji and condemned to the death penalty.

During their absence, weapons and money was hidden under my parents’ bed. I always had a gun hidden in my school bag.

[…]

With armed friends we went in the European neighborhood, on the cars’ hoods, screaming happily ��Tahia El Djazair” (long live to Algeria).

I actually hurt myself falling from a truck in Lyre street. July 5th 1962 will stay for me an unforgettable party. The historical festive atmosphere, cemented in my memory. Even with my mouth filled with blood and two broken tooth.”

Notes:

1: There a myth that the colonizers were threatened. There was some well deserved threats toward the ones who fought against the independence. The other ones were allowed to stay ONLY if they took the Algerian citizenship and considered Algerians as their equals. But they refused and left. They saw staying in Algeria with indigenous Algerians being equal to them as death.

2: The places named here were famous for having a very important population of colonizers. And like all colonizers they were very violent.

3: At the end of the war and to try to calm down the French colonizers a referendum for the independence of Algeria was organized. It was the first and only time all Algerians (actual Algerians) were allowed to vote and their vote were equal to white people’s vote.

4: He uses the word “Indigenes” which means indigenous or native but the French didn’t use it as a way to acknowledge we were indigenous to the land unlike them they used it a synonym for savage so that’s how I’m translating it.

5: zagharit are happy ululation we make during moments of happiness and joy (talking for Algeria specifically other SWANA countries do it for other reasons too).

6: Those are all anti Algerian slurs… when I say that France hates us. Who the fuck has that many slurs for ONE group of people only?! And they are not all on the list…

[sissa-arrows]

Note here so people see it: If you send me an ask and I don’t reply it means tumblr deleted it before I got to answer. It keeps happening I’m sorry I’m not ignoring you. Unless it’s a racist ask then I’m totally ignoring you.

Pinned post with a presentation and the meaning of some words and expression I might use.

Starting with posts I suggest you.

List of some of the victims of police violence in France (not updated since I posted it)

Ressources about Western Sahara

Ressources about French colonialism in Algeria

Algerian movies and movies about Algeria or Algerians (the original post and the first reblog has Algerian movies only, the third one has French movies too as well as documentaries and I cannot vouch for all of them some are… well they are what they are)

Things for which the French blame Muslims

An ask about settlers and my answer about what it means and those who can and cannot be redeemed

Me:

Siham/Sissa, 29, Algerian and very proud of it (born and raised in France also have the French citizenship but France keep telling me I’m not French and Algeria keep telling me I’m a daughter of our land so the choice was made for me).

Firm believer of the right to self determination and the right to resist colonialism in any way. So if you don’t stand with Palestine and Western Sahara you’re not my ally.

I don’t want you to pretend to support us under my posts if you’re not willing to give that same support to Palestinians and Sahrawi people. Your fake support meant to make yourself look and feel good is not needed and certainly not wanted.

There’s no such thing as a neutral or innocent colonizer/settler. If you believe they exist you’re not my ally.

You can ask questions I will try to answer the best I can that being said I’m not here to coddle you if I feel like insulting you because you’re being a racist piece of shit I will insult you. I don’t believe in “being mean with racists only prove them right” bitches already refuse to see us as humans my fuck you won’t change anything.

I’m also a feminist (screw white feminism).

Homophobes and transphobes can go choke on their own hatred their “ally ship” is not wanted either under my posts.

Some definitions:

Shahid (plural shouhada): it’s supposed to mean martyr in a religious sense BUT in Algeria we use it for freedom fighters who were killed as well as those who fought and died during the war because they were sick or wounded regardless of their religion. Frantz Fanon for example is considered to be a Shahid and as such is buried in the Shouhada square of the cemetery.

Moudjahid (plural moudjahidine): again it’s supposed to be a religious term to designate people who fight to protect Islam but in Algeria we use it for all freedom fighters who fought for the independence. Maurice Audin was not Muslim but he is considered to be a Moudjahid.

Allah yarham *…*: It means “May God have mercy on *…*. It’s the proper thing to say when talking about a Muslim who died. I will use it mostly when talking about the Shouhada here but that’s something you’re supposed to say for all Muslims who died.

Tahiya Al djazair (horra): Long live to (a free) Algeria. The horra is optional.

Pied noir: A European settler in Algeria and ONLY in Algeria