Djamila bouhired biography of donald

Algeria 2009

Two Open Letters From Djamila Bouhired

Source: El Watan, December 13, 2009;
Translated: for marxists.org by Mitchell Abidor;
CopyLeft: Creative Commons (Attribute & ShareAlike) marxists.org.

Translator’s note: Djamila Bouhired was the living symbol of the Algerian war for independence. Member of the FLN, liaison officer under Yacef Saadi during the battle of Algiers, she was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death in 1957 for her role in the wave of attacks immortalized by the filmmaker Gillo Pontecovo in his “Battle of Algiers.” Her life saved as a result of an international campaign led by Georges Arnaud and her lawyer and future husband, Jacques Vergès, she was only released from prison in 1962. In December 2009, in an independent Algeria that had left its revolutionary roots far behind, she sent two open letters to the French-language Algiers daily, “El Watan,” decrying her plight and that of her fellow freedom fighters.

December 9, 2009

To Mr. President of an Algeria That I Wanted to See Independent:

Allow me to draw your attention to my critical situation. My retirement benefits and the small war pension I receive do not allow me to live properly: my grocer, my butcher, and my supermarket can testify to the credit they advance me. It has never occurred to me to supplement my revenue with the fraudulent activities that unfortunately are so frequent in my country. I know that certain moujahiddine and moujahidate are in the same situation, probably even more critical. I don’t pretend to represent them here, but in your position you don’t and can’t know their poverty. These brothers and sisters, whose integrity is well known, have not benefited from any advantages. The sum that would be allocated to them would not exceed the generous honoraria paid to deputies and senators or those paid to yourself and all those pensioners who surround you. And so I would ask you that you cease humil

Algerian militant (born 1938)

Not to be confused with Djamila Bouhired.

Djamila Boupacha (Arabic: جميلة بوباشا, born 9 February 1938) is a former militant from the Algerian National Liberation Front. She was arrested in 1960 for attempting to bomb a cafe in Algiers.

Her confession, which was purportedly obtained by means of torture and rape, and her subsequent trial affected French public opinion about the methods used by the French army in Algeria after publicity by Simone de Beauvoir and Gisèle Halimi. Boupacha was sentenced to death on 29 June 1961, but was given amnesty under the Evian Accords and later freed on 21 April 1962.

Early life

Djamila Boupacha was born on 9 February 1938, in Saint-Eugène (today Bologhine) to an uneducated but French-speaking father (Abdelaziz Boupacha) and a mother (Zoubida Amarouche) who did not speak French.

She joined the Democratic Union of the Algerian Manifesto (UDMA) of Ferhat Abbas in 1953, at the age of 15, and later the National Liberation Front (FLN) in 1951. During the Algerian War, she used the nom de guerre Khelida.

FLN work, arrest, and torture

Early in the Algerian War, Boupacha worked as a trainee at Béni Messous Hospital but was prevented from taking a certificate in training because of her race and religion. This setback played a role in her rejection of the French colonial system in Algeria.

On 10 February 1960, French troops raided Boupacha's household and arrested her, her father and her brother-in-law. She was accused of having planted a bomb -- defused by army deminers -- at the Brasserie des facultés on 27 September 1959 in Algiers.

The arrestees were taken to a military barracks at El Biar where they were beaten and interrogated. Boupacha was later transferred and reportedly tortured at the prison of Hussein Dey. The torture purportedly included sexual violence, burning her breasts and legs with cigare

[”A Profile from the Archives“ is a new series published by Jadaliyya in both Arabic and English in cooperation with the Lebanese newspaper, Assafir. These profiles will feature iconic figures who left indelible marks in the politics and culture of the Middle East and North Africa.]

Name: Djamila
Known as: Bouhired
Date of birth: 1935
Spouse: Jacques Vergès
Date of marriage: 1965
Children: Maryam/Lias
Nationality: Algeria
Category: Political activist

Djamila Bouhired

- Algerian (struggler, one of three Djamilas known in the history of Algerian struggle, including her, Djamila Bu Azza, and Djamila Bu Basha).

- Born in 1935 in Al-Qasaba neighborhood to an Algerian father and Tunisian mother in a middle class family. She was the only daughter among seven sons.

- She went to a French school that used to force students to sing the anthem “France is our mother” every morning, but Djamila, due to her participation in the Algerian struggle since her school days, used to sing “Algeria is our mother,” which drove the French headmaster to severely punish her.

- When the Algerian revolution broke out in 1954, she joined the Algerian Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) when she was twenty years old. She joined the Fedayeen later and was the first to volunteer to plant bombs in the roads used by the French during the occupation. Due to her heroic acts she became "most wanted."

- On 26 January 1957, she started her journey of struggle when she detonated a time bomb in a club visited frequently by French youth doing their military service in Algeria. Several bombings ensued.

- On 9 April 1957, she was arrested by a patrol of the occupation after she was shot in her leg. The patrol found documents with her along with letters and a lot of money, which proved that she had a connection with the commander of the Algerian Fedayeen, Yasif Saadi.

- When she was subjected to torture, she state