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Algiers in the Mid-Twentieth Century: From Anti-Colonial Resistance to the Mecca of Third World Revolution
Following the Algerian War of Independence and the defeat of France in 1962, Algiers became the liberation capital of the Third World and an inspiration to revolutionaries from South Africa to Palestine. As a young American Elaine Mokhtefi woman immersed herself in the Algerian struggle and after 1962 found a home there working as a journalist and translator and marrying the Algerian writer and liberation war veteran Mokhtar Mokhtefi; a political journey that led her to meet Frantz Fanon, Ahmed Ben Bella, Eldridge Cleaver and Nina Simone.
Within this conversation we will explore her experiences of this revolutionary culture, including the pivotal Pan-African Festival in Algiers in 1969, and the impact of the Algerian anti-colonial struggle which is at the heart of remarkable memoirs by her deceased husband, Mokhtar Mokhtefi I Was A French Muslim: Memories of an Algerian Freedom Fighter (Other Press, New York, 2021).
Elaine Mohtefi is a painter and journalist. She is the author of Algiers: Third World Capital ( Verso, London, 2018).
This webinar has been organised by the the Middle East and North Centre Centre at Sussex (MENACS) and the Resistance Studies Network at the University of Sussex.