They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. In the context of colonial history, the saying could be rephrased: the colonizer doesn’t fall far from Europe either. When push comes to shove, those European passports become quite handy for defending ancestral homelands. This brings us to a discussion on settler colonialism and its far-reaching impacts.
The Long Shadow of French Colonialism
Moving westward, we find ourselves in Algeria, the land of Emir Abd al-Qadir Al-Jaza’iri. From 1830 until the end of the Algerian War of Independence in 1962, Algeria was under the brutal occupation of the French Republic. Yes, you read that right—132 years of mass murder, dispossession, and subjugation of Algerians by a people whose only claim to the land was rooted in historical delusion.
The parallels between the French occupation of Algeria and the current Israeli occupation of Palestine are not coincidental. Both are European settler projects, imbued with a white savior complex and an astonishingly high degree of entitlement to land that is not theirs. Both France in the past and Israel currently attempt to construct an image of a benevolent, morally upright champion of freedom and democracy while systematically carrying out the most atrocious acts of violence, exploitation, and dehumanization of the occupied.
The Legacy of Emir Abdelkader
In the fervent struggle to break the chains of colonialism, there can be no true fraternity to the Palestinian resistance than that of the Algerian people. The legacy of Emir Abdelkader El Djezairi, a venerated Islamic scholar and military leader born in 1808, inspired one of the greatest and bloodiest anti-colonial struggles in recent history.
Raised under the auspices of his father, a notable spiritual leader of the Qadiri Sufi order, Abdelkader had memorized the Quran by the age of 14 and was well-versed in traditional Islamic sciences, philosophy, medicine, and mathematics. His struggle against the French colonial invasion was one of chivalry and courage that even his staunchest enemies praised. Through expert guerrilla tactics, strategic negotiation, and visionary leadership, Abdelkader led a 15-year struggle that was an absolute menace to French colonial ambition. However, the French resorted to ruthless tactics of violence, forcing him to surrender and face exile. He retired to a life of devotion and scholarship, passing away in 1883, never having set foot back in his beloved homeland.
The Path to Independence
Fast forward to the decades leading up to the Algerian War of Independence, the French tightened their brutal grip on power, sensing the brewing currents of resistance. Unlike other French colonies, Algeria was considered an extension of mainland France, completely stripping Algerians of their right to self-governance. Over one million French and European settlers called Algeria home, sold on the belief of a new life in France’s new promised land.
The French occupiers enacted some of the most egregious acts of violence ever documented in modern history. The Sétif genocide of May 1945 witnessed the massacre of up to 45,000 Algerian Muslims in a matter of days. Routine torture and execution of civilians, collective punishment, systematic rape and sexual violence against Algerian women, and psychological warfare through state orchestrated propaganda were all part of the colonial regime’s tactics.
Icons of Resistance
Amidst this savagery, iconic figures of the Algerian resistance rose from the ashes. Figures like Mustafa Ben-boulaid, Djamila Bouhired, Zohra Drif, and Ali La Pointe were part of the National Liberation Front, taking on one of Europe’s most militarily robust armies. These fearless fighters, many in their youth, designed and executed highly sophisticated war strategies and developed extensive intelligence networks that caught the French off guard. Their fight for liberation became a beacon of hope for the Global South as anti-colonial movements spread like wildfire.
After seven and a half grueling years, the Algerian people successfully expelled the French from their homeland, bringing forth a new era. The ferocity of the Algerian resistance and their subsequent victory left a lasting trauma for France. The facade of Western exceptionalism began to collapse, as prominent French figures like Frantz Fanon lambasted Western intellectual and political discourse for its orientalist conceit.
The Lasting Impact of Frantz Fanon
Frantz Fanon, a French West Indies psychiatrist, anti-colonial revolutionary, and radical political philosopher, experienced the overt racism and depravity of the French military firsthand. Treating both French torturers and Algerian victims of war transformed him into a revolutionary intellectual. Fanon concluded that the colonized must not count on the benevolence of their captors for liberty but must fight for it by radical means.
Lessons for Today
The colonial enterprise in both Palestine and Algeria is a deeply malicious exercise of power upheld and protected by the global world order. Time and time again, the only response to the slaughter of Muslims is theatrical displays of moral distress and empty slogans of “never again.” The silence and apathy of global governing bodies like the UN ensure that justice is served only when it serves the powerful.
What the resistance movements in Palestine and Algeria show us is that in order to resist and dismantle the colonial architecture of our world, we must first recognize the colonial logic that weaves itself through each story of resistance. Colonization never ended; it simply adapted. It sits in the world’s highest seats of power, safeguarded by the military-industrial complex, dominating institutions of so-called intellectual freedom, and pervading the most mundane aspects of our lives.
This is not a call for despair but one of hope. The likes of Emir Abdelkader, Mustafa Ben-boulaid, and Frantz Fanon are just a few names among the millions of faces of revolution. They were men and women, just like us, who refused to accept that one person’s contributions cannot change the course of history. In the depths of darkness, they carried dreams of a new birth, knowing that the power of their oppressors, no matter how fortified or long-lived, is never immutable. May we be given a fraction of their courage to speak truth to power.
