Is Algeria Still Defined by its Liberation Struggle?
Over 60 years after escaping French rule, Algerian memory of the War of Independence remains a thorny issue.
‘The war gave rise to an anti-colonial hyper-memory: one where the fallen are a constant presence’
Martin Evans, Professor of Modern European History at the University of Sussex and author of Algeria: France’s Undeclared War (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Any answer must start with independence, when the anti-colonial struggle led by Algeria’s National Liberation Front (FLN) became the cornerstone of the new nation state. Inscribed in the 1963 constitution as a ‘war of one and a half million martyrs’, this sacrosanct status gave rise to an anti-colonial hyper-memory: one where the fallen are a constant presence, from monuments to street names, football stadiums and airports.
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