Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Yasmina Allouche
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Profile: Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria’s longest serving president (2 March 1937-17 September 2021)
Algeria’s longest reigning president Abdelaziz Bouteflika will be remembered as the man who helped Algeria transition from a brutal decade-long war, and reshaped the country’s international standing after years of isolation, but also the man who used reforms and amendments to stay in office for life. Born on 2...
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The cases of Shamima Begum and Rahaf Mohammed tell us a lot about how we define victimhood
Behind every headline there is a multi-layered story, and behind some stories there is a Muslim reading it and rolling their eyes. This is particularly true if you are a Muslim woman scrolling online; at least one eye-roll a day is mandatory. On one hand you have teenagers fleeing...
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#FBFightsPalestine
Activists launched the #FBFightsPalestine media campaign against Facebook (FB) this week to condemn Facebook’s deliberate targeting of pages which support Palestinian rights. Social media users across Twitter and Facebook used the hashtag #FBFightsPalestine to draw attention to the campaign. Coordinated by Sada Social Centre, the campaign began on Tuesday evening this...
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Arab fashion rocks the runway at London Fashion Week
After the resounding success of Stories from Morocco, which debuted at London Fashion Week in 2017, this year saw the introduction of fashion platform Stories from Arabia which showcased elite designers from around the Middle East and North Africa and their creative skill and craft through their collections. In...
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The 1982 Hama Massacre
What: Massacre and siege of Hama Where: Hama, Syria When: 2 February-28 February 1982 What happened? Since the 1940s, clashes between the secular Ba’ath Party of Syria and the Muslim Brotherhood were common. The city of Hama became known as a Brotherhood stronghold and the centre of anti-regime uprisings....
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‘It makes no sense’: an Irish mother’s fight to return her 3 abducted children from Algeria
On a summer’s evening in July 2015, three young children were taken by their father from Ireland to Algeria while their mother waited for them at home. Kamel Fekkar was supposed to be on a routine visit, so the children’s mother, Gina Davis, from Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, “wasn’t expecting...
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Western Sahara explainer
The Western Sahara is a region on North Africa’s Atlantic coast that borders Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania and which has been the subject of contention for the last 42 years. About 570,000 Sahrawis live in the region, the vast majority in refugee camps along Algeria’s border for the last 26...
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Macron’s money mission in moving beyond Algeria’s past
Young and brimming with enthusiasm, the then presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron created shock waves when he visited Algeria earlier this year and described France’s 132-year colonial period boldly as a “crime against humanity”. Ten months later, France’s youngest-ever President adopted a more traditional conciliatory tone during his 12 hour...
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Profile: Ahmed Ben Bella, first president of Algeria (25 December 1916 – 11 April 2012)
Ahmed Ben Bella’s intelligence, ambition and love of his country marked him as a natural leader. Born on 25 December 1918 in the Algerian town of Marnia to Moroccan parents, he showed promise from a young age. Ben Bella’s father believed the same and moved his birth year to...
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#SaudiMovieTitles
Today Saudi Arabia announced it will open cinemas in the Kingdom next year for the first time in 35 years. The move is part of a series of social reforms by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to shake up the ultra-conservative Kingdom. The government will begin licensing cinemas with...
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A Moroccan story through fashion
London Fashion Week kicked off in the British capital last week and for the first time included a debut of Moroccan fashion as Stories from Morocco was launched. Spanning two days, De Vere Connaught Rooms venue was transformed into Morocco where global Moroccan designers unveiled their collections and showcased...
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Bringing hope to Syria this Christmas through song
Filling the beautiful Speaker House in the House of Commons with song, Hands Up Foundation launched Singing for Syrians for a third year, raising funds for Syrians affected by the last six years of war. Victoria Prentis, the Member of Parliament for North Oxfordshire, hosted the Parliamentary launch and...
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‘If I don’t give myself hope, I will not survive,’ says sister of Egypt detainee
“A day where I witnessed with my own eyes humanity being demolished.” That’s what Fatima Halawa, 26, replies when asked what the word “Rabaa” reminds her of. Memories of what happened on 14 August 2013 in Cairo’s Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square remain painful for those who suffered abuse at first...
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Remembering the 1952 Egyptian Revolution
What: Egyptian Revolution of 1952 Where: Cairo, Egypt When: July 22-26, 1952 What happened? The Egyptian army’s failures became evident after the Arab-Israeli war in 1948 with many of the serving officers accusing King Farouk of abandoning them. Lieutenant Colonel Gamel Abdel Nasser, who served in the war, formed...
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Remembering Algeria’s Independence Day
What: Algeria gains independence from France after 132 years Where: Algeria When: 5 July 1962 What Happened? Algeria’s war of independence against colonial France, which had occupied the country for 132 years, began on 1 November 1954 and was led by the National Liberation Front (FLN). The guerrilla warfare...
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#Wear_Algerian_for_Eid
The celebratory holiday of Eid this week had a traditional twist as Algerians took to social media to launch the hashtag #Wear_Algerian_for_Eid in a bid to encourage locals to tap into their country’s culture and don traditional wear for the occasion. Muslims traditionally wear new clothes and plan special...
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50 years of arrests, evictions and interrogations for Palestinian children
The condition of Palestinian children, who have lived under occupation for the last five decades, was the main concern raised at the congressional meeting held yesterday by Ramallah-based NGO Defence for Children International Palestine (DCIP). The panel of experts and lawyers spoke about the daily, systematic abuse Palestinians are...
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Remembering the massacre of 45,000 Algerians
What: French massacre of Algerians When: 8 May 1945 Where: Setif, Guelma and surrounding areas What Happened? As Europe celebrated the beginning of the end of World War II with Germany surrendering on 8 May 1945, thousands of Algerian men, women and children were mobilised by the French in...
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How the empty ballot boxes echo Algeria’s hollow hope
As Algerians take to the ballot box today to vote in the country’s legislative elections, campaigns boycotting the vote have received more attention in the last couple of days as politicians make last ditch attempts to urge people to vote. The latest campaign of #mansotich (a play on words...
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The politics of being Berber
Demonstrations, strikes, school boycotts, riots and arrests have been the norm in a cyclical manner in relations between the ruling Arab authority and the Berber region in Algeria for the past two decades. What has become an unbridgeable schism separating the two divides is tension often exploited by the...
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Algeria’s repression of the Berber uprising
What: The 1980 Berber Spring Where: Tizi Ouzou, Algeria When: 20 April 1980 What Happened? On 10 March 1980, Algiers’ decision to cancel a conference in the University of Tizi Ouzou by renowned Kabyle (Berber) poet Mouloud Mammaeri because of the “risk of public unrest” sparked a rebellion. Protests...
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A Night with Mahmoud Darwish
MEMO presented its first poetry evening last night in honour of renowned Palestinian poet and political activist Mahmoud Darwish to a packed crowd at SOAS University. The night was dedicated to remembering Darwish’s powerful work on Palestine and highlighting the power of art in honouring causes of importance. Remi...
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Discover the Botanical Garden of Algiers, Algeria
When thinking of visiting North Africa few people would choose Algeria as their first destination choice; not because it doesn’t have a lot to offer but simply due to the lack of knowledge and misconceptions surrounding the country. 132 years of French occupation and a crippling civil war in...
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Why France’s colonial chapter in Algeria is anything but history
Election season can be a circus at the best of times but in France it comes with a dose of controversy. Recent comments by presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron referring to France’s colonialism in Algeria as a “crime against humanity” has caused uproar from one end and mediocre reactions from...