I Was A French Muslim: Memories of an Algerian Freedom Fighter

(Hardback)

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GQ- Best of Modern Middle Eastern Literature This engaging memoir provides a vivid account of a childhood under French colonization and a life dedicated to fighting for the freedom and dignity of the Algerian people. The son of a butcher and the youngest of six siblings, Mokhtar Mokhtefi was born in 1935 and grew up in a village de colonisation roughly one hundred kilometers south of the capital of Algiers. Thanks to the efforts of a supportive teacher, he became the only child in the family to progress to high school, attending a French lycee thatdeepened his belief in the need for independence.In 1957, at age twenty-two, he joined the National Liberation Army (ALN), the armed wing of the National Liberation Front (FLN), which had been waging war against France since 1954. After completing rigorous training in radio transmissions at a military base in Morocco, he went on to become an officer in the infamous Minist re de l'Armement et des Liaisons Generales (MALG), the precursor of post-independence Algeria's Military Security (SM). Mokhtefi's powerful memoir bears witness to the extraordinary men and women who fought for Algerian independence against a colonial regime that viewed non-Europeans as fundamentally inferior, designating them not as French citizens, but as "French Muslims." He presents a nuanced, intelligent, and deeply personal perspective on Algeria's transition to independent statehood, with all its inherent opportunities and pitfalls.

Reviews

A rebel and freedom fighter, Elaine Mokhtefi translates their remarkable life in her husbands memoir[I Was a French Muslim] is heterodox to other memoirs of the period in part due to its portrayal of religion and its portrayal of European settlers as individuals. Washington Post

The life of the late Mokhtefi (19352015), a key figure in Algerias struggle for independence, is vividly depicted in this stunning translationThis multifaceted story inspires. Publishers Weekly

Mokhtefi was able to reconstruct the sights and sounds of life in his village of Berrouaghia and the constant pressure he felt to be [a French Muslim]moving. Alice Kaplan, The Nation

[An] eyewitness account of a revolutionarys disillusionment with the revolution to free Algeria not only from France, but from its own lack of political enlightenmentAn intelligent chronicle. Kirkus Reviews

Mokhtefis witty commentary illuminates his buoyancy even in the midst of destruction and heartbreakHis story is a page-turnerhis colorful portrayal of the character of time, place, and people in colonial, wartime Algeria provides captivating reading, as well as context for the relations between France and Algeria then and now. The Markaz Review

Mokhtar Mokhtefis autobiography holds an original position in the panorama of increasingly abundant memoirs of veterans of the war fought by the Algerian Front de Libration Nationale (FLN) against France between 1954 and 1962For freedom of tone, irreverence, assumed subjectivity, as well as for the elegance of a swift and precise style, the work is also an anomaly. Journal of North African Studies

Dashing and charismatic, Mokhtar Mokhtefi dedicated himself to the liberation of his country, French-occupied Algeria, only to become an exile in France, then in the US, because the post-independence government could not tolerate a man of his integrity and democratic principles. Instead of succumbing to bitterness, nostalgia, or vanity, the sanctuary of many political exiles, he remained faithful to the ideals of self-determination and freedom that had led him into the liberation struggle. And at the very end of his life, he wrote this powerful memoir of his revolutionary years, lyrical in its evocation of the Algerian independence movement, yet keenly aware of the tragic dimensions of that history. I Was a French Muslimfluently translated by his widow, the writer, artist, and activist Elaine Klein Mokhtefiis more than a chronicle of one mans life; it is the story of a generation, abildungsromanof the Algerian freedom struggle.Adam Shatz, contributing editor at the London Review of Books

I Was a French Muslim is an extraordinary documenta lively and moving record of colonial life and anticolonial struggle narrated with generosity, eloquence, and candor. Mokhtar Mokhtefis memoir is a rare beast, a powerful and all-too-human tale of revolutionary striving and disappointment, shorn of romance but full of grace.Ben Ehrenreich, author of The Way to the Spring and Desert Notebooks

The tale of the decolonized is well-known. They are born by degrees, they awaken to injustice, they combat it, and then they die, quite soon or perhaps later, they or their convictions. Their tale is the glory of the dead. Except here: this is a tale of life, told in its praise. Before Victory freezes life and lifes palpitations. Kamel Daoud, author of The Meursault Investigation and Zabor, or The Psalms

Mokhtar Mokhtefi and I met and became friends in the last year of his life. We spent hours discussing the manuscript of his memoir; it was his reason for being. He had two essential objectives: one was to remind todays youth that under colonialism one was never a citizen but a French Muslim, a subhuman being, treated as such. His second goal was to display how independent Algeria, as other former colonies, became the continuation of colonization, in the form of dictatorship. The colonialists departed but would be replaced by Algerians who in effect colonized fellow Algerians, and it is not over. Amara Lakhous, author of Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio

Mokhtar Mokhtefis singular memoir of Algerias War of Liberation has something for every readera vivid portrait of a young mans rise to political consciousness under the French colonial system, a blow-by-blow account of military training and combat that will be of great interest to historians. A gifted storyteller, Mokhtefi communicates an infectious love of country, yet he firmly dispenses with the pieties of official nationalism by depicting infighting, internal purges, and political ambitions within the nationalist ranks. I Was a French Muslim has been brilliantly translated from the French by the person closest to the authorhis widow, Elaine Klein Mokhtefi, in her own right a talented writer and veteran of the Algerian Revolution. Madeleine Dobie, Professor of French & Comparative Literature, Columbia University

This memoir is history written in real-time, intimate and compelling. Yet Mokhtefi never loses sight of the larger historical importance of his personal commitment and the wider dimensions, and potential dangers, of the Algerian struggle for independence. A book to be read by any serious student of the tangled relationship between France and Algeria, past and present. Andrew Hussey, Professor of Cultural History, University of London, and author of Speaking East: The Strange and Enchanted Life of Isidore Isou

This marvelous book takes the reader inside the society of Muslim Algeria in the late colonial period, then inside the evolving anticolonial nationalist movement, and finally inside the National Liberation Army (ALN) and its fledgling signal corps, conveying with savory details the particular flavor of each, while recounting the authors step-by-step road to freedom in the process of transcending his original condition of a second-class Frenchman denied citizenship in his own country. The narrative of a free spirit if ever there was one, told in an extraordinarily engaging tone of voice faithfully captured by Elaine Mokhtefis translation, this is one of the finest memoirs of the Algerian national revolutionfascinating, moving, and a delight to read from start to finish.Hugh Roberts, Edward Keller Professor of North African and Middle Eastern History, Tufts University

Sixty years after Algeria won its independence from France, the individuals who formed the backbone of the liberation movement remain, with a few exceptions, anonymous actors. The publication of Mokhtar Mokhtefis war chronicles, I Was a French Muslim: Memories of an Algerian Freedom Fighter, brings one such actorand his entourageout of the wings and onto the stage of world history. For those unfamiliar with the Algerian War for Independence, this historical fresco in the first person offers a gripping account of life in colonial Algeria and a poignant tale of a generations struggle for self-determination. Expert readersespecially those steeped in the lore of Pontecorvos The Battle of Algierswill be struck by Mokhtefis version of events, which sidesteps that perhaps most famous episode of the war, preferring instead to expose the daily grind of logistics and politics that was rural warfare. If Mokhtefis experiences seem far removed from spectacular urban warfare of an Ali La Pointe, his account of one of the worlds longest-lasting liberation struggles is at once more politically complex, and, ultimately, more personal. Lia Brozgal, Associate Professor, French and Francophone Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

In chronicling his personal journey from French Muslim to Algerian freedom fighter, Mokhtar Mokhtefi leads the reader, with candor and humor, through Algerias transition from colonial territory to independent nation. Keenly attuned to the complexities of both colonial society and the nationalist struggle, Mokhtefis memoir eschews simplistic narratives in favor of a richly detailed, nuanced portrait of Algerian history, and of the men and women who shaped it during these pivotal decades. Claire Eldridge, Associate Professor in Modern History, University of Leeds

I Was a French Muslim is an astonishing eyewitness account of twentieth-century Algeria by Mokhtar Mokhtefi, an anticolonial activist who was on the front line of this history. Brilliantly portraying the anger and disaffection that drove Algerians to rebel against French rule, the book is equally unsparing about the divisions which beset the National Liberation Front and shaped post-independence. A remarkable book that is required reading for anyone interested in the history of the Global South.Martin Evans,Professor of Modern European History,University of Sussex, and author of Algeria: Frances Undeclared War

This coming-of-age story follows the transformation of a young boy into a man of conviction and a colonized country into an independent nation. Neither saccharine nor cynical, Mokhtar Mokhtefis memoir skillfully depicts the struggle of French Muslims during French colonial rule and the Algerian revolution while also foreshadowing the paradoxes and unfulfilled promises of independence. This graceful translation from French provides much-needed access for Anglophone students of history. His memoir will surely take a central place among autobiographies and memoirs of the era for its balanced and compassionate evocation of the tensions of nationalism andequally importantfor its exploration of a young mans political awakening. Elise Franklin, Assistant Professor, University of Louisville

Mokhtar Mokhtefis (19352015) gripping memoir, IWas a French Muslim, recounts meticulosity both his life

Author Bio

Mokhtar Mokhtefi, born in Algeria in 1935, joined the National Liberation Army (ALN) in 1957. Trained as a radio operator, he became head of a communications unit during the Algerian War. After independence, he was elected president of the General Union of Algerian Muslim Students and went on to study sociology and economics at universities in Algiers and Paris. After living in France and publishing several books on North Africa and the Arab world for young adults, he moved to New York in 1994. He died in 2015, and his memoir, I Was a French Muslim, was published in Algeria the following year. Elaine Mokhtefi was born in New York City and raised in small towns in New York and Connecticut. She lived for many years in France and Algeria, where she worked as a translator and journalist, and is the author of Algiers, Third World Capital- Freedom Fighters, Revolutionaries, Black Panthers. She is the widow of Mokhtar Mokhtefi.