SOAS marks 60 years of Algeria’s independence with symposium
27 June 2022
On 3rd July 1962, Algeria proclaimed its independence from France. Algeria's struggle and victory against French imperialism inspired many anti-colonial revolutions in Africa and the Global South.
Amílcar Cabral, writer and leader in the Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde independence movements, famously declared that ' Christians go to the Vatican, Muslims go to Mecca, revolutionaries go to Algiers' .
Sixty years on, what is the legacy of the Algerian revolution in Africa and beyond?
The SOAS Centre for African Studies and the Algeria Embassy in London will bring together key experts for a symposium in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Algeria's independence on Friday 1 July 2022 at 2.30pm - 5pm. This conference is a hybrid event that will take place at the SOAS Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre and via Zoom.
Discussions will include:
- How and why Algeria became the global centre of Third World revolutions in the 1960s
- Britain’s policy towards the Algerian War between 1954 and 1962
- Higher education in Algeria after independence
- Making the Case for Colonialism and Colonial Studies in MENA knowledge production.
Historians, anthropologists and international relations experts from University of Oran, University of Algiers and University of Tlemcen in Algeria will join a panel to discuss the country's past, present and future.
The conference will be moderated by Dr Arthur Asseraf from Cambridge University and Dr Aicha Belkadi of SOAS University of London.
Reflecting on the revolution today, Hamed Oussama SALHI, Cultural Attaché at the Embassy of Algeria in London said:
"The Algerian revolution is typical of the history of colonisation. Historical France annexed Algeria and considered it a French department for many decades. The Algerian people, considered as indigenous by the french colonisers, did not stop demanding the restoration of their sovereignty during 132 years of colonisation.
This claim, which took the form of popular, political and diplomatic resistance, was not successful. The Revolution of 1st November 1954 was an imperative in the face of French blockage and obstruction.
Independent Algeria inherited an economic and social disaster. The new state did not have the necessary managers and technicians to build it. Despite the obstacles, Algeria was able to find its way among the revolutionary countries, and was among the leaders of the third world at the time.
Many files between France and Algeria are still pending, at their head the question of the memory, the recognition of the colonial crimes and the reparation."
Please register to attend the conference in person or to attend online.