“Yes, I am Algerian of Moroccan origin through my parents, but all my life is Algeria. I was born there.”

I am the son of poor peasants who came at a very young age to live in Algeria. I only recently saw the place where they were born, near the city of Marrakech.

It is obvious that taking the country from a state of war to being a lawful state won’t be easy.

I am not a Marxist, but I place myself resolutely at the left.

My life has been a bit special, this is true. I participated in the liberation of my country.

These are the multinationals, like General Motors and Nestle; these are the big industrial groups that weigh, on the monetary scale, much more than big countries like Egypt.

Let us all agree to die a little, or even completely so that African unity may not be a vain word

We trained them, we arranged for the weapons to reach them, we created networks.

Colonialism is known in its primitive form, that is to say, by the permanent settling of repressive foreign powers, with an army, services, policies.

In two years, there were 22 military coups d’etat, essentially in Africa and the third world. The coup d’etat of Algiers, in 1965, is what opened the path.

Algeria was therefore only the beginning of something that was in development: this is why I say that it’s the global capitalist system that finally reacted against us.

I can say now: all the combatants who participated in the fight for freedom in South America came to Algeria; it’s from there that all those who fought left.

At that precise moment, several countries were still colonised or had barely overcome colonisation. This was the case in practically all of Africa. We supported them.

We were but some tens of people throughout Algeria, a territory that is five times the size of France

Those who are leftists, once in power, are not different from other parties.

Everywhere that the struggle for national freedom has triumphed, once the authorities agreed, there were military coups d’etat that overthrew their leaders. That is the result time and time again.

Peace does not include a vendetta; there will be neither winners nor losers.

It is found by experience that admirable laws and right precedents among the good have their origin in the misdeeds of others.

The origins of violence against women by men are not biological. If that were the case, it would exist in every culture. And it doesn’t exist in every culture.

The emotion felt by a man in the presence of nature certainly counts for something in the origin of religions.

The origin of a modern party is anthropological: humans meet and share food to lower hostility between them and indicate friendship.

To say that the universe was here last year, or millions of years ago, does not explain its origin. This is still a mystery. As to the question of the origin of things, man can only wonder and doubt and guess.

It is bigotry for public schools to teach only one theory of origins.

My first language, the true language of the soul spoken only on our planet of origin, had no word for betrayal or traitor. Or even loyalty- because without the opposite, the concept had no meaning.

The origin of the absurd idea of immortal life is easy to discover; it is kept alive by hope and fear, by childish faith, and by cowardice.