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.
AHMED BEN BELLAIn 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.
AHMED BEN BELLAI am not a Marxist, but I place myself resolutely at the left.
AHMED BEN BELLAYes, my life is a life of combat; I can say that this has never stopped for a single instant. It is a combat that started for me at the age of 16.
AHMED BEN BELLAThe liberation movement which I led in Algeria, the organization that I created to fight the French army, was at first a small movement of nothing at all.
AHMED BEN BELLAWith my government, we engaged in bringing our help to fights for national freedom.
AHMED BEN BELLAThese 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.
AHMED BEN BELLAWe trained them, we arranged for the weapons to reach them, we created networks.
AHMED BEN BELLAIn the past, we spoke of poverty, misery only in the south. Now there is a lot of misery, a lot of bad that creates victims in the north as well.
AHMED BEN BELLAThis has become manifest: the global system was not made to serve the good of all, but to serve multinational companies.
AHMED BEN BELLAWe were but some tens of people throughout Algeria, a territory that is five times the size of France
AHMED BEN BELLAThe French colonisation of Algeria lasted a long time: 132 years.
AHMED BEN BELLAI’m 90 years old now, and my motivation hasn’t changed; it’s the same fervour that drives me.
AHMED BEN BELLAI’m optimistic because I’m pragmatic: Neither of the two sides, the military government nor the Islamic front, is capable of winning. If they continue to fight, they will both bleed to death.
AHMED BEN BELLAI 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.
AHMED BEN BELLALet us all agree to die a little, or even completely so that African unity may not be a vain word
AHMED BEN BELLAI was one of the organisers of its struggle for liberation. I likewise actively participated in all the struggles for liberation.
AHMED BEN BELLA