THE ALGERIAN PROBLEM*

BY THE ALGERIAN DELEGATION IN CAIRO

In colonial wars, a major insurgent goal is the establishment of a national personality even if artificial-which may be claimed to have a prima facie right to self-determination.

Algeria is the case of a country annexed by a colonial power after a military conquest characterised by all aspects of classical imperialism. These aspects can be summed up as a policy of social depersonalization, exploitation and oppression of the Algerian masses for the sole benefit of the colonizing power and European settlers.

Colonialism has attracted the cultural and religious heritage of the Algerian nation, intent on depersonalizing the masses so as to exploit them further and to implement the policy of "assimilation."

The national language of the Algerian people is Arabic. Colonialism has sought to stamp out the Arabic language. The results of this policy are characterised until now by the refusal to allow the teaching of Arabic in Government schools and by the many hindrances to free education. Only in the Higher Institute of Islamic studies, and three Medersas (secondary schools), attended by less than 500 students, are Arabic studies pursued. In the French secondary schools, Arabic is taught as a foreign language. The opening of free primary-schools is openly hampered by the authorities who frequently close them down and arrest their teachers. One teacher (Cheikh Zerrouki) has been condemned to four years imprisonment for teaching Algerian history.

Even education in French is very limited. The percentage of illiteracy is 90 percent and today two million school-age children are deprived of any education. Two Algerian children out of 100 inhabitants go to school, while the proportion for the Europeans in Algeria is 16 students for 100 inhabitants. . . .

The Algerian problem is essentially a colonial one, and so long as the colonial regime continues to exist there can be no permanent solution and no permanent peace in Algeria, for it is in the nature of colonialism that it contains within itself the germs of continual conflicts and constitutes the greatest threat to peace. The Algerian people are deeply peace-loving. If there is any bloodshed in Algeria it is because the French Government have flatly rejected any peaceful solution of the problem.

The movement towards the independence of colonial peoples is gathering momentum and is becoming irresistible. Nevertheless, despite the changes which have occurred in Asia and in parts of Africa, in North Africa and particularly in Algeria, the French have persistently resisted any alteration in the status quo. In November, 1954, Mr. Mitterand, French Minister of the Interior, not only reaffirmed both inside the French Parliament and elsewhere that Algeria is a part of France and *From "What Is Algeria," (Cairo: Algerian Delegation), 1955.

graduate students now receive visas for research in South Africa. The whole system has tightened up, especially within the last three years.

Inside South Africa, the government is clamping down on the press and the English-speaking universitites which in the past enjoyed an atmosphere of free speech. The press has been forced to undertake voluntary censorship in order to stave off repressive legislation. The opposition Rand Daily Mail has succumbed to the extent of booting "upstairs" to the post of editor-in-chief its talented and outspoken editor Laurence Gandar. In the universities, many faculty critics have left the country, some are confined by "banning" regulations, and most of those remaining find it expedient to curtail their expression of political views. Students, under the influence of parents, professors, and the government, are also becoming noticeably more conservative. Several organizations that seek to improve African conditions, such as the Institute of Race Relations, the Christian Institute, and the Defense and Aid Fund, are becoming the object of more and more overt attacks in this conformist political climate. PROLIFIC AND ATTRACTIVE OUTPUT

The Information Service produces numerous informative periodicals, hundreds of attractive pamphlets and booklets, occasional press releases, and films for cinema and television. Its officers also make many speeches.

Six Information Service periodicals reach American readers, three of them produced in South Africa and the other three by the New York office. South African Panorama is an attractive illustrated monthly, including handsome color photography and many readable and informative article about the Republic. South African Digest (formerly Digest of South African Affairs) is a valuable and convenient weekly featuring the latest statements by government officials and useful data on recent developments. Bantu is an illustrated monthly dealing mostly with Bantu developments and produced largely for South African readers although a limited number of copies are sent overseas.

The New York office produces South African Summary, a weekly news release which summarizes for American readers material cabled daily from Pretoria to the New York office. Business Report is a second weekly news release, somewhat longer than the South African Summary, which emphasizes economic data and other news of special interest to American business. The Third New York periodical, Scope, is a more elaborate illustrated monthly on items of contemporary relevance. By December 1965, according to information filed with the Department of Justice, the monthly circulation of Scope had risen to 14,000, South African Summary to 4,800, and South African Business Report to 3,100. The monthly Panorama, which is produced in South Africa, went to 1,200 American recipients in May 1965.

The hundreds of pamphlets and booklets include the complete texts of many speeches by Cabinet Ministers, reprints of articles by Americans and others favorable to South African policy, and a great many publications, both long and short, written especially for the Information Service covering many aspects of South African life. The effective Audio-Visual

Conference declared its support for the rights of the peoples of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia to self-determination and independence and urged the French government to bring about a peaceful settlement of the issues without delay. (Chapter D, Paragraph 2)

In addition, the Conference recognized that the basic right of the Algerian people to study their own language and culture had been suppressed, and condemned this denial of fundamental rights as an impediment to cultural advancement and to cultural co-operation on the wider international plane.

In a letter dated July 26th, 1955 addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the representatives of the Asian-African countries requested the "Question of Algeria" to be included in the Agenda of the tenth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. They declared ...

The right of self-determination occupies a position of decisive importance in the structure of the United Nations. In the first Article of the Charter itself, it is specifically enumerated among the Purposes and Principles of the Organization; it is cited again in Article 55 as the basis of international economic and social co-operation; and it is affirmed in resolution 637 (VII), adopted by an overwhelming majority of the General Assembly, as a prerequisite to the full enjoyment of all other fundamental human rights. The emergence into independence of the peoples of many nations previously dependent is among the most encouraging features of the first decade of the United Nations history. On the other hand; the denial of the right of self-determination to other dependent peoples or undue delay in its implementation is a potential source of international friction and of concern to the international community.

It is against this background that the United Nations should consider the deteriorating situation in Algeria, which has become a cause for growing concern. The position in Algeria is the direct result of colonial conquest, and the people of Algeria cannot be said to have exercised their right to self-determination as envisaged in the United Nations Charter. Delay in the exercise of this vital right can only frustrate the legitimate aspirations of the Algerian people, embitter relations between them and the French authorities and lead, as it is in fact doing, to the suppression of other fundamental rights, the retardation of cultural development and the imposition of order by force alone.

The French Government, for its part, has been quick to appeal to the Atlantic Pact Powers to support its attitudes towards Algeria and has already succeeded in obtaining permission from NATO High Command to withdraw French forces from Western Germany for use in Algeria. France is making every effort to put pressure on her friends and allies in case of the "internationalisation" of the problem.

The Algerian people are today being hard pressed by the forces of repression ranged against them. They know that their struggle for independence has entered a new and critical phase and that the sacrifices demanded of them are very great. They have accepted this and they have pledged themselves to stand united until final victory is achieved throughout North Africa. They know that in this struggle they are not alone, that millions throughout the world are watching their efforts with sympathy.

The Algerian people call upon the democratic forces in the world to take up the cause of Algerian freedom. The Algerians firmly believe that those who have so valiantly championed the cause of freedom in Morocco,

Tunisia and other parts of the world will not fail in their response to the people of Algeria. For Algeria is a part of the great struggle of peoples against the curse of colonialism, still powerful but yielding step by step to the irresistible forces of freedom.

WE ARE AT WAR*

BY THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS

Where insurrectionary groups enjoy not military successes the emphasis on the survival and continued activism of the revolutionary group is primordial.

On 16th December, 1961, Unkhonto We Sizwe, military wing of the ANC, made it known that we, the oppressed people of South Africa, would fight for our rights. We made this known not only with words. Dynamite blasts announced it.

From 13th August, 1967, our men of Umkhonto We Sizwe, together with our brothers of ZAPU (Zimbabwe African People's Union) have been fighting the oppressors in Matabeleland, Wankie and further south. The Vorster government, through the radio and newspapers, continues to lie about this fighting.

The truth is very different from what these newspapers have reported. Our men are armed and trained freedom-fighters, not "terrorists." They are fighting with courage, discipline and skill. The forces of the Rhodesian racialists suffered heavy losses. So also did the white soldiers sent to Rhodesia by Vorster to save the Smith regime from collapse.

The freedom-fighters have inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. Apart from those who have been ambushed and killed, hospitals at Bulawayo and Wankie are crowded with wounded Smith and Vorster forces. Several South African helicopters and military transport planes have been brought down over the past three months.

The fighting will go on in Rhodesia and South Africa. We will fight until we have won, however long it takes and however much it will cost.

WHY WE FIGHT

To you, the sons and daughters of the soil, our case is clear.

The white oppressors have stolen our land. They have destroyed our families. They have taken for themselves the best that there is in our rich country and have left us the worst. They have the fruits and the riches. We have the backbreaking toil and the poverty.

We burrow into the belly of the earth to dig our gold, diamonds, coal, uranium. The white oppressors and foreign investors grab all this wealth. It is used for their enrichment and to buy arms to suppress and kill us. In the factories, on the farms, on the railways, wherever you go, the hard, dirty, dangerous, badly paid jobs are ours. The best jobs are for whites only.

*Leaflet distributed by the African National Congress.

In our own land we have to carry passes; we are restricted and banished while the white oppressors move about freely.

Our homes are hovels; those of the whites are luxury mansions, flats and farmsteads.

There are not enough schools for our children; the standard of education is low, and we have to pay for it. But the government uses our taxes and the wealth we create to provide free education for white children. We have suffered long enough.

Over 300 years ago the white invaders began a ceaseless war of aggression against us, murdered our forefathers, stole land and enslaved our people.

Today they still rule by force. They murder our people. They still enslave us.

ONLY BY MEETING FORCE WITH FORCE CAN WE WIN BACK OUR MOTHERLAND

We have tried every way to reason with the white supremacists. For many years our leaders and organizations sent petitions and deputations to Cape Town and Pretoria, even overseas, to London and the United Nations in New York. We organised mass demonstrations, passburnings, peaceful stay-at-homes.

What answer was given by the govenment?

Strikers and demonstrators were shot in cold blood. New acts of oppression and injustice were heaped upon us. Our leaders and spokesmen were banned, gagged, jailed, banished-even murdered. Our organisation, the African National Congress, was outlawed. Our meetings, journals and leaflets were prohibited.

The Nazi Vorster, who was interned for helping Hitler, is now the Prime Minister of South Africa. This man is the murderer of Mini, Mkaba, Khayingo, Bongco, Saloojee and other brave sons of Africa. He has condemned Mandela, Sisulu, Mbeki, Mhlaba, Motsoaledi, Mlangeni, Kathrada, Fischer and many others to rot away in jails for life.

They have declared war on us. We have to fight back!

Our Indian brothers know full well the hardships and bitterness of white baaskaap rule. Since the time of Mahatma Ghandi and before, they have had to face persecution-attempts to deport them to India, Ghetto Acts, Group Areas and other forms of oppression.

The South African Indian Congress fought back. Led by men like Yusuf Dadoo, Monty Naicker and Nana Sita, the Indian community marched hand in hand with the ANC for liberty, for the rights of all South Africans.

Our Coloured brothers know how even the few privileges they were allowed-crumbs from the master's table-have been taken away from them. Votes, skilled jobs, trade union rights-one by one they are being taken away. Now apartheid madness is conscripting the Coloured youth into labour camps and jails for pass offenders. The ghetto walls grow