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.
“A rebel and freedom fighter, Elaine Mokhtefi translates their
remarkable life in her husband’s 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 (1935–2015), a key figure in
Algeria’s struggle for independence, is vividly depicted in this
stunning translation…This 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 revolutionary’s disillusionment with
the revolution to free Algeria not only from France, but from its
own lack of political enlightenment…An intelligent chronicle.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Mokhtefi’s witty commentary illuminates his buoyancy even in the
midst of destruction and heartbreak…His story is a page-turner…his
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 Mokhtefi’s autobiography holds an original position in the
panorama of increasingly abundant memoirs of veterans of the war
fought by the Algerian Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) against
France between 1954 and 1962…For 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 Muslim—fluently translated by his widow, the writer, artist,
and activist Elaine Klein Mokhtefi—is more than a chronicle of one
man’s life; it is the story of a generation,
a bildungsroman of the Algerian freedom
struggle.” —Adam Shatz, contributing editor at the London
Review of Books
“I Was a French Muslim is an extraordinary document—a lively and
moving record of colonial life and anticolonial struggle narrated
with generosity, eloquence, and candor. Mokhtar Mokhtefi’s 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 life’s
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 today’s 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 Mokhtefi’s singular memoir of Algeria’s War of Liberation
has something for every reader—a vivid portrait of a young man’s
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 author—his 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 author’s 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 Mokhtefi’s translation,
this is one of the finest memoirs of the Algerian national
revolution—fascinating, 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 Mokhtefi’s war chronicles, I Was a French Muslim: Memories
of an Algerian Freedom Fighter, brings one such actor—and his
entourage—out 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 generation’s
struggle for self-determination. Expert readers—especially those
steeped in the lore of Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers—will be
struck by Mokhtefi’s 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 Mokhtefi’s experiences seem far removed from
spectacular urban warfare of an Ali La Pointe, his account of one
of the world’s 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 Algeria’s transition from colonial
territory to independent nation. Keenly attuned to the complexities
of both colonial society and the nationalist struggle, Mokhtefi’s
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: France’s 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
Mokhtefi’s 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 and—equally important—for its exploration
of a young man’s political awakening.” —Elise Franklin, Assistant
Professor, University of Louisville
“Mokhtar Mokhtefi’s (1935–2015) gripping memoir, I Was a
French Muslim, recounts meticulosity both his life in France’s
colonized Algeria and his anticolonial activities as a radio
operator and head of communications in the Algerian National
Liberation Army during the Algerian Revolution (1954–1962).
Mokhtefi believed in and fought for justice, freedom, and the
dignity of the Algerian people. His breathtaking autobiography
presents a nuanced testimony to French coloniality, modern warfare,
and the premise and the promise of independence. It is a
fundamental source.” —Samia Henni, Assistant Professor, Cornell
University, and author of Architecture of Counterrevolution: The
French Army in Northern Algeria
“Mokhtar Mokhtefi’s autobiography holds an original position in the
panorama of increasingly abundant memoirs of veterans of the war
fought by the Algerian Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) against
France between 1954 and 1962. For freedom of tone, irreverence,
assumed subjectivity, as well as for the elegance of a swift and
precise style, the work avoids any eagerness of edifying narrative
or systematic theories; what emerges is, in contrast, almost a
social history of Algeria during the colonial era.” —Andrea
Brazzoduro, Marie Sklodowska Curie Global Fellow, Ca’
Foscari University of Venice and University of Oxford
“Mokhtar Mokhtefi recounts in the first person an intimate page of
history that marked him for life. He was a soldier of the National
Liberation Army at the heart of one of the most heroic anticolonial
struggles of the last century. The personalities he frequents will
become the idols of the revolution; school children will recite
their exploits, and their names will adorn the avenues of
independent Algeria. Mokhtefi describes these men and women in
their human reality—their grandeur and their courage but also their
flights of ego and battles for power that emerge following
independence. I Was a French Muslim tells the story of the battle,
not only against colonialism, but above all, for liberation. The
personal and the political come together to trace the ideal of
emancipation that retains its currency and remains to be achieved,
in Algeria and elsewhere.” —Walid Bouchakour, Algerian journalist,
doctoral candidate at Yale University
“I Was a French Muslim is an intensely intimate account by Mokhtar
Mokhtefi of his eight years as courier, radio operator, and
official of the Algerian independence movement [1954–1962]. He
describes crossing the desert on foot, the friendships made, and
the arrogant and power-obsessed officers in charge. There are major
and minor spats as well as love affairs. This is the story of a
generation and its struggle for freedom. But Mokhtefi doesn’t shy
away from a bleak assessment of the future. A personal day-to-day,
moment-to-moment recounting—lucidly translated from the French by
Elaine Mokhtefi—this book is a page-turner.” —Manfred Kirchheimer,
filmmaker
“When I read Mokhtar Mokhtefi’s memoir, I had the feeling I was
discovering my Algerian heritage. It represented the promise of
belonging. It made me see how little I had understood colonialism,
the war, the people, their resilience, and their humor. It has been
a breathtaking adventure. Through him, I have felt the fear of
persecution, the incommensurate anger against colonialism, the
salty smell of the streets of Algiers, the electrifying atmosphere
of independence, the dreams of a boy and soldier who became a free
spirit, and the sounds of laughter and rapture. I Was a French
Muslim is the gateway to a world so distant today, a world pregnant
with promise and fury, of life and joy, of dignity, passion, and
utopia. May his words resonate in our hearts and our lives.” —Karim
Aïnouz, Brazilian film auteur and director
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