Algeria solidarity for Palestine: Two sides of the same struggle?
At last month's , whenÌęPalestinian-Syrian filmmaker Abdallah Alkhatib won Best Short Film, he took the stage to speak. The crowd in Algeria cheered loudly upon learning he was Palestinian.
Alkhatib told the overjoyed audience: âMy mum usually calls me every day when Iâm abroad to check on how Iâm doing. This whole week she didnât call me once, so today I asked her why not, and she said: âYou are a Palestinian in Algeria, so you are in safe hands.ââ
As the Algerian political analyst , âAlgeriaâs relationship with Palestine is both historical and emotional.â
After enduring , it is not surprising that Algerians stand in firm solidarity with Palestinians, especially as Israeli forces expand their brutal attacks on Gaza and their occupation of the West Bank.
"You are a Palestinian in Algeria, so you are in safe handsâ
In 1974, former Algerian president Houari Boumediene pronounced a that became iconic in Algeria: âWe stand with Palestine, whether wrong or rightâ (nahnu mâa falastĂźn zĂąlimĂą aw mazlĂ»ma).
Fourteen years later, on November 14, 1988, it was in Algiers that Yasser Arafat and other leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) announced Palestineâs declaration of independence.
Algeria became the in the world to recognise Palestinian statehood, and the two countries have enjoyed close diplomatic ties since. Algeria is, for instance, one of the only countries that refuses to recognise Israel and that does not have an Israeli embassy.
Many historians have also that the PLO was heavily influenced by the in Algeria and its methods of resistance against Franceâs colonial rule, employing similar urban warfare tactics and political rhetoric.
Among the people,Ìęenduring solidarity can be best illustrated through football. Itâs a in Algeria that during national team matches, one could easily think Palestine is playing, as there are usually as many â if not more â Palestinian flags on display as Algerian ones.
"From start to finish, the highlight of the Annaba Mediterranean Film Festival was an unfailing commitment to honour Palestine and Palestinian cinema"
Solidarity towards the Palestinian cause is not only seen in football, but also film festivals.
In its fourth edition and its first in the post-pandemic era, the aforementioned Annaba Mediterranean Film Festival welcomed hundreds of guests and screened 70 films from 18 countries across the Mediterranean basin, with renowned Turkish writer-director as Jury President.
But from start to finish, the highlight of the festival was an unfailing commitment to honour Palestine and Palestinian cinema.
The festival was initially scheduled for Ìębut was due to Israelâs ongoing war on Gaza.
, the Head of Cinema at the festival, said it was âimpossible to reschedule the festival without thinking of Palestine.â
âThis bond between the two countries is innate. It is not taught... âWe [Algerians] always stand in solidarity with oppressed peopleâ
BelkaĂŻd was in charge of Viva Palestina, a festival section dedicated to Palestinian cinema which included seven short films and three feature films, selected in collaboration with the Palestine Film Institute â which received an honorary award at the festivalâs closing ceremony.
BelkaĂŻd, who grew up in Algiers and whose grandfather fought with the FLN, recounted seeing Algerian artists leave the cinema in tears â their connection with the Palestinian people deepened â after watching , a short film by Rehab Nazzal about the lives of deaf children under siege in Gaza.
âThis bond between the two countries is innate. It is not taught,â BelkaĂŻd told °źÂț”ș. âWe [Algerians] always stand in solidarity with oppressed people.â
And it shows in the streets, where even the sound of a Palestinian dialect uttered by a visitor would excite local Algerians. As BelkaĂŻd said: âThe Palestinian is a star here. He is never alone.â
For the dozen Palestinian artists present in Annaba, this celebrity status â not for being actors or directors, but merely for being Palestinian â was a surreal experience.
âI met a lady in the street here who was in her sixties. When she found out I was Palestinian, she cried and said âMay God protect you, we are all with you, I hope this massacre will end,ââ saidÌę, a filmmaker from Gaza based in Berlin.
Almughanni was in Algeria for the first time, invited to present his short film , which documents the lives of Palestinian refugees in the Shatila camp of Beirut, Lebanon.
The Gaza-raised filmmaker cherished the warm hospitality in Algeria he had heard so much about. His father had studied in in the 1970s, the second biggest city in Algeria, in a period when it was easier for Palestinians to travel and study abroad.
Almughanni said that his fatherâs time in Algeria âbuilt his future,â as he got a scholarship to study Law there and would later become a judge in Ramallah.
"In Europe they are scared to take a public stance, and that's because of the funders, which are usually governments or city halls and might have ties with Israel, so they could threaten to cut fundsâ
Despite the common understanding Almughanni felt from Algerians, the filmmaker said that the way he was welcomed like a hero brought âa sense of responsibilityâ.
âI have to represent Palestine in the perfect way,â he said, feeling anxious at what that involves. âThey think that the Palestinian is a strong, confident, resilient man, not fearing anything. Of course, there are Palestinians like this, but we also fear, we cry, we laugh.â
But what really mattered to the Gazan filmmaker was to attend a film festival which was so outspokenly pro-Palestine, from the attendees to the organisers.
Supported by the Algerian Ministry of Culture, the Annaba Mediterranean Film Festival had no issue in being both state-funded and pro-Palestine, as Algeria has essentially no ties with Israel â a different reality for many film festivals in Western countries.
âEven in Europe, at IDFA [International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam] or Berlinale, I felt that the majority of people know the truth, they support or sympathise with whatâs going on [in Gaza], but here the festival is very clear â they take a public stance,â Almughanni said.
â[In Europe] they are scared to take a public stance, and that's because of the funders, which are usually governments or city halls and might have ties with Israel, so they could threaten to cut funds.â
Another prominent guest invited to present a Palestinian film was , a Paris-raised writer-director of Algerian and Palestinian descent.
Her mother is the celebrated Palestinian actress , of Succession and Ramy, who was the subject of Soualemâs award-winning film , a family-focused documentary that explores the intergenerational strength of Palestinian women.
Soualem won the Jury Prize for Best Documentary at Annaba, after receiving a flurry of international awards at prestigious film festivals from London to Marrakech â recognitions that feel particularly significant in a time when Palestinians voices are often ignored or distorted.
âIt's important to be present [in film festivals] as a Palestinian voice to restore complexity to our Palestinian stories, to allow them to exist outside the stigmatisation and dehumanisation that exist in the media, and our films are a way of fighting against being forgotten,â Soualem told °źÂț”ș.
Interested in issues involving colonial trauma, exile, and family history, Soualem saw thematic parallels in the Algerian and Palestinian sides of her family, but completely different ways of dealing with them, hence why her two documentary films explored her fatherâs side () and motherâs (Bye Bye Tiberias) separately.
âOn the Palestinian side of my family, the transmission of our history has always been a central focus. Itâs through speaking that we survive, itâs by telling [stories] that we break free. Forgetfulness is fought with words. In my Algerian family, silence is preferred. We hide our own truths deep within us.â
As for the Algerian films screened at the festival, they did not need to reference Palestine to allude to themes connected with the Palestinian cause, like freedom and self-determination.Ìę
A particular highlight was the fact that one of the festivalâs opening films was about , a major French-Caribbean psychiatrist and post-colonial thinker who spent several years working in Algeria and who supported the FLN.Ìę
Fanonâs work on the psychological effects of colonialism and racism was revolutionary in his field, and he continues to be an inspiration for global liberation movements from Palestine to Sri Lanka.
âs film, called Fanon, premiered at the Berlinale earlier this year and received a rapturous welcome in Annaba.Ìę
Fanon has been by pro-Palestine supporters since the October 7 attacks, and director Zahzah said that people keep returning to Fanon to understand the present and the scientific theories around colonial subjugation. For Fanon, Zahzah said, âthe cure is independence.â
On why Algeriaâs strong bond with Palestine endures, the filmmaker said, âAlgerians, as former colonised people, like South Africans or Vietnamese, feel the same things. It is the same struggle, but one day people will return to their lands.â
As Fanon himself wrote in : âFor a colonised people the most essential value, because the most concrete, is first and foremost the land: the land which will bring them bread and, above all, dignity.â
Alexander Durie is a journalist working across video, photography, and feature writing. He has freelanced for The Guardian, Al Jazeera English, The Economist, The Financial Times, Reuters, The Independent, and more, contributing dispatches from Paris, Berlin, Beirut, and Warsaw
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