The Moslems of Algeria

...He i* in reality considered a sort of renegade, an apostate from his religion...

...From one day to the next the small peasants found themselves landless snd the Europeans became owners of vast tracts that cost them almost nothing, besides hsving the help of the state to commence cultivation...

...He who wants to engage in higher studies has no alternative but to go to France, a measure unattainable for those), who are not extremely wealthy...

...If we fail in this we may expect that Nofth Africa will be one of the* strongest links in the imperialist chain surrounding' the Socialist Europe of tomorrow...

...In th* first years following m»ir conquest of the country the French used every PMaible means, to despoil the Moslems of their best ""•—especially in the northern part of the country...

...In view of the dissolution of the Third International and the moribund nature of the Second, these units, with contact* in many countrie*, expect to contribute to thought and action which my reault In the birth of a new international...

...The French had announced thai all lands, which were not recognized, within a specified time, to be the property of some particular individual—which had to be proved by documents snd registration of ownership, things non-existent among the Moslems—should pass into the hands of the State, which could dispose of them to whomsoever it wished...

...ence the master* would only he changed and they would then be under the heel of their own feudal castes, those > who are now collaborating so effectively as instruments hi the conquerors to enslave them...

...In order to survive they had to work for wages for the new landowners, who in some rases owned estates larger than whole departments in France...

...It wss precisely this fart that facilitated the seizure of their lands...

...Spaniards form the vast majority la the.Oran region, and in the poorer sections of the city •f Algiers...

...The customs constituting (he principal obstacle* are the practice of polygamy and the system of properly ownership which is ususlly tribsl or fsmily...

...As we have seen, these problems can be solved in no other way than by the establiahment of civil and political equality for all, without racial or religious dis-tinction...

...The Moslems then pinned their hopes on the Nazis, Who dazzled them...

...The decree of de Gaulle offers no solution at all...

...Moskva** will occupy one-afth of the coats in the General Ounc.ils (the departmental councils of the three departments—Algiers, Oran, and Constantino—into which Algeris ia divided) and in the municipslites...

...The de Gaullist press itself tells us that only about 17,000 Moslems can possibly benefit from it, and most of these are elements of the old feudal castes mentioned above...

...Otaei Moslems may acquire French nationality in ae-Meeance witb a ruling to be issued subsequently...

...There is no need to mention the wages that they received...

...The Jews did not ••**«• in the same sense as they devoted themselves •utirely to commerce and handicrafts, because previous •the coming of the Europeans they were not allowed •cultivate or own land...

...In order to really understand the situation in Algeria Jfcc social and economic conditions of its popula-¦*» must be examined...

...Its fourth number is printed in Spanish, Italian and French...

...These second-class citizens are the native* of the country aad constitute the immense majority of the population...

...but the reactionaries, both in France and in Algiers, together Willi the upper caste Moslems and most of the Jews, exerted pressure to frustrate these efforts...

...Those f garea alone indicate the magnitude of the pr*M*m France control* a vast region in which ¦Ml inhabitant* are conaidered not as citizens but a* subjects, that is, as person* having all of the datiee and none of the right* of Frenchmen...

...Nor can he aspire to occupy any post in th* religion* hierarchy which ia a matter of great importance among a people whose civil law ia based on tho principle* of it* sacred writing...

...Let us look into the truth of thia matter...

...They then returned their hopes to the Americans, who *ere unknown to them as colonisers of Moslem county The arrival of American* in North Africa brought •"*th*r terrible disillusionment...

...Thi* aspect of the question is of great importance among the Moslems of Algeria and can only end with the establishment of equal citizenship for all Moslems, as has been done for the Jews...

...In exchange for what he loaea he gains but little, Acquiring French nationality does not raise htm in the esteem of the Europeans unleas he happens to bo a very wealthy person or on* with great intellectual attributes...

...j> (Jaulle's deeree sUtes that: "All Moslems of mala ,,«, over IX years of age, who hare sorted as oflfcera M (be French army and who hare attained a certain 4Sgre« of culture, shall bo considered French citiiens...

...The solution can only be found under Socialism...

...The same wage differential exists among the workers engaged in public works: where a European will earn a thousand francs, the Moslem laborer will only receive 150 to 200 francs for the same work...

...A* complementary information the following should 4g noted: According to tho census taken in Algeria in UMl there were 7,234,648 inhabiUnU in the country U whom 6,247,432 were natives (the Jews are counted among the natives) and 853,247 French or nationalized French citizen...

...Thia i* a job for the Socialist movement of Europe...

...We Socialists who believe in the future of the revolution in Europe must consider seriously the problems o( the peoples of North Africa...

...The Moslem* find the French attitude towards legitimate polygamy incomprehensible in view of tha pleasure they derive from its illegal practice...

...Furthermore the practice is headed for extinction...

...De Gaulle's recent decree does not go much beyond the laws laid down by Napoleon the Third and by the Third Republic...

...We mutt demolish ate to them that they can live in th* same community of peoples wjth the countries to the North of the Mediterranean, with the same dignity, tho same freedom and the same rights as Europeans...

...A* a result, the Socialists and Communists who had ¦ajned...

...The regime prevailing in thfne law countries differs but little from thai prevailing in Unroyi tn feudal times...

...A new Socialist paper has recently been started in Montevideo, called Socialism and Liberty...

...The primary reasons advanced by the French for denying citizenship rights to the Moslems are their lark of culture and their tribal customs...

...Only the nobility and the priesthood (marahues) had their property rights respected...

...Tho only real reason for tho continuation of tho proaent state of affairs resides in tho wish to hoop the) people subjugated, it being impossible for thorn to defend themselves If citizenship rights are withhold...

...with the campaign against the Jews, •nd even more so by the defeat of'France.' But th* contact ihat many of rhem had with the German*, either Mr prisoners of war or aa laborers, soon awakened them to the fact that the racial antipathies of the Nazis did apt stop with the Jewp, but included them also...

...The Algerian Jew* live under a statute similar to that of the Europeans since the publications of the Cremieux Decree at the end of the last century, with Uia exception of those Jews residing in the Military Territories of the desert to the south, where they are ruled in the same manner as the other natives...

...The first Peoples Front Government of Hum tried to ease the problem of inequality between th» Moslems and the other elements of population in Algeria through the so-called Violette Project...

...Inhabitants of European origin include Frenchmen, Spaniards, Italians and Maltese...

...Strongly anti-Axis, it favors economic democracy and a people'* peace...

...Nor does tho decree solve the problem* created by the antagonism between those element* of tho population enjoying French citizenship and those having tho status of subject...

...One of the most significant events on the political left is th,e regrouping in London, after a unity conference, of several small but influential refugee organizations with definite Socialist viewpoint...

...We shall not deal here with the problems of Morocco *r Tunisia, which are considered free countries under Froach protectorates...

...The Italians and Maltese predominate in Gonatantine and in the port sections of Algiers as well ¦•in some other towns of the Algerian coast including some places near the Moroccan border...

...An Algerian Moslem who accepts or requests naturalization aa a Frenchman it automatically cut off from the society of his fellows, and upon death cannot even be buried in the same graveyard...

...It did mg,t*ke long for the Algerian Moslems to lo$e confi-dpee in their new "saviors...

...After a stiff fight, which included a bjg campaign to educate the public, South African liberal* succeeded recently in bringing about the repeal of the so-called "Pegging Act" which had prohibited Eaat Indians from buying Isnd in areas occupied by "Europeans," tha South African name for white people...

...It is difficult for a Moslem to continue his studies at the University of Algiers as a post-graduate...

...They have their own separate •rgans of Government, with a Sultan in Morocco and a Bey in Tunisia) both of whom are subje-t to French Resident Governors...

...As to the latter it is difficult for an Algerian Moslem to distinguish himself in the arts or aciencea...

...The Communists' following had been considerable since their tnpport some years previously of the Abd-el-Kiim in— •frrection...

...The only Moslems to benefit from this state of affair* have been the descendants of the old feudal castes, from whom are drawn the Kadies (civil and political chiefs), the Kadis (Moslem judicial functionaries), and the Marabues (religious chief, generally immensely wealthy and very influential), They together with the wealthy Jews and the Europeans are interested in maintaining the present state of affairs...

...But it must be recognized that after the betrayals -they have already suffered at the hand* of Socialists' and Communists, it will be very difficult to win anew their confidence and their support...

...Within a few years, tribes and families saw their cultivated fields and their erasing ground* taken over by ^Wopean* who had arrived penniless...

...Vs regard, polygamy, it is difficult to understand the attitude of the French who claim such respect for all other religious customs of the Moslems...

...The eminently agricultural and pastoral native people now found themselves In the moat abject poverty...

...But imperialism can never accept thia solur, tion...

...Jy the most unproductive lands on the desert's edge had been left to them...

...Clandestine groups of the same viewpoint have been publishing an underground paper in Buenos Aires, despite the censorship of the Ramires dictatorship...

...Wa must show t hein that the imperialist countries who are also the enemies of Socialist Europe, will not give them freedom, and that, even if they were granted mdepend...

...The last is quotad from Franc*, de Gaullist newspaper pub-Iblod in London, on March 8, 1944...

...North Africa ia part of Europe, and if we want Socialism to succeed on the European continent, we must win the North Africans to the idea of unity with us...

...Central fact ia their adherence to the position of the Independent Labor Party...

...It is our belief that geographically and economically...

...Even during the present war when food and clothing can barely be procured, the highest wsges are less than 6 francs daily, while a European worker can hardly get along with less than 60 or 60 francs a day...

...Those of Spanish, Maltese or Italian ancestry continue the common asage of their own respective languages...

...Their support of the Peoples Front Government and violent changes in colonial policy cost them plastically all of their support...

...Among the natives, 4,541,325 were Mtwlsmt...

...considerable influence among the more advanced native elements, suffered great loss of influence...

...News on the Four Winds Sir Juan Demetrio, an Ecuadorean writer, has let loose a blast against authors who write books snd magazine articles in the United States which refer to headhunting as if it were still widely carried on in remote regions of Ecuador...

...Demetrio insists thai before authora let themselves go wjth romantic stories, they ought to consult practicing anthropologists, in which case they would discover that for years head-hunting and head-Shrinking have been as rare as the dodo, and that the "heads" sold to gullible tourists are artificially manufactured...

...One of the rights absolutely forbidden tkem is that of erganuing into labor eaten...

...The Moslems of Algeria By N. Molins y Fabrega THE de Gaullists have recently announced that tha Algiers Committee haa granted political and civil •quality to tha Algenaa Moahtms Algeria hat ajMya boo* oontddorod by tho French to be an integral part of France...

...Neither of these reasons carries any real weight...

...A* to tho lack of culture, we * fdl know who is to blame for this wherever one country ia subjugated to another...