Love and Death in the Harrachi Era

“Who finds themselves? Who finds their vision? Who finds their way? Oh, my life, oh, my beloved Algeria! You continue your journey in a night shrouded in darkness, and your steps forward are a miraculous miracle. Will you arrive? Will you arrive? And will we arrive? Oh, Algeria! Soraya, who brandishes her dagger and stands guard at the door, guarding against what… she doesn’t know the nature of, but is convinced is a reactionary threat. Soraya wasn’t thinking about anything, she was just dreaming. In the Faculty of Science, I can invent a dye that will make anyone who paints their body invisible, even to those delicate electronic machines. I am drawing up a long list of the strongholds of the forces of darkness, all their reachable and inaccessible strongholds. I am opening them one by one. I am settling scores with the right-wing forces. I am putting an end to everyone who doesn’t believe in the agrarian revolution…” Che Guevara did not believe in peaceful revolutions. When it comes to eliminating one class by another, violence is necessary. Blood must be purified by blood. There will be a revolutionary hotbed consisting of me alone. I will liberate humanity in this part of the world. I will then storm Houari’s own entourage. And I will provide him with real support. I will make the train finally get rid of the turnaround line. And rush forward. Setting out free of all bourgeois obstacles and impediments. Setting out quickly, quickly. Next comes the turn of every wholesaler, every contractor, and everyone who works to sabotage the public sector. I will settle the accounts of all those who advocate stopping history from following its course. After Guevara liberated Cuban society, he moved to the periphery. The revolution cannot succeed? Without a universal extension, I am also fighting, on the external level. I am carrying out the historic mission that the traditional, rigid parties have failed to accomplish… Ah… you bloodsuckers of the people and you agents. Your time has come at the hands of the dark-skinned Algerian student, Soraya… Jamila. I lit another cigarette and wondered: What is Djamila Bouhired? What are all the beautiful women of the fifties? They are nothing but simple women in a simple society who were charged with tasks and carried them out, according to their simple means. Carrying a bomb in a handbag is not like carrying a deeply rooted ideological idea. Brahma said: Every age has its own requirements. Every era has its own beauty. A revolution that hinges on a particular Laz or a particular beauty is a stagnant revolution, revolving in a vacuum. The novelist attempts to portray Algerian society, mired in its contradictions at the social, political, and cultural levels. He pushes his ideas, sometimes cloaked in symbolism and sometimes directly, through his central characters, who hold revolutionary ideas and seek renewal in a society that is experiencing stagnation despite having paid a high price for its independence. It is as if their fate is forever linked to the sacrifices of its people. Silence suddenly falls over the café. Everyone drops what they are holding and turns to see the Laz staring at a figure wearing a red woolen qashabiya.