Algerian Embassy in Bahrain Commemorates 70th Anniversary of the Revolution of November 1, 1954

This year, Algeria commemorates the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great Revolution of November 1, 1954, under the slogan “Glorious November, Loyalty and Renewal”.
Indeed, November 1954 remains a truly glorious day!

A day that has inspired through the generations, countless writers and poets whose rhetoric has created the most wonderful poems and narratives. For instance, here is how the poet of the Revolution, Moufdi Zakaria, has chanted it:

This is November Stand up and salute the gun 
Remember your fight and the years spent therein
Exhaustibly, before all humanity, your book Read on
Through it the most wonderful talk the world will Look on
Reveal your Revolution to Time and to the living!
And talk about your Nation to the Universe and in all gatherings 
In the epics for your lawful right, Hold a ceremony 
In which Time will stand as Speaker for Eternity 
And say Algeria!!!! And listen up when this name is mentioned                                
You will see both Titans and Tyrants prostrated and bowed  
(Our translation)

The tale of the Glorious November is a true epic of heroism; its lines written with the blood of the people and marked by the imprints of their sacrifices and so many stories of their tremendous bravery and self-denial. A great epic indeed whose fame filled the horizons and whose greatness stole hearts across the globe. The story of the Algerian people’s enduring struggle for independence, initiated in the early days of colonial occupation, unfolded its conclusive chapter through seven long years of a multi-faceted and ruthless fight that ultimately left the colonizers, whether military or civilian, in total disarray, reduced to accepting a bitter and most humiliating defeat, their colonial pride finally shattered and their hubris in fragments. For neither their massive armies nor their destructive and sophisticated war-machine had managed to break the will of the Algerian people nor their determination to overthrow the yoke of colonialism. In the wake of their defeat and the many painful blows they have endured at the hands of the heroic Mujahideen, they left the country. They have indeed done everything in their power to kill the Revolution, which is why they put in place a number of repressive measures as part of their counter-insurgency tactic, for instance, fencing off the whole of Algeria from its neighbours via an electrified barbed wire and herding off rural inhabitants from remote  douars and ‘mechtas’  into dreadful detention centres with the aim of cutting off any possible lines of supplies used to sustain the freedom fighters. To this effect, they also monitored the skies and the earth, burnt crops, and practiced systematic mass killing, destroying whole villages and hamlets, and throwing in prison hundreds of thousands of innocent Algerians. But all to no avail! 

From the Djurdjura to the heart of the Aures mountains, from Tebessa to Tamanrasset in the South and to Tlemcen in the West, and across all parts of our beloved country, Algerians emerged as formidable fighters endowed with great strength, unyielding severity and unparalleled courage, able to inflict crushing successive and fatal blows to a mighty enemy which eventually staggered and lost its way. 

The legendary narratives of resistance come from everywhere; let’s mention, for instance, the great battles of El-Jorf and its sisters, those of the Djurdjura mountains, the bloody confrontations within the capital and greater Algiers and many other heroic events which are as yet to be recorded in history books.

That glorious day, in November 1954, had marked the birth of a unique type of revolution within our Arab and Islamic world: a process of struggle that ultimately led to freedom and independence for a population that has achieved it through armed struggle and not though negotiation; it is true that “What is taken by force can only be regained by force” as the saying goes. Indeed, Algerians, all through the duration of the liberation war, consistently rejected devious offers and deceptive deals of compromise from the colonial authorities, persisting with their demand for a full independence and autonomy while proceeding with military operations and counter-offensives. Finally, the outcome, total liberation, became a reality in July 1962 after Algerians had paid a very high price for it (with the loss of more than one and a half million lives during those seven years alone). 

The glorious November Revolution has enjoyed, at the time, the unwavering support of our Arab and Muslim brothers and other free people of the world; all lived through its events while many provided it also with material assistance as well as moral support. In retrospect, it may also be noted that the November Revolution had some other outcomes: on the one hand, it contributed to enhancing a sense of pride among all Arabs and Muslims and, on the other hand, it did put increasing pressure on colonial France to the point that it relinquished its control of both Morocco and Tunisia in order to focus all its energy on Algeria. In addition, the November Revolution gave rise to a leadership model that had inspired many African countries, pushing them to follow the path of emancipation.  In final analysis, it may be argued that the spirit of the Revolution is still alive today as Algeria continues to interact, in the most constructive manner, with many of the contemporary issues facing Arabs and Muslims, providing them with all kinds of assistance, including logistic, material, technical and financial support.   

Loyalty and Renewal: 
Algeria as a nation remains loyal to the memory of its Revolution and to its founding principles. These principles are consistent; they enable the country to remain anchored within its glorious past while projecting itself into the future. They are embedded within Algeria's policies and actions, especially those that target oppression, support just causes and adjust regulations at the international level, including the Palestinian cause. In this case, Algeria’s supportive stand translated into many initiatives, the most notable being the very creation of a Palestinian state on Algerian soil. Other various forms of assistance worth noting, at the regional level at least is, for instance, the material and military back-up provided during the1973 Arab-Israeli war. In this respect, Algerian leadership has remained consistent in its actions of support towards all just causes, contributing to the enrolment of ‘friendly’ countries within the Security Council and the provision of mediation in several international crises and their resolution. 

Today, the sons of Algeria have built up a country that is an impregnable fortress that would discourage any potential aggressors that may emerge within today’s world; they have thus renewed the pledge of loyalty to November and its founding principles, embedding them, on the ground, within the path of national construction and reform. This is indeed the spirit of the November Revolution which still defines today the country’s path to various forms of national progress and re-enforces its sovereignty over its resources and its decision-making at the geopolitical, economic, and social levels.
May Algerian remain forever sovereign! 

Ambassador Dr. Mahmoud Braham