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how colonization shaped algeria
Algerian civil war, 1992-2002
political problems in Algeria after independence
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IntroductioThe Algerian War of Independence in 1962 marked the end of France’s colonial regime. Before decolonization, Algeria had been held as the prize of the French empire, “one of the most beautiful provinces of France.” While it is somewhat inaccurate to pose Algeria and France as separate states throughout the process of colonization and decolonization, for consistency and clarity, Algeria and France will be referred to as separate entities, although for much of the studied time period, Algeria was a part of France. Algeria and France enjoyed a special relationship, beyond that which France had with its other colonies. This allowed freer migration between Algeria and France, and France fought harder to keep Algeria as a colony than it did with any of its other colonies. It established two separate welfare programs, one track for immigrants from countries other than Algeria and one for Algerians. Throughout this process, Algerians and other Maghrebi immigrants were integral to the French industrial force even as immigration policy changed around them. This paper seeks to unpack the French welfare state and humanitarian aid through the lens of housing for Algerian immigrants between the end of World War II and the mid 1970s. Ultimately, I argue that the welfare state in France is founded on flawed perceptions of “the other” and that humanitarian aid as it stands in France only works to perpetuate inequalities.
The first recorded evidence of Algerian immigrants in France dates from 1871, just at the beginning of the second industrial revolution. It was not until just before World War I, though, that any significant migration to France took place. At this time, no migration from Algeria to France was permanent migration, a...
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...n France.” MERIP Reports No. 34, 1-12.
French Court of Auditors. “De la SONACOTRA à Adoma : des dérives corrigées tardivement” in Rapport public annuel 2013 – février 2013. (See attachment)
“France: Soundtrack to a Riot” http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2006/03/france_soundtralinks.html, Accessed 27 April, 2014.
Lyons, Amelia. The Civilizing Mission in the Metropole: Algerian Families and the French Welfare State during Decolonization. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2013.
Mehta, Brinda. “Negotiating Arab-Muslim Identity, Contested Citizenship, and Gender Ideologies in the Parisian Housing Projects: Faïza Guène’s Kiffe Kiffe Demain.” Research in African Literatures, Vol. 41, No. 2, 173-202.
Ticktin, Miriam. “Where Ethics and Politics Meet: The Violence of Humanitarianism in France.” American Ethnologist, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Feb, 2006), 33-49.
Welfare can be defined as “systems by which government agencies provide economic assistance, goods, and services to persons who are unable to care for themselves” (Issitt). The United States welfare system is an extremely complex and unique entity that encompasses ideas and concepts from an abundance of different places. Many people believe the current system is an excellent resource for the population, while others believe the current welfare system requires reform and budget cuts to become effective.
The French occupation is a confrontation between exported modernity and an old regime: the French revolutionaries and their dominance over the Ottoman social order that is markedly different in contrast; and, al-Jabarti reports on how it transfers cross-culturally. Levels of contestation, open and/or secretive acceptances give way to losses and gains driven by high emotion – even for this writer. He “describes very carefully every step in the negotiation of the organization of society, from administration to inheritance, from property to charity or from justice to deliberation.”
An Imperfect Offering is a powerful personal memoir from a James Orbinski, a Canadian who has spent most of his adult life in front-line humanitarian work in the world's worst conflict zones. Despite its dark chapters, it is also a hopeful story about the emergence of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as a new and independent agent of civil society, and the possibilities of making the world a better place. In “An Imperfect Offering”, James Orbinski tells the story of people who have been harmed by war, and humanitarian workers who have come to heal them when possible. He engages in deep reflection on the nature of humanitarian response and the many threats to this most human activity. He has sharp criticism for governments who act to cause suffering or to prevent its relief. He asks, “How am I able to be in relation to the suffering of others?” His life as a doctor, and a humanitarian worker illustrates this answer. Accordingly, the books main thesis is that humanitarianism is about the struggle to create space to be fully human. However, he illustrates how this struggle is becoming increasingly difficult with the imperfect offering of politics, which has resulted in the blurring of boundaries between humanitarian assistance and the political objectives of military intervention.
From the time that people began living in groups, people have migrated to suit their personal needs. For some, it was to escape difficult times or hardships faced by their ethnic group. Such is the case of the Irish who migrated to Quebec from 1815 to the Potato Famine of 1847. What causes and factors drove these people to cross an ocean and leave their homeland for the unknown prospects of Quebec? To examine and fully answer this question, one must look at the social, economic and religious conditions in Ireland at the time, as well as what drew the Irish to Quebec rather than somewhere else.
The United States is often referred to as a ‘reluctant welfare state.’ There are various reasons for this description. One of the primary reasons for this is the differences and diversity of the political parties which are the motivating forces that control government. The Liberal Party, for instance supports government safety nets and social service programs for those in need. “Liberals believe in government action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all.” ("Studentnews," 2006) They believe it is the responsibility of government to ensure that the needs of all citizens are met, and to intervene to solve problems. The responsibility of government is to alleviate social ills, to protect civil liberties and sustain individual and human rights. Liberals support most social and human service programs; such as TANF, including long-term welfare, housing programs, government regulated health care, Medicare, Medicaid, social security, and educational funding. Their goal is to create programs that promote equal opportunity regardless of gender, age, race, orientation, nationality or religion, along with many others. Liberals believe that government participation is essential and a means to bring about fairness and justice to the American way of life.
The film was created with the help of the Front de Libération Nationale, the nationalist group behind the Algerian revolution, and tells the story of independence from the non-French Algerian viewpoint. Scenes in the film use the capital of Algiers as a backdrop for the drastic fighting and bombings of the war. The contrast of settings used in scenes portrays the nice and well kept portions of the city and the inner chaos and poor living conditions of the areas in which the non-French Algerians had been restricted to. The scenes exemplify Manichaeism with the clear separation of the two areas and the quality of living of the people residing in each
The United States is sometimes described as a “reluctant welfare state.” I agree with this statement. Too often there are programs created by our government that, although may be lined with good intentions, end up failing in their main purpose. The government may, and hopefully does, seek to help its citizens. However, by applying unreasonable qualifying or maintenance criteria, or too many restrictions that bar people from even receiving aid at all, they end up with many more problems than solutions. Three examples of policies that do this are: Medicare, No Child Left Behind, and TANF, or the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
Welfare has been a safety net for many Americans, when the alternative for them is going without food and shelter. Over the years, the government has provided income for the unemployed, food assistance for the hungry, and health care for the poor. The federal government in the nineteenth century started to provide minimal benefits for the poor. During the twentieth century the United States federal government established a more substantial welfare system to help Americans when they most needed it. In 1996, welfare reform occurred under President Bill Clinton and it significantly changed the structure of welfare. Social Security has gone through significant change from FDR’s signing of the program into law to President George W. Bush’s proposal of privatized accounts.
Joyce, James. “Araby.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter Eighth Edition. Eds. Jerome Beaty, Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. New York: W.W.Norton.
The prospect of the welfare state in America appears to be bleak and almost useless for many citizens who live below the poverty line. Katz’s description of the welfare state as a system that is “partly public, partly private, partly mixed; incomplete and still not universal; defeating its own objectives” whereas has demonstrates how it has become this way by outlining the history of the welfare state which is shown that it has been produced in layers. The recent outcomes that Katz writes about is the Clinton reform in 1996 where benefits are limited to a period of two years and no one is allowed to collect for more than five years in their lifetime unless they are exempted. A person may only receive an exemption on the grounds of hardship in which states are limited to granting a maximum of 20% of the recipient population. The logic behind this drastic measure was to ensure that recipients would not become dependent upon relief and would encourage them to seek out any form of employment as quickly as possible. State officials have laid claim to this innovation as a strategy that would “save millions of children from poverty.” However, state officials predict otherwise such as an increase in homelessness, a flooding of low-waged workers in the labour market, and decreased purchasing power which means less income from tax collections. The outcomes of this reform appear to be bleak for many Americans who reside below the poverty line. How does a wealthy country like America have such weak welfare system? Drawing upon Katz, I argue that the development of the semi-welfare state is a result of the state taking measures to ensure that the people do not perceive relief as a right and to avoid exploiting the shortfalls of capitalism ...
Having given a concise idea about the French colonial ideology, we will examine the French colonial ideology from another perspective which is identity. Ideology here is similar to discourse in terms of conception as it was discussed by Stuart Hall, a Jamaican-British cultural theorist and sociologist, who he compared ideology to discourse; “A discourse is similar to what sociologists call an "ideology", it is a set of statements or beliefs which produce knowledge that serves the interests of a particular group or class.” in the other hand, Hall deals with identity as a very complex issue, which intervened by other aspects. So when we deal with the colonized identities we automatically evoke the European (colonizer).
Joyce, James. "Araby." 1914. Literature and Ourselves. Henderson, Gloria, ed. Boston, Longman Press. 2009. 984-988.
Reflections of Fieldwork of Morocco was an enlightening account of an American anthropologist experiences in late 1960s Morocco. While not directly related to the Jewish population and their practices in the country, the book it provided essential background information to better understand the basics as well as the subtleties of Moroccan culture. Understanding the majority culture will definitely be helpful in understand how Moroccan Jews fit into the overall Moroccan experience. Rabinow’s exploration of the north African nation exposed several interesting aspects of Moroccan life, like the legacy of French colonialism, the dual purpose of separation, and dominance and submission in Moroccan interactions.
With one of the three pillars of colonial rule gone, the destruction of the French rule of the physical space and political economy of Algeria soon follows. In the case of the boy openly denouncing French propaganda and currying favor for the FLN, Pontecorvo depicts the break from the mentality that the Algerians must live under the Frenchmen, rather than as human equals. The second scene with the woman refusing rations provided by French soldiers emphasizes not only the idea that the Algerians are ready to break the mental shackles that bind and marginalize them, but also be seen as independent, without the care and protection of false French generosity. This marks a pivotal point in the process of revolution, as Fanon describes it, “For he knows that he is not an animal ; and it is precisely at the moment he realizes his humanity that he begins to sharpen the weapons with which he will secure its victory” (Fanon 43). In other words, once the psychological chains that burden the colonized into believing that they are subhuman and must serve under their colonizer break, they begin to see their own humanity and begin the process to fight for its rights. Ultimately, The Battle of Algiers effectively depicts the transition of the psychological state of the Algerian people from believing that they are incapable of self-rule to wanting to fight for their
Alistair Horne; A Savage War Of Peace, Algeria 1954 – 1962, Macmillan London Limited, London.