We are no longer in France

Opposing Colonialism: the Women's International Democratic Federation and decolonisation struggles in Vietnam and Algeria 1945–1965

“…38 Algerian women from the UFA (Union of Algerian Women), which was also represented at the congress, used their positions as wives and family members of dockers to stop ships travelling from Algeria to Indochina during the French War, sometimes stoning police in protests. 39 The conference thus helped to consolidate solidarity for the Vietnamese amongst WIDF members. It brought together women from colonised territories and colonising countries during a crucial period of conflict over the future of the territories.…”

“…Some Algerians had served in Vietnam and had been challenged by the Vietnamese as to why they were fighting for the French. 41 Further to this, the Vietnamese victory in Dien Bien Phu inspired Algerians in the ALN (National Liberation Army), the army of the NLF, to attack police stations and French garrisons in 1954. 42 In the following sections of this article I examine some further strategies that the WIDF used to promote anti-colonialism in the report The Women of Asia and Africa and in activism relating to the Vietnamese and Algerian decolonisation wars.…”

“…There were ongoing tensions between communists and nationalists in Algeria due in particular to the early reluctance of the Algerian Communist Party to condemn the 1945 massacres and a perception that this was more of a French party. 49 In the 1953 congress the UFA delegate was increasingly linking colonialism with economic deprivation in Algeria and beginning to flag women's contributions towards national independence. 50 The WIDF did not provide much coverage of the war in Algeria until 1957, perhaps due to difficulties in getting information in the context of the war and the increasing French repression of the UFA.…”

“…13 The Algerian and French communist parties initially ignored the massacre based on the interpretation that the proindependence demonstrations which triggered the massacres were the work of nationalist fascist provocateurs and the view that Algeria was not yet ready for independence. 14 Reflecting the fact that there was not yet a unified independence movement in Algeria, delegates did not broach colonialism in the congress.…”

A Contingent Nationhood: the Jewish Question and the Palestinian Cause within the Algerian Independence Movement

“…At this time, French democratic and antifascist circles expressed their concerns that European fascists were influencing North Africans and Algerian Muslims in particular 34 . Lecache's attempt faced several challenges, as historian Emmanuel Debono has noted 35 : the ENA expressed its agreement to cooperate with the LICA only if the league "breaks with Zionism"; rumors concerning the "alleged anti-Semitic views" of Messali, spread by far-right intellectual Henry Coston, troubled the LICA; the LICA backed the Blum-Viollette proposal while Messali condemned it "for giving the right to vote to some 25,000 bourgeois Algerians while leaving six millions fellahs [peasants] in misery" 36 . A key issue which separated the radical ENA from the progressive LICA was that it was easier for the LICA to talk with the moderate Muslim elite of Algeria, who did not stand for the end of French rule in North Africa, whilst for the ENA these notables were their political enemies.…”