African Revolutionary
Writers, Part 9b
Ahmed Ben Bella with Gamal
Abdel Nasser
Ahmed Ben Bella
Ahmed Ben Bella was an Algerian Revolutionary and freedom fighter, 3rd
President of Algeria (1963-1965), born in 1918, who died in 2012.
The main downloadable
document linked below is an interview with Ben Bella done in 2006.
Of course it would be
preferable to have a political pamphlet, speech, or article for a theoretical
journal written by the comrade’s own hand. But this interview is a good
substitute.
You will see that Ben Bella
interacted with both Cabral and Mandela. Says Ben Bella:
“Mr. Mandela and Mr. Amilcar Cabral
themselves came to Algeria. It’s me who coached them; afterwards they returned
to lead the fight for freedom in their countries. For other movements, which
were not involved in a military fight and who needed only political support,
such as Mali, we helped in other ways.”
You will see that Che Guevara
was also there at one stage.
In 2003, Ben Bella went into
action again and was elected to lead the International Campaign Against
Aggression on Iraq. We all failed to stop that war. Ben Bella, old as he
already was, did more than most.
Viva, Ben Bella, Viva!
·
The above is to
introduce the original reading-text: Ahmed Ben Bella,
People's Liberation Unachieved, 2006.
