Nothing has ever come easy for the Algerian people.
From their earliest history, dating back before 4,000 B.C., they were alternately invaded by — and successfully resisted — the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks and French.
In times of Carthage, around 800 B.C., they were subjugated by the Phoenicians, conscripted into their armies as foot soldiers and slaves.
But by the second century B.C., when the Carthaginian state began to wane following the Punic Wars, the Algerian people, known as the Imazighen, or Berbers, began to break away and establish loosely administered kingdoms of their own.
Then came the Romans, at the turn of the millennium, and despite mass relocations, forced conversions to Christianity and the expropriation of Berber farmlands, the Algerian people once again resisted, ultimately expelling the European invaders.
During the Middle Ages, the Algerians began to consolidate their national identity, with a series of Berber dynasties expanding their territory into Europe, Egypt, Sudan and beyond.
But tribal differences (the Berbers — who make up nearly 99 percent of modern-day Algeria — are divided into a seemingly endless array of ethnic subgroups) proved to be the North African country’s downfall, and efforts to unite the territory under a single banner remained futile.
The Islamization of the Maghreb, beginning in the seventh century, transformed the country into a unified religious body, although unresolved sectarian tensions eventually led to economic decline (Algeria for centuries had been the breadbasket of the Mediterranean and a key trading hub) and political instability.
Under Ottoman rule, there was a brief period of Algerian semi-sovereignty, when Algiers became the center of Ottoman authority in the Maghreb.
But when the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century ended, Algeria was grudgingly thrust into a war with Spain, the Netherlands, Prussia, Denmark, Russia and Naples.
The resulting chaos led to the creation of the pirating Barbary States — of which Algeria was part, along with Morocco, Tunisia and Libya — and two unsavory wars with the United States that left the country economically devastated.
But none of Algeria’s oppressors were ever quite as subjugating or brutal as the French, whose colonization of the country began in 1830.
The French ruled Algeria for 132 years with an iron fist, and during their reign, more than 1.5 million Algerians died as a result of torture, aerial bombing raids and mass slaughters of entire villages known as ratissages.
Those who resisted — and there were many — were eliminated or quelled in uniquely French panache, often having to drink bleach or witness their families violated and dismembered by French soldiers.
In May 1945, French troops killed more than 45,000 Algerians around the eastern town of Setif, after celebrations to mark the defeat of Nazi Germany turned into pro-independence protests.
The Algerians responded in kind and the violence escalated, spiraling into what would become one of the bloodiest and most gruesome wars of independence in modern annals.
Algeria’s hard-fought revolutionary war began in late 1954 and ended eight years later, with a still-undetermined death toll calculated to be in the tens of thousands and the unbridled use of torture and rape against unarmed civilians by both sides.
Since then, Algeria has struggled to rebuild itself, despite a two-decade-long civil war against terrorist Islamic fundamentalists who launched a vicious campaign of indiscriminate violence in Algeria in 1988, leading to the deaths of more than 100,000 people and incalculable economic losses.
But the single unifying thread that has tied Algeria and the Algerian people together has always been their determination to remain independent and free no matter what tragedies may befall them.
The harsh memories of the country’s grisly struggle against the French is a fundamental part of modern Algerians’ political DNA, and is recalled with sadness and determination every year, on the anniversary of the nation’s proclamation of independence by the insurgent National Liberation Front (FNL).
“The anniversary of the glorious revolution that began on the first day of November of 1954 represents far more than that start of an armed rebellion that was replicated across our national territory,” Algerian Ambassador to Mexico Rabah Hadid said during a diplomatic function at his residence last week to commemorate the historic date.
“It also marked the distillation of the Algerian people — and the rest of the world — to take up service in the fight for our national independence and established the basic principles of the edification of a democratic society with a diplomatic commitment to peace and cooperation.”
Hadid also pointed out that the Algerian revolution gave voices to the cries of other nations for African decolonization, as well as the withdrawal of foreign occupation in Asia and Latin America.
Following in the footsteps of Algeria’s revolt against France were uprisings in Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Morocco and Tunisia.
Next came West and East Africa, and, finally, South Africa, and all took their cue from the valiant and resilient Imazighen.
So crucial was Algeria’s role as a bellwether of later resistance against racism and colonialism that global revolutionists such as Malcolm X and Che Guevara would subsequently make their way to the North African country to pay tribute to its independence struggle champions.
On arrival at Algiers, Guevara would declare the city “one of the most heroic capitals of freedom.”
And in 1961, Nelson Mandela would proclaim the Algerian revolution “the closest model to our own in that the rebels faced a large white settler community that ruled the indigenous majority.”
Hadid noted that Mexico’s early support of the Algerian revolution set the foundation for the close bilateral relationship that exists between the two countries today.
Mexico was, in fact, the first country to recognize the newly independent Algerian republic after it finally gained its national sovereignty in 1962.
Algeria, with the third-largest economy in Africa, is currently Mexico’s second-largest trade partner in that continent, with a combined commercial exchange surpassing $300 million annually.
The country’s economy has been hammered by the drop in international crude oil prices, but the resilient Algerians are now working to revitalize it through incentive programs for investors and a diversification of its export portfolio.
There is also a three-year economic plan to promote growth and sustainable development, while revamping the tax system and strengthening respect for human rights.
Algeria has already proven itself to be a regional pioneer in promoting female rights and social justice.
For the last 10 years, Algeria has been a close ally of the West in combatting terrorism, and it is now likely to become a major player in helping to negotiate peace throughout North Africa.
Moreover, Algeria has consistently been a stalwart of peace and stability in a region that is known to be politically volatile.
Nothing has ever come easy for the Algerian people, but their indefatigable determination and intestinal fortitude have always been their lodestar.
Thérèse Margolis can be reached at [email protected].
