Benjamin Stora

From the early 1960s to the mid-1970s, independent Algeria provided significant support to anti-colonial movements and revolutionaries worldwide. Successive presidents, Ahmed Ben Bella and then Houari Boumédiène, made Algiers a haven for activists fighting against colonial and racial oppression. Algiers the White became Algiers the Red. The internationalist Che Guevara established his base of operations there for his guerrilla activities in Africa. The African-American leader Eldridge Cleaver made it the international headquarters of the Black Panther Party. During this period, Algiers was known as "The Mecca of Revolutionaries."

Biography of Louisette Ighilahriz, an activist for Algerian independence who was arrested and tortured by the French army.

Fifty years after the Independence of Algeria, the civil war 1954-62 is still a unknown subject for many people. This documentary brings along facts and data to understand why such events were a big trauma for both communities and by the way, explains the reason for the return to the power of the General de Gaulle (set up of a French constitution in 1958).