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."

This is the story of Algerian activist Louisa Ighilahriz—known as Louisette (Arabic: لويزة إغيل أحريز; Kabyle: Lwizet Iɣil-aḥriz)—who was born on August 22, 1936, and was an Algerian nationalist activist during the Algerian War. Held from late September to December 1957 at the headquarters of General Massu's 10th Parachute Division, Louisette has testified that she was tortured there. Her account, published in Le Monde diary on June 20, 2000, helped reignite the debate regarding torture during the Algerian War.

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).