Scene from The Battle of Algiers: Press Conference with Ben M'hidi

Is State terrorism any more legitimate than that of suicide bombers? A Lesson from history.

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[scolic03]

A movie and a question still relevant today...

[Mcfearless123]

that press reporter got verbally bitchslapped

[wobatus]

Katyusha, interesting that instead of saying you would die to free your country you'd kill children to do so. Again, Gandhi helped free his country without killing children. France was awful for Algeria, and deserved defeat. I don't know that pied-noir babies deserved Phillipeville. My guess is Algeria would have eventually gained independence. And the fln were never democrats. They saw French democracy as its weakness. The seeds of violent dictatorship were sown and you reap what you sow

[Katyusha666]

@wobatus Speaking as an Algerian opposed to the present government. If I had the opportunity to go back in time knowing what I know today, I would still have supported the FLN. The sovereignty of a nation has no price. The FLN did commit atrocities against innocents, that is undeniable, but if you asked me to kill children to free my country, I would do it. The FLN did not lead the revolution in order to impose dictatorship, that was Boumediene who hijacked the party and imposed his rule.

[jiji309]

@wobatus no this movie is not a lie the french colonizers did aweful things to our country and our people so everything happened in this movie is true and we managed to kick the french out of algeria ... there is no need for FLN to pay for it

[NADA23146]

best war movie

[NADA23146]

great speech convincing

[costixx]

Does this remind to the americans the situation between Israel-palestinians? Of course the US media are totally in favor of israel..

[wobatus]

Ha, adctually, horrible example, as Camus was a pied noir himself who opposed the revolution. Nevertheless, supporting freedom i algeria does not require one to support terrorism or especially the FLN, which became a horrible 1-party state itself (with some pretty horrible opponents of its own). This isn't to support the french. But Gandhi nor MLK, Jr. went this route. Different situations may call for different tactics, but this bitch-slapping suggests you're naive if you don't agree.

[wobatus]

Katyusha. Privet and Kak dela? I do not really doubt or care much that Ben M'Hidi really said this or that the movie (a wonderful film I have seen many times) also portrays the french (?) point of view. What about the human point of view? This is a false dichotomy, well-armed murdering imperialist or "innocent" baby (did pied noir toddlers vote?) killer. The FLN was a political party which imposed a 1-party, murderous state. Not all who supported a free Algeria were terrorists. Camus?

[Katyusha666]

@wobatus That actually is something that Ben M'Hidi said.