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How Not to Write About the Relevance of The Battle of Algiers Today

A lot has been written about the film The Battle of Algiers. This article not only does not answer its own question, but it erases the struggle of the Algerians and the Arabs in general since 2010-11. 

“What relevance does The Battle of Algiers hold today, 55 years after it was first released?”

When we speak about the film’s relevance today, we speak about Black Lives Matter and Occupy? How appalling! Naomi Joseph has ignored the Arab uprisings of 2010/11 and 2019. The latter year is of the Algerian uprising.

How does the movie relate to neo-colonialism as contrasted to colonialism? 

Is France today a neo-colonial power in Algeria, in the Sahel, and other places? 

Is there anything uttered by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, relevant and echos what is in the film?

Do the reactions of the French ruling class, the media, the intelligentsia, and a large section of the population in the aftermath of the violent attacks in France in 2015 and afterwards reveal a continuity or an end to the way Algerians and Arabs are examined, illustrated, described, treated, etc since direct colonial rule? In other words, is what was said about the Algerians at the time of national liberation struggle similar or different from today’s narrative and discourse?

Does France’s support today of military and authoritarian regimes have any connection to the movie? It is not the French police and army that tortures Algerians today. But who has been supporting the torturers or occasionally giving them a slap on the wrist, and why?

Is there economic colonialism today that should be incorporated in the analysis?

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