Word: moslem
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...frantic determination of the piedsnoirs* not to give up a single privilege or accept a single political gain on the part of the Moslems frustrated every French government effort at amelioration. Perfectly reasonable laws for Moslem "partnership" that might have prevented the war went on the books in Paris, but were never applied in Algeria. A few tame Moslems, known as beni-oui-ouis (yes-men), were allowed to participate in the government, but elections were so frankly rigged that even in France itself, "les elections algeriennes" was a phrase to describe stuffing the ballot box. An old Berber once...
...Moslems had nothing to lose in seeking a way across the ford by following Benkhedda and other F.L.N. leaders. The leaders were drawn mostly from the privileged Moslem families and felt themselves equal as men to the French, but forced into social and economic inferiority. French rule, and later the war itself, provided the unity that the Moslems had lacked so long...
...Beach. Benkhedda's family was of Turkish origin, and both his father and grandfather were respected cadis, a sort of combined judge, solicitor and arbitrator who, under Moslem law, performs marriages, settles civil litigation and mediates property disputes. The cadis, of course, were "good friends of France" and in their home town of Blida, a street leading off the main square is named in honor of Benyoussef's grandfather...
Born in 1920, Benyoussef was considered a shy and self-contained child, and easily won a scholarship to the Blida lycee. He had only to look around him in school for evidence of discrimination. Though Blida was 80% Moslem, 27 of the 30 students in his class were European. One Moslem classmate was Saad Dahlab, now F.L.N. Foreign Minister and often called the "theorist of the revolution." A grade or two below was M'ham-med Yazid, now F.L.N. Information Minister. Benkhedda pored over books on modern revolutions-French, American and Russian. He recalls wanting...
...also spent a lot of time swimming at the nearby beaches, going to the theater and movies, and confessed to a friend that "Algiers is fatal even to the most single-minded student." In 1945, at the end of World War II, Moslems staging an independence celebration in Setif clashed with the police and Europeans. Some 5,000 Moslems were killed, and the French began arresting everyone in sight, including Benkhedda and his fellow committee members on the Moslem Students Union. He spent six months in grim Barberousse prison-which the F.L.N. promises to raze and replace with a park...