We were honored to host Zohra Drif at the Ambassador’s residence for a special reading and discussion of her experience during Algeria’s struggle for independence, which will be published in English for the first time this year by U.S. publisher Just World Books. Zohra Drif is a resilient woman who helped shape Algeria’s history, and her book–Inside the Battle of Algiers: Memoir of a Woman Freedom Fighter–will allow many Americans and other English speakers to connect with and better understand Algeria through her narrative of an important chapter in Algeria’s history.
Americans and Algerians celebrate the achievements of independence around the same time—every year on July 4 and 5. President John F. Kennedy said very eloquently in July 1962: “This moment of national independence for the Algerian people is both a solemn occasion and one of great joy. The entire world shares in this important step toward fuller realization of the dignity of man. I am proud that it falls to me as the President of the people of the United States to voice on their behalf the profound satisfaction we feel that the cause of freedom of choice among peoples has again triumphed.”
