« Mon nationalisme », par Moulay Merbah (1913-1997)

Abstract

This article analyses the anti-colonialist leader’s unpublished memoirs that make heard the various voices of the native society facing the French domination. It attempts particularly to decipher the writing context of this rich and valuable document elaborated in the early years of independent Algeria marked by the crackdown on opponents of the National Liberation Front. This paper also highlights the training of this example of colonial meritocracy who was one of the rare intellectuals of Messali Hadj’s movement. Finally, this text underlines the stages of the first public commitments of Moulay Merbah, strained between Islamic reformism, radical nationalism and professional constraints.

Keywords

• Autobiography
• Colonial
• Nationalism
• Memoirs
• Revolution