algeria

What happened in Algeria?

We worked with Masrah El Tedj in Bordj Bou Arreridj from 30 June to 7 July 2006.

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Day One: Journey to Algeria

Arrived at Algiers Airport and as we passed a large crowd of people awaiting arrivals a woman greeted us saying: 'God be praised for your safe arrival and likewise for all who travel'. We travelled by car direct to Bordj Bou Arreridj. On our arrival we went straight to Masrah Tedj's centre and met other members of the company: Halim Zedam, the President, Sofiane, Nuari, Ali (people we had met before) and also a group of young men who were a hip hop breakdance group. There were approximately ten people there to greet us, all men.

Day Two: Saturday July 1st 2006

We went on a trip to the chateau (the bordj) around which we were guided by a woman historian who described some of the events in the 19th Century when a local leader Mokhrani made a substantial rebellion against the French colonisers. In the afternoon we were taken around the Museum of the Liberation War and were familiarised with the broad outline of the history of the War. We then met a group of 7 former combatants. These people impressed on us the intolerable oppression of the French colonial regime. They described how they had had to take up arms again in the early nineties against the threat posed by the ' terrorists' . They described the importance of islam in the war. Looking back they called the War, the Short Jihad and the more protracted struggle for stability in peace time, the Long Jihad.

We held a rehearsal with the break dance group and agreed to work on a break dance version of the Alcestis story. We asked ourselves questions about whether conflict was an intrinsic part of break dance. In the evening we had a long and deep conversation with Selim, Sofiane' elder brother, who had been the head of the political side of the FIS movement in Bordj, and Seddik a professor of literature. Selim cooked us a cous cous which we ate at the Centre.

Our conversation ranged freely over the importance of religion in our different countries, the nature of recent political events, the nature of fear. The conversation ended with the assertion of the crucial importance of art and creativity.

Day Three: Sunday 2nd July 2006

We met three members of the psychological/psychiatric profession.
They described how the violent history of Algeria had caused a tendency for all situations to be viewed as capable of being resolved by violence. Violence had become the main means. They pointed out the cultural pluralism of the country,
whilst also drawing our attention to several defining characteristics of the Algerian people. They indicated the strength of local community support at times of grief and conflict, telling us that one of the consequences of the regime inaugurated in 1962 was it's underestimation of traditional local support and leadership structures. They described the path that somebody might take to arrive at psychotherapeutic treatment: first the village/community leader, then the Imam, then the 'shaman' and finally the therapist. We also had clear description of the conflict in Algeria between Modernity and Tradition. We were told about the inter-generational problems encountered in Algeria. It was this rupture
which had led, according to some, to the recent internal conflict.
The FIS was described as the 'fils' of the FLN. There was a repeated idea that Algerians and Algeria as a culture had energetic and spiritual reserves that made it possible to overcome all problems which it suffered. This was a very fertile discussion for us.

We then went to the rehearsal of the dance group and explored the question of the invisible female in Alcestis, but also of course within the breakdance group. Later over dinner we got to know more about responses to the referendum that had been held last September which agreed to an amnesty and a process of
reconciliation. This involved release of prisoners, amnesty for perpetrators, a demand for the media to handle the issue in a uncontentious way. Stories were told about the need to accept the other. The referendum essentially affirmed a public agreement to forget and possibly to forgive the actions of the terrorist period for a short while in order to rebuild Algerian lives.

Day Four: Monday 3rd July 2006

We held a workshop at the Maison de la Culture with a group of eight young women and eleven young men with another three or four members of Masra El Tedj. The participants created a number of images which directly related to the situation of violence in contemporary Algeria. We had one sequence of images of community solidarity as a key element of recovery.

We divided the group into three smaller groups and they created three short pieces: one story showed two young men's attempt to woo two young women. One of them was successful and despite the risk of envy and animosity between them they held their relationship together and at the wedding of the successful suitor the friend found his love again. The second story showed a violent kidnap which transformed a wedding party into a scene of violence. The young groom whose newly wed wife was abducted and whose mother was killed rescues his wife only at the last moment to be shot dead. The third story showed a courtship between three young men and three young women in the form of dance contest where the men did modern breakdance style dancing and the young women
replied with traditional dance. It ended with a circle dance involving them all. We conducted three video interviews afterwards in which thanks were expressed for the opportunity to express in an open way ideas about violence. Halim made a public commitment to bring the group back together again and use the work we had done as the beginning of youth theatre group. This was one of the first times that young men and women had worked together. We understood more clearly why the content was so oriented towards courtship and mating.

Day Five: Tuesday 4th July

Recognising that there was a limited use of the internet in Algeria we started to plan strategies to encourage responses to our work from participants. This was complemented by Halim's intention to recontact the group and encourage opening of e mail accounts.

We went to visit the town market. We saw livestock and merchandise trading and also vendors of therapeutic cures. One woman sonorously boasted the benefits of her cures claimed to come Marocco. Later we visited a bakery in the town ran by one of the Masrah Tedj company.

Later in the morning we met the Press Agency representative in the town. He quickly pointed out that we had not really talked to women. We made a request to our host to organise a meeting with women.

We had an opportunity to talk at more length to Camelia, our interpreter, about her religion, her wearing hijab and the difference between Islam and Christianity.

In the afternoon we met Salah who is responsible for film and cinema education and we watched an Algerian classic film L'Opium et le Baton, a story set during the Liberation War. We made a commitment to make an exchange of films with our contact with the Baghdad Independent Film and Television College.

We held another rehearsal with the dance group. We worked on a more dynamic clash between the 'expressive' and 'breakdance' elements of the piece. A very intense rehearsal during a rain storm.

After the evening meal we had a comprehensive conversation with Halim and Sofiane about the project. Sofiane committed himself to contributing musical ideas. We talked about the next stage and discussed the importance of Alcestis. We came up with an image of a dynamic field in which we could put various elements. These would be the components of the next stage of the project.

Day Six: Wednesday 5th July

We went to watch the young people's march to the town cemetery monument to the martyrs of the War of Liberation. Afterwards we met a group of women. Two of these women had been nurses and couriers for the liberation movement. Their descriptions of their internment in the football stadium were dramatic particularly Jemilya. She stood against the wall in the position she had been forced to stand in listening to the cries of people being beaten. She also made other dramatic portrayals of her experiences. The other woman told us how she could never get over being told to stand in the hospital because she had occupied a seat designated for a French colonial boss. It was only when the recent referendum/reconciliation process was mentioned that the youngest of the women started talking energetically. There were also two sisters one who was a handball coach who had brought on several national champions but had had to curtail her work because the girls sporting outfits were considered inappropriate. The other sister, the former principal of a local college had had to yield her job to a man after a campaign of harassment eight years ago.

After lunch we gathered in the theatre opposite the hotel. We asked the performers to make a design mark on the cloth. Cecilia, the little daughter of one the women participants from a few days before painted a flower. The dance group performed the piece a couple of times for the camera. Some of the young women from the workshop turned up. There was gift giving and farewells. The Director of Culture for the Wilaya turned up and invited us to dinner that evening.

Later we took a drive into the mountains in order to see some of the countryside. We went to the village of Medhana where Mokhrani came from and where Sofiane had ran his veterinary practice.

Camelia talked about her relationship to nature and meditation.

Later we had dinner with the Director of Culture and we established the importance of our visit and gained his support for our future activity.

Day Seven: Thursday 6th July 2006

Leaving Bordj very early in the morning we arrived in Algiers City for a morning meeting with Mohamed Bengattaf, the Director of the National Theatre. He offered us his support. We talked about his life and how he became an actor and a writer and how was his experience when the extremists were killing writers and artists. He gave us a copy of one of his plays. Outside on the wall there was a plaque commemorating the murder of a former Director by the 'terrorists'. He had been shot as he came out of his office at the end of the working day.

We had a meeting with Glyn Bottrell, a political secretary at the British Embassy, we exchanged views of the situation and explored the prospects of finding a candidate who might take up a bursary to attend a post-graduate course in the UK. We agreed about the principle of future co-operation.

Swimming, dinner and a visit to Sidi Fredj the place where the French first landed in the 1830s.

Day Eight: Friday 7th July

We had a meeting in Algiers with the photographer Khalil who extolled the merits of western technology and the internal combustion engine. He took photos with our digital camera, the first he had taken in many years. He gave us examples of his work.

Later we took the plane to return to London.

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