CONCERNING TORTURE AT EL HARRACH
_ By. Albert Roux
[The following review of a booklet published by Editions de Minuit (Paris) has’ been translated by World Outlook from the May issue of La Quatriéme- Internationale, the organ of the French’: section of the Fourth International. Albert Roux, a Trotskyist leader. who became well _Known as a French supporter and partisan of the Algerian Revolution in its most difficult days, was one of the” first victims of the Boumedienne regime. He underwent severe ~~ torture at the hands of Boumedienne's police and his case was widely reported in the French press. when his release was finally secured. ;
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Even after eight months IF still felt a rude-shock when I §read this brochure, The Torture Victims of El Harrach,* which describes tortures that I myself endured. :
I felt, in looking back, that-the same military security : agents who- were distressed by ‘the tortures which Le Goff, Maziere y Goasdoué , Meyers and myself suffered at the hands of the "Algiers. potitical police ~~ we were in the first group -- probably took part in the torture of those who were arrested after us.
The "small lieutenant wearing tinted glasses and a delicate moustache" whom Bouzid Benallegue describes (page 40) reminds me very much of one of ‘those military security agents who seemed ~ anxious not to be confused with. ‘the torturers of the PRG [Police des Renseignements Generaux, the political police]. :
.. There is.one person who looks rather foolish after the publication of The Torture Victims of El Harrach.: That person is Reda Malek, the Algerian ambassador to France, who-dared in a press conference on September 27, 1965, to deny that: TD had undergone the torture which I described.
Bo oumaza , ‘the co-author of Gangrene and ‘the ‘present Minister. of Information, was ‘quite careful ‘not to contest!my: account of. these events when Jean-Jacques de Felice showed it to him a few days later.
The systematic use of torture is only too evident. The victim, the place, the torturers may change. The procedures are the same. Let no one think that I am forgetting the "French Authorities" in this matter. It took three weeks -- and no little commotion in the Paris papers -- before my companions in misfortune
"ies Topbunés de El Narrach, Les ditions de Minit, preface ty
Henri Alleg, introduction by Robert Meérle.
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and I could get to see-a representative of the French Consulate General in Algiers. It took more than six months before a French diplomatic representative managed to visit Doctor Marot and his fellow prisoners.
“This does not. mean, “however, that, the men of June 19. and their. toadies can. proceed without restraint. . a Several students arrested at the time of’ the demonstrations against. the regime which were linked to the protest. against the kidnapping of Mehdi, Ben Barka have just heen released | on a pro- .. visional basis. 2, : ee, cos Los
The Committee for the Defense of Ben Bella and the other victims of repression in Algeria has already scored a solid success and there can be no doubt that this success will increase, in the near future, especially after the extremely heroic hunger strike just..carried on by the victims, themselves.
The present ‘situation in Algeria is favorable. The new "authorities" may reject the "Marxist" concept of the "class struggle," but the class. struggle continues to exist nonetheless. The, repeated seizures of the trade-union organ, Révolution et. Travail on the negative side and, on the postive side, the fact that the government has. had to return about twenty estates hastily to the "self-management sector, " which it had previously restored to the owners, testifies to the strength of the popular reflexes.
I recall that 1. told. one of my torturers that torture. would. ‘solve . very little, in the last analysis and that one day they would have to attack the real problems, beginning with agrarian reform, the development ‘of self-management. and the establishment of workers control.
It seems that the, time is fast approaching. This does not mean, however, that the bureaucrats will: be swept away tomorrow. ‘The outcome still depends on many factors. It is necessary, in particular, that the opposition unite around a program which can . give real expression to the profound interests of the Algerian -masseg who have been used too often as tools for maneuvers from the top, when the leadership, instead, should have teyally. put itself at ‘their service. at
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