The Story of Djamila Bouhired, Student Turned Revolutionary and With One Line Changed a Nation
The women who celebrities sang for, poets wrote for, and people fought for
Jamila (جميلة) means pretty, or even beautiful in Arabic. If you want to compliment a girl, you tell her ente Jamila, (you are beautiful). Djamila Bouhired means resilience. She means strength. She means brilliance. You can be called Jamila, but there is no bigger compliment than getting compared to Djamila Bouhired.
Djamila born, in 1935 was the only girl in a family of 7 boys. Only those with single girls understand how much loved and spoiled they are in a family of boys. Djamila was no exception. She loved fashion. She loved beauty. But above all else, she loved her nation of Algeria. Unfortunately for her, and all other Algerians during this time, Algeria was under French colonial rule, something she swore to change.
As a young girl who was brought into this world without knowing a difference, she lived her days freely. It was when attending a French school during her teenage years that things began to change. She noticed that they pledged towards France, rather than the Algeria she knew and loved. Everything was always towards France. The teacher said that French was the motherland. But Djamila, as she knew, was Algerian, and the country she was in, was Algeria, so how could she pledge towards France when there was no French in her nor her country? That day she went home and asked her mom a simple question "Is it true that French is our motherland? Her mother replied in a simple manner. "No Djamila, Algeria will always be the motherland, to hell with French and its people".
Djamila soon exchanged dresses and products for guns and weapons and hoped to free her country. She left school at 20 to join the Algerian National Liberation Front where she and several other people fought for their country against French occupation. She planted bombs obscuring French colonialism plans, making her the most wanted subject at the time.
She fought with all her strength until she was arrested in 1957 after being shot in the shoulder as she tried to escape and was left bleeding on the ground. This is when hell on earth began for Djamila. At the hospital where she was taken, the French tortured her for information. They were merciless in their methods. They electrocuted her ears. They electrocuted her nose. They electrocuted her breasts. And god bears witness to what else they had done to her. There was nothing but sheer cruelty in their tactics. But, unbeknownst to them, Jamila was becoming a symbol of resistance. The national poet of Syria wrote a poem for her. The national pride of the whole of the Middle East sang for her. To the people of Algeria, Djamila was nothing but a sign of resistance. And resist she did. After 3 days of electric shock, she never backed down nor told of her colleague's whereabouts. It was only when the torturers sought no information, when a sham trial was set up. When they brought Djamila to court to try her for god knows what they planned to pin on her, she said her famous lines:
"I know that you will sentence me to death, but do not forget that by killing me you are assassinating the traditions of freedom in your country, but you will not prevent Algeria from becoming free and independent"
This line brought in mass revolts from around the globe and millions of telegrams were sent in to condemn the court's decision of execution. And it worked! her initial death sentence was changed to life imprisonment and only after Algeria's liberation in 1962 was Djamila Bouhired finally released.
History has always had such a troubled past. Some may say that long ago everything was a dark time. The past seems to always be painted in black. But was it so long ago? Was this unjust treatment in another life? No, it was not, here is a picture of Djamila Bouhired today, still alive and as fashionable as ever.
Photo Essay
Here is the accompanying time capsule for this week's memoir. Whereas the memoir will focus more on what was done, the time capsule will focus on where it was done and the influences on the person through their native country. You can read the story, view the time capsule, or do both one after the other!
Amazing and inspiring story! Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you for highlighting her story- so many brave women- so much sacrifice 🙏🏽🙏🏽 Colonialism was a scourge ‼️