Kamel Daoud attacks Algerian power and the “left-wing press”

The Franco-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud attacks the Algerian power, whose authoritarianism he criticizes, and the « left press »who according to him misunderstands him, in an interview published Thursday by the daily The World . The 2024 Goncourt Prize-winning novelist accuses the leaders of Algeria of silencing their opponents through intimidation.

« Recently, I read a statement by Albert Camus : “Exile is necessary for the truth”. We can return the formula for Algeria : lying is necessary to stay there »he said. He cites the example of an unnamed writer who gave up joining the movement in support of Boualem Sansal, a Franco-Algerian novelist in detention in Algeria since November for endangering state security.

« I can’t judge others, their choices. I remember this writer who wanted to sign the petition and who called me back saying : “I can’t, my wife is leaving for Algiers in two hours.” I understand »explained Kamel Daoud. « The diet is tough. You sign, you pay it immediately. There is fear, therefore »he added.

The writer’s other targets are « first the Islamists, who are in the process of privatizing cultural spaces in Algeria, publishing houses, bookstores, schools. These Islamists are delighted to see a writer in prison »according to Kamel Daoud.

Finally, there is the « left-wing press which cannot see us beyond the role imposed on us, that of ideological adjuvants ». He details: « In other words, either we speak to this press according to its own expectations, neutralizing our own convictions, or we do not have the right to speak », details the writer.

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The author of the novel Houris has been writing a column in the weekly since 2014 The Pointwhere he attacks the left as regularly as the Islamists, which causes him to be attacked in return. « I am criticized for not being the good Arab, the one who is in permanent victimhood and decoloniality »he lamented to the Monde.