Almost a month after the arrest of the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansalwhich aroused great emotion, Camel Daoudalso Franco-Algerian and winner of the Goncourt 2024 prize, did not fail to once again express his solidarity during an interview on France Inter, this Wednesday, December 11, while pointing out the chilling realities of authoritarianism in Algeria.
“What is happening to Boualem Sansal is a stark reminder of how regimes repress free thought. Writing becomes an act of resistance, but also an act of survival. », he proclaimed on the microphone of Léa Salame et Nicolas Demorand.
This affair illustrates the urgency for Algerian intellectuals to continue to denounce these obstacles: “ In Algeria, writing has become a fight for memory, against the oblivion imposed by the regimes. We have a duty to raise these muffled voices. »
Exile: a visceral decision
« You have to take a plane very quickly and then you understand, you say to yourself: I can't stay, I have to shelter my family and my children. » Thus Kamel Daoud describes the urgency of his departure, a decision taken in a week. He recounts the poignant anguish of going through customs controls: “ Algerians know the anxiety of the PAF (Police Aux Frontières), that moment when the police examine your passport and you don't know what will happen. »
This decisive, intimate moment, Kamel Daoud usually prefers to keep quiet: “ I don't want to be in the position of a martyred exile. It's an intimate pain, it belongs to me. » But he insists on the importance of testifying to make the West understand the reality of authoritarian regimes: “ You never know, at any moment, if you might get arrested. »
An uncompromising critique of Western perceptions
Kamel Daoud observes a persistent incomprehension of the West regarding the Algerian reality. He identifies three major obstacles: “ The linguistic bias, because we are French-speaking and Western elites do not have access to Arabic-speaking production. Then, a paralysis as soon as we talk about Islamism, for fear of being accused of Islamophobia. Finally, a focus on colonialism which obscures internal problems. »
The failures of the Arab left
For Daoud, the progressive forces in the Arab world are at an impasse: “ We have not offered a third way. The left has been crushed by dictatorships, but also biased by anti-colonial discourse. We abandoned school, universities and the publishing field. »
He deplores the refusal to confront certain parts of history: “ In Algeria, they tell you: “Don’t talk about the civil war, talk about the war of independence.” As if those who died in the 1990s were not human beings. » This memory selectivity feeds, according to him, intellectual and political stagnation.
A peaceful relationship with Morocco
Faced with tensions between Algeria and Morocco, Daoud advocates fraternity: “ Morocco is also Algeria with another flag. I will never wage war on Morocco. » He recalls the historic solidarity between the two countries and criticizes the nationalist escalation.
Write to survive
Writing is for Kamel Daoud a form of absolute freedom: “ It's therapy, the only place where I feel alive, free and independent. » While he confirms that he is already writing his next novel, he refuses to let oppressions define his life: “ You should never make your enemy the center of your life. The goal is happiness, success, being a living person. »
Resolutely attached to his freedom of tone, he concludes forcefully: “ I will write about Algeria as I think, about France as I think. Algeria belongs to me, no one can privatize it. »
With his words, Kamel Daoud offers a lesson in courage and resilience. His testimony resonates as a call to confront taboos, embrace complexity and find new paths for dialogue and creation. He was to be present at Gallimard this Wednesday afternoon during a press conference on the Boualem Sansal affair.
