Casey Henderson Essays (1092 words) - Algerian War, Africa

Casey Henderson History 20 th Century Dr. Biggs 2/24/15 Battle of Algiers and the Return of Algiers Women play important roles in The Battle of Algiers . Discuss how their roles in the film compare with women's participation in other struggles of national liberation. In the film The Battle of Algiers, women play an important role on the side of the National Liberation Front, also known as the FLN. Most women were of the Muslim culture while a few were French but ultimately these women helped in many different aspects of the war. These woman worked as nurses or spies or even helped with the combat going on in throughout the city. As shown in the movie these woman were fully covered from head to toe and all you can see is there eyes. Muslim woman have always dressed this way but I believe this helped these woman be sneaky in their efforts to help. In a scene in the movie the paratroopers began to set up blocks or checkpoints in an effort to make sure people were not caring any weapons or acting suspicious. A woman all covered in white was grabbed by one of the paratroopers and she screams "don't touch me!" The trooper lets her go as it somewhat looks suspicious on his part to others watching. The woman ends up having a gun under her, she pul ls it out and shoots two paratroopers and immediately drops the evidence in a nearby box that seemed to be all planned out. The tactics of these woman prove to be helpful because they are not your stereotypical murder, and people seem to trust them more. In the national liberation struggle of Ireland woman in the Cumann na mBan army played similar roles in their fight for equal rights. These woman planted bombs and carried weapons just like the Algerian sisters. These two groups of woman were used to help these struggles and both did a lot of tactics that men were required as well. Terrorist bombings occur in multiple scenes and places in the film. How and why did the FLN utilize these attacks, and how does the film present the ethics of killing civilians? Compare the use of terrorism here with other examples in modern world history. The battle of Algiers started with the increase attention to the struggle from the French which ultimately lead to the strike of the FLN. Three woman planted bombs randomly throughout the city which lead to many shootings and casualties which sparked a big response from authorities. Even though the paratroopers eventually eradicated the Algerians, the bombings and casualties showed the ability of the FLN to successfully strike at the attention of French Algeria and to achieve a mass reply to the demands of Muslims. They killed many innocent civilians and this shows the killing of civilians to be easy to commit and get away with during this period. The terrorist attack killing 241 United States soldiers in Lebanon was another act of terrorism throughout the 20 th century. These 2 terrorist attacks are alike because they were b oth a complete surprise killing many people. These acts were committed to get the attention of certain groups in an effort to get what they want. The Algerian war was meant to for them to gain independence against the French while the attack in Lebanon was the Iranian people sending a message to the US trying to declare war. Economic concerns were central to both the Algerian War (1954-62) and the tensions described in Return to Algiers (1991). Explain. During the Algerian war the econo mic struggle was high . Many people were unemployed and the struggle for Muslims to gain independence was the under lying problem. Many woman working for the Muslim people now had jobs like that of woman in the military. They had many jobs such as doctors and even helping out with the combat going on in the city. The battle of Algiers put an even bigger pause on the economic flow throughout France during this period and left many innocent people scared to leave there house. In the Return to Algiers the economic struggle was similar. The collapse of