[Comic] Mohamed Saïl, «A Kabyle Anarchist»

Born in Kabylia, near Béjaïa, east of Algiers, on October 14, 1894, Mohamed Saïl was imprisoned during the First World War for insubordination and desertion. After his release, and having settled in the Paris region, he joined the Anarchist Union. In 1923, he founded the Committee for the Defense of Algerian Natives.

Threatened by far-right groups, he armed himself. He was arrested on March 3, 1934, and sentenced to four and a half months in prison for carrying a prohibited weapon.

To fight the Spanish nationalists, he joined the International Group of the Durruti Column in July 1936.

L’Espagne Antifasciste (CNT-AIT-FAI) published his letters written on the front lines.

Wounded in Zaragoza, he returned to France.

During the Nazi occupation, he devoted himself to forging papers.

He resumed his anti-colonialist writings in Le Libertaire from 1946 until his death in April 1953 in Bobigny, near Paris.

TEXTS COLLECTED AND PRESENTED BY SYLVAIN BOULOUQUE
This collection of texts by an anonymous editor of the libertarian press, originally published by Volonté anarchiste in 1994, sought to recall the existence of a libertarian vision on colonial problems that he refused to separate from the social question. The emergence of debates on colonialism made him an important figure in anarchism. A leader of multiple committees, his intimate knowledge of Algeria allowed him to publish texts highlighting the multiple mechanisms of domination. [...] These articles place him within the classic forms of anarchist activism, combining anti-colonialism, anti-communism, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, and the fight for emancipation. <https://www.editions.federation-ana...>