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I spent 24 and a half years in prison

Ahmed Ben Bella

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Ahmed Ben Bella
Age: 95 †
Born: 1916
Born: December 25
Died: 2012
Died: April 11
Association Football Player
Politician
Soldier
Years
Prison
Spent
Half

More quotes by Ahmed Ben Bella

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I am the son of poor peasants who came at a very young age to live in Algeria. I only recently saw the place where they were born, near the city of Marrakech.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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I am a Muslim Arab, in my actions oriented very to the left, in my convictions.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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I accommodated practically all of the liberation movements, including those of Latin America.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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Colonialism is an idea born in the West that drives Western countries - like France, Italy, Belgium, Great Britain - to occupy countries outside of Europe.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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Colonialism is known in its primitive form, that is to say, by the permanent settling of repressive foreign powers, with an army, services, policies. This phase has known cruel colonial occupations which have lasted 300 years in Indonesia.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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Peace does not include a vendetta there will be neither winners nor losers.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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Algeria was therefore only the beginning of something that was in development: this is why I say that it's the global capitalist system that finally reacted against us.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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I can say now: all the combatants who participated in the fight for freedom in South America came to Algeria it's from there that all those who fought left. We trained them, we arranged for the weapons to reach them, we created networks.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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Yes, I am Algerian of Moroccan origin through my parents, but all my life is Algeria. I was born there.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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When I was engaged in the struggle for my country, I was very young. My horizons were open.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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Algeria is not breaking up.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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It is obvious that taking the country from a state of war to being a lawful state won't be easy.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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Yes, my life is a life of combat I can say that this has never stopped for a single instant. It is a combat that started for me at the age of 16. I'm 90 years old now, and my motivation hasn't changed it's the same fervour that drives me.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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I'm optimistic because I'm pragmatic: Neither of the two sides, the military government nor the Islamic front, is capable of winning. If they continue to fight, they will both bleed to death.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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Let us all agree to die a little, or even completely so that African unity may not be a vain word
Ahmed Ben Bella
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The liberation movement which I led in Algeria, the organization that I created to fight the French army, was at first a small movement of nothing at all. We were but some tens of people throughout Algeria, a territory that is five times the size of France
Ahmed Ben Bella
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Those who are leftists, once in power, are not different from other parties.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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In the past, we spoke of poverty, misery only in the south. Now there is a lot of misery, a lot of bad that creates victims in the north as well. This has become manifest: the global system was not made to serve the good of all, but to serve multinational companies.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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In two years, there were 22 military coups d'etat, essentially in Africa and the third world. The coup d'etat of Algiers, in 1965, is what opened the path.
Ahmed Ben Bella
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My life has been a bit special, this is true. I participated in the liberation of my country. I was one of the organisers of its struggle for liberation. I likewise actively participated in all the struggles for liberation.
Ahmed Ben Bella