It is easy to exaggerate Algeria's self sufficiency today because economic progress and prosperity are more visible than their impediments. French townhouses, though getting shabby, still create the aura of opulence, and all around them new roads, hospitals, apartment buildings and factories are going up. What you do not see are the cramped living quarters inside the apartments, the paucity of high level education, the low quality of many factory produced goods and the extent to which young Algerians are discontent.

This "discontent" is difficult to define, but you can feel it as you walk down Didouche Mourade, the main boulevard in Algiers. Packs of young men sit on the iron rails that line the street. Many do not have money because they are unemployed, unequipped with the technical skills Algeria needs so badly. Ten years ago unemployment was worse but easier to tolerate, because everybody else was either unemployed or poor. Now it is harder to bear because there are so many flashy new state institutions. Algeria is richer than the Algerians, and many Algerians know it.

Discontent is further aggravated by the government's censorship of political opposition groups, media and art. Opposition groups are strictly controlled. While I was there, wild rumors were circulating through the university to the effect that seven students had been shot by the police. These students were reportedly members of a reactionary Muslim group that went around protesting against the relaxation of Muslim morals, notorious for beating up women in mini-skirts. Usually the police presence is felt rather than observed in Algeria. You forget that Boumidienne has a massive intelligence organization until you realize that people are reluctant to discuss politics in public because they fear police informants.

Since 1962, much art and film has been geared toward keeping the revolutionary legends alive. These legends are considered important because they describe the common experiences which brought the nation together. They are a good starting point for the development of a modern national culture. Unfortunately, as the legends become more legendary, they become harder to believe. The French are depicted as monsters who thrive on blood sacrifice and their Algerian victims behave more and more like model revolutionaries. It is not surprising that many Algerians, particularly the young who don't clearly remember and who are sick of hearing about it, have developed a certain nostalgia for French culture. These same people are often extremely pan-Arab, but they consider French culture as part of their heritage.

This French-Arab attitude is partly a product of France's colonial policy of assimilation, and the repercussion of French and Algerian traditions and writing about "the Mediterranean genius." Camus once wrote, "North Africa is one of the few countries where East and West live together...the most essential element in the Mediterranean genius springs perhaps from this encounter unique in history and geography...the truth of a Mediterranean culture exists and manifests itself on every point."

Camus's assumption that "East and West live together" in North Africa is extremely dubious, but his concept of "a Mediterranean culture" is still widely accepted by many Algerians. It is difficult to say whether the survival of this attitude is due to the survival of a colonial mentality or to incipient "embourgeoisiement" which patterns itself after its Western and particularly French counterpart. However, it is certain that the attitude prevails. It manifests itself in countless "Frenchisms"--styles of talking, gestures, clothing and writing. France still haunts Algeria, and chances are she will continue to do so.

Emily Apter '76-3 worked for two sociologists last year in Algiers.