Algeria

We tried to live side by side, but you wanted us to hide, treating us like an outcast.
You stepped on our values and morals, and told us not to practice our beliefs, how long would we remain quiet?
You challenged our beliefs and abused our race, by calling us “filthy Arabs” of the state.
We remained in cooped up cages, the division you had created through a barbed wire.
All we wanted was a clean drug free, alcohol free land and women, who would not sell themselves to a measly man.
But to you we were the enemy, you let us live in poverty and deprived us of education, we worked like cattle to feed you, so you can kill us in this battle?
Then stood up of us a minority who challenged the harshness of your beliefs, but instead you killed the majority for your justice and relief,
You called the minority a terror group but never looked to see that you also shed innocent blood not in hundreds but in thousands, terror was on both sides.
The war continued like a maze of horror and bloodshed, killing a mother, a daughter and a son, slaying innocent heads.
In retaliation we still spared some, you provoked, tricked and deceived, leaving many women bereaved of the innocent ones  but you spared none,
Then came the majority of us requesting Freedom of independence, we took to streets and fought with our hands, but again you fought with bullets, leaving hundreds to fall dead on this very land.
Algeria you fought hard, a land of peace, tolerance and acceptance is all you wanted, where you could be treated as a human who had a right to basic education, a right to practice what you believed.
You had a right to live side by side without fear, but it was not to happen as you were undervalued and at times had to compromise your faith.
But in 1962 after years of battle, you gained your independence; you gained the right to live with freedom in your own land.
But Algeria still cries for the loss of life that it took to gain through your murderous hands.
Wars continue for the greed of power and control, the minority will perish for their rights but the majority will not forget and continue to bring change for what will reach new heights.
You who sit's here listening to me, what will you do if you are dragged out of here and called a filthy race and told to go away, will you defend your race? Will you defend your belief? What would you do? Will you be called a terrorist because you stood up to social injustices?
One voice speaks for the minority, but many voices speak for the majority. Speak for the majority and make changes that you believe in, for yourself and those around you.
A free Land to live in and A free education is your basic human right and that's what Algeria won!



By fazia ahmed