Algiers, Third World Capital (book review)
Not just for a development-related autobiography enthusiast like me is Elaine Mokhtefi’s Algiers, Third World Capital-Freedom Fighters, Revolutionaries, Black Panthers a literary treat! Mokhtefi’s memoir centres around the decade after the defeat of France and independence in 1962 until she is forced to leave Algeria. A journalist, translator, ‘fixer’ as well as book author and seller in later life, Mokhtefi’s vivid anecdotes bring to live a time when ‘alternative development’ meant more than arguing about the best methods for an RCT or what kind of microcredit is more sustainable. Between Algeria’s competing visions of development, visitors from all across Africa and global connections to various freedom movements a time comes to live that promised so much-a radical shift in world politics and decolonized world long before it became the topic of increased academic interest. There were so many reflections her book triggered when I read it over the course of a weekend: How the develo