Ahmed Ben Bella: The Father of the Nation

I took the liberty of researching a little more on this special character from "Soccer War". I was suprised to see how first of all he was called "The Father of the Nation", I hadn't realized he'd been such an important person in Algeria. Known most of the time as an unstoppable anti-colonial struggler, Ben Bella had to suffer a lot to get to the point he did. Prison was one of his obstacles before even getting to be President, but that didn't stop him.

Ben Bella's biography talks about a specific anecdote in his life; eventhough Ahmed was against French rule in Algeria, his first language was French. Once, years before being President "...when Nasser (former Egyptian President) brought Ben Bella to speak for the first time to an Egyptian audience, he broke into tears because he could not speak Arabic", (Wiki, n.pag). It has been said that he refused to teach his own daughter French because he wanted her to learn Arabic first and not be in the same position he was. I can see that his position was revolutionary and that him, lots of Africans were absolutely tired with the French colonies.

I'd be desperate if I discovered that I couldn't even communicate with my own people, in his case Egypt. Still, Ben Bella created close ties with this country, which helped a lot, and it was before independence. Ahmed was chosen the President after independence, and I thought it was sad to see that he was taken to prison after being deposed by his BEST friend Boumedienne; why would he do that? I think he was a great man, that with hard work rose all the way to President and it's admirable all he achieved: made Algeria part of the United Nations, created a victorious defense against the Morrocan invasion in 1963. Maybe he wasn't a perfect man or maybe I have to read more about him, but his heart wanted the best for his people...