Houria Bouteldja par Claude Truong-Ngoc avril 2016

Houria Bouteldja (, ; born January 5, 1973) is a French-Algerian political activist. She served as spokesperson for the until 2020.

Life

Born in

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I * Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine g ...

, Algeria, on 5 January 1973, Houria Bouteldja emigrated with her parents to France as a child. She studied applied foreign languages in English and Arabic in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

. From 2001, she worked for the

Institut du Monde Arabe The Institut du Monde Arabe (, ''Arab World Institute''; abbr. IMA) is an organisation founded in Paris in 1980 by France with 18 Arab countries to research and disseminate information about the Arab world and its cultural and spiritual values. ...

. She first took part in the Collectif Une école pour tou-te-s (CEPT). In 2004, in reaction to the speech of Le mouvement ni putes ni soumises, she founded "les Blédardes", a movement positioning itself against the ban on the veil in schools, and defining a "paradoxical feminism of solidarity with the men" of her community. The Indigènes de la République organized as a movement to denounce France's colonial past, to fight against the discrimination suffered by the "descendants of colonized populations" and, more broadly, against the racist and colonialist ideology which they argue underpins the current social policies of the French state. On 24 October 2012, she was sprayed with paint by a man in front of the

, an action claimed the next day by the

Jewish Defense League The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a far-right political organization in the United States and Canada. Its stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary"; it has been classified as "right-wing terrorist group" ...

(LDJ), already implicated in two similar attacks. She lodged a complaint and her attacker, the webmaster of the LDJ, was sentenced in May 2016 to a 6-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of €8,500. In 2014, she won the "combat against Islamophobia" prize from the

Islamic Human Rights Commission The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) is a non-profit organisation based in London. Its stated mission is to "champion the rights & duties revealed for human beings" and to "promote a new social ndinternational order, based on truth, j ...

. Fiammetta Venner, and

Caroline Fourest Caroline Fourest (; born 19 September 1975), is a French writer, film director, journalist, radio presenter at ''France Culture'', and editor of the magazine ''ProChoix.'' She was also a columnist for ''Charlie Hebdo'', for ''Le Monde'' until 14 ...

in 2003 described this association as "Islamist".

''Whites, Jews, and Us''

Bouteldja is the author of ''Les Blancs, les Juifs et nous: Vers une politique de l'amour révolutionnaire'' (2016), translated into English in 2017 as '' Whites, Jews, and Us: Toward a Politics of Revolutionary Love''. The book considers questions of solidarity,

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary criticism, literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th ...

's views on Israel and

Palestinian self-determination Palestinian self-determination, also known as " Palestinianism", refers to aspirations by Palestinian nationalists to increased autonomy and sovereign independence as well as to the international right of self-determination applied to Palestine ...

Islamophobia Islamophobia is the irrational fear of, hostility towards, or hatred against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general. Islamophobia is primarily a form of religious or cultural bigotry; and people who harbour such sentiments often stereot ...

and anti-Semitism in Europe, the foreclosure of the possibility of solidarity between Jews and Arabs, and the status of women and

people of colour The term "person of color" (: people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is associated with, the United States. From th ...

in Europe.

Works

* With Sadri Khiari, Félix Boggio Éwanjé-Épée et Stella Magliani-Belkacem, ''Nous sommes les indigènes de la République'', Paris, Amsterdam, 2012, 435 pp. + VIII () * '' Les Blancs, les Juifs et nous : vers une politique de l'amour révolutionnaire'', Paris, La Fabrique, 2016, 143 pp. () * ''Beaufs et barbares : Le pari du nous'', Paris, La Fabrique, 2023, 270 pp. ()

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bouteldja, Houria 1973 births Algerian activists Living people