[Music]
good evening I am a proud Algerian and I
am a proud African what does it really
mean to be African to me to all of you
is it where we’re from geographically
speaking or where we’re based is it what
we wear what we eat is it the kind of
music that we listen to is it based on
the color of our skin for each and every
one of us with any link to Africa
identifying with the continent and
identifying with our identity will be
intimately linked to our own personal
experiences that experience will be very
nuanced very complex and by no means can
we standardize today I want to share
with all of you how I perceive my
African identity it’s not very easy to
do and I’d like to do it by sharing my
personal life story something which is
also not very easy to do I have had the
incredible opportunity to grow up in
West Africa as a North African my
parents jobs meant that every few years
we had to move around from country to
country and I had to follow them I
didn’t really have a choice before I go
on let me check my privilege I know that
my story is unique and I was born into a
life of great opportunities
privilege which not everybody gets to
have and so everything I’m about to say
I want to caveat it by saying it won’t
necessarily speak to you or apply but I
do think also that this upbringing that
I had give me a unique and original
vantage point on understanding what it
really means to be African so picture
this late 90s early 2000s a short skinny
nerdy-looking Algerian kid shows up in
Lagos Nigeria on his first day of school
in Victoria Island if you can actually
believe me I looked even geekier back
then and I just remember at the time
just being desperate to want to fit in
to a new environment that I was coming
into some of you have surely experienced
that at that age secondary school but
when I got into the school reality hit
me really fast and really hard reality
hits you quick the Western students in
my school never really saw me as one of
them I looked like them I was white but
I never really fitted in I could never
really fit in I’d get questions like how
come you don’t eat pork why does your
mom wear hijab does she wear hijab and
that gap immediately became apparent we
were from two completely different
worlds first obstacle religion
then same school there were a lot of
Arab students and Lebanese students and
I thought hey this will be my crowd and
they weren’t my crowd they made fun of
me and they made fun of the way I spoke
sure we were Arabs linked somehow but my
dialect of Arabic from North Africa
dereje’s it’s called a language in its
own right was mocked by them because it
sounded very different to their way of
speaking Arabic so I couldn’t really fit
into this Middle Eastern or Arab mould
second obstacle language and then there
was this amazing crowd the majority the
West Africans Nigerians ghanaians
Senegalese Malians and of course we ever
happy and rambunctious Ivorians I hope
there are no audience in the room I
actually do hope there are brains in the
room this was the crowd I wanted to
belong to they were funny they were fun
they were genuine our interests
overlapped I was desperate to be part of
the West African crowd at my school this
time I was accepted join you’re one of
us but even then will you believe me
when I tell you there was still
something missing there was an obstacle
and I was frequently reminded of it that
obstacle was the colour of my skin I
wasn’t black and if you’re not black you
know African
the same was true of my summer trips
back home to Algeria and to other parts
of North Africa you can imagine after
two three maybe six months in Nigeria I
was already starting to walk talk and
act like a real night job boy
I’d greet people with how far now I do
but that was really strange for my
childhood friends who had left me to go
to Nigeria all of a sudden I’d come back
as an African as if they were not
African themselves as if they were Swiss
or Saudi or something you are African
what I’m trying to say through this life
story to this childhood experience what
I experienced there and then I’ve
continued to face my entire life this
tug between my North African identity
Maghreb identity and the wider African
identity everywhere I went it seemed as
though people wanted to define what
being African was for me they didn’t see
me for who I was or what I wanted to be
but how they perceived me and how they
ultimately perceived each other to this
day in my adult life in my professional
life fellow Africans come up to me and
every day I get a new label you’re Arab
you made it Iranian you’re francophone
you’re Muslim
you’re evil
that means wipe in in digit so what
exactly can I do well as a kid it pushed
me to read about my culture it pushed me
to read about my heritage and to read
about other people’s heritage because I
had to relate to them I had to make
myself interesting to them and this is
what I found out and I want to share it
with you today apologies if you already
know it
the dichotomy the opposition that is
created between a supposedly Arab North
Africa and a supposedly black
sub-saharan Africa is a false one the
linkages between us are too great too
deep for us to simply brush them aside
we are not defined as far as I see it by
our respective religions our geographies
language all these obstacles I mentioned
earlier what I have found out is that we
are defined collectively North Africa
and the rest of the continent by three
things we are defined by a shared
history we are defined by binding values
we are defined by a common destiny they
sound like lofty words I promise I’ll
explain first let me say a few things
about our common history and our shared
our binding values our parents
generations and our grandparents
generations some of you will have
realized this already
it may not be news to you we’re far more
United across borders then our
generation is they had less technology
available to them
they weren’t as connected they didn’t
tweet like us and yet they were more
connected than we are more United than
we are why is that the case well for one
they were shaped by a common struggle
and that struggle was anti colonial
resistance that can unite people the
second thing that United them were these
binding values resistance solidarity
sacrifice those are not empty words guys
those unite generations they unite
peoples across borders they still do
today just not enough as an example
during the independence and liberation
movements in the 1950s and the 1960s
giants of our continent people like
Nelson Mandela
I’m your car Cobra fought alongside
trained alongside the North African
resistance movement in Algeria the FLN
who were themselves hosted by sister
nations Tunisia Morocco the ANC when it
was fighting anti-apartheid received
support from across the continent from
Libya from Algeria from Morocco people
poured money into these resistance
movements not because it looked nice or
it felt good because they were brothers
and sisters in arms they were united by
a common goal and in a common and common
values when I go back to Algeria from
time to time I still hear an older
generation that thinks about the 1969
pan-african cultural festival if you
don’t know about it you should
definitely look it up the they speak to
me of this amazing event with the kind
of grandeur that really is very
difficult to describe to you here today
imagine actors singers thinkers
philosophers all rushing to Algiers in
1969 share
their culture eating with one another
partying with one another a kind of
pan-african effervescence that we have
yet to see since so it when I hear about
all these stories and when I read my own
history as you should read yours it kind
of feels sometimes like we all have a
stake or we all live in this incredible
African Museum where we have these
shared memories shared thinkers shared
culture this common history but each and
every one of us decides well let me just
stick to my section let me stick to West
Africa section let me stick to East
Africa section let me stick to the North
Africa section don’t do that doesn’t
make sense all this rich heritage that
are at our disposal belongs to all of us
so how can we rekindle that flame well
this is what I think I think we need to
reclaim that heritage by re-educating
ourselves and re-educating those around
us about that history Reid loophole said
of Sango read negate my foes read cata
be a scene listen to salif keita
Jam to Fela Kuti they don’t belong to
anybody they’re not Nigerian Kenyan
Egyptian Algerian they belong to all of
us so if you have that at your disposal
why aren’t you making use of it why
aren’t you sharing it I promise you if
you actually reappropriation if you
haven’t already done so and you don’t
disseminate it in the way that I would
hope we are all doing on an active basis
how can we move forward
so I’m not gonna stick to the past now
I’m gonna talk to you about the future
I mentioned shared history I mentioned
my binding values I want to talk to you
guys now about the future as well
slightly more difficult we live in a
somewhat troubling time it has
tremendous opportunities for us as
Africans we can make incredible leaps
forward but ultimately in the 21st
centuries the challenges that we are all
facing our challenges that don’t really
respect borders terrorism climate change
education technological improvements
migration the list goes on and on and on
do you really think that those problems
see the Sahara as a wall they don’t they
cut across borders they impact all of us
young people in North Africa have pretty
much the same issues that they face as
people south of the Sahara and that’s
problematic for us why and what can we
do about it it’s problematic for us at
the moment because we need to understand
certainly I see this this way that as
Africans on the global stage in the 21st
century just by being Africans we are
immediately put on the back foot
immediately we have to justify ourselves
we have to explain we have to describe
we have to find a voice do you really
think that this is something we can do
each one in our corners trying to fend
for a voice no unity matters and
bringing down those walls those divides
that I mentioned because this is how we
will solve collective problems this is
how we will make our voices heard every
Africa conference I go to we used to be
the hopeless continent
now we’re Africa rising those narratives
are in ours we didn’t come up with those
we didn’t have a say in those so if you
don’t have a voice a strong voice a
united voice people will speak up for
you and we find ourselves on the back
foot having to explain having to justify
having to correct how do we fix this
in practical terms day to day in
addition to what I mentioned earlier
reclaiming that shared heritage that
shared identity in addition to finding
those binding values you all and me need
to fight the misconceptions between
ourselves and the misperceptions that
others might have of us on a daily basis
that means succeed be the best I promise
you I’m not being a motivational speaker
in saying that but it has its value if
business is your thing be an
entrepreneur if politics is your thing
get involved don’t just sit there and
complain if science is your thing
innovate create and when people tell you
you can’t because you are African
challenge that challenge the narrative
that’s presented of you and of your
continent challenge it intelligently
challenge it with strong values the
values of resistance that I mentioned
earlier that those who came before us
leveraged so eloquently and which
ultimately brought them success
don’t let others define you define us
the way I was defined as a kid
make yourselves heard so when we reclaim
that shared heritage when we’ve
hopefully revived those binding values
and when we’ve started to reshape the
narrative about ourselves we’ll start to
make progress I don’t usually like
inspirational quotes I don’t like mushy
quotes from great thinkers but I want to
leave you with this one because it’s a
thinker and a quote which has deeply
impacted how I see my country how I see
my continent and this quote comes from
the great afro-caribbean thinker Franz
fanon
some of you will know who that is
Faneuil said every generation must in
relative obscurity discover its mission
fulfill that mission or betray it I’d
like to leave you with the following
please let us fulfill our mission of
reclaiming our shared heritage reviving
those binding values and reshaping the
narrative for ourselves but also for
those to come thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
good evening I am a proud Algerian and I
am a proud African what does it really
mean to be African to me to all of you
is it where we’re from geographically
speaking or where we’re based is it what
we wear what we eat is it the kind of
music that we listen to is it based on
the color of our skin for each and every
one of us with any link to Africa
identifying with the continent and
identifying with our identity will be
intimately linked to our own personal
experiences that experience will be very
nuanced very complex and by no means can
we standardize today I want to share
with all of you how I perceive my
African identity it’s not very easy to
do and I’d like to do it by sharing my
personal life story something which is
also not very easy to do I have had the
incredible opportunity to grow up in
West Africa as a North African my
parents jobs meant that every few years
we had to move around from country to
country and I had to follow them I
didn’t really have a choice before I go
on let me check my privilege I know that
my story is unique and I was born into a
life of great opportunities
privilege which not everybody gets to
have and so everything I’m about to say
I want to caveat it by saying it won’t
necessarily speak to you or apply but I
do think also that this upbringing that
I had give me a unique and original
vantage point on understanding what it
really means to be African so picture
this late 90s early 2000s a short skinny
nerdy-looking Algerian kid shows up in
Lagos Nigeria on his first day of school
in Victoria Island if you can actually
believe me I looked even geekier back
then and I just remember at the time
just being desperate to want to fit in
to a new environment that I was coming
into some of you have surely experienced
that at that age secondary school but
when I got into the school reality hit
me really fast and really hard reality
hits you quick the Western students in
my school never really saw me as one of
them I looked like them I was white but
I never really fitted in I could never
really fit in I’d get questions like how
come you don’t eat pork why does your
mom wear hijab does she wear hijab and
that gap immediately became apparent we
were from two completely different
worlds first obstacle religion
then same school there were a lot of
Arab students and Lebanese students and
I thought hey this will be my crowd and
they weren’t my crowd they made fun of
me and they made fun of the way I spoke
sure we were Arabs linked somehow but my
dialect of Arabic from North Africa
dereje’s it’s called a language in its
own right was mocked by them because it
sounded very different to their way of
speaking Arabic so I couldn’t really fit
into this Middle Eastern or Arab mould
second obstacle language and then there
was this amazing crowd the majority the
West Africans Nigerians ghanaians
Senegalese Malians and of course we ever
happy and rambunctious Ivorians I hope
there are no audience in the room I
actually do hope there are brains in the
room this was the crowd I wanted to
belong to they were funny they were fun
they were genuine our interests
overlapped I was desperate to be part of
the West African crowd at my school this
time I was accepted join you’re one of
us but even then will you believe me
when I tell you there was still
something missing there was an obstacle
and I was frequently reminded of it that
obstacle was the colour of my skin I
wasn’t black and if you’re not black you
know African
the same was true of my summer trips
back home to Algeria and to other parts
of North Africa you can imagine after
two three maybe six months in Nigeria I
was already starting to walk talk and
act like a real night job boy
I’d greet people with how far now I do
but that was really strange for my
childhood friends who had left me to go
to Nigeria all of a sudden I’d come back
as an African as if they were not
African themselves as if they were Swiss
or Saudi or something you are African
what I’m trying to say through this life
story to this childhood experience what
I experienced there and then I’ve
continued to face my entire life this
tug between my North African identity
Maghreb identity and the wider African
identity everywhere I went it seemed as
though people wanted to define what
being African was for me they didn’t see
me for who I was or what I wanted to be
but how they perceived me and how they
ultimately perceived each other to this
day in my adult life in my professional
life fellow Africans come up to me and
every day I get a new label you’re Arab
you made it Iranian you’re francophone
you’re Muslim
you’re evil
that means wipe in in digit so what
exactly can I do well as a kid it pushed
me to read about my culture it pushed me
to read about my heritage and to read
about other people’s heritage because I
had to relate to them I had to make
myself interesting to them and this is
what I found out and I want to share it
with you today apologies if you already
know it
the dichotomy the opposition that is
created between a supposedly Arab North
Africa and a supposedly black
sub-saharan Africa is a false one the
linkages between us are too great too
deep for us to simply brush them aside
we are not defined as far as I see it by
our respective religions our geographies
language all these obstacles I mentioned
earlier what I have found out is that we
are defined collectively North Africa
and the rest of the continent by three
things we are defined by a shared
history we are defined by binding values
we are defined by a common destiny they
sound like lofty words I promise I’ll
explain first let me say a few things
about our common history and our shared
our binding values our parents
generations and our grandparents
generations some of you will have
realized this already
it may not be news to you we’re far more
United across borders then our
generation is they had less technology
available to them
they weren’t as connected they didn’t
tweet like us and yet they were more
connected than we are more United than
we are why is that the case well for one
they were shaped by a common struggle
and that struggle was anti colonial
resistance that can unite people the
second thing that United them were these
binding values resistance solidarity
sacrifice those are not empty words guys
those unite generations they unite
peoples across borders they still do
today just not enough as an example
during the independence and liberation
movements in the 1950s and the 1960s
giants of our continent people like
Nelson Mandela
I’m your car Cobra fought alongside
trained alongside the North African
resistance movement in Algeria the FLN
who were themselves hosted by sister
nations Tunisia Morocco the ANC when it
was fighting anti-apartheid received
support from across the continent from
Libya from Algeria from Morocco people
poured money into these resistance
movements not because it looked nice or
it felt good because they were brothers
and sisters in arms they were united by
a common goal and in a common and common
values when I go back to Algeria from
time to time I still hear an older
generation that thinks about the 1969
pan-african cultural festival if you
don’t know about it you should
definitely look it up the they speak to
me of this amazing event with the kind
of grandeur that really is very
difficult to describe to you here today
imagine actors singers thinkers
philosophers all rushing to Algiers in
1969 share
their culture eating with one another
partying with one another a kind of
pan-african effervescence that we have
yet to see since so it when I hear about
all these stories and when I read my own
history as you should read yours it kind
of feels sometimes like we all have a
stake or we all live in this incredible
African Museum where we have these
shared memories shared thinkers shared
culture this common history but each and
every one of us decides well let me just
stick to my section let me stick to West
Africa section let me stick to East
Africa section let me stick to the North
Africa section don’t do that doesn’t
make sense all this rich heritage that
are at our disposal belongs to all of us
so how can we rekindle that flame well
this is what I think I think we need to
reclaim that heritage by re-educating
ourselves and re-educating those around
us about that history Reid loophole said
of Sango read negate my foes read cata
be a scene listen to salif keita
Jam to Fela Kuti they don’t belong to
anybody they’re not Nigerian Kenyan
Egyptian Algerian they belong to all of
us so if you have that at your disposal
why aren’t you making use of it why
aren’t you sharing it I promise you if
you actually reappropriation if you
haven’t already done so and you don’t
disseminate it in the way that I would
hope we are all doing on an active basis
how can we move forward
so I’m not gonna stick to the past now
I’m gonna talk to you about the future
I mentioned shared history I mentioned
my binding values I want to talk to you
guys now about the future as well
slightly more difficult we live in a
somewhat troubling time it has
tremendous opportunities for us as
Africans we can make incredible leaps
forward but ultimately in the 21st
centuries the challenges that we are all
facing our challenges that don’t really
respect borders terrorism climate change
education technological improvements
migration the list goes on and on and on
do you really think that those problems
see the Sahara as a wall they don’t they
cut across borders they impact all of us
young people in North Africa have pretty
much the same issues that they face as
people south of the Sahara and that’s
problematic for us why and what can we
do about it it’s problematic for us at
the moment because we need to understand
certainly I see this this way that as
Africans on the global stage in the 21st
century just by being Africans we are
immediately put on the back foot
immediately we have to justify ourselves
we have to explain we have to describe
we have to find a voice do you really
think that this is something we can do
each one in our corners trying to fend
for a voice no unity matters and
bringing down those walls those divides
that I mentioned because this is how we
will solve collective problems this is
how we will make our voices heard every
Africa conference I go to we used to be
the hopeless continent
now we’re Africa rising those narratives
are in ours we didn’t come up with those
we didn’t have a say in those so if you
don’t have a voice a strong voice a
united voice people will speak up for
you and we find ourselves on the back
foot having to explain having to justify
having to correct how do we fix this
in practical terms day to day in
addition to what I mentioned earlier
reclaiming that shared heritage that
shared identity in addition to finding
those binding values you all and me need
to fight the misconceptions between
ourselves and the misperceptions that
others might have of us on a daily basis
that means succeed be the best I promise
you I’m not being a motivational speaker
in saying that but it has its value if
business is your thing be an
entrepreneur if politics is your thing
get involved don’t just sit there and
complain if science is your thing
innovate create and when people tell you
you can’t because you are African
challenge that challenge the narrative
that’s presented of you and of your
continent challenge it intelligently
challenge it with strong values the
values of resistance that I mentioned
earlier that those who came before us
leveraged so eloquently and which
ultimately brought them success
don’t let others define you define us
the way I was defined as a kid
make yourselves heard so when we reclaim
that shared heritage when we’ve
hopefully revived those binding values
and when we’ve started to reshape the
narrative about ourselves we’ll start to
make progress I don’t usually like
inspirational quotes I don’t like mushy
quotes from great thinkers but I want to
leave you with this one because it’s a
thinker and a quote which has deeply
impacted how I see my country how I see
my continent and this quote comes from
the great afro-caribbean thinker Franz
fanon
some of you will know who that is
Faneuil said every generation must in
relative obscurity discover its mission
fulfill that mission or betray it I’d
like to leave you with the following
please let us fulfill our mission of
reclaiming our shared heritage reviving
those binding values and reshaping the
narrative for ourselves but also for
those to come thank you very much
[Applause]
[Music]
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