Chapter 36 Blooming Revolutionary Flowers - Meet Jamila

Our poets have sung: where there is a fiery struggle, there will be brilliant sparks erupting, and where the wine is full of the blood of the people's struggle, bright red flowers will bloom on that piece of land. Jamila Bouyheide is a bright red flower that blooms in the land of Algeria. I sat at the side of the hall, staring at this thirty-nine-year-old Algerian heroine, who is famous all over the world. With a head of tawny hair, she sat there modestly and shyly, her black coat collar was half open, revealing her snow-white neck.She was so simple and gentle all over, but it was this simple and gentle girl who showed her unyielding heroism in front of the hideous and ugly French colonialists.

The young Jamila walked out of school to participate in the Algerian national liberation struggle. She worked as a nurse. In April 1957, she was chased by French patrols, shot and arrested—she was only 22 years old at that time—7 She was sentenced to death again on January 15th. When she heard the verdict of the French military court, she said awe-inspiringly: "I know you are going to sentence me to death, because the people you serve are all vampires. The truth is that I love my country and I want to see it gain independence, therefore I support the struggle of the National Liberation Front and for that you sentence me to death... But you cannot stop Algeria from moving towards independence. "

Regarding this cruel sentence of the French colonialists, my country's Youth Federation, Student Federation and Women's Federation, together with young women's groups all over the world, raised the most serious protests, and the French authorities were forced to commute her sentence to lifelong hard labor.She was imprisoned on the edge of the Sahara Desert and in prisons in France. She continued to struggle in prison. It was not until 1962, when her motherland gained independence, that Jamila was free. The shy and gentle Jamila expressed the Algerian people's warm friendship to the Chinese people and the Chinese people's sincere and unconditional support for Algeria's liberation struggle in a soft voice.She talked about the influence of Chinese revolutionary literature on African fighters, which is also an inspiration to us.The friendship between the Chinese and Arab peoples who have been oppressed by the colonialists in Western Europe and North America is not unusual, but a fighting friendship formed of sympathy!

The "big sisters" sitting next to her embraced her with admiration and love, advised her to take care of her health, and told her that Algeria after independence was the same as China after liberation that Chairman Mao said, and that it had traveled thousands of miles The first step of the Long March, therefore, she and her comrades still have a lot of work to do.Listening to these family-like love words, she stroked her neck frequently and swallowed her excited emotions... I sat at the side of the hall, staring at this delicate red flower of freedom, and supporting her around her. Her red leaves, which have experienced wind and frost, echoed crisp revolutionary songs one after another in her ears.From all corners of the hall, strong lights shined again.I suddenly feel that this is not a light, but the flames of revolution in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, shaking the foundation of imperialism, and it is spreading. With the help of Fengwei, a red flower and a few frosty leaves representing the revolutionary people of China and Arab states in the firelight can be set off into a new and most beautiful picture.

(This article was originally published in "Beijing Evening News" on March 21, 1963, and later included in the collection of essays "Xiaozha Gleaners".)