English: Djemila Benhabib, Author and Activist: "Algeria, France, Canada - Why Islamists are Gaining Ground"

at International Conference on Free Expression and Conscience, London, 22-24 July 2017 (#IWant2BFree).

Djemila Benhabib was born in to a Greek Cypriot mother and an Algerian father, both scientists. She was raised in Oran, Algeria, where her parents were engaged in social and political causes. From an early age, she was aware of the poor condition of women in that country, but also of their hopes. She became an activist in the Parti de l’avant-garde socialiste. In the early 1990s, the oppressive Front islamique du salut rose to power. Djemila helped to organise demonstrations to oppose this movement. However, in 1994, death threats made by the Front islamique pour le djihad armé forced her and her family to flee to Paris. There, she organised groups that fought against the oppression of Algerian women – some of this oppression having reached as far as France itself. In 1997, she was awarded a scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree at Quebec’s Institut nationale de recherche scientifique. After that, she went on to pursue another Master’s degree in political science and international rights. During these studies, she also served as the Canadian correspondent for the French-language Algerian newspaper El-Watan. In 2012, she received Le Prix international de la laïcité.