Émilie Busquant

French-Algerian activist (1901–1953)

Émilie Busquant
Émilie Busquant (1942)
Born	(1901-03-03)3 March 1901 Neuves-Maisons, Lorraine, France
Died	2 October 1953(1953-10-02) (aged 52) Algiers, French Algeria
Nationality	French
Known for	Participation of the creation of Algerian Flag
Movement	Algerian nationalism, anarcho-syndicalism
Partner	Messali Hadj

Émilie Busquant (1901–1953) was a French feminist, anarcho-syndicalist and anti-colonial activist who was married to the Algerian nationalist leader Messali Hadj.

Biography

One of nine children, Émilie grew up in the working-class town of Neuves-Maisons in Eastern France where her father worked in the local steel mill.^[1] Her father was involved in anarcho-syndicalism and she was engaged politically from an early age.^[2] She moved to Paris and worked in a department store before meeting a young Algerian migrant and political activist, Messali Hadj.^[3] As was often the case for working-class couples, they moved in together without officially getting married.^[4] Their partnership, which produced two children, was marked by a shared commitment to progressive and anticolonial causes.^[5] During Messali's long spells in prison, Émilie often spoke on his behalf and used her position as a Frenchwoman to pour particular scorn on France's declared commitment to "civilising" Algeria.^[6]

She is perhaps best known as the creator of the Algerian flag. While there is some dispute over who exactly designed green and white with red star and crescent symbol,^[7] Émilie is generally credited as having sewed the first version of the flag.^[2]

She died in Algiers in 1953, while her husband was in exile in France. He was refused permission to visit her on her death bed. A cortege of 10000 followed her coffin, draped in the Algerian flag, through the streets of the Algerian capital on its way to the port. Her funeral in Neuves-Maisons was attended by delegation from the major parties of the radical Left and her husband, under police surveillance, gave a eulogy recalling her activism and declaring her "the symbol of the union of the Algerian and French peoples in their shared struggle".^[8]

A long forgotten figure, her hometown erected a plaque in her memory on the fiftieth anniversary of her death in 2003 while a 2015 documentary by director Rabah Zanoun introduced a French audience to her story for the first time.^[2]

References

^ Stora, Benjamin (2004). Messali Hadj 1898-1974. Paris: Pluriel. p. 48.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kessous, Mustapaha (23 January 2015). "Émilie Busquant, la plus algérienne des Francaises". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 19 October 2023.
^ Stora. Messali Hadj. p. 48.
^ Gallissot, René (2004). "Émilie Busquant, dite Mme Messali". Insaniyat (25–26): 151.
^ Stora, Benjamin (1985). Dictionnaire biographique de militants nationalistes algériens. L'Harmattan. p. 404.
^ "Discours de Mme Messali à La Mutualité". El Ouma. December 1934.
^ Houda, B. (20 August 1997). "Le vert, le blanc, l'étoile et le croissant Qui a conçu le drapeau algérien ?". El Watan. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
^ Gallissot 2004, p. 157.