Rachid Sidi Boumedine was born in the working-class neighbourhood of Clos Salambier (El Madania). Despite the many obstacles preventing “indigenous” children – and notably those from poor urban and rural backgrounds – pursuing their studies, Rachid made it to high school. After participating in the student strike of 19 May 1956, his greatest desire was to join the rural guerrilla of the National Liberation Front (FLN). In the end, he went to France where he worked in a factory, was an activist in the FLN French Federation and studied chemistry. Returning to Algeria in 1963, the shortage of educated personnel meant that Rachid could have done any number of jobs. As a member of the National Union of Algerian Students (UNEA), he briefly left Algeria after Boumediene’s coup in June 1965, before returning to run a gas-producing factory in Constantine. His story reveals how tiny minority of young, university-educated Algerians who were put in charge of vital infrastructure worked with older, illiterate workers to keep core infrastructure going, in a context of material shortages and competing economic and political interests.
