THE ARAB 89

The social and democratic revolution currently surging through the Arab world, and the Muslim world in general, is both salutary and a major historical and international  event. This Arab “89” – which conjures both the European 1989 of the fall of the Berlin wall and the 1789 of the French Revolution – is shaking  many societies to their foundations, also affecting European countries.
Analysing it, explaining it and gauging its far-reaching effects were the motivations for this dialogue between journalist Edwy Plenel and historian Benjamin Stora. The confrontation between interrogations of the present (as evidenced by the one) and a knowledge of the past (as held by the other) are particularly enlightening. It helps the reader grasp not only the unpredictable, inventive and ground-breaking aspects of these popular uprisings but also the forgotten details and bruising experiences that shape them.
Above and beyond their respective professions and interests, the two authors enjoy a long-standing friendship and intellectual complicity that pervades their conversations. This can be traced back to the fact that they have followed, if not similar, at least complementary trajectories. Benjamin Stora was born in Algeria, which he had to leave in 1962, while Edwy Plenel lived there after its independence. Both saw the question of colonialism, the truth of its past and a critical appraisal of its legacy as key to their commitments in their youth – something neither denies and that has become a part of who they are today. Both are implicated and informed, and their desire to understand is also an expression of an acute empathy for these revolutions that bring such hope.

Benjamin Stora is a historian and a recognised specialist in Maghreb history.
Edwy Plenel is a journalist and is the founder and director of Mediapart.