Slimane Bengui

Summary

Slimane Bengui was an Algerian writer and businessman. He was the director of the first French-language Algerian newspaper "El Hack". Moreover, he was also a tobacco manufacturer.[1]

"El Hack" newspaper edit

In 1893 Slimane Bengui, alongside Omar Samar and Khelil Kaid Laioun, launched the "El Hack" newspaper in Bône (Annaba). The newspaper was the first publication available to the wider public in Algeria.[2] Predominantly written in French, the weekly newspaper also included some publications in the Arabic language.

Bengui's father, Hadj Omar, was the primary financial backer of the newspaper.[3] As director, Bengui and his peers engaged in a cultural and political struggle to defend the values of the colonized Muslim population. Consequently, the French administration banned the "El Hack" newspaper in 1894.[1]

Personal life edit

Bengui's father was El Haj Omar Bengui, who owned the "Dar Bengui" palace in Annaba.[1] His mother was the daughter of Mostefa Ben Karim who was from the Bey Kara Ali family - a notable family of Turkish origin.[1]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d Maison "Dar Bengui", La Nouvelle République, 2017, Selon nos sources, cette maison d'époque ottomane appartenait à El Haj Omar Bengui, suite à son mariage avec la fille de Mostefa Ben Karim. Cette dernière était une notable de la famille Bey Kara Ali une famile d'origine Turque, proche du Bey Brahim El Greitli (l'avant dernier Bey de Constantine de l'Empire Ottoman). Leur fils, Slimane Bengui, était manufacturier de tabac, au coeur de la médina. En 1893, Slimane Bengui devient directeur du premier journal algérien de langue française, « El Hack » (« La Vérité », en arabe)...Journal hebdomadaire, dont certaines éditions furent publiées également en langue arabe, El Hack menait un combat à la fois culturel et politique pour défendre les valeurs de la population musulmane colonisée. Jugé rebelle, l'administration française l'interdit en 1894. Son aspect extérieue La maison se démarque du reste des constructions avoisinantes par l'encorbellement du balcon..
  2. ^ Dunwoodie, Peter (2005), Francophone Writing in Transition: Algeria 1900-1945, Peter Lang, p. 24, ISBN 303910294X
  3. ^ Segal, Daniel Alan (1992), Crossing cultures: essays in the displacement of western civilization, University of Arizona Press, p. 207, ISBN 0816512779