Fighting for Tunisian Independence: Who were the Fellagha?

The name Fellagha, stemming from the Arabic word al-Falāqa, meaning “bandit”, was a general term used by the French colonists to describe armed militants belonging to the independence movement. A derogatory term, it entered the French language around the beginning of World War I. It was then revived in the 1950s to refer to all nationalists engaged in the anticolonial struggle. Freed from the negative connotation imposed by the colonists, the term today refers to those who courageously fought against oppression, occupation, and injustice.