American activist Elaine Mokhtefi dies in New York
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
Elaine Klein Mokhtefi, an American woman who dedicated her life to Algerian liberation, died on September 11th in a New York hospital at the age of 97.
Born in New York in 1928, Mokhtefi became involved in anti-colonial movements after moving to Paris in the 1950s and befriending Algerian activists. She later worked with the Algerian representation in New York and the Algerian National Liberation Front, supporting their cause in the United States.
Mokhtefi played a key role in supporting figures like Frantz Fanon, providing care for him and his son while he was hospitalized in the US. After Algeria gained independence in 1962, she moved to Algiers and worked as a journalist while assisting international movements and welcoming groups like the Black Panthers. She married Algerian writer Mokhtar Mokhtefi in 1972, but later returned to New York after becoming disillusioned with the direction of the Algerian government.
In 2018, Mokhtefi published her memoirs detailing her experiences in Algiers during the revolutionary period, a book that was later translated into French and published in Algeria. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had recently granted her Algerian citizenship, and she was preparing to return to Algeria in October to celebrate, but she died before the trip could occur.
