Elaine Mokhtefi was born on 1928 and is an American and Algerian activist, translator, and writer.
15 Facts About Elaine Mokhtefi
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Elaine Mokhtefi supported Algerian independence efforts, then lived in Algeria from 1962 until she was forced to leave the country in 1974.
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Elaine Mokhtefi was born Elaine Klein in 1928 in Hempstead, New York.
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Elaine Mokhtefi's family was secular Jewish, and she described facing antisemitism throughout her childhood.
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Elaine Mokhtefi rebelled against the segregationist environment, and she was kicked out after a year.
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Elaine Mokhtefi became an anti-racist and anti-colonial activist very early on.
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Elaine Mokhtefi decided to work alongside them in support of the anti-colonial Algerian National Liberation Front.
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Elaine Mokhtefi joined Sahnoun in New York and settled there in 1960.
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Elaine Mokhtefi was hired as the only American in the new administration and worked as a fixer, taking on whatever task arose.
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Elaine Mokhtefi helped welcome members of national liberation movements across Africa and international Black Panther members to Algeria.
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Elaine Mokhtefi met the likes of Fidel Castro, Houari Boumediene, Ahmed Ben Bella, and Ho Chi Minh through her work.
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Elaine Mokhtefi was forced to leave Algeria in 1974, after refusing to inform on a friend amid power struggles in Algiers.
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Elaine Mokhtefi settled in Paris, where she lived for 20 years before returning again to New York in 1994.
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Elaine Mokhtefi was not allowed to return to Algeria for over four decades.
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Elaine Klein took the name Elaine Mokhtefi after marrying the writer and former Algerian National Liberation Army member Mokhtar Mokhtefi.