About Gilles Biscos

I was born in Algeria (then a French colony) in the early fifties, and grew up during the war of independence (1954-1962). Both sides of my family had emigrated from France to Algeria in the mid-nineteen century. Politics was at the heart of nearly all family reunions. I was a kid during “The Battle of Algiers” (“la bataille d’Alger”) but have very strong memories of the guerillas, insurrections, terrorist attacks, and de Gaulle’s arrival in Algiers in June 1958 to deliver his famous speech “I understood you” (which later earned him the hatred of most French people who lived in Algeria). 

In June 1962, a few days before independence was proclaimed, we fled—my mother, my brother and I, as well as other members of the family—on a ship to Marseille in France. The vast majority of French people left Algeria in May and June 1962 (“the exodus”), as they feared retaliation from the slaughter of Algerians that was perpetrated in previous months by the Organisation Armée Secrète (OAS)—a far right civilian/military organization, whose objective was to fight for Algeria to remain a French colony. 

Four hundred and fifty thousand “pieds noirs” (French people lived in Algeria) arrived in Marseille over a two-month period. They had to start a new life in a place where they were not particularly welcome. In July 1962, Gaston Defferre, Marseille’s socialist mayor, declared about the “pieds noirs”: “We don’t want them here. Let them go elsewhere!” Over time things improved and we progressively melted into the city’s population. 

At the end of the 1960’s, after graduating from high school, I moved to Paris where I studied economics and psychology. In the early 1970’s, although not an active militant, I participated in student demonstrations. This was the height of “programme commun” (a reform program, signed in June 1972 by the French socialist and communist parties, and the centrist Radical Movement of the Left (MRG); which led to the election of Francois Mitterrand as President of France in 1981. During his first two years in office, with several communists in his cabinet, Mitterrand applied a number of social measures from the programme commun. However, the French government had trouble advancing its social agenda in a world where Reagan and Thatcher’s neoliberalism was on the rise. In 1984, France began moving toward a market economy.

In the summer of 1979, I took my first trip to the U.S., crossing the country by bus and meeting a lot of nice people. I felt I would love to work and live there if I had the opportunity. This happened a few years later, when the American company I was working for in Europe offered me a position in the U.S. My wife, son and I moved to New Hampshire in early 1985. At that time, few people came from France to work in the U.S.  

After a few years in New England, we moved to Virginia where I started a consulting practice, INTERQUEST, specializing in market and technology research in the field of printing and publishing. Over the years, we produced numerous research studies and conducted multiple consulting projects for large global corporations, government organizations, trade associations, universities and various other companies. From 2006 to 2017, we organized industry conferences throughout North America and Europe. These projects gave me the opportunity to travel extensively and spend a lot of time abroad.

I have been in the U.S. for more than three decades, and have closely followed the country’s political developments during this time. Two years ago, I thought that it was time to become more involved. I live in Charlottesville, Virginia and the events which occurred in the summer of 2017 pushed me to accelerate the process.