French Channels Warn Against Further Criminalisation of Colonialism
The official position on France's colonial past in Algeria is marked by considerable confusion, embodied by the positions issued by French institutions, such as the Media Regulatory Authority (CSA), which demolished everything Macron had built in the file of memory, in a moment of madness in escaping forward because the matter concerned Algeria.
About two and a half months after the bold and unprecedented statements made by French journalist and history researcher Jean-Michel Aphatie, in which he likened France's colonial crimes in Algeria to Nazi crimes, the French Media Regulatory Authority (CSA) issued a statement expressing its rejection of these statements and warning French channels and radio stations against broadcasting these descriptions in what appears as a severe blow to the freedom of expression that Paris claims to uphold.
Jean-Michel Aphatie accused the French occupation army of committing atrocities in Algeria hundreds of times ugglier and larger than those perpetrated by Nazi Germany in France. He was referring to the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre, in which the Nazi army annihilated an entire French village. The journalist and historian said on RTL radio that the French army committed hundreds of massacres similar to Oradour-sur-Glane in Algeria.
The authority justified its decision, which was unveiled just one day after Algeria commemorated the May 8, 1945 massacres, by claiming that it constitutes a 'form of Nazi relativization,' an attempt to minimize the seriousness of the Nazi regime's crimes by comparing them to other crimes or justifying them by presenting them in a context that obscures their brutality.
The statement by the French Media Regulatory Authority (ARCOM) shows that the French authorities, under Emmanuel Macron, continue to deny the brutal crimes committed by their colonial army in Algeria, in a desperate attempt to escape the situation. This comes amidst a context marked by the former president's retreat from his commitments in Algeria in 2017, when he was a presidential candidate.
The statement of the ARCOM, as the French abbreviate it, can be read as a blatant and racist discrimination against human blood, regardless of race or identity. What the Nazi army committed against the French was considered a brutal and unforgivable crime. However, when it comes to France's crimes in Algeria, which exceeded the brutality of the Nazis (approximately seven million martyrs in 132 years), they remain less criminal and less brutal than the Nazi crimes, in a position that falls within the category of 'denial,' or what the French call 'La negation,' the French president's seriousness in going too far with the issue of memory is simply a marketing exercise.
The French media regulatory authority's announcement is fully consistent with leaks reported more than a week ago by the newspaper 'Libération,' which stated that France had decided to suspend recognition of the May 8, 1945, massacres due to the escalating diplomatic crisis between the two countries. This was confirmed by the fact that Paris did not undertake any initiative to commemorate this anniversary this year, except for a visit by the Chargé d'Affaires of the French Embassy in Algeria to the crime scene in Setif (eastern Algeria) to lay a wreath near the statue of Bouzid Saâl, considered the first martyr to die in those brutal massacres.
The French authorities, based on the ARCOM decision and the leaks from Libération, clearly approach the issue of colonial memory from an opportunistic political perspective, rather than from a humanitarian and ethical perspective. By pursuing a policy of evasion, they will be unable to cleanse their slate of the brutal crimes they committed in Algeria. Algeria will continue to demand that Paris assume full responsibility, causing it embarrassment that will continue to burden it until it decides to acknowledge its crimes and apologise to the Algerians.
These developments further complicate the task of the Memory Committee, whose activities have been suspended until further notice following the expulsion of diplomats from both sides following the show-off arrest of the Algerian consular official in France more than a month ago.
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