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El Chorouk
6 days ago
- Politics
- El Chorouk
Retailleau ruined relations with Algeria, and the French colonization was brutal.
The French Press Agency (AFP) acted suspiciously in the interview it conducted with the French historian, Benjamin Stora, last Wednesday, focusing on a small aspect of the dialogue related to the role of memory in reviving relations between Algeria and France, while ignoring more important points concerning the heinous crimes of French colonialism in Algeria and the role of the far-right, represented by the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, in destroying the bridges of communication between the two countries. The French Press Agency summarized the interview in a brief dispatch that various French media outlets covered last Wednesday, while the full interview was only disseminated through the agency's YouTube channel on Saturday, May 24. The full interview was rich in details of great importance that the dispatch did not mention. It was striking in following the 'video dialogue,' which lasted for 35 minutes, the disappearance of many points that the French historian discussed regarding Algerian-French relations from the past and present, especially concerning the description of the occupation crimes during the initial period of colonization that lasted for eighty years, as well as the crisis instigated by the far-right to destroy the relations between Algeria and Paris. What Benjamin Stora said: 'The French colonization of Algeria cannot be considered a trivial matter, because it was a colonization unlike any other. There was a colonial invasion that lasted for eighty years. It was truly horrific; there were atrocious massacres that the French only discovered recently. Entire villages and cities were destroyed, and this cannot be ignored. There were burnings (the caves), forced relocations of Algerians from their land, and their confinement in camps.' He adds: 'These are painful memories in the history of Algerians that cannot be underestimated. Algeria was part of France, not just a protectorate like Morocco and Indochina. France's borders, until the 1960s, extended south to Mali, Niger, Libya, and Mauritania… The French believed it was impossible to abandon Algeria, which is rich in oil, gas, phosphate, and gold, which led some of the French people to consider Algeria's independence a betrayal.' General Charles de Gaulle was accused of committing this betrayal, and he was the target of assassination attempts several times until his death in 1970. As for the telegram reported by the French Press Agency last Wednesday (France Press), it focused on the role of memory in bridging the gap between the two countries. It quoted Stora: 'We need strong initiatives, especially regarding the issue of French colonization of Algeria in the 19th century. But today, in my opinion, considering the possibility of launching memory initiatives could serve as an alternative to resuming political relations,' which is 'necessary to resolve issues of immigration or visas.' The agency also overlooked an important aspect of the dialogue, which is the role of Algeria in driving rapprochement through memory. Benjamin Stora pointed out that the idea of creating a joint committee of Algerian and French historians originated in Algeria, and it was an initiative that should have been capitalized on. The historian emphasized that the committee cannot write a shared history because each side has its own perspective. The French consider colonialism as bringing civilization to Algeria, while the Algerians view it as the main reason for the killing of millions, the theft of their wealth, and their illiteracy. In the opinion of the French historian, progress on the memory front could have alleviated tensions through initiatives from the French president, which were embodied in Macron's acknowledgment that the French state is responsible for the assassination of Maurice Audin, Ali Boumendjel, and the martyr Arab Ben Mhidi. However, the controversial shift in the French stance on the Sahrawi issue led to the stifling of that initiative, which was proposed after its crystallization during the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Algeria in the summer of 2022. He also accused France of making decisions that intensified the crisis, as it 'reduced the number of visas granted to Algerians without announcing it, from 400 to 200 or 250 thousand, and Algerians are aware of this. Requesting a visa from a holder of a diplomatic passport is considered reaching the brink of a break, which I don't think will happen because there are millions of people from both sides and shared ties of land and lineage.' Stora was asked if he would play the role of mediator to resolve the crisis between the two countries, to which he replied: 'The mediator must be accepted by both parties of the crisis. There is no search for a mediator. The crisis has reduced communication channels. I was indeed received by the two presidents in 2020 and 2021, but many things have changed today; we are in 2025.' He hinted that the French Minister of the Interior is responsible for the deterioration of these bilateral relations.
El Chorouk
21-05-2025
- Politics
- El Chorouk
The crisis with Algeria will continue, and memory file may be the key to the solution
The French historian, Benjamin Stora, who heads the joint memory committee alongside historian Mohamed Zeghdidi, expects the tension that characterizes relations between Algeria and France to continue, but he does not see this tension reaching the point of a diplomatic break in its classical sense (closing embassies in both countries), and called for playing the memory file as a card that can alleviate the tension between the two countries. Benjamin Stora, who serves as an advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron on memory affairs, is considered one of the few voices calling for calm, and does not hesitate to criticize hostile stances towards Algeria by some French politicians, such as Bruno Retailleau, the Minister of Interior in François Bayrou's government. In an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday, Benjamin Stora said: 'We need strong initiatives, especially regarding the issue of French colonialism in Algeria in the 19th century. But today, in my opinion, considering the possibility of launching initiatives on memory may be an alternative to resuming political relations,' which is 'necessary to resolve issues of immigration or visas.' The historian calls for continuing this work related to memory in order to achieve calm, and emphasizes the importance of building on previous initiatives, referring to France's recognition of responsibility for the assassination of Algerian politicians and activists by the French army during the Liberation Revolution, such as the French activist for the revolution, Maurice Audin, the revolution's lawyer Ali Boumendjel, and the martyr Larbi Ben M'hidi. These initiatives came in a piecemeal manner without reaching the basic demand of Algerians, which is the recognition of its colonial crimes, which stripped those initiatives of their value. Stora believes that working on the memory file 'constitutes a possible way out of the crisis, and is indispensable in any case, and necessary in any case, because we cannot (…) consider that this Algerian history is like all other histories,' due to the heavy burden of the colonial past from its very beginnings until the Liberation Revolution, which witnessed brutal massacres against Algerians. He added: 'We cannot resolve relations that lasted 132 years with one speech or one initiative. It is a very long period, 132 years. It spans more than six generations,' and these facts have made relations between the two countries more complex, saying: We must remember that the relationship between France and Algeria has always been full of troubles and fluctuations, and a lot of tensions and detentes. Therefore, he does not see a way out of the crisis in the short term, even if France agrees to new initiatives on the memory level, due to the level the current crisis has reached, for which the French side is responsible, as it was the party that initiated the provocation when it decided to support the Moroccan regime's plan in Western Sahara, despite its awareness of the risks of such a decision on bilateral relations. It is known that the work of the mixed committee in charge of the memory file has been suspended since last summer, following the French President's decision to change his country's position on the Sahrawi issue, and this committee was about to resume its activity last April after the visit of the French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, to Algeria, but the action of suspicious parties in Paris to arrest an official at the Algerian consulate in Paris outside of norms, law, and diplomacy, brought the crisis back to its beginnings. Stora says: 'This time, the crisis is absolutely unprecedented,' which may prolong its life for a long time, and he warned that this problem is worsening more and more, because in France, as in Algeria, there are 'people and organizations who have an interest in things not always going well.' Stora did not rule out that Algeria could be a subject of the next presidential campaign in two years, as was the case in 2007. Nicolas Sarkozy 'campaigned heavily on the basis of French Algeria.'
El Chorouk
28-04-2025
- Politics
- El Chorouk
There is a will to hide devastating facts about the brutal French colonialism in Algeria
French historian Benjamin Stora said that the issue of relations between Algeria and Paris is caused by the failure to inform public opinion in France of the truth about what happened during the French colonial era in Algeria, which made wide circles of French supporters of the extreme right believe that the Algerian demand for an apology constitutes targeting the glory of France. This belief can be seen in the reaction of some French people to the statements of historian and journalist Jean-Michel Abate, who said that the French occupation army committed hundreds of massacres in Algeria, such as the 'Oradour-sur-Glane' massacre, which was committed against French people by the army of Nazi Germany in World War II, according to a press interview with the French platform 'Politi'. 'The French, for example, do not know the colonial invasion that their country carried out in Algeria, and what happened with historian Jean-Michel Abate is a good example of this,' Stora said in the interview, which lasted about half an hour and was published on Sunday, April 27, on his Facebook account, and therefore strongly refuses to respond to repeated Algerian demands to recognize the horrendous crimes of the colonial past and then apologize. To address this dilemma, Benjamin Stora said: 'Historical facts must be explained to the French as they are. For example, in 1830, the first year of the French occupation of Algeria, hundreds of Algerians were liquidated in the city of Blida, near the capital (Algiers). We are talking about 1830, not, for example, 1871. It is remarkable that the French are ignorant of such details.' 'There are questions about whether this was spontaneous or planned,' added the historian, who specializes in Algerian-French relations and is in charge of heading the memory committee on the French side, which was tasked with researching this file: 'There are questions about whether this was spontaneous or planned. It could be yes and it could be no. But there are suspicions that there are those who seek to hide these colonial crimes from the French people, for considerations related to the glories and greatness of France.' According to the speaker, who maintains positions that have often annoyed the French far right, 'there is a will to put the French history in Algeria under secrecy, so that society is not confronted with the tragedies of his country's history,' an approach that the historian opposes, as it does not allow confronting historical facts as they are. Benjamin Stora, who was born in Constantine, believes that the collective conscience in France believes that 'the loss of Algeria is not the same as that of Tunisia and Morocco, because Algeria was part of the French territory and was governed by a special law (under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior), in addition to being subjected to settler colonialism, unlike its neighbors Tunisia and Morocco, which were merely protectorates.' 'Algeria was annexed to France in 1848, only 18 years after the occupation, while provinces that are still part of France today, such as La Savoie, were annexed two years later (in 1860), and the French celebrated the anniversary of the occupation in 1830, not believing that Algeria would one day become a territory over which France had no authority. Stora described the current state of bilateral relations as 'unprecedented' since 1962, as there are no ambassadors in the two countries, which is a dangerous shift, because there are previous milestones such as the nationalization of hydrocarbons in 1971, which caused great anger in Paris, but did not reach the exchange of withdrawing ambassadors.
