Criminalizing French Colonization

An article in Novopress dated December 10, tells of the proposal before the Algerian Parliament to criminalize the French colonization of Algeria:

Algerian deputies are going to present a bill that would criminalize the 132-year French colonization of Algeria. The motion was signed by fifty deputies from different parties (...) An initiative that was guided by the National Liberation Front (FLN), that has held power for 47 years. Such gestures allow its leaders to conceal the many crimes of Algerian terrorism. The law includes 15 articles and formulates "an official demand to France for reparations for the colonial period and for the crimes committed against the Algerian people who were disarmed in the chaotic aftermath ("foulée") of the liberation movement." The bill also calls for "the judgment of war criminals."

This new provocation from the dictatorship of the FLN is consistent with the notion of a "criminal conquest" of Algeria by France. In all there are about 500,000 North Africans who could be called direct victims of French colonization, which began in 1830. These losses were due neither to war nor to tortures committed by the French army, but to a famine that affected all of North Africa between 1865 and 1868.

For Alix Ducret, editor-in-chief of Historia Nostra, the accusation of "crime" is not valid. The journalist emphasizes, in Myths and Polemics of History, that "France proved to be an essential support for the country through the allocation of 660,000 francs in credit and in the supplying of massive quantities of wheat, rice, and potatoes. Without these provisions, the mortality rate would have been considerably higher."

Note: Myths and Polemics of History provides a fresh look at some misguided or mistaken beliefs that have entered into the public consciousness. French readers can click here for the link, if they wish to purchase the text.


A companion article from Novopress quotes the general secretary of the FLN, Abdelaziz Belkhadem (left), who is also a minister of State and a personal representative of Algerian President Bouteflika. Belkhadem demands:

"(...) apologies and reparations for the barbaric and genocidal crimes committed during 132 years by colonialism in Algeria. (...) The period of colonial destruction was the most difficult and the most horrible ever experienced by our people. (...) Algeria will not cease to demand the recognition by France of her colonial crimes against the Algerian people."

Novopress points out that French colonialism:

(...) contributed to the building up of Algeria from the end of the 19th century: construction of infrastructure: roads, bridges, railroads, ports, airports; development of modern cities, development of agriculture and industry, creation of sanitary systems, creation of quality educational systems, etc... Progress which, rather than being a genocide, permitted the population of Algeria to grow seven times over during the 132 years of colonization!

(Algerian accusations) are also an insult to the memory of Europeans who were for centuries subjected to a particularly bloody slavery in North Africa, a slavery that only ended with... French colonization. But Algeria has not expressed the slightest repentance to the the Europeans!