The Algerian legislature has voted unanimously for a law affirming France’s colonisation of the nation a criminal act and called for an official apology and compensation.
Lawmakers, standing in the chamber wearing scarves in the colours of the Algerian flag, shouted “vive l'Algérie” on the session day as they celebrated the approval of the bill, which affirms that France holds “accountability for its history of colonisation in Algeria and the tragedies it caused”.
A Significant Crisis and a Political Gesture
The both nations are embroiled in a significant diplomatic crisis and observers say that while Algeria’s move is largely gestural, it is still a major political statement.
“a clear message, both domestically and externally, that the nation's historical memory is not erasable nor negotiable.”
The law enumerates the “crimes of French colonisation”, which include atomic tests, extrajudicial killings, “torture” and the “systematic plundering of national wealth”.
Call for Reparations
It asserts that “complete and just reparation for all material and moral harms caused by French colonisation is an inalienable right of the state and people”.
France’s rule over Algeria from the 19th century until independence was a period marked by mass killings and forced displacements, all the way up to the bloody war of independence from the mid-1950s to 1962.
- Algeria states the war killed one and a half million people.
- French historians put the death toll at half a million in all, four hundred thousand of them Algerian.
Official Response and Academic Perspective
The French president, President Macron, has previously recognized the colonisation of Algeria as a “grave injustice” but has declined to offer an official apology.
Asked recently about the parliamentary decision, a diplomatic representative said he would not discuss “political debates taking place in other nations”.
A researcher in the history of colonisation, said that “from a legal standpoint, this legislation has no international scope and therefore is not binding for France”. However, “its diplomatic and emblematic importance is considerable: it marks a break in the relationship with France in terms of memory,” he said.
