Following a war that raged for nearly ten years, on the 5th of July 1962 Algeria was finally pronounced an independent country, an idea that twenty years ago appeared to be nothing but a mere dream lodged in the mind of every Amazigh and Arab. Furthermore, the refusal of the mainland European French to ever accept Algerians as French aided in providing anger within all Algerians across all sections of society to fight for the freedom, independence and autonomy they had once possessed in the 1830s.
Colonial apologists often have the same rhetoric, Algeria benefitted in many ways thanks to the French colonialization. Algeria and France are, of course, nothing more than placeholders for the wider colonial impact of the European colonial nations - England and India, Belgium and The Congo.
There is no need to sugarcoat the atrocities of colonial France in this article. France raped, assaulted, tortured, murdered and have left generational scars that still to this day have not healed in the hearts of Algerians. France claims it does not owe Algeria an apology.
So does France owe an apology to the women that were raped, assaulted and paraded as trophies by French soldiers? Author Claire Mauss Copeaux interviewed hundreds of Algerian women on their lives in colonial Algeria, explaining in her books on the Algerian war that these women would be raped anywhere, “on the street”,“in villages”, “in Mosques”. Anywhere. They were not treated as humans but rather sex objects who were “paraded down the streets”.
In 1960, Djamilia Boupacha was wrongfully arrested for suspicion of having planted a bomb. She was raped, tortured, and beaten until she confessed to a crime that she never committed. This horrendous act prompted French feminist Simone de Beauvoir to publicly denounce this cruelty. A French woman had to call out France’s behavior. That is the extent of the inhumanity of France in Algeria.
As Algerians were often viewed as lower peoples, perhaps even subhuman, by the French, torture, and cruel and unusual punishments were extremely common methods of extracting information. However, there were also incidents of Algerians being beaten for insufficient reasons, such as the aforementioned case of Djamilia Boupacha. Additionally, due to the French refusal to acknowledge the conflict as a war, they believed that they were not tied to the Geneva Convention. This led to years of torture to supposedly stop, “Terrorism”. Torture from the French was not only restricted to soldiers, but even civilians who had potentially aided the National Liberation Front (FLN). France denied this, but by the mid-50s this torture had become common knowledge. This was most infamously the case with Maurice Audin, a mathematician, who denounced France, and vanished mysteriously.
But perhaps the thing with the longest lasting effects remain remains the generational scars left by the French.
These scars come in various forms, however for me this scar is in the shape of my inability to speak the language of my culture. I cannot speak Arabic.
I speak the Algerian dialect of Darrija, a dialect of Arabic, Amazigh and French all mixed into one. During the 130 years of colonisation, Algerians were forced to learn and speak French, forcing Arabic into obscurity and depriving Algerians of the language of their culture. This disconnected many Algerians from their ancestors and their history for the sake of French homogeneity. This has meant that the Arabic that did survive became a pig language in which a Latin alphabet was used, pronunciation was mangled and a language that stood for a thousand years was toppled.
Despite gaining independence in 1962, Algeria -decades on- is entirely dependent on France with 5/6ths of the economy being supported by France. Additionally, issues are arising with the Algerian dependence on France through language. French is taught in schools and much government and commercial work is carried out in French, isolating Algeria from its Arabic speaking North African neighbours, especially in terms of trade. France when it left Algeria ensured than an independent Algeria would never be entirely free of French influence. The economy’s inability to develop past the sale of finite resources has led to Algeria being placed into a ‘post-colonial rut’.
Algeria has suffered and is continuing to suffer. It is easy to argue colonialism ended half a century ago and that Algeria should have already progressed, but that is an extreme oversimplification. The shadows of colonialism continue to loom over not only Algeria, but much of the non-European world - Macron is the first French president born post-colonial rule in Algeria. It has been 60 years since Algeria’s independence, half the amount of time France occupied the country. Neocolonialism continues to plague Africa and economic development, in a world of endemic corruption, inequality, and poverty, proves challenging. I love my country, but when I am asked whether I wish to return to ‘restore Algeria’ I feel a bleak sense of dread because I know that it’s impossible for a country so ravaged by colonialism. Life continues to improve but people still struggle and will continue to do so for years. No single man, formula or plan can end that.
At least we won Afcon though?
