Algeria – Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune confirmed yesterday, Wednesday, that “extremist (French) circles” are trying to falsify the memory file linked to France’s colonization of Algeria, and are working to push it to the shelves of oblivion.
This came in a message he addressed to the Algerian people on the occasion of “National Migration Day,” marking the 63rd anniversary of the massacres of October 17, 1961.
On this date, the French police in the French capital forcefully suppressed, by order of its commander, Maurice Papon, a peaceful demonstration of thousands of Algerians who went out to demonstrate, demanding independence and denouncing the curfew imposed on them from eight o’clock at night until five o’clock in the morning.
The French police opened fire on the demonstrators in the subway, and threw dozens of them alive into the Seine River. Estimates are conflicting regarding the number of victims, with some estimating them at 12,000 dead, while others believe that the real number is higher and is still unknown.
In his message, the Algerian president said: “The tragic scenes at the subway stations and the bridges of the Seine River in Paris, which are preserved in the documented archive of colonialism’s hatred, bloodshed, and racism, in those crazy moments, outside the slightest sense of civilization and humanity, confirm the depth of the sacred national bond between the people of our dear country.”
He considered that “the anniversary brings back to the generations the Algerian community in France’s embrace of the revolutionary liberation tide in an Algeria that was determined to get rid of the domination of colonialism and the illusions of the settlers.”
The Algerian President renewed his country’s adherence to the “principle of right and fairness” regarding the memory file.
He pointed out that extremist circles (in France) are “trying to falsify the file or consign it to the shelves of oblivion.”
He added, “The issue of memory requires a new breath of integrity to get rid of the complex of the colonial past and move towards a future in which there is no listening to malice and hatred.”
It is worth noting that Tebboune agreed with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on August 27, 2022, on the sidelines of the latter’s visit to Algeria, to form the “Algerian-French Joint Committee for History and Memory,” which held its first session on April 19, 2023, to discuss and present Recommendations to address “all issues relating to the colonial period”.
The Algerian president’s message came at a time when relations between his country and France were witnessing a significant deterioration.
The “memory file” linked to the French colonization of Algeria (1830-1962) represents a major challenge to the relations of the two countries.
Two weeks ago, President Tebboune confirmed that the far right in France was waging a hate campaign full of lies and fallacies against Algeria and Algerians, and announced that he would not go to France on the visit that was scheduled for late September or early October.
He considered that the right and the extreme right in France were using the 1968 Migration Convention as their banner as an army of extremists.
He also reported that France refuses to discuss serious issues with Algeria, such as cleaning up nuclear waste, which it abandoned following the tests it conducted in Algeria between 1960 and 1966.
Since last July 30, Algeria has withdrawn its ambassador to Paris, due to the French government adopting a position that supports the Moroccan thesis for autonomy in the Sahara.
Anatolia
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