Algeria’s parliament has voted unanimously for a piece of legislation affirming France’s colonisation of the nation a crime and called for an apology and compensation.
Lawmakers, gathered in parliament wearing scarves in the colors of the national flag, chanted “vive l'Algérie” on the session day as they applauded the passage of the legislation, which affirms that the former colonial power holds “legal responsibility for its history of colonisation in Algeria and the tragedies it caused”.
A Significant Strain and a Political Move
The two countries are locked in a significant bilateral dispute and analysts note that while Algeria’s action is largely symbolic, it is still a major political statement.
“an unambiguous signal, both internally and internationally, that Algeria’s national memory is neither erasable nor negotiable.”
The law enumerates the “crimes of colonial rule”, which encompass nuclear tests, extrajudicial killings, “physical and psychological torture” and the “widespread looting of national wealth”.
Demand for Compensation
It asserts that “complete and just reparation for all physical and psychological harms caused by colonial rule is an inalienable right of the Algerian state and its people”.
French governance over Algeria from 1830 until 1962 was a era marked by mass killings and forced displacements, all the way up to the violent independence war from the mid-1950s to 1962.
- Algerian officials says the conflict claimed 1.5 million lives.
- Historians in France estimate the fatalities at 500,000 in all, four hundred thousand of them Algerian.
French Response and Historical View
The French president, President Macron, has previously acknowledged the colonisation of Algeria as a “grave injustice” but has declined to offer an apology.
Questioned last week about the parliamentary decision, a diplomatic representative stated he would not discuss “political debates taking place in foreign countries”.
A researcher in colonial history, said that “from a legal standpoint, this legislation has little international force and therefore is not enforceable for France”. However, “its political and symbolic significance is considerable: it marks a break in the ties with France in terms of memory,” he added.
