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| Echoes of Colonial Conflict in Algeria Reverberate in French Politics | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| When asked about this year’s presidential election, French historians often draw a comparison that could initially seem outlandish. | When asked about this year’s presidential election, French historians often draw a comparison that could initially seem outlandish. |
| The war that France fought in Algeria, they said, cleaved French society, opening crises of identity and integration that still drive politics, much as the Civil War lurks within the racial and regional politics still roiling the United States. | The war that France fought in Algeria, they said, cleaved French society, opening crises of identity and integration that still drive politics, much as the Civil War lurks within the racial and regional politics still roiling the United States. |
| “The Algerian war was a French civil war,” Benjamin Stora, the conflict’s foremost historian, said in a recent interview from his home in Paris. | “The Algerian war was a French civil war,” Benjamin Stora, the conflict’s foremost historian, said in a recent interview from his home in Paris. |
| In Algeria, independence groups fought to end 130 years of French rule. Within France, Mr. Stora said, the war was an ideological conflict over “two conceptions of the nation,” one that saw France as an empire and Algeria as core to its greatness, and another that rejected colonialism. The war also became a struggle over whether French identity could expand to include the mostly Muslim Algerians. | In Algeria, independence groups fought to end 130 years of French rule. Within France, Mr. Stora said, the war was an ideological conflict over “two conceptions of the nation,” one that saw France as an empire and Algeria as core to its greatness, and another that rejected colonialism. The war also became a struggle over whether French identity could expand to include the mostly Muslim Algerians. |
| When France withdrew in defeat in 1962, the guns quieted, but those tensions over identity only intensified in France. | When France withdrew in defeat in 1962, the guns quieted, but those tensions over identity only intensified in France. |
| Settlers, along with their supporters in France, experienced Algeria’s loss so profoundly that many still speak of reclaiming France’s lost glory — often while explaining their support for Marine Le Pen, the far-right presidential candidate. | Settlers, along with their supporters in France, experienced Algeria’s loss so profoundly that many still speak of reclaiming France’s lost glory — often while explaining their support for Marine Le Pen, the far-right presidential candidate. |
| Questions over French identity, opened by the war, still pit the French against one another. | Questions over French identity, opened by the war, still pit the French against one another. |
| The politics of nostalgia and grievance so closely parallel the American South, Mr. Stora said, that he has termed them “Sudisme à la Française.” | The politics of nostalgia and grievance so closely parallel the American South, Mr. Stora said, that he has termed them “Sudisme à la Française.” |
| The parallel has its limits, but it highlights how disputes over the Algerian war’s legacy, while often too painful to confront directly, are reverberating in the French presidential election, which will end in a runoff on Sunday. | The parallel has its limits, but it highlights how disputes over the Algerian war’s legacy, while often too painful to confront directly, are reverberating in the French presidential election, which will end in a runoff on Sunday. |
| Nearly one million settlers, known as pieds-noirs, fled Algeria after the war. Many arrived in southern towns where Ms. Le Pen’s far-right National Front today draws heavy support, and that are dotted with gravestone-like monuments to the lost territory. Schools across France are required by law to teach the benefits of French colonialism. | Nearly one million settlers, known as pieds-noirs, fled Algeria after the war. Many arrived in southern towns where Ms. Le Pen’s far-right National Front today draws heavy support, and that are dotted with gravestone-like monuments to the lost territory. Schools across France are required by law to teach the benefits of French colonialism. |
| In conversation with voters in the area, questions about seemingly disparate topics of present-day politics — immigration, French republican values, the struggle against anti-Semitism, the rising support for the National Front — all come back to Algeria, as Mr. Stora suggested. | In conversation with voters in the area, questions about seemingly disparate topics of present-day politics — immigration, French republican values, the struggle against anti-Semitism, the rising support for the National Front — all come back to Algeria, as Mr. Stora suggested. |
| Christophe Tellier, a plumber in the town of Fréjus, when asked about immigration, brought up the so-called harkis, Algerians who fought alongside the French military during the war and who immigrated to France afterward. | Christophe Tellier, a plumber in the town of Fréjus, when asked about immigration, brought up the so-called harkis, Algerians who fought alongside the French military during the war and who immigrated to France afterward. |
| “It was Algeria that was the problem,” Mr. Tellier said. “And now the children of the harkis, they are a problem.” | “It was Algeria that was the problem,” Mr. Tellier said. “And now the children of the harkis, they are a problem.” |
| He added: “These immigrants, I hope they won’t have all these advantages that they have the right to now. I hope they’ll be taken away.” | He added: “These immigrants, I hope they won’t have all these advantages that they have the right to now. I hope they’ll be taken away.” |
| Much as in the American South, memory of defeat has blurred with its present-day social consequences. French citizens lost their once-superior status over Muslim and Arab subjects, a transition that today colors the debate over immigration and the treatment of France’s Muslim communities. | Much as in the American South, memory of defeat has blurred with its present-day social consequences. French citizens lost their once-superior status over Muslim and Arab subjects, a transition that today colors the debate over immigration and the treatment of France’s Muslim communities. |
| Algeria, Mr. Stora said, has become a way to express “nostalgia for a lost era, for an era when there was a hierarchy based on ethnicity.” | Algeria, Mr. Stora said, has become a way to express “nostalgia for a lost era, for an era when there was a hierarchy based on ethnicity.” |
| Terrence Peterson, a historian at Florida International University, compared debates over Algeria to those over the Confederate flag in the United States. | Terrence Peterson, a historian at Florida International University, compared debates over Algeria to those over the Confederate flag in the United States. |
| “History is a way to talk about France’s relationship with its minority population,” Mr. Peterson said. “Like the Confederate flag, it means very different things to different people.” | “History is a way to talk about France’s relationship with its minority population,” Mr. Peterson said. “Like the Confederate flag, it means very different things to different people.” |
| For those who see immigration or the European Union as an assault on French identity, Algeria provides a memory of a time when France was great and a way to argue against compromising that greatness ever again, whether by bowing to the European Union or broadening French identity to accept newcomers. | For those who see immigration or the European Union as an assault on French identity, Algeria provides a memory of a time when France was great and a way to argue against compromising that greatness ever again, whether by bowing to the European Union or broadening French identity to accept newcomers. |
| Ms. Le Pen has skillfully played on that nostalgia, saying colonialism “brought a lot, especially to Algeria.” | Ms. Le Pen has skillfully played on that nostalgia, saying colonialism “brought a lot, especially to Algeria.” |
| After Emmanuel Macron, her centrist opponent for the presidency, called France’s actions in Algeria a “crime against humanity” and “part of this past that we must face” during a trip there, he faced a chorus of criticism. Gérald Darmanin, a mayor and member of the center-right Republicans, accused Mr. Macron of “spitting on the graves” of those who died in Algeria “for a France they loved.” | After Emmanuel Macron, her centrist opponent for the presidency, called France’s actions in Algeria a “crime against humanity” and “part of this past that we must face” during a trip there, he faced a chorus of criticism. Gérald Darmanin, a mayor and member of the center-right Republicans, accused Mr. Macron of “spitting on the graves” of those who died in Algeria “for a France they loved.” |
| The Algerian war divided France between two visions of the nation that play out in politics today, Mr. Stora said. | The Algerian war divided France between two visions of the nation that play out in politics today, Mr. Stora said. |
| One vision defined France through its revolutionary values, particularly equality and liberty, which many saw as in tension with colonial rule. | One vision defined France through its revolutionary values, particularly equality and liberty, which many saw as in tension with colonial rule. |
| The 130 years of rule in Algeria culminated in an imperial identity that blended values like secularism with nationalism and the racial hierarchies of colonialism. | The 130 years of rule in Algeria culminated in an imperial identity that blended values like secularism with nationalism and the racial hierarchies of colonialism. |
| The dispute over whether to stay in Algeria brought France to the brink of a civil war that was averted by withdrawing from North Africa. But the cultural and identity issues were never resolved | The dispute over whether to stay in Algeria brought France to the brink of a civil war that was averted by withdrawing from North Africa. But the cultural and identity issues were never resolved |
| The divisions were deepened by the sudden arrival of about one million pieds-noirs and thousands of harkis, followed by more Algerians who went to France to work. The ideological conflict for French identity, far from ended, was imported onto French soil. | The divisions were deepened by the sudden arrival of about one million pieds-noirs and thousands of harkis, followed by more Algerians who went to France to work. The ideological conflict for French identity, far from ended, was imported onto French soil. |
| Jean-Yves Camus, an analyst at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, traced the National Front’s roots to popular opposition to leaving Algeria, culminating in a failed coup by military leaders. Ms. Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie, who founded the party, grew that “spark” of far-right activity into the National Front, Mr. Camus said. | Jean-Yves Camus, an analyst at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, traced the National Front’s roots to popular opposition to leaving Algeria, culminating in a failed coup by military leaders. Ms. Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie, who founded the party, grew that “spark” of far-right activity into the National Front, Mr. Camus said. |
| Jennifer Sessions, a historian at the University of Iowa, said French far-right politicians used the language of colonization to talk about fears of immigration, warning that France is at risk of being “colonized” by immigrants. | Jennifer Sessions, a historian at the University of Iowa, said French far-right politicians used the language of colonization to talk about fears of immigration, warning that France is at risk of being “colonized” by immigrants. |
| The National Front also draws subtle parallels between the Algerian independence fighters and disorder in immigrant neighborhoods today. | The National Front also draws subtle parallels between the Algerian independence fighters and disorder in immigrant neighborhoods today. |
| The left also uses Algeria as a metaphor, drawing a parallel between colonial-era abuses and the policing of Muslims today. | The left also uses Algeria as a metaphor, drawing a parallel between colonial-era abuses and the policing of Muslims today. |
| But the heat of those arguments might obscure a deeper problem: Debates over integration of immigrants cannot be resolved without agreement over the core values into which new arrivals must integrate. | But the heat of those arguments might obscure a deeper problem: Debates over integration of immigrants cannot be resolved without agreement over the core values into which new arrivals must integrate. |
| That question was raised in Algeria, but never answered. Some argued that Algerians could integrate only if they gave up their faith and culture, others that French Christians would have to widen their sense of identity to make room, and others still that France was only for the French. | That question was raised in Algeria, but never answered. Some argued that Algerians could integrate only if they gave up their faith and culture, others that French Christians would have to widen their sense of identity to make room, and others still that France was only for the French. |
| This disagreement continues to divide French politics, though they are now argued in the subtler language of integration and secularism. | This disagreement continues to divide French politics, though they are now argued in the subtler language of integration and secularism. |
| “Marine Le Pen uses the vocabulary of the Republic, but in a colonial sense,” Mr. Stora said, referring to colonial-era demands that Algerians make themselves culturally French. The effect, he said, is still that outsiders “cannot access the Republic.” | “Marine Le Pen uses the vocabulary of the Republic, but in a colonial sense,” Mr. Stora said, referring to colonial-era demands that Algerians make themselves culturally French. The effect, he said, is still that outsiders “cannot access the Republic.” |
| When Charles de Gaulle, the nationalist president, withdrew from Algeria in defeat in 1962, he opened a divide between the French center right and far right that never closed. | When Charles de Gaulle, the nationalist president, withdrew from Algeria in defeat in 1962, he opened a divide between the French center right and far right that never closed. |
| De Gaulle’s enormous popularity led center-right voters to support him in abandoning Algeria. But the far right never forgave him. | De Gaulle’s enormous popularity led center-right voters to support him in abandoning Algeria. But the far right never forgave him. |
| “They wanted to kill de Gaulle, physically,” Mr. Stora said of the far right in the early 1960s. “There were four assassination attempts against him.” | “They wanted to kill de Gaulle, physically,” Mr. Stora said of the far right in the early 1960s. “There were four assassination attempts against him.” |
| Ever since, mainstream politicians have struggled to reconcile national grievance over Algeria with the establishment position that de Gaulle was correct to withdraw. | Ever since, mainstream politicians have struggled to reconcile national grievance over Algeria with the establishment position that de Gaulle was correct to withdraw. |
| The National Front, long one of Europe’s most popular far-right parties, thrived by taking up that French nationalism as its own. | The National Front, long one of Europe’s most popular far-right parties, thrived by taking up that French nationalism as its own. |
| This anger echoes Continentwide populist rage at the European Union and at elites who are said to have sold out the people. But it has been particularly loud in France, amplified by lingering humiliation and nostalgia over a national identity that is said to have been lost in a stretch of North Africa that was once French. | This anger echoes Continentwide populist rage at the European Union and at elites who are said to have sold out the people. But it has been particularly loud in France, amplified by lingering humiliation and nostalgia over a national identity that is said to have been lost in a stretch of North Africa that was once French. |