• Ar
  • Es
Al Mayadeen English
  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Feature
  • Videos
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Feature
Videos
Infographs
In Pictures
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. MENA
  4. Independent Algeria soon to be 60, colonial wounds still bleeding
MENA

Independent Algeria soon to be 60, colonial wounds still bleeding

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 2 Jul 08:38

With Algeria attaining its independence from France 60 years ago and paying dearly for it, the former colonial state still refuses to take responsibility for its atrocities.

  • Independent Algeria turns 60, but he colonial wounds still bleed.
    Independent Algeria soon to be 60, colonial wounds still bleeding

On Tuesday, Algeria celebrates 60 years of independence from France, but the atrocities perpetrated during more than a century of colonial rule, without any responsibility upheld, continue to elicit deep diplomatic tensions.

On March 18, 1962, after close to eight years of war between Algerian revolutionaries and the French colonial army, fighting ceased after the signing of the historic Evian accords, which paved the way toward the announcement of Algeria's independence on July 5 that same year.

Algerians took part in a referendum a few days before the announcement, with 99.72% taking part to vote on their independence, but memories of the 132-year colonization continue to sour relations with France.

The country's authorities are planning to mark the anniversary with pomp and ceremony, capped by a vast military parade in Algiers, the first of its kind in 33 years.

Laid Rebiga, the minister for independence warriors, has also announced plans for a play at the capital's opera theater that will "retrace Algeria's long history."

To commemorate "a glorious history and a new era," the government has even commissioned a logo, a circle of 60 stars containing military personalities and equipment.

Algeria's independence struggle resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of people. Despite that, a crisis was instigated late last year by French President Emmanuel Macron, which highlighted how volatile the topic remains six decades later.

Macron reportedly questioned Algeria's existence as a nation before the French colonization, accusing its "political-military system" of rewriting history and fomenting "hatred towards France." Algeria withdrew its ambassador in response.

"Relations between the power system in Algeria and 'official France' have been punctuated by crises and pseudo-reconciliations since independence," said Athmane Mazouz, head of Algeria's secularist opposition party RCD. "At this point, all bets are off on whether they can establish better ties." 

Read next: Algeria: Dotting the I’s in France’s colonial history

The French atrocities in a nutshell

The colonial authorities committed horrific murders and massacres against Algerians. What happened in May 1945 is one of the most heinous examples of this. Algerians began organizing large-scale, nonviolent public gatherings, marches, and protests in various cities to demand independence and the release of imprisoned national leaders. The throng raised Algerian national flags. France responded with land, air, and naval forces opening fire on demonstrators and destroying entire villages and neighborhoods.

In addition to the killings, looting was a trait that accompanied the colonial state throughout its reign. The systematic plundering of Algeria's resources under the occupation included the exploitation of gold, iron, coal mines, and other minerals to service the French economy, as well as the grant of the most valuable agricultural fields to European settlers from France, Italy, Spain, and Malta.

To this day, Algeria is still suffering from the impacts of nuclear radiation, which resulted from a series of nuclear experiments that France conducted in the Algerian desert in the south of the country between 1958 and 1962. In the region, there are high rates of birth abnormalities, cancer, skin illness, and other disorders. According to multiple credible sources, France carried out at least 17 nuclear explosions in Algeria.

Read next: France refuses to apologize for its Algerian past

Three pending files from the colonial period

The first file discusses the Algerian National Archive, which includes millions of documents, records, and maps. However, France refuses to return it.

The second file concentrates on the retrieval of the skulls of Algerian revolution leaders, which are housed in the Museum of Mankind in Paris.

Lastly, around 2200 Algerians, primarily militants and revolutionary leaders, were seized and slain by French colonial authorities but were never recorded or accounted for.

That said, France refuses to accept responsibility for its atrocities and colonial history in Algeria. In fact, the French Parliament adopted a law for “glorifying the colonial past of France" in 2005, but it wasn't published in the Official Gazette to become effective fearing a major ricochet. 

Read next: The quiet emigration of Muslims from France

  • Algeria
  • President Abdelmadjid Tebboune
  • France
  • Emmanuel Macron

Trending Now

All
Algeria President Abdelmadjid Tebboune

France Must Forget Algeria Was Once a French Colony: Tebboune

Most Read

David Hirsh – An asset of the Zionist regime

David Hirsh – An asset of the Zionist regime

  • Feature
  • 16 Aug
China: Will it now Toss Caution to the Wind?

China: Will it now Toss Caution to the Wind?

  • Analysis
  • 15 Aug
A US soldier sits in an armored vehicle in Manbij, northern Syria, in 2018 (AP Photo)

US troops loot 89 oil tankers from Syria, smuggle them into Iraq

  • MENA
  • 14 Aug
Chinese President Xi Jinping (Time)

Xi Jinping to visit Saudi Arabia next week- Is the US sidelined?

  • MENA
  • 11 Aug

Read this

All
Pink Floyd's Roger Waters demands freeing Assange at Washington rally
US & Canada

Pink Floyd Roger Waters demands freeing Assange at Washington rally

  • Today
The sun sets behind the Palais Coburg where closed-door nuclear talks take place in Vienna, Austria, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022 (AP Photo/Florian Schroetter)
MENA

Israeli media: "Israel" sees nuclear deal 'bad'

  • Today
Member of the Political Bureau of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Mohammed al-Hindi
Palestine

PIJ: "Israel" stalling execution armistice terms

  • 17 Aug
In this July 23, 2013 file photo, French soldiers patrol through the central market in Timbuktu, Mali (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
Africa

Mali calls for emergency UN meeting over French 'aggression'

  • 17 Aug
Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS