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Algeria: Emmanuel Macron wants to reconcile without giving in to repentance

2021-01-20T19:10:27.510Z


Historian Benjamin Stora released his report on colonization on Tuesday. The president plans strong “symbolic” acts in the coming months.


Dr Candidate and Mr President.

After more than three and a half years in office - and as much reflection - Emmanuel Macron has finally completed his transformation on the sensitive and explosive subject of the Algerian war.

On the form, this materialized on Wednesday afternoon, when the historian Benjamin Stora came to hand him the thick report that bears his name and which had been commissioned six months ago.

Basically, this resulted, at the same time, in a diametrical change of speech of the Elysee.

Read also:

Report on colonization and the Algerian war: Benjamin Stora, a historian between two shores

Because even if his relatives assure that he

"does not regret"

having qualified the colonization of

"crime against humanity"

in 2017, the head of state understood that he had made a serious mistake during the campaign .

First, because the fractures and heartbreak that he had awakened at the time in part of the country had a profound effect on him.

But also because the examples of Korea and China, which feed a very strong mistrust of Japan, have proved to it that autoflagellation was at best ineffective, at worst counterproductive.

Result,

"there is no question of apologizing"

, firmly sweeps one of his advisers.

“Repentance is vanity, gratitude is truth.

And the truth is deeds ”

, we continue from the same source.

Hence the choice to prefer henceforth gestures of high “

symbolic

scope

rather than the piling up of unnecessarily

“controversial”

words

.

In this spirit, the Head of State has decided to

"chair himself"

three major commemorations in the coming months, namely: the national day of harkis, September 25, 2021;

a ceremony in memory of the

“events”

of 1961, on October 17;

and the 60th anniversary of the Evian agreements, March 19, 2022. A celebration which, if the health situation permits, will take place almost a month to the day before the first round of the presidential election.

"A question of national memory"

Until then, Emmanuel Macron has promised to access

"a good number"

of

"recommendations"

from Benjamin Stora.

In total, out of the 150 or so pages that make up his thick report, the historian has identified around thirty recommendations.

They cover a large number of subjects, which concern both the overhaul of school programs and the accessibility of archives, as well as the pantheonization of the feminist lawyer Gisèle Halimi or the construction of a stele in tribute to Emir Abdelkader.

"It is enough to know a little the president to understand quickly enough that a huge proportion of these proposals will be accepted"

, smiles those around him.

To read also:

Report of Benjamin Stora on "the memories of the colonization and the war of Algeria"

These arbitrations will however have to be the subject of exchanges and discussions with the members of the committee which will be created ad hoc, and whose chairmanship will be entrusted to Benjamin Stora.

At the head of this structure, the historian will be notably

"responsible for stimulating joint initiatives between France and Algeria"

.

“Some measures will be Franco-Algerian, and others will be Franco-French.

There will of course be diplomatic elements, but that is not the primary purpose.

We must first and foremost do this work for ourselves.

It is a question of national memory ”

, summarizes an Elyos adviser.

The story of the Algerian war and colonization is very often poorly told

A close friend of the head of state

And for good reason, since the first waves of immigration from North Africa in the middle of the last century, to the famous "third generation" yet born on French soil, no government has known - or wanted - to regulate identity and integration issues.

Worse, these scourges have worsened over time, sometimes leading to the separatist excesses against which the executive intends to fight today.

“The story of the Algerian war and colonization is very often poorly told - sometimes for unhealthy political reasons - to young people.

(…) There are people who take an anachronistic reading of our history, explaining that what happened sixty years ago is valid for today ”

, deplores a relative of the Head of State.

“Certain political forces in this country, which can be described as 'extreme left', have come from American academic circles called 'decolonial' and 'indigenous'.

They seized on this file to tell a story that is not the truth and to break the Republic ”

, the same source asserts.

Read also:

Shadows and lights of the conquest of Algeria

Faced with this peril, which Benjamin Stora calls the

“communitarization of memories”

, Emmanuel Macron intends to respond by opposing a

“reconciliation of memories”

.

According to him, this involves getting out of

“denial and the unspoken”

,

“looking history in the face”

and

“fully recognizing”

the wounds of each person.

“The site ahead of us is the site of a generation.

We absolutely must open it now if we want to hope that it can be resolved in ten, fifteen or twenty years, ”

we believe at the Elysee.

Where we hope that, unlike his predecessors, Emmanuel Macron will be the right person to achieve it:

"The president can initiate this work because he is neither an actor nor a committed witness (of this period)"

.

Algerian War: Macron wants to "finish the historical work" to allow "the reconciliation of memories" - Watch on Figaro Live

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-01-20

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