Chapter 3: Devoir de mémoire on the Road to 2005: The Republic and the Emergence of Memory Activism

Abstract

‘Well yes, 2005, that was a moment that changed, even transformed everything!’ The historian Gilles Mançeron repeated the same idea all activists and historians stress when they address the memory of colonialism in France. For them, 2005 was nearly a magical year that changed the perception of memory in France. To paraphrase these impressions, 2005 created France’s ‘colonial memory’: before 2005 there had been only separate conversations on different aspects of colonial history, but afterward French society saw debates about Algeria, slavery and other issues as part and parcel of coming to terms with the country’s colonial past. This ‘transformation’ owed much to a series of seemingly disconnected events, including the resurgence of the Dieudonné affair, the emergence of the Indigènes de la République (see chapter “Memory as Republican Critique: Race and Anti-Racism After 2005”) and the riots in the banlieues. These gave the impression of a snowball effect of public contestations of the postcolonial status quo that culminated in the month-long public debate about the 23 February Law on colonialism at the end of the year. The intense involvement of associations, politicians, academics, the press and members of the public in a debate about the country’s colonial legacies showed that colonial memory had the potential to engage different sectors of the French public politically and emotionally and not without a great deal of acrimony.