DRABETS SEMIOTIK: Eksempler fra krigen i Algeriet 1954-1962

Abstract

This article analyses the ways in which
 the paramilitary group FLN-ALN used to
 kill its enemies in the French and the
 Muslim populations during the Algerian
 “War of Independence” from 1954-1962.
 Through empirical material from
 classified French military archives the
 article demonstrates that the FLN-ALN’s
 methods of killing their French enemies
 differed from the way they killed their
 Muslim enemies. Based on this observation,
 it is argued that FLN-ALN’s war,
 in fact, consisted of two separate wars: An
 external war with the objective of establishing
 an independent Algerian state and
 an internal war with the objective of
 creating a “liberated” Algerian society.
 These two wars were not only fought
 against different enemies but also were
 conceptualized differently. FLN-ALN
 transformed the two wars into radically
 different forms and methods of physical
 violence and killing. Hence, the central
 argument of the article is that forms of
 violence are signs, as understood in
 semiotic analysis, and that FLN-ALN used
 the physical treatment of the two enemies’
 bodies to communicate with friendly and
 opposed political communities both inand
 outside of Algeria