Rethinking Colonialism in France’s Post-Chirac Era. From Sarkozy’s ‘Anti-Repentance’ to Macron’s ‘Crisis of Acceptance’

Giorgos Noussis

doi:10.3828/mlo.v0i0.330

Abstract

For the first time in post-war history, the French State acknowledged in 2018 the use of military torture during the Algerian War of Independence, through the statement of the French president, Emmanuel Macron. The declaration was inscribed in the context of the Franco-Algerian War, attempting to restore and vindicate the memory of Maurice Audin, a victim of the French colonial system established in Algeria. The article deals with the postcolonial memory of the Algerian War of Independence in French public sphere, focusing on the politics of memory of the presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Emmanuel Macron. Exploring the uses of the colonial past in French politics, I seek to delineate the process of ‘coming to terms’ with ‘colonial legacy’ and to trace the transformations that the ‘modes’ of remembering have undergone in France over the last few decades.

Highlights

Over the last few decades, the notion of ‘coming to terms with the past’ has undergone radical changes
My interest will be the memory of the Algerian War of Independence, studying the case of Maurice Audin and the official recognition of torture by the French military in Algeria, as announced (13 September 2018) by President Emmanuel Macron
Rather than coming out of the blue, these notions that challenge the cosmopolitan mode of ‘coming to terms with the past’ in France today are deeply related to the ideological polarization evident in the post-Chirac era, and in the Sarkozy period

Summary

Introduction

Over the last few decades, the notion of ‘coming to terms with the past’ (associated since the 1980s with a mode of cosmopolitan memory in favour of social consensus, reconciliation, transitional justice and human rights) has undergone radical changes. My aim here is to trace the changes that ‘modes’ of remembering have undergone in the case of France, focusing on the perceptions and the uses of the colonial past.. My interest will be the memory of the Algerian War of Independence, studying the case of Maurice Audin and the official recognition of torture by the French military in Algeria, as announced (13 September 2018) by President Emmanuel Macron.. The collective amnesia ‘imposed’ for almost thirty years, and the ‘memory wars’ that swept French society during the 1990s,5 depicting competitive perceptions of the past from the perspectives of various agents, shaped a fragmented collective memory of the Algerian War (Lindenberg 77–95)

Objectives

Conclusion