A French historian exposes the selectivity of the elites in the Sansal case. 

The French historian, Sébastien Ludo, highlighted the significant contradictions that the political and media elites in France are sleeping on, which were triggered by the incident of the writer Boualem Sansal being detained in Algeria, or what the historian called “the brutality in the debate,” regarding two separate but similar incidents.

The French historian compares here the reaction of the political and media elites in France to the incident of Boualem Sansal’s detention, with the campaign against the political science researcher, Najib Sidi Moussa, after his appearance on a French public television channel (France 5), commenting on the Sansal case.

The French historian says that despite the condemnation by the French-Algerian researcher, Nadji Sidi Moussa, of the arrest of the other Frenchman, Boualem Sansal, the far-right shops and elites did not forgive him for criticizing Sansal’s controversial positions, which positioned him as a fierce defender of the far-right’s stances and policies, known for their hostility towards immigrants, Islam, and everything specifically Algerian, according to what was reported by the French newspaper “Le Monde” on Sunday through its website.

In Sebastian Ludo’s opinion, Najib Sidi Moussa found himself “the target of countless attacks in various media outlets and social networks.” In a stunning turn of events, some did not hesitate to accuse him of secretly working for Algeria or of being lenient towards the Islamist movement, through unbelievable violence.

Immediately after researcher Najib Sidi Moussa participated in the program “C Politique,” hosted by the French public television channel France 5, alongside other intellectuals such as historian Benjamin Stora, the private channel “C News,” aligned with the far-right, dedicated another program to respond to what was said on the public channel. This response included vile insults and racist descriptions, issued by the program host, Pascal Praud, known for his absolute support for the Zionist entity.

In this program, Pascal Praud attacked the host, Thomas Snégaroff, rudely because he invited Najib Sidi Moussa, whom he described in all sorts of ways. For those who don’t know Pascal Praud, he hosted a program about the Zionist aggression on Gaza, where he tried to lure his guest before the program to cover up the heinous crimes of the Zionist entity in Gaza and not to attack it. However, the guest secretly recorded Pascal Praud and exposed him to the public.

Historian Ludo says that researcher Najib Sidi Moussa paid the price for his statements against Sinsal, which is a sign of the persistence of old racist reactions in the post-colonial period, according to the newspaper. It sees that the attacks on the researcher of Algerian origin did not come from a small, obscure extremist group, but from well-known journalists and media outlets, and even from prominent and influential political entities, which is a matter of concern, as he said.

For “Sébastien Ludo,” what the far-right is doing in the media and politics are “racist actions and violence against colonizers, as we have known throughout the colonial history of our country.” And this is happening in the context of the launch of a post-colonial racist discourse with the possibility of the National Rally winning the legislative elections,” citing similar cases that have affected journalists and politicians of non-French origin, such as former French Minister of Education, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem.