Emmanuel Macron: “I Did Not Criminalize Harkis, Pieds-Noirs”

Most prominent candidate to win the French Presidential Elections, Emmanuel Macron, returned to the bomb which he blew up during his visit to Algeria last February, where he described the French colonization of Algeria as “the crime against humanity”, to explain some of the points that beset many of the French, as he said.

In a four-page interview by the French monthly magazine L’Histoire (history), he stopped at the colonial past of his country in Algeria at length, asserting that he was not the first to invent this controversial description, but was preceded by French politicians such as George Clemenceau, and important historians, in the image of Benjamin Stora and Henry Russo.

En Marche candidate, who is set by the Institute for Public Opinion Polling, at the forefront of the contestants to the Elysee Palace, explained that neither the “Pieds-Noirs” nor the “Harkis” nor the French soldiers who participated in the “war of Algeria”, were condemned in the statement that he made in Algeria, but he aimed at condemning the phenomenon of colonialism.

“I did not describe those who participated in the war of Algeria, soldiers, harkis and pieds-noirs as criminals when I described colonialism as a crime against humanity. I talked about the roots of the bad colonial phenomenon, because it feeds on massacres and misery”, he explained.

In his criticism of the colonial phenomenon, Macron was based on the statements of some French politicians, such as Georges Benjamin Clemenceau, who served as Minister of War during the First World War, and who said that France was able to impose its presence in Algeria only after 70 years of war and Massacres and abuses by some French”.

French Former Economy Minister, explained that “Tragedies and suffering can not be forgotten, because they will remain alive in the memory of the peoples that were colonized, especially for the people who inherited this suffering, including those who were born in France”, and this may have prompted him to call for reconciliation instead of using “memory” in political conflicts.

French political scene in France, noticed since weeks ago, a large controversy because of Macron’s statements in Algeria, the most difficult was made by the right and the extreme right, and it came to the end of the outbreak of protests that were led by the pieds-noirs (black feet) and harkis (traitors), who also decided to sue him, forcing Macron to ease his criticism of colonialism, and he denied his intention to apologize to the Algerian party, a demand that was made by the sons of the revolutionary family and the Algerians, except for some politicians.