French Historians Judge Macron’s Failure In Memory File

Historians believe that French President Emmanuel Macron’s memory policy is nothing more than a ploy to absorb the votes of left-wing voters known for their criticism of French colonial practices in former colonies, especially in Algeria. This idea is at the heart of a book published under the title “Macron’s Algeria… a political dilemma”.
Written by historian Sebastien Ledoux and political scientist Paul Max Morin, the book examines how the French president tried to play on the memory card to calm the wars raging on this sensitive issue, which often dragged relations with Algeria into slides that contributed to tension in the atmosphere.
While awaiting the publication of this book next May 29, Paul Max Morin, in an interview with the French newspaper “Liberation”, presented excerpts from this book and explained in detail the idea that motivated him and the historian Sebastien Ledoux to present this work, which highlights a detailed presentation of the efforts of the French president, And his point of view to solve the problem of memory.
Paul Max Morin says in this interview, “In 2017, the French president declared himself president by describing French colonialism in Algeria as a ‘crime against humanity’. In fact, this was a way to attract left-wing voters, but very quickly his actions focused exclusively on the Algerian war and not on the colonial truth, especially with the recognition of the assassination of Maurice Audin in 2018.”
The commissioning of a report by historian Benjamin Stora was merely an expression of this trend, which followed what the author described as “the anti-racist movement of 2020”. In his Moro speech, he estimated that “separatism will be fueled by the fact that the descendants of migrants are rethinking their identity through a post-colonial or anti-colonial discourse”.
Paul Max Morin believes that the French president tried to address the social problems of the French by bringing the issue of memory to the forefront, believing that this would limit the “supposed” conflict of groups active in the field of memory, and therefore surrounded himself with some historians, including Benjamin Stora.
The authors of the book “Macron’s Algeria. The Dilemma of Memory Policy” distinguish three stages in the memory policy pursued by the French president, during the last five years, developed by two of Macron’s advisors in the Elysee Palace, on the memory file, namely Sylvain Faure, who worked with specialists such as Benjamin Stora, Sylvie Theno and Raphael Branch, before the current chancellor arrives in 2021, Prino Ruggie Botti.
According to Sébastien Ledoux and Paul Max Morin, the ideas of these specialists led to the recognition of the assassination of the mathematician and fighter for the Algerian cause, Maurice Audin, and the opening of the archives in 2018. As for the role of the current memory advisor, Breno Ruggie Botti, it was the search for balance and the politicization of issues, and this can be felt from 2021, which coincides with the pressure of the electoral deadlines for President Macron, who made “major concessions on colonialism, ” as well as “adopting a conservative position that can be read as in his speeches addressed to the “Harki” and the returnees (the Pieds-Noirs), or even when he denied the existence of an Algerian nation before French colonialism, all to accommodate the French right.