Paris Provokes Algeria With A Law Against “Harkis Hatred”

The French National Assembly, the first chamber of parliament, has issued a provocative bill against Algeria and Algerians, aiming to combat what it claims is “hatred against the Harkis and their descendants”, children and grandchildren. It is certain that its timing was not a coincidence, but rather was planned and studied carefully and thoroughly, by revealing it to coincide with Algeria’s celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the glorious November 1st 1954 Revolution.

This new provocative measure was revealed through a bill in the French National Assembly, dated October 29, 2024, a copy of which was reviewed by “Echorouk”, submitted by 30 deputies from the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR), led by Eric Ciotti, known for his anti-Algerian positions.

In presenting the reasons that prompted these right-wing MPs who are nostalgic for the era of French Algeria, it was reported that the Harkis who served alongside the French colonial army during what they called the “events” of Algeria, in reference to the liberation revolution, and who were not considered military personnel due to their ethnic and religious affiliation, suffered what they claimed was “torture” after Algeria’s independence.

The authors of the initiative claimed that those described by the National Liberation Front as “traitors” because they joined the ranks of General de Gaulle were killed on a large scale, and they spoke of estimates ranging from 60,000 to 150,000 Harki victims, traitors to the liberation revolution after Algeria’s hard-won independence.

The right-wing MPs who supported the bill put forward the figure of 50,000 Harkis who were counted in Algeria during that era, while only 42,000, according to them, were able to seek asylum in France, where they were granted fewer rights than those enjoyed by the Pieds-Noirs, who, as is well known, were of European origin, not Algerian.

The initiators of the woeful  initiative tried to present the Harkis as victims who should be sympathized with, while hostilities against them continue, pointing out that in 2024 in France, the term “Harkis” is often synonymous with “traitor” and is allegedly used to justify verbal or physical violence against descendants of Harkis or people who support France in any conflict related to Algeria.

The Republican Right-wing MPs considered that any attack on them or their descendants because of this status cannot be tolerated, so it is necessary to make it an aggravating circumstance for crimes and misdemeanors, similar to actual or supposed belonging to a particular race, ethnic group, nation or religion.

Since the Harki status is not a race, ethnic group, nation or religion, the current legal vacuum within the French Penal Code must be filled, according to these MPs.

The draft law came in only 3 articles, the first of which included considering the person being a Harki as an aggravating circumstance in the case of violence that leads to inability to work for a period of up to eight days or violence that does not lead to inability to work, while the second article is an addition of “considering the person being a Harki to considerations related to gender, race, nationality or religion as an aggravating circumstance for punishment in crimes and misdemeanors.”

The purpose of the third and final article is to include a follow-up on misdemeanors affecting Harkis and their children and grandchildren, by the government submitting a report to Parliament one year after the ratification of this law.