The French Initiated The Offense Against Algeria And Bear The Responsibility

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the “La France Insoumise” party, held the French authorities responsible for the deterioration of Algerian-French relations. He considered the actions taken by the Algerian authorities from time to time as merely a natural reaction to French provocations, which have not ceased since the outbreak of the diplomatic and political crisis nearly three years ago.

Mr. Mélenchon addressed a gathering of his party’s activists during an event for one of his deputies (Gabriel Amard), saying, “Do you understand the nature of our relationship with the Maghreb? How did we get here? So we say, yes, the Algerians, the Algerian government, and the Algerian National Council (the People’s National Assembly) elected so and so,” according to a video published by the far-right newspaper “Le Journal du Dimanche” on Sunday, January 11, 2025, which harshly attacked Mélenchon in response to those statements.

The founder of one of the most prominent new French National Front parties, with left-wing leanings, was referring to the law criminalizing French colonialism in Algeria, which was unanimously approved by the People’s National Assembly (the lower house of parliament) on December 24, after several failed attempts, the last of which was in 2010.

Mr. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a potential candidate for the upcoming French presidential elections next year, considered that the Algerian legislative institution’s enactment of the law criminalizing French colonialism was merely a natural reaction to another decision that the French National Assembly (the lower house of parliament) had preceded it with.

This concerned the immigration agreement between Algeria and France in 1968, and nearly two decades before that, the enactment of Law 23 February 2055, which glorifies French colonial practices in Algeria and other colonies.

The leader of the “La France Insoumise” party explained, saying, “If the People’s National Assembly in Algeria voted on a law criminalizing French colonialism, at the same time the French National Assembly voted to cancel the 1968 agreement with Algeria,” before asking, “Are you surprised by the Algerians’ answer to you? But why do you ask them? Because you don’t know them.”

Mr. Jean-Luc Mélenchon advocated for considering the interests of both the Algerian and French peoples amidst the state of discord that characterizes the highly tense relationship between the two countries recently. Mélenchon attacked those who harm these relations due to the repercussions on the two peoples, accusing them of not understanding the reality of the French people, which includes millions of dual Algerian and French nationals, as he said.

The leader of the “La France Insoumise” party did not hesitate to criticize those who insult Algeria, likening them to the colonial legacy. He said, “When you speak this way in the Maghreb, you are trying to erase the fact that you were the colonizers. You acted very badly!” The leader of the “La France Insoumise” movement also admitted that he was one of the Pieds-Noirs, knowing that Mélenchon was born in the Kingdom of Morocco to French parents who worked in the western neighbor when it was a French protectorate.

Mr. Jean-Luc Mélenchon had rejected the escalating rhetoric adopted by the French authorities towards Algeria, especially after the decision of French President Emmanuel Macron, who last summer called for a “firm policy with Algeria.” He expressed his strong condemnation of that call, tweeting at the time: “After France was expelled from most of Africa, Macron decided to support the provocations of his former interior minister (Bruno Retailleau) against Algeria, at a time when he is trying to appease those who yearn for colonialism and Arab-haters.”