Three Hundred Human Rights And Trade Union Organizations Urge France To Recognize Its Heinous Colonial Crimes

Heads of human rights and freedom of expression groups, have expressed deep dissatisfaction at what they called “the disregard of French President Emmanuel Macron, or rather the French government, for two neglected memos that were presented to his office, calling for an official meeting at the Elysée Palace to discuss what they expect from the successive governments in France to officially recognize the horrendous French colonial massacres perpetrated in Algeria, notably by presenting an official apology to the Algerian people, and also to allocate land to erect a memorial in France itself to commemorate the lofty Algerian martyrs.

“Today, President Emmanuel Macron has obviously deceived the Algerian people,” said a historian and anthropologist at the Rally for October 17, 1961, on the sidelines of the commemoration on Tuesday of the heart-wrenching massacres of 17 October 1961 committed then by French police forces against peaceful pro-independence Algerian protestors in Paris.

We don’t hear among France’s officialdom the slightest commiseration expression regarding this tragic historical day”, he argued.

He added: “We are still waiting for the official response to the receipt of two relevant letters sent over two periods, on the first of July 2017, by a gathering of 300 human rights, historical and trade union organizations such as the Human Rights Association, “Le Zorang”, of 17 October 1961 and the Association in the name of memory and others. The latter requested an official meeting with senior French authorities in order to secure the French government’s official recognition of the heinous crimes perpetrated during the harsh French colonial yoke in Algeria.

“We are resentful and the French officialdom have underestimated the efforts we have been making for years and years to achieve a breakthrough,” he said. 

“The fate of the Algerian people’s issue of recognition is that the current French President will not take the risk of such a momentous decision and will remain silent on this very burning issue until his term ends”, he noted .  

He added that the nagging question of France’s official recognition of its appalling crimes committed in Algeria from 1830 to 1962 is most likely to be obfuscated by the current French authorities dreading that this outstanding memory issue will spark off a great controversy and a bitter division among the French political parties against the backdrop of strong leverage from extremist lobbies in France.