France colonized Algeria in the 1820s. Between 1830 and 1962 France ruled Algeria. During these 132 years, atrocities were committed that match even the worst mass killings of modern history. Whether it was women and children being killed by gas in caves or Algerian activists who were tortured and murdered, France is responsible for a lot of wrong- 1.5 million deaths, and is only beginning to take the first step towards reconciliation.
This past year, Macron put Benjamin Stora, a renown historian, to the task of formulating suggestions about how to reconcile the relationship between the French and Algerian people. However, the latter is a stretch for many Franco-Algerians who have seen the continuous tension in France during protests. For example, when French police officers are battering Algerian protesters to death at the Capital, it makes it difficult to see progress as coming so immediately.
France only admitted that the conflict between it and Algeria was a war in 1999. Moreover, France, in denying the war, has denied everyone of seeing how Algeria has been affected by the war disabling amending opportunities. Besides the mass killings, France imported countless indigenous Arab Muslims from communities around Algeria to work in France- turning their communities back home into "decrepit housing estates".
While his intentions were right, Macron's placement of Benjamin Stora in this role of amendment is a testament to France's continuous ignorance. Stora is based in France and is a French citizen, not Algerian. Algeria in response put forth their own scholar to work in conjunction with Stora- Abdemadjid Chikhi. Despite Macron's potentially flawed choice, his intention to help acknowledge France and Algeria's past remains true. Having said that some of France's actions were "crimes and acts of barbarism" in Algeria. In doing the latter, Macron highlights how this gruesome aspect of their past needs recognition, and accountability. Whether that is reparations, convictions, apologies, or all of the above, France needs to continue to make the effort to come to terms with a broken past.
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