History Essay

THE BEDFORD SERIES IN HISTORY AND CULTURE

Voices of Decolonization A Brief History with Documents

Todd Shepard Johns Hopkins University

BEDFORD / ST. MARTIN’S Boston ◆ New York

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For Bedford / St. Martin’s Publisher for History : Mary V. Dougherty Senior Executive Editor for History: William J. Lombardo Director of Development for History: Jane Knetzger Publishing Services Manager : Andrea Cava Production Supervisor : Victoria Anzalone Executive Marketing Manager : Sandra McGuire Editorial Assistant : Laura Kintz Project Management : Books By Design, Inc. Cartography : Mapping Specialists, Ltd. Text Design: Claire Seng-Niemoeller Cover Design: Marine Miller Cover Photo: Opera Square, Cairo, January 9, 1954. Photographer: A. Masraff.

Courtesy Getty Images. Composition: Achorn International, Inc. Printing and Binding : RR Donnelley and Sons

Copyright © 2015 by Bedford / St. Martin’s.

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Acknowledgments Acknowledgments and copyrights are continued at the back of the book on page 178, which constitutes an extension of the copyright page. It is a violation of the law to reproduce these selections by any means whatsoever without the written permission of the copyright holder.

About the cover: Crowds protest British involvement in the Suez crisis in Cairo’s Opera Square, January 9, 1954.

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94

4 The Triumph of Anticolonialism

18

MOHAMMED DIB

The Fire 1954

In 1952, according to press reports, four novels by “North African” writ- ers appeared in France, with the term indicating that these men from Algeria were not of European origin. Mohammed Dib was an Arab; the others were Berbers. All of this “generation of 1952” wrote beautifully in French about the land and the people they claimed as their own. These publications were part of a larger post-1945 phenomenon, as the work of writers and artists from colonized lands finally gained international exposure. This passage comes from Dib’s second novel, L’Incendie ( The Fire), which appeared the same year the war for independence broke out in Algeria. It is set near Tlemcen, a city in northwestern Algeria, and its main character is the young boy Omar, who speaks here with Comandar, an old man to whom he looks for guidance. The story takes place in the early 1940s, and famine provides the backdrop. As with all literary texts, it is complicated to interpret this novel with the tools we use for other types of written historical evidence. Nonetheless, this selection tells us much about a particular feeling of powerlessness and humiliation that many commentators associated with being colonized. It also evokes the limited possibilities to effect change that seemed available.

From Mohammed Dib, L’Incendie (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1989), 142–44. Translation by author.

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THE FIRE 95

— Comandar, why have they [the French authorities] arrested those men? — Because, dear child, in their eyes, we are guilty. — But not always. . . . They should punish those who are guilty and not those who are not. — But son, we are all guilty; that is who we are. So they punish some with bullets, the others with beatings or prison; their words make some suffer, others are starved. They kill with every move they make. They chase our people from the light, away from the land that they cultivate; and we do not even take notice. When they fling one of our dead down before us, only then do we understand. We take pity on this man whom they have killed; faced with him we are ashamed. But we, too, we are being pushed toward the tomb; . . . we are ready to climb in, with no word uttered, not the slightest movement to escape. — That’s horrifying! — No it’s not. Today it’s horrifying. Tomorrow it will be different. Look at the big farmers who of are our kind, the city merchants who are also of our kind. They say nothing. When a man falls in this struggle . . . each one of them shuts up for a moment. They get all nervous and breathe a sigh. Once again, of course, each will go his separate way. The cycle begins again. For each has but one route open. It’s a bit narrow, I’ll admit. — What needs to happen to make things different? Do you know? — We must eliminate abuses, bury them. . . . Without them, there would not be any more reasons to be ashamed when faced with the living than when faced with . . . our dead. — That’s all? — That is enough for a start. — But there are so many more of us, Omar said. — Of course there are more of us. Among that number there are the thin and the fat, the little and the big, the timid and the daring. . . . There are so many of us! But the courageous men among us who are prepared to take the first step, they need much patience.

Comandar’s words, burning and gentle, entered the boy’s heart like a long nail. — But if no one declares his readiness to die, Omar said, then everyone will suffer. — I said nothing, the old man replied. We must be linked one to the other as if by a chain. — What I think is that they’re a mean bunch when you get down to it. . . .

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— This is why the malicious must be eliminated. — So, is that all? — That’s all, little man.

19

NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT

Proclamation November 1, 1954

The small group of men who launched a series of violent attacks across Algeria’s territory on November 1, 1954, sought to alter existing rela- tionships: the relationship between France and Algeria and also the relationships among Algerians. Their decision to use violence to target agents and symbols of colonialism signaled their rejection of previous strategies, which had remained within the legal channels that the French state had established and that had been pursued by other nationalists. The following statement was distributed secretly in Algiers on November 1, 1954. It was accompanied by a second tract from the National Lib- eration Army (ALN), the armed wing of the National Liberation Front (FLN), which had carried out the attacks. At this point, the same men ran the two groups, but note the importance they attached to distinguish- ing between the political and military organizations. The proclamation lays out their goals while affirming as self-evident the basis of those goals. Its fundamental purpose was to establish the political grounds for armed struggle against those who impeded Algerian independence: French authorities, on the one hand, but certain Algerians, on the other, notably those who claimed to be struggling for Algerian independence as well.

The “two clans” the proclamation targets were opposing groups within the Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties (MTLD, the initials of its French name), a nationalist anticolonial party founded in 1946. One group, the Messalistes, supported the “father of Algerian nationalism,” Messali Hadj, the charismatic founder of the MTLD, who

From Henri Alleg, ed., La guerre d’Algérie (Paris: Editions Temps Actuels, 1981), 3: 507–11. Translation by author.

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PROCLAMATION 97

was under house arrest in France. The second group, the Centralistes, supported members of the party’s Central Committee, who challenged Messali’s domination of the party. The men who founded the FLN were closer to the Centralistes, but the key experience they shared was member- ship in the MTLD’s Special Organization, a paramilitary group that had been banned and crushed by French authorities in 1949. With their actions and proclamations of November 1, 1954, the FLN (and its twin, the ALN) affirmed that it alone incarnated the national struggle: Others could join it — in fact, they were ordered to do so — but only under FLN leadership. While the Centralistes, for the most part, quickly did so, the Messalistes, notably Messali Hadj, completely rejected this claim. His supporters would form the Algerian National Movement (MNA), which continued to contest the FLN’s authority and engaged in often violent conflicts with the FLN — until the war’s end.

To the Algerian people To the Militants of the National Cause To you who are called upon to judge us, the Algerian people in gen-

eral, the militants in particular, our purpose in distributing this proc- lamation is to enlighten you concerning the underlying reasons that impelled us to act by revealing to you our program, the meaning of our action, and the cogency of our views, all of which remain focused on the goal of National Independence within the North African framework. We also wish to help you avoid succumbing to the confusion that imperial- ism, through its corrupt political and administrative agents, will surely seek to spread.

It is our understanding, first, that after decades of struggle the Na - tional Movement has reached its final stage, that of realization. In effect, as the goal of the revolutionary movement was to create all of the condi- tions necessary to launch the liberation fight, it is our estimation that: internally, the people have united around the call for independence and struggle; externally, the climate of détente [between pro-American and pro-Soviet blocs] offers a favorable context to settle minor problems (among them ours), particularly since we can count on the diplomatic support of our Arab and Muslim brothers. The events in Morocco and Tunisia are significant in this regard1 and have profoundly altered how the liberation struggle is unfolding in North Africa. It is worth noting

1 See the headnote to Document 20.

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THE TRIUMPH OF ANTICOLONIALISM98

that we have been, and for quite some time, at the fore of efforts to unite our struggles. Unfortunately, such unity among the three countries has yet to be realized.

Today, [Moroccans and Tunisians] have headed fearlessly down this path, and relegated to the rear, we suffer the fate of those whom events have left behind. This is how our National Movement — overwhelmed by years of stasis and the force of habit, poorly directed, cut off from the indispensable support of public opinion, and overtaken by events — has progressively disintegrated, to the great satisfaction of colonialism, which thinks it has won its most important victory in its struggle against the Algerian vanguard. The hour is dire.

Confronted with this potentially irreparable situation, a group of young leaders and astute activists, who were able to rally around them most of the healthy and decisive elements of the National Movement, has decided that the moment has come to escape from the impasse into which personal struggles and fights over influence trapped us, in order to launch, alongside our Moroccan and Tunisian brothers, a veritable revolutionary struggle.

To this end, we want to make clear that we are independent of the two clans that are fighting over power [within the National Movement]. Placing national interest above all petty and erroneous considerations of personality and prestige, in conformity with revolutionary principles, our action is directed solely against colonialism, our only enemy, blind and obstinate, which has always avoided any extension of even the most minor liberties [when confronted] through peaceful means.

These are, we think, sufficient reasons for our movement of renewal to present itself under the name of NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT. In this way, we distance ourselves from any possible compromise and offer the possibility to all Algerian patriots, from all social milieus, to all parties and movements that are wholly Algerian, to integrate them- selves into the struggle for liberation, without any other consideration.

To make clear who we are, we spell out below the key axes of our political program:

GOAL: NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE BY:

The restoration of the sovereign, democratic, and social Algerian state, within the framework of Islamic principles.

The respect of all fundamental liberties without distinction of race or religion.

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PROCLAMATION 99

INTERNAL OBJECTIVES:

A cleansing of politics, by putting the National Revolutionary Movement back on its true path and by wiping out every last remnant of corruption and reformism, the causes of our current backwardness.

The gathering together and organization of all the healthy energies of the Algerian people in order to liquidate the colonial system.

EXTERNAL OBJECTIVES:

The internationalization of the Algerian problem. The realization of North African unity within its natural Arab-Islamic

framework. Under the framework proposed by the UN Charter, the affirmation

of our active sympathy with regard to all nations that would sup- port our liberation struggle.

MEANS OF STRUGGLE:

In conformity with revolutionary principles, and taking into account the internal and external situations, the continuation of the fight by any means until our goal is realized.

In order to reach these objectives, the National Liberation Front will have two essential tasks to carry out actively and simultaneously: an internal struggle, on the fronts of politics and of actual fighting; and an external struggle, with the support of all our natural allies, aimed at making the Algerian problem a real issue for the world.

This is a heavy task that necessitates the mobilization of all national energy and resources. It is true that the fight will be long, but the end result is certain.

Finally, in order to avoid all false interpretations and subterfuges, in order to prove our real desire for peace, to limit the number of human lives lost and the amount of blood spilled, we propose to French authori- ties an honorable basis for negotiations, if the latter act in good faith and recognize once and for all that the peoples they have conquered have the right of self-determination:

The opening of negotiations with the authorized spokesmen of the Algerian people on the basis of a recognition of Algerian sover- eignty, whole and indivisible.

A climate of confidence must be created through the liberation of all political prisoners, the lifting of all exceptional measures, and the end of all efforts to track [our] fighting forces.

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THE TRIUMPH OF ANTICOLONIALISM100

The recognition of Algerian nationality by an official declaration repealing the edicts, decrees, and laws that present Algeria as a “French land,” which is a denial of the history, the geography, the language, the religion, and the customs of the Algerian people.

IN RETURN:

Those French cultural and economic interests that were honestly acquired will be respected, as will persons and families.

All French people wishing to remain in Algeria will be able to choose between their nationality of origin, in which case the law will treat them as foreigners, and Algerian nationality, in which case they will be considered as such in their rights and obligations.

The links between France and Algeria will be defined and will be the object of an agreement between the two powers on the basis of equality and mutual respect.

Algerian! We invite you to reflect on the charter we define above. It is your duty to make it your own in order to save our country and restore it to freedom. The National Liberation Front is your front. Its victory is yours.

As for us, resolved to pursue the struggle, confident of your anti- imperialist sentiments, we give the best of ourselves to the Fatherland.

THE SECRETARIAT Proclamation of the F.L.N.

1 November 1954

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101

20

FRANÇOIS MITTERRAND

Speech in Response to FLN Actions November 12, 1954

The French government that confronted the National Liberation Front’s armed revolt of November 1, 1954 (see Document 19), had come to power just months earlier, under the leadership of the center-left politician Pierre Mendès-France. What brought him to power was the North Vietnamese armed forces’ humiliating defeat of the French army at Dien Bien Phu on May 7, 1954. Almost immediately, the new government opened peace negotiations with Viet Minh (North Vietnamese) and other Indochinese (South Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian) leaders. By July, they had signed the Treaty of Geneva, which led to the formal division of Vietnam into North and South and French withdrawal from Indochina. Concurrently, Mendès-France began a process that by autumn 1954 extended “internal autonomy” to the French protectorates of Tunisia and Morocco. France also officially recognized that its five small colonies on the coast of India would join the Republic of India. This, then, was the larger context of the following remarks about Algeria made in the National Assembly on November 12 by François Mitterrand, the French minister of the interior (in charge of policing and public order within France) and future president of France.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am sure that after this debate the National Assembly would like to know as precisely as possible how the events under discussion took place. What happened is that during the night of October 31 to November 1st, all across Algerian territory, from Con- stantine to Algiers and from Algiers to Oran, there were armed attacks, bombings, the sabotage of lines and routes of communication, the light- ing of fires as well.

In the Department of Constantine, as you know, the most serious incidents occurred. There, five people were killed — one officer, two

From Les grands débats parlementaires de 1875 à nos jours, rassemblés et commentés par Michel Mopin — Notes et études documentaires (Paris: La Documentation française, 1988), 311–12. Translation by author.

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THE TRIUMPH OF ANTICOLONIALISM102

on-duty soldiers, a caïd [Muslim judge], and a teacher — under condi- tions as have been evoked by earlier speakers and that, it cannot be emphasized enough, had a deeply symbolic character. [Two] young teachers had come to pursue — and it was their first day — the vocation they had embraced. And suddenly they are struck down. Would they have known why? Undoubtedly not, things happened quickly. Assassi- nated, they did at least have time to witness a Muslim, a brother, as he tried to defend them and who was the first to die.

I choose to believe that, as we speak, some are worriedly meditating on this hastily launched outburst, which has forced them into a difficult situation, one that will end badly for them. And [yet] now all around us, out of nowhere, the idea is spreading that Algeria is in chaos.

Is it Algeria’s turn, just like Morocco and Tunisia, which experienced this phenomenon of individual terrorism in their cities and in the coun- tryside? Must Algeria, too, enter into the cycle of this world that for the last fifteen years is in revolt against the nations that claimed to be their guardians?

Well, in fact, no, that is not what will happen! Because it so happens that Algeria is France; because it so happens that Algeria’s departments are departments of the French republic. From Flanders [on the Belgian border] to the Congo, if there is some difference in how our laws are applied, the law still reigns everywhere, and that law is French law; it’s the law that you [deputies] vote, because there is only one parliament and one nation in our overseas territories, just like the departments of Algeria, just like in the metropole.

That is the rule that guides us, not just because the constitution requires it, but because this is how we want it to be.

No one here has the right to claim that the government of the repub- lic hesitated in its duties, not even for one instant, because the actions we took reflect the very essence of our politics.

The prime minister [Pierre Mendès-France] said it this afternoon: How is it possible to explain the deal to end French involvement that we were forced to conclude in Asia, other than through devious conspira- cies, if you do not accept that we acted there in conformity with the prin- ciples that, collectively, we defined, wrote down, and proclaimed? Our goal was to hold on to the French domain, this domain that stretches, in a meaningful way, as I just stated, from Flanders to the Congo.

That’s what we hold to be true; it’s the guiding principle of our poli- cies. This is why there is nothing contradictory in negotiating treaties, because that is what was necessary, in Geneva and in fighting when that, too, is necessary, in the Aurès Mountains [of Algeria] or anywhere

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LOCUST, LEAVE MY COUNTRY (BERBER SONG) 103

that there is an attempt to eliminate, to destroy, [or] to attack our home- land’s unity.

We immediately took action. You will allow me, I imagine, not to give details. But I see no risk in telling the National Assembly, as I told the Commission for the Interior, that in less than three days we have trans- ported to Algeria sixteen Republican Security Companies [armed mobile police units; in 1954, each company had roughly two hundred men], which brings the number stationed on Algerian territory to twenty.

In three days, this deployment had been completed. Some asked: Is it to keep the peace? It’s more than that. It is an affirmation of French power and a sign of our voluntarism. The main goal is not repressive; it is not a military-style counterattack aimed at reconquering territory, which we haven’t even lost! It is directed at local populations who could be worried, as a guarantee that at any instant, at every moment, they will be defended.

21

SLIMANE AZEM

Locust, Leave My Country (Berber Song) 1955

By the mid-1950s, Algerian musicians had gained new popularity in France. Most sang in Kabyle Berber, the language spoken by most of the hundreds of thousands of poor workers who had left the misery of Algeria’s rural areas to work in metropolitan factories, mines, and construction jobs. Alongside the traditional themes of love and beauty, Kabyle songs also evoked exile — the forced departure of workers from their home villages in order to provide for their families — and, after 1945, nationalist politics. Slimane Azem, who began recording in 1949, lived in Paris with his French wife. Many of his songs were explicitly political. The one that follows was widely played on Radio-Paris, a public radio station, during the hours dedicated to Arabic and Kabyle music. When it was first heard

“Criquets, quittez mon pays!” From Mehenna Mahfoufi, ed., Chants kabyles de la guerre d’indépendance. Algérie 1954–1962 (Kabyle Songs of the War for Independence: Algeria, 1954–1962) (Paris: Seguier, 2002), 180–81. Translation by author.

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THE TRIUMPH OF ANTICOLONIALISM104

in early 1956, listeners responded enthusiastically: Its allegorical call for the French to leave Algeria had made it through the censors. A number of other versions, recorded by different artists during the war for Algeria’s independence, made the song’s implications much more explicit. Azem’s version, however, remained the best known, although a controversy over whether he supported the National Liberation Front or a competing nationalist group, the Algerian National Movement (see Docu ment 19), ruined his reputation in Algeria after independence. Azem died in France in 1983.

I had a walled garden, where everything grew marvelously There were peaches, there were pomegranates I worked there when the sun beat down, even basil did I grow It so flourished that you could see it far away The crickets they rushed in, to devour everything Eating right down to the roots.

Locust, leave my country, its former wealth is now all gone If the courts sold it to you really, then produce an authentic bill of sale

Locust, you have drained my country, and I ask myself how come? You have ripped out the heart and wasted the hard work of our fathers Even if you turned into a dove, peace between us would not come

You came down from the sky, like beating snowflakes You ate the grain and the stems, and devoured the tastiest treats Leaving just the chaff, as if I was an ass.

Locust, know your limits, take the measure of your worth, Prepare yourself to leave and go back from where you came If not, do take care, because you’ll pay for your misdeeds

Locust, you sicken me, a heartache you give to me With your larvae you infest the grain that should be mine But the hour of the locust is now ending, my destiny is back in my

hands.

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105

22

MUSLIM POPULATION OF TÉBESSA

Letter to Robert Lacoste July 1956

In 1956, the Algerian city of Tébessa, which abuts the Tunisian frontier to the east (see Map 2, page 5), had a population of around twenty thousand; the overwhelming majority were Muslims. The role of Islam was important during the Algerian conflict, notably in the rhetorical battle over Algerian independence. French critics of Algerian nationalism claimed that it was not a real nationalism, but merely a combination of Muslim fanaticism and anti-European racism. Nationalists argued that France would never give Algerians full rights because they were Muslims and that French claims to pursue “universal” values camouflaged disdain and disregard for Arabs and Muslims. This letter suggests the power of such understandings. It was addressed to the top French civilian official in Algeria, Resident Minister Robert Lacoste.

Those responsible for the protection of the Muslim religion were served [on July 20, 1956] with an expulsion decree from the local administra- tion, which gave them eight hours to clear the premises.

This expulsion decree made no distinction between buildings  re - served for community use and those that lodge religious personnel.

The authorities then proceeded with a series of searches, during which blasphemous acts were committed, with no regard for the spiri- tual values of our faith.

Everything was destroyed, up to and including the holy word of the Qu’ran.

What these facts clearly demonstrate is that this was not a security measure, but its opposite, an expression of deep hatred toward all that is Muslim, for all that is Arab, which is to say all that is Algerian. What was done reveals a violent, provocative disdain for our holy religion.

From Algerian National Archives Fonds GPRA-MAE 54.1.15. Translation by author.

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THE TRIUMPH OF ANTICOLONIALISM106

Can we still turn for justice to existing authorities, to protest against this anarchical tyranny that relies on religious criteria in pursuit of racial discrimination?

We want to believe we can, and so we submit our solemn and indig- nant protest.

23

RENÉ MASSIGLI

French Intelligence Analysis of British Public Opinion on the Algerian Conflict

December 1956

French officials were very concerned that their allies might drop their support for French efforts to hold on to Algeria or, even worse, begin to support the National Liberation Front (FLN). They used every means at their disposal to keep this from happening. France insisted that all efforts to develop European integration — including the 1956 Treaty of Rome, which established the European Economic Community, as well as the earlier North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), founded in 1949 — treat Algeria as an extension of France and thus of Europe. They worked hard, and for several years successfully, to prevent the United Nations from taking up the Algerian question, with the claim that it was a purely domestic affair.

Alongside diplomatic efforts, the French government pursued an inter- national public relations campaign, which included sending speakers and films about Algeria — dubbed in English or Spanish — around the world, with Western Europe and the Americas, North and South, par- ticular targets. French officials also complained bitterly to U.S. officials that American college campuses and church groups were welcoming FLN spokesmen who justified “ terrorist violence.” As part of their public rela- tions campaign, the French used various approaches to influence local audiences, notably by framing their arguments in reference to specific national histories and expectations. In 1960, for example, a French

From French National Archives 552AP (Auriol Papers), 156. Translation by author.

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107FRENCH INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS OF BRITISH PUBLIC OPINION

minister explained on the American television news show Meet the Press that in Algeria, France was following “the Hawaiian way” by making this overseas land a full-fledged part of the French republic.

The following document, which was prepared for other French officials by René Massigli, the secretary-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, analyzes the attitudes of the “average Englishman” about Algeria; it also suggests how French officials could frame their arguments to influence this man’s opinion. Note how it proposes to distinguish Algeria from other territories that had decolonized while also comparing it to certain British colonies where the United Kingdom resisted independence movements. In his effort to defend French policy, Massigli includes a quotation from a 1930s article by the Algerian leader Ferhat Abbas, a moderate nationalist who had recently joined the FLN and who later became the first president of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA), proclaimed in Tunis in 1958. After the article was published, Abbas said that he had been misinterpreted, and he subse- quently rejected the statement as inaccurate.

The average Englishman has only vague ideas about the Algerian problem.

Until last year, he had no doubt that Algeria was an integral part of France, with three departments that followed the same administrative model as the metropole and elected legislators, some of European and some of native origins, to the National Assembly [the lower house of the French parliament] and the Council of the Republic [the upper house].

The ongoing agitation, its amplitude and its resemblance to a civil war, have shaken him. Going to the other extreme, he now some- times tends to think of Algeria as an Arab nation, just like Tunisia and Morocco, and legitimately able therefore to expect the same recogni- tion of its independence.

Among the many points that might be brought up to enlighten him, the average Englishman would undoubtedly be open to arguments that highlight the many similarities that exist between the Algerian question and certain problems that Great Britain is facing in the Commonwealth.

a. As in South Africa, the extremely rapid expansion of the native population, along with the slow growth of the European population, poses problems. Over the last fifteen years this has led to a serious and growing disequilibrium between the two sections of the Algerian population.

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France, we might underline, is not looking to solve this via a policy similar to apartheid, which is wholly contrary to our traditions. [France] is working to bring different points of view together in the most liberal fashion possible, all while recruiting as many indigenous people as pos- sible to work in the local administration.

b. Algeria’s troubles are quite similar, in their origins and in how they are playing out, to those the Mau Mau caused in Kenya. The same unde- finable coming together of diverse agitators who launch bloody raids on villages, farms, even urban centers, where they commit horrific crimes, marked by the most savage cruelty, then disappear into the mountains. England did not falter and after long months of steadfast struggle found a way to reestablish order. We hope that we will be able to do the same.

c. For France, Algeria plays an important role, which is not without analogies to the role that Cyprus has for Great Britain.

The stakes, however, are much more significant, as Algeria is only five hundred miles from France and is astride the axis that runs to [French] territories in central and western African. French Africa, from Algiers to Brazzaville, forms a whole, and any fissure in that whole risks undoing it all. Also much like Cyprus, Algerian agitation is primarily inspired and encouraged by outsiders.

By making reference to religious and linguistic communities, they rely on pan-Islamism and pan-Arabism, which have no actual basis in history. They also act as if nothing has happened in 125 years, with their rejection of the immense economic, social, and cultural development that France has undeniably brought to Algeria [since the conquest of Algiers in 1830].

In Cyprus, terrorism would end immediately if the outside agitators could be kept out, if supplies and arms were not constantly smuggled in, and if foreign radios were not constantly summoning forth violence and disorder.

Similarly, in Algeria the vast majority of indigenous people hope only to live in peace and perfect harmony with the Europeans. The summons to hatred and revolt come from abroad; the funds, the arms and muni- tions, are provided by foreign countries, whose radio programs are full of endless incitation to rebel.

Finally, we might remind people that Ferhat Abbas, who now pre- sents himself as a champion of Algerian nationalism, solemnly declared several years ago in a speech: “I have explored history, and I did not find an Algerian nation.”

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CHARLES DE GAULLE

Presidential Press Conference April 11, 1961

The Algerian War brought General Charles de Gaulle back to power in France, through a rush of events in May and June 1958, which began with an uprising in support of keeping French Algeria that took over the city of Algiers, saw the mobilization of French troops, and then witnessed the collapse of the Fourth French Republic. De Gaulle was named prime minister and proposed a new constitution, which hewed closely to the project he had been calling for since 1945 and gave the president of the republic unprecedented powers. De Gaulle became president in early 1959. His personal authority was already substantial: In 1940, he had established a French government-in-exile (the Free French) to fight on against the Germans after their conquest of France, and he had maneu- vered, against U.S. disapproval, to include France on the side of World War II’s winners rather than its losers. With his prestige joined to the power of the presidency, much of the world quickly came to believe that France was, once again, a force to be reckoned with.

Although ardent supporters of keeping Algeria part of France had created the conditions of his return, de Gaulle had only one goal: French grandeur, or “greatness.” Despite his long-standing support for empire, he was willing to trade it for other measures of international power and prestige. The following excerpt from a press conference he gave clearly indicates that by April 1961, he was ready to accept Algeria’s indepen- dence. Not everyone agreed: Just days later, a failed coup d’état by French military officers (the second since de Gaulle returned to power) sought to oust the president in order to defend French Algeria. The war itself continued on for another year.

Like other leaders who succeeded in these years, from Harold Mac- millan of Great Britain (see Document 30) and Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt (see Document 14) to Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana (see Docu-

From Major Addresses, Statements and Press Conferences of General Charles de Gaulle: May 19, 1958–January 31, 1964 (New York: French Embassy, Press and Information Division, 1964), 113–17.

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ment 39) and Eric Williams of Trinidad and Tobago (see Docu ment 27), de Gaulle narrated the past in ways that gave listeners a sense that his decisions were coherent and resulted from active choices rather than from circumstances beyond his control. This heroic style of leadership was particularly popular in these years, in the formerly colonized countries as well as in the so-called developed world.

I should like it to be well understood that in France’s policy toward Alge- ria, the following essential idea must be faced squarely: in the world of today and in the times in which we live, France has no interest whatso- ever in maintaining under her jurisdiction and under her dependence an Algeria which would choose another destiny, and it would not be in France’s interest to be responsible for the population of an Algeria which would have become master of its own fate and would have noth- ing to offer in exchange for what it would ask. The fact is that, to say the least, Algeria costs us much more than it is worth to us. Whether in the matter of administrative expenses, economic investments, social wel- fare, cultural development or the many obligations with regard to the maintenance of law and order — what we furnished to it in effort, money and human ability has no counterpart that anywhere nearly approaches it.

It must in the same way be realized that France’s present responsi- bilities in Algeria constitute heavy military and diplomatic burdens for her. And that is why France would consider today with the greatest calm a solution whereby Algeria would cease to be a part of France — a solu- tion which in former times might have seemed disastrous for us but which, I say it again, we consider with a perfectly calm mind. . . .

. . . There are people who will say: “But it is the rebellion which leads you to think in this way.” . . . It is not this that makes me speak as I do; I do not deny that the events which have occurred, which are occurring in Algeria have confirmed what I have thought and demonstrated for more than twenty years, without any joy of course — and you can well understand why — but with the certainty of serving France well.

Since Brazzaville,1 I have not ceased to affirm that the populations dependent on us should have the right to self-determination. In 1941, I

1 In 1944, as World War II drew to a close, the Free French government sponsored the Brazzaville Conference (in present-day Congo). De Gaulle and some forty colonial administrators attended, with no Africans among them. The conference declaration proposed a series of reforms for French colonies, including the abolition of forced labor,

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granted independence to the mandated States of Syria and Lebanon. In 1945, I gave all Africans, including Algerian Muslims, the right to vote. In 1947, I approved the Statute of Algeria which, if it had been applied, would probably have led to the progressive institution of an Algerian State Associated with France. . . . I agreed that the protectorate trea- ties concerning Tunisia and Morocco should be approved. . . . In 1958, having resumed leadership, I, along with my Government, created the Community2 and later recognized and aided the independence of the young States in Black Africa and Madagascar. Not having returned to power in time to prevent the Algerian insurrection, immediately upon my return I proposed to its leaders to conclude the peace of the brave and to open political talks. . . .

[During 1958, 1959, and 1960,] . . . I and my government have not ceased to act in order to promote a Muslim leadership in Algeria and to put the Muslims in a position to take local affairs into their own hands, until such time as they are able to take over on the government level. . . .

In conclusion what does this add up to: to decolonization. But if I have undertaken and pursued this task for a long time, it is not only because we could foresee and later because we witnessed the vast movement toward freedom which the world war and its aftermath unleashed in every corner of the globe, and which the rival bids of the Soviet Union and America did not fail to emphasize. I have done it also, and especially, because it seemed to me contrary to France’s present interests and new ambition to remain bound by obligations and burdens which are no lon- ger in keeping with the requirements of her strength and influence.

Moreover, this is true for others as well. It must be recognized that in the great transformation which is taking place from one end of the uni- verse to the other, the itching for independence of erstwhile dominated peoples and also the incitements thrown out by all the demagogues of the world are not the only motivating forces. There is another which is not always very clearly perceived because of habits of mind, but which is nonetheless a very positive factor, one that is growing and tending to become the predominant one, especially in France. I mean that the rea- sons which once led certain civilized peoples to take under their direct control certain other peoples which were not — these reasons are disap- pearing even from the minds of the ex-colonizers. . . .

increased educational opportunities for colonial subjects, and greater control of local affairs by the people in each colony. Independence, however, was not included.

2 The French renamed their empire after World War II, first calling it the French Union (1946–1958), then the French Community.

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France does not have to be at all sorry for what she has achieved overseas in this capacity and in this form. I have said it often and I repeat: it constitutes a great human accomplishment which — notwithstanding certain abuses and errors and despite all the endless spouting of all sorts of worthless demagogues — will forever be a credit to France. But how many things have changed today.

Now our great national ambition is our own national progress, con- stituting a real source of power and influence. Now the modern era permits us, compels us, to undertake a vast development. Now for this development to succeed we must first of all employ the means and resources at our disposal on our own behalf, in our own country. All the more so as we need these means and resources to ensure our own defense and that of our neighbors against the greatest imperialism that the world has ever known — the imperialism of the Soviet Union. We also need these means to win out in the tremendous economic, techni- cal and social struggle now under way between the forces of humanity and the forces of slavery.3

It is a fact: our interest, and consequently our policy, lies in decolo- nization. Why should we continue to cling to costly, bloody and fruit- less domination when our country has to undergo complete renovation, when all the underdeveloped countries, beginning with those which yesterday were our dependencies and which today are our favorite friends, ask for our aid and our assistance? But this aid and this assis- tance — why should we extend them if it is not worthwhile, if there is no cooperation, if what we give finds no return? Yes, it is a matter of exchange, because of what is due us, but also because of the dignity of those with whom we are dealing.

3 This is his description of the cold war.

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FRANTZ FANON

The Wretched of the Earth 1961

A man of mixed European and African heritage, the influential writer, psychiatrist, and activist Frantz Fanon was born a French citizen on the Caribbean island of Martinique (still legally part of France). He trained as a psychiatrist in Lyon and in 1953 became director of a psychiatric hospital in Algeria, where he found himself when the National Libera- tion Front (FLN) began its anticolonial struggle. Fanon’s confrontation with French racism led him to write extensively on what it meant for him and others to be forced to think of themselves as black rather than as simply human, which he argued deformed all people. As a philosopher, he remains important for his efforts to identify the foundations of what he termed “Manichaean thinking”: how terms such as white and black, or native and colonizer, came to confine people in polarized relationships. His aim was to open the possibilities of more complex, and more fully human, understanding for all people.

During the three years he directed the hospital in Algeria, Fanon came to see that Algeria’s independence struggle offered revolution- ary possibilities. In 1957, he moved to Tunis, where the FLN was then headquartered. He continued to practice psychiatry but also wrote for the organization’s official newspaper and participated in FLN discussions. He later served as ambassador to Ghana for the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA) (see Document 26). Drawing on his understanding of what revolutionary action could mean, Fanon pub- lished his final book, excerpted here, in 1961.

Fanon’s goal in The Wretched of the Earth was to provide an ideological road map that would allow colonized people to benefit from the cascading series of decolonizations. His prescriptions sought to avoid the dangers inherent in any struggle that took place on the national level and to allow the global revolt against colonial racism’s “thingification” of the colonized to succeed. In his preface to Fanon’s book, the French

From Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, trans. Richard Philcox (New York: Grove Press, 2004), 1–8, 52, 57–59.

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philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre proclaimed that “the Third World finds itself and speaks to itself through his voice.” Because it offered a con- vincing alternative to Marxism’s privileging of the proletariat and of class relations, the book immediately became a touchstone for New Left radicals in Western Europe and the United States. Fanon did not live to witness the response to The Wretched of the Earth; within months of its publication, he died of leukemia.

On Violence

National liberation, national reawakening, restoration of the nation to the people or Commonwealth, whatever the name used, whatever the latest expression, decolonization is always a violent event. At whatever level we study it — individual encounters, a change of name for a sports club, the guest list at a cocktail party, members of a police force or the board of directors of a state or private bank — decolonization is quite simply the substitution of one “species” of mankind by another. The substitution is unconditional, absolute, total, and seamless. We could go on to portray the rise of a new nation, the establishment of a new state, its diplomatic relations and its economic and political orientation. But instead we have decided to describe the kind of tabula rasa [blank slate] which from the outset defines any decolonization. What is singularly important is that it starts from the very first day with the basic claims of the colonized. In actual fact, proof of success lies in a social fabric that has been changed inside out. This change is extraordinarily important because it is desired, clamored for, and demanded. The need for this change exists in a raw, repressed, and reckless state in the lives and consciousness of colonized men and women. But the eventuality of such a change is also experienced as a terrifying future in the consciousness of another species of men and women: the colons, the colonists.

. . . Decolonization is the encounter between two congenitally antago- nistic forces that in fact owe their singularity to the kind of reification secreted and nurtured by the colonial situation. Their first confrontation was colored by violence and their cohabitation — or rather the exploita- tion of the colonized by the colonizer — continued at the point of the bayonet and under cannon fire. The colonist and the colonized are old acquaintances. And consequently, the colonist is right when he says he “knows” them. It is the colonist who fabricated and continues to fabricate the colonized subject. The colonist derives his validity, i.e., his wealth, from the colonial system.

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Decolonization never goes unnoticed, for it focuses on and funda- mentally alters being, and transforms the spectator crushed to a non- essential state into a privileged actor, captured in a virtually grandiose fashion by the spotlight of History. . . . The “thing” colonized becomes a man through the very process of liberation.

Decolonization, therefore, implies the urgent need to thoroughly challenge the colonial situation. Its definition can, if we want to describe it accurately, be summed up in the well-known words: “The last shall be first.” Decolonization is verification of this. At a descriptive level, there- fore, any decolonization is a success. . . .

The colonized world is a world divided in two. The dividing line, the border, is represented by the barracks and the police stations. In the colonies, the official, legitimate agent, the spokesperson for the colo- nizer and the regime of oppression, is the police officer or the soldier. In capitalist societies, education, whether secular or religious, the teaching of moral reflexes handed down from father to son, the exemplary integ- rity of workers decorated after fifty years of loyal and faithful service, the fostering of love for harmony and wisdom, those aesthetic forms of respect for the status quo, instill in the exploited a mood of submission and inhibition which considerably eases the task of the agents of law and order. . . . In colonial regions, however, the proximity and frequent, direct intervention by the police and the military ensure the colonized are kept under close scrutiny, and contained by rifle butts and napalm. We have seen how the government’s agent uses a language of pure vio- lence. The agent does not alleviate oppression or mask domination. He displays and demonstrates them with the clear conscience of the law enforcer and brings violence into the homes and minds of the colonized subject. . . .

. . . The colonist’s sector is a sector built to last, all stone and steel. It’s a sector of lights and paved roads, where the trash cans constantly overflow with strange and wonderful garbage, undreamed-of leftovers. The colonist’s feet can never be glimpsed, except perhaps in the sea, but then you can never get close enough. They are protected by solid shoes in a sector where the streets are clean and smooth, without a pothole, without a stone. The colonist’s sector is a sated, sluggish sector, its belly is permanently full of good things. The colonist’s sector is a white folks’ sector, a sector of foreigners.

The colonized’s sector, or at least the “native” quarters, the shanty town, the Medina, the reservation, is a disreputable place inhabited by disreputable people. You are born anywhere, anyhow. You die anywhere, from anything. It’s a world with no space, people are piled one on top

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of the other, the shacks squeezed tightly together. The colonized’s sec- tor is a famished sector, hungry for bread, meat, shoes, coal, and light. The colonized’s sector is a sector that crouches and cowers, a sector on its knees, a sector that is prostrate. It’s a sector of niggers, a sector of towel heads. The gaze that the colonized subject casts at the colonist’s sector is a look of lust, a look of envy. Dreams of possession. Every type of possession: of sitting at the colonist’s table and sleeping in his bed, preferably with his wife. The colonized man is an envious man. The colo- nist is aware of this as he catches the furtive glance, and constantly on his guard realizes bitterly that: “They want to take our place.” And it’s true there is not one colonized subject who at least once a day does not dream of taking the place of the colonist.

This compartmentalized world, this world divided in two, is inhabited by different species. The singularity of the colonial context lies in the fact that economic reality, inequality, and enormous disparities in life- styles never manage to mask the human reality. Looking at the immedia- cies of the colonial context, it is clear that what divides this world is first and foremost what species, what race one belongs to. In the colonies the economic infrastructure is also a superstructure. The cause is effect: You are rich because you are white, you are white because you are rich. This is why a Marxist analysis should always be slightly stretched when it comes to addressing the colonial issue. It is not just the concept of the precapitalist society, so effectively studied by Marx, which needs to be reexamined here. The serf is essentially different from the knight, but a reference to divine right is needed to justify this difference in status. In the colonies the foreigner imposed himself using his cannons and machines. Despite the success of his pacification, in spite of his appro- priation, the colonist always remains a foreigner. It is not the factories, the estates, or the bank account which primarily characterize “the rul- ing class.” The ruling species is first and foremost the outsider from elsewhere, different from the indigenous population, “the others.”

The violence which governed the ordering of the colonial world, which tirelessly punctuated the destruction of the indigenous social fabric, and demolished unchecked the systems of reference of the coun- try’s economy, lifestyles, and modes of dress, this same violence will be vindicated and appropriated when, taking history into their own hands, the colonized swarm into the forbidden cities. To blow the colonial world to smithereens is henceforth a clear image within the grasp and imagination of every colonized subject. To dislocate the colonial world does not mean that once the borders have been eliminated there will be a right of way between the two sectors. To destroy the colonial world

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means nothing less than demolishing the colonist’s sector, burying it deep within the earth or banishing it from the territory.

Challenging the colonial world is not a rational confrontation of view- points. It is not a discourse on the universal, but the impassioned claim by the colonized that their world is fundamentally different. The colonial world is a Manichaean world. The colonist is not content with physically limiting the space of the colonized, i.e., with the help of his agents of law and order. As if to illustrate the totalitarian nature of colonial exploita- tion, the colonist turns the colonized into a kind of quintessence of evil. Colonized society is not merely portrayed as a society without values. The colonist is not content with stating that the colonized world has lost its values or worse never possessed any. The “native” is declared imper- vious to ethics, representing not only the absence of values but also the negation of values. He is, dare we say it, the enemy of values. In other words, absolute evil. A corrosive element, destroying everything within his reach, a corrupting element, distorting everything which involves aesthetics or morals, an agent of malevolent powers, an unconscious and incurable instrument of blind forces. . . .

Sometimes this Manichaeanism reaches its logical conclusion and dehumanizes the colonized subject. In plain talk, he is reduced to the state of an animal. And consequently, when the colonist speaks of the colonized he uses zoological terms. Allusion is made to the slithery movements of the yellow race, odors from the “native” quarters, to the hordes, the stink, the swarming, the seething, and the gesticulations. In his endeavors at description and finding the right word, the colonist refers constantly to the bestiary. The European seldom has a problem with figures of speech. But the colonized, who immediately grasp the intention of the colonist and the exact case being made against them, know instantly what he is thinking. This explosive population growth, those hysterical masses, those blank faces, those shapeless, obese bod- ies, this headless, tailless cohort, these children who seem not to belong to anyone, this indolence sprawling under the sun, this vegetating existence, all this is part of the colonial vocabulary. General de Gaulle speaks of “yellow multitudes,” and [Nobel Prize–winning author] Mon- sieur [François] Mauriac of the black, brown, and yellow hordes that will soon invade our shores. The colonized know all that and roar with laughter every time they hear themselves called an animal by the other. For they know they are not animals. And at the very moment when they discover their humanity, they begin to sharpen their weapons to secure its victory.

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As soon as the colonized begin to strain at the leash and to pose a threat to the colonist, they are assigned a series of good souls who in the “Symposiums on Culture” spell out the specificity and richness of West- ern values. But every time the issue of Western values crops up, the colonized grow tense and their muscles seize up. During the period of decolonization the colonized are called upon to be reasonable. They are offered rock-solid values, they are told in great detail that decolonization should not mean regression, and that they must rely on values which have proved to be reliable and worthwhile. Now it so happens that when the colonized hear a speech on Western culture they draw their machetes or at least check to see they are close to hand. The supremacy of white values is stated with such violence, the victorious confronta- tion of these values with the lifestyle and beliefs of the colonized is so impregnated with aggressiveness, that as a counter measure the colo- nized rightly make a mockery of them whenever they are mentioned. In the colonial context the colonist only quits undermining the colonized once the latter have proclaimed loud and clear that white values reign supreme. In the period of decolonization the colonized masses thumb their noses at these very values, shower them with insults and vomit them up. . . .

On Violence in the International Arena

. . . Not so long ago, Nazism transformed the whole of Europe into a gen- uine colony. The governments of various European nations demanded reparations and the restitution in money and kind for their stolen trea- sures. As a result, cultural artifacts, paintings, sculptures, and stained- glass windows were returned to their owners. In the aftermath of the war the Europeans were adamant about one thing: “Germany will pay.” At the opening of the [Adolph] Eichmann trial [on charges of crimes against humanity, related to his role in the Holocaust] Mr. Adenauer, on behalf of the German people, once again asked forgiveness from the Jewish people. Mr. Adenauer renewed his country’s commitment to continue paying enormous sums to the state of Israel to compensate for Nazi crimes.1

1 [Fanon] And it is true that Germany has not paid in full the reparations for its war crimes. The compensation imposed on the conquered nation has not been claimed in full because the injured parties included Germany in their anti-Communist defense system. . . .

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At the same time we are of the opinion that the imperialist states would be making a serious mistake and committing an unspeakable injustice if they were content to withdraw from our soil the military cohorts and the administrative and financial services whose job it was to prospect for, extract and ship our wealth to the metropolis. Moral repa- ration for national independence does not fool us and it doesn’t feed us. The wealth of the imperialist nations is also our wealth. At a universal level, such a statement in no way means we feel implicated in the tech- nical feats or artistic creations of the West. In concrete terms Europe has been bloated out of all proportions by the gold and raw materials from such colonial countries as Latin America, China, and Africa. Today Europe’s tower of opulence faces these continents, for centuries the point of departure of their shipments of diamonds, oil, silk and cotton, timber, and exotic produce to this very same Europe. Europe is literally the creation of the Third World. The riches which are choking it are those plundered from the underdeveloped peoples. The ports of Hol- land, the docks in Bordeaux and Liverpool owe their importance to the trade and deportation of millions of slaves. And when we hear the head of a European nation declare with hand on heart that he must come to the aid of the unfortunate peoples of the underdeveloped world, we do not tremble with gratitude. On the contrary, we say among ourselves, “it is a just reparation we are getting.” So we will not accept aid for the underdeveloped countries as “charity.” Such aid must be considered the final stage of a dual consciousness — the consciousness of the colonized that it is their due and the consciousness of the capitalist powers that effectively they must pay up.

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