The other cultural war - France and Colonialism.

France is in the painful process of dealing with its colonial past and it is not going easy with everybody. While for the first time this year, the media draw attention to the other May 8, 1945 Commemoration – that of the Massacre of Algerians in the French Algerian city of Sétif which took place precisely on V-Day, others seem to resist the necessary acknowledgement of some of the darkest chapters of French history.

A petition against a law passed on February 23 3005 has been signed by historians, writers and intellectuals. The law initially intended to recognize the contribution of the ‘Harkis’, the Algerians who fought with France during Algeria’s War of Independence (1954-1962) before being cowardly abandoned by France (which resulted in the execution of many of them). But, on this occasion, a conservative member of parliament with close ties to the ‘Pieds Noirs’, the community of former French settlers in Algeria, added an ambiguous amendment (article 4) to the bill which states that “school syllabus should recognize in particular the positive role of the French presence overseas, notably in North Africa.”

Teaching the spositive role of colonialism with a good cup of chocolate...

In Libération, an eminent historian, Pierre Vidal-Naquet summed up the core of the problem:

"It is not up to the state to say how history should be taught. (../…) In Japan, a law defines the contents of history lessons, and textbooks minimise Japan's responsibility in the Sino-Japanese war. If France wants to be like that, it's going the right way about it."

It is worth noticing that if you believe that history is not political, think again – while a leftist newspaper like Libération or a moderate left newspaper like Le Monde had the Sétif Massacre issue on their front page, conservative newspaper Le Figaro ignored it altogether, choosing to solely focus on the WWII Celebrations.