The recent death of the French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder in 1972 of the National Front (FN), current national regrouping led by his daughter Marine, has raised reflections in France, the Francophone world and, especially, Algeria. His link with this country goes back to his service as a paratrooper of the French army during his war of independence (1954-1962), where he was accused of participating in acts of torture, positions he always denied.
His political position favored the permanence of Algeria under French control and aligned himself with the organization of the Secret Army (OAS), a paramilitary group, a symbol of colonial brutality and the rejection of Algerian self -determination that, between 1961 and 1962, used terrorism to prevent the independence of the North African country. The OAS attacked both the Algerian independentistas and the Government of Charles de Gaulle with the aim of sabotaging Évian agreements and the decolonization process.
Although there is no evidence that Le Pen was a member of the OAS, his ideology and the FN positions attracted supporters of that organization. Both shared extreme nationalism and nostalgia for the greatness of France and inequality between races. While the OAS was an armed group and the FN a political party, both represented, each in their own way, an response to the perception of the French decline and the social changes in the France of their time.
The OAS was the last violent attempt of a colonial minority for preserving an oppressive system. His horror campaign included attacks and murders in Algeria and France, such as the Massacre of Oran and the murder of the mayor of Évian-Le-Bains, Camille Blanc, in 1961, or the bombardment of the neighborhood of Bab el-Oed and the attempt of De Gaulle’s murder in 1962. These actions reflected the despair of those who refused to accept the end of colonialism not only Sabotage the independence of Algeria, but also punish his people for his challenge to colonial dominance.
The French Algeria (1830-1962), defended and idealized by Le Pen or the OAS, hid the oppression suffered by the Algerians under colonial domain. The Crémeux Decree (1870) granted citizenship to the Algerian Jews, excluding the Muslim majority, while the indigenous code (1887-1946) institutionalized discrimination with forced labor, taxes and arbitrary punishments against the latter. This atmosphere of injustices and repression fed the discontent that exploded in the 1954 War of Independence.
Le Pen symbolized the contradiction of a system that proclaimed freedom, equality and fraternity while oppressed to other peoples. His role in the War of Algeria and his political legacy with the FN evidence the persistence of ideologies that justify exclusion and violence under the pretext of protecting national identity. For Algeria and other nations that suffered from colonialism, this contradiction represents the constant struggle against oppressive systems.
Death Le Pen is the disappearance of one of the last French politicians who have known the colonial past of their country and invites you to remember the importance of preserving historical memory, especially in these moments marked by a strong tendency towards revisionism. Colonization was never a civilizing mission, but a system of oppression and exploitation. Yesterday, as today, decolonization must be understood as an act of historical justice for the peoples who are denied their freedom. True freedom is only achieved with the justice and acceptance of the errors of the past.
In the superior image, Jean-Marie Le Pen at the “Bleu Blanc Rouge” party at the Auteuil racecourse in Paris on October 1, 1989, France. Photography: Eric Bouvet/Getty)
