The French Intifada

The British author of this book, who is based in France, describes in great detail, much observed on the spot, the painful progress of Algeria (183 pages), Morocco (67), and Tunisia (34) from French colonies to independence. This makes for great - for me, however, rather painful - reading, given that I have been posted to Algiers twice: First during the Algerian War of Independence, the most vicious of all wars of decolonisation, as vice consul (1961/62) and later for five years as ambassador. To understand what was happening one should know that France houses the largest Muslim population in Europe (5 million in all, 2 million in Paris): all subject to the French ideology of “mission civilisatrice”. The French intifada, as from 2005, symbolised the rejection of this ideology. Initially the uprisings, spreading to 119 cities, seemed to have little to do with Islam and much with social fracture (French law forbids distinguishing individuals on the ground of religion.) But, ironically, even the French proclamation of Republican values, including laicism, resembles colonialism, since France continues to dominate North Africa economically and financially (pp. 8 f.).