Voices of decolonization shepard pdf

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.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except as may be expressly permitted by the applicable copyright statutes or in writing by the Publisher.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

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For information, write: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116 (617-399-4000)

ISBN 978-1-4576-1815-4

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.”