The “symbolic acts” are planned, but there will be “no repentance or apology”. It is with these words that the Elysee reacted to the delivery, this Wednesday, January 20, of a report on the colonization and the war in Algeria by the historian Benjamin Stora to Emmanuel Macron. The Head of State will participate in three days of commemoration as part of the 60e anniversary of the end of the Algerian war, in 1962. Its program features the national harkis day on September 25, the repression of a demonstration by Algerians on October 17, 1961 and the Evian agreements of March 19, 1962 , specified the presidency.
Benjamin Stora, recognized specialist in the contemporary history of Algeria, must submit at 5 pm to the Elysee Palace the report charged to him in July Emmanuel Macron to “draw up a fair and precise inventory of the progress accomplished in France on the memory of colonization and the Algerian war ”. The President of the Republic has let it be known that he will “speak in due course” on the recommendations of this report, which will be made public at 5 pm. “There will be words” and “acts” by the president in “the coming months”, assured the presidency of the Republic, specifying that “a period of consultations” was opening.
A memory of integration under construction
Faced with this report, it is a question of “looking history in the face” in a “serene and peaceful way” in order to “build a memory of integration”, summarizes the Élysée. It is “a process of recognition”, but “there is no question of repentance” and “to apologize”, specifies the entourage of the President of the Republic, relying on the opinion of Benjamin Stora which cites as an example the precedent of the apologies offered by Japan to South Korea and China for the Second World War which failed to “reconcile” these countries.
Among the acts envisaged is the entry of the anti-colonialist lawyer Gisèle Halimi, who died on July 28, 2020, at the Pantheon, which welcomes the heroes of French history. Previously, a solemn tribute should be paid to him at the Invalides in the spring “when sanitary circumstances allow”, according to the presidency. The Élysée also stressed that Emmanuel Macron did not “regret” his remarks made in Algiers in 2017 denouncing colonization as “a crime against humanity”. “What more could he say? There is nothing more to say, however there is a lot to do. ”
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