29 August 2022
https://youtu.be/-s8n_LbCORg
I love this....the Algerians hate Macron, but he ignored that and made it look like they were cheering him!!! Algerian independence from France was declared in 1962, not 1960, incidentally.
The French ran Algeria for 132 years, the war of independence lasted 8 years from 1954 and was marked by murder and torture and the death of over million people. The French were even accused of genocide, which admittedly is a word that's thrown around rather loosely these days.
France failed to hand over respectfully like Britain did and doesn't have a Commonwealth like Britain - it's just been kicked out of Mali for example.
In fact, there's been no Truth and Reconciliation commission - how could there be? - France has never admitted its war crimes, though it's kind of admitted to facilitating torture, in a nuanced kind of way.
I don't know if you know any Algerians but I've always found them to be really aggressive complainers (am I allowed to make this general statement?) and I perfectly understand why, but sometimes for diplomatic reasons it's best to put these things behind one.
Anyway Macron went out there hoping to get some Algerian gas, I think it was, on the cheap and open up Algeria to some more of France's luxury goods, but he didn't have any more luck than did Biden with the House of Saud, did he!
I seem to recall that the last time Macron visited Algeria, he was talking to a bunch of descendants of the Algerian collaborators they call "Harkis" (Arabic word meaning "war party" or "movement", it is muslim French locals), and he asked them if Algeria had actually ever existed as a country before France colonised the Magreb ie before France created it from primeval fluid.
That's sure to have gone down well on this visit!!!
