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| 12/24 |
| 2005/11/30-12/2 [Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:40774 Activity:nil |
11/29 French government says "oui" to racism:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051129/ap_on_re_eu/france_gilding_history
\_ Assertions like this are why usage of the term "racism" is often
greeted with derision, and why a lot of people don't take such
allegations very seriously, even when they should. This is not
racism, this is colonialist apologism, there is a difference. -John
\_ I do agree with you in general, and that this has more to
to with colonialism than racism, but what makes the line a
little blurred is that the the law specifically calls out
North Africa, not, say Vietnam or the far Western parts of
Germany. See first paragraph:
http://csua.org/u/e4o (lemonde.fr)
\_ Don't forget that large parts of French N. Africa were
actual Departements of France as opposed to colonies--they
were administratively considered no different from the
country's European bits, and had a very large number of
European-descended French people living there. So the
Algerian war of independence hit very close to home, and not
just geographically. The "far Western parts of Germany" you
refer to are ditto, and are now called "Haut-Rhin" and "Bas-
Rhin", formerly Alsace & Lorraine. The Saarland, although in
French hands from time to time, was never really considered
part of France Metropole. Hope this clears things up. -John |
| 12/24 |
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| news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051129/ap_on_re_eu/france_gilding_history AP France Upholds Law That Smooths History By NATHALIE SCHUCK, Associated Press Writer Tue Nov 29, 4:02 PM ET PARIS - France's parliament voted Tuesday to uphold a law that puts an up beat spin on the country's painful colonial past, ignoring complaints fr om historians and the former French territory of Algeria. The law, passed quietly this year, requires school textbooks to address F rance's "positive role" in its former colonies. France's lower house, in a 183-94 vote, rejected an effort by the opposit ion Socialists to kill the law. Passage would have been unusual, since t he effort to overturn the law came from the conservative government's po litical enemies. President Jacques Chirac and threatens to delay the signing of a friendship treaty between France and the North African nation of Algeria. France's one-time colonial jewe l won independence in 1962 after a brutal eight-year conflict France onl y recently called a war. Education Minister Gilles de Robien said last month that textbooks would not be changed, despite the law. However, the Socialists said the measur e was offensive to former colonies and French citizens with roots there, and should be erased. The debate comes on the heels of three weeks of unrest by youths in Franc e's poor suburbs many of them immigrants or of North African origin. T he troubles were widely seen as a desperate cry for equality by a popula tion shunted to the margins of mainstream society. Jean-Marc Ayrault, head of the Socialist group in the National Assembly, the lower chamber, said the law was a political and educational aberrati on. "Today we can repair this mistake, because it is a mistake," he said on F rance-Inter radio before the debate. "Our history, if we want it to be shared by French citizens as a whole, m ust recognize both glorious achievements, but also the darker moments wi th lucidity, without there being an official history decided by parliame ntarians." Lawmakers from the governing conservative UMP party passed the law in Feb ruary when only a handful of deputies were present. It came under full p ublic scrutiny only in recent months with a petition by history teachers . It was denounced at a recent annual meeting of historians. The language that offends stipulates that "school programs recognize in p articular the positive character of the French overseas presence, notabl y in North Africa." Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has equated the law with "mental blindness," and said it smacks of revisionism. The measure threatens to delay the signing of a friendship treaty between France and Algeria, which once was an integral part of France. Only in 1999 did France finally call the Algerian conflict a "war." Befor e then, France referred only to operations to "maintain order." The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |
| csua.org/u/e4o -> www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3224,36-715875@51-715341,0.html Classez cet article P ar 183 voix (venues uniquement de l'UMP) co ntre 94 (PS, PCF et UDF), les dputs ont refus d'examiner, mardi 29 no vembre, la proposition du PS visant abroger l'article 4 de la loi du 2 3 fvrier imposant aux programmes scolaires de reconnatre "le rle posi tif de la prsence franaise outre-mer, notamment en Afrique du Nord". Le vote de l'Assemble nationale a suscit de vives ractions en Algrie. Le qualifiant de "double scandale contre la mmoire et l'histoire", l'h istorien Daho Djerbal a estim que "ce vote est une dcision politique". Le secrtaire gnral du Front de libration nationale (FLN), Abdelaziz Belkhadem, a dplor que "les dputs de la majorit en France aient co nsacr une loi qui falsifie l'histoire". Alors que la signature du trait d'amiti franco-algrien, initialement prvue avant la fin de l'anne, semble pour l'instant compromise, M Belkhadem a estim "plus qu'impra tif que le devoir de mmoire soit consacr dans ce trait, s'il venait tre sign". "La France et l'Algrie ont intrt regarder ensemble vers l'avenir, sa ns pour autant oublier un pass parfois tragique", a soulign Franois L oncle (PS, Eure), regrettant que l'inscription dans la loi du "rle posi tif" de la colonisation ait "bloqu cet effort de rapprochement". "J'observe que M Bouteflika (le prsident algrien) n'est pas rancunier, puisqu'il vient se faire soigner en France. Bel hommage au colonisateur ", a ironis Lionnel Luca (UMP, Alpes-Maritimes). Ainsi le dbat a-t-il montr combien le chemin parcourir reste long pour construire une "mm oire partage", souhaite par Jean-Marc Ayrault, le prsident du groupe PS. Pour la totalit des orateurs de l'UMP inscrits, il s'agissait en effet d e mettre un terme la "repentance", l'"autoflagellation" et la "bie n-pensance anti-occidentale". Ils se sont vertus dmontrer que l'art icle 4 ne visait pas crire l'histoire, mais "rtablir un quilibre qui n'existe pas aujourd'hui", selon M Luca, qui s'est lev contre "un e histoire officielle o toujours le national est humili". Pour la guerre d'Alg rie, les vainqueurs furent les partisans de l'indpendance, et son histo ire, ou plutt sa vulgate, fut crite par leurs compagnons de route, a c ertifi Jean-Claude Guibal (UMP, Alpes-Maritimes). Le procs que nous in tentent nos professeurs d'objectivit relve avant tout de la dfense de leurs fonds de commerce." Le dput n'a pas hsit rapprocher l'histo ire de l'actualit immdiate : "Si nous voulons intgrer ces jeunes gens qui n'ont que depuis peu la nationalit franaise, ne nous contentons p as de leur assurer un emploi et un logement. Donnons-leur la fiert d't re franais, en commenant par l'tre nous-mmes." "Je suis meurtri, endolori et triste par ce que j'entends ici, a dclar Victorin Lurel (PS, Guadeloupe). Comme si on tait condamn, par une sor te de chtiment historique, remcher le vomi du racisme, de l'orgueil et de l'arrogance colonialistes." "Il en cote toujours une socit de ne pas tre au clair avec son histoire, a rappel Huguette Bello (non-i nscrits, Runion). Faut-il, aprs les vnements que nous venons de vivr e, aggraver encore pour nos compatriotes issus de l'immigration la diffi cult de vivre franais ? Non, la France doit se chercher en eux et ils doivent se trouver dans la France. N'est-ce pas mieux que d'lever toujo urs des barrires de souvenirs tronqus ?" "Je ne demande pas rparation pour les spoliations ou pour le sixime de la population algrienne dcim au cours des vingt-cinq premires annes de la conqute. Je ne demande pas non plus qu'on passe sous silence le rle mancipateur des instituteurs franais ou le courage de nombreux mi litaires lors de l'pidmie de cholra de 1949", s'est leve Christiane Taubira (apparente PS, Guyane). Dnonant "l'entreprise de lacration de l'humanisme laquelle certains ont cru bon de se livrer", M^me Taubi ra a encourag les dputs se reconnatre dans "cette voix de la Franc e qui donne force et espoir aux opprims de la Terre, et non (dans) cell e qui s'enferme dans la nostalgie". Les dputs de gauche, debout, ont l onguement applaudi son intervention. Cliquez pour agrandir l'image Le refus de l'Assemble nationale de modifier la loi du 23 fvrier 2005 s ur le "rle positif de la prsence franaise", notamment "en Afrique du Nord", a suscit de vives ractions en Algrie, mercredi 30 novembre. |