France Is Insulting the Victims of Colonialism

Al-Ittihad, UAE, October 20

In the past few days, a major American newspaper published an extensive report describing how France returned to Algeria 24 skulls, known to be the remains of Algerian resistance fighters. The report was shocking and outrageous. Instead of revealing the scandalous history behind this entire case, the story centered on the fact that only six of the skulls could be confirmed as belonging to Algerian fighters, with another 18 skulls whose identities could not be ascertained. With both governments apparently intent on ignoring the skulls’ questionable origin, the transfer was heralded as a “strong gesture” and “a milestone in the two countries’ efforts to rebuild their relations.” Ultimately, the story provided more questions than answers about the past. The grim truth is that Algerian resistance leaders and civilians were regularly beheaded during the French invasion of North Africa in the 19th century. The skulls were part of a collection of 18,000 human bones brought from former French colonies and placed in the Paris Museum of Humanity. Among the thousands of skeletal remains in the collection were bones from all over Africa, North America and Asia. French military personnel and archaeologists brought these bones to France and then handed them over to the museum as part of an effort to study and classify racial differences. France’s return of these skulls is just one of about 20 repatriations of remains to other countries. In this case, it can be considered an incomplete process because France only “lent” the remains to Algeria for a period of five years. And the most ironic part of it all is that the French are using this as a publicity stunt to wash their hands clean. It would have been better for France to offer an explicit apology full of regret for the atrocities it inflicted upon the Algerian people during its century-long invasion and brutal repression. The closest thing to such an apology was a strange statement by French President Emmanuel Macron recently, in which he said that “both sides have suffered.” But France still has to provide some form of reparation for the damage done to Algeria and its people. I write this out of my perpetual disappointment with the way the French, and the West in general, continue to present themselves as the bearers of civilization, culture, and values in the world while portraying the peoples of the East or the South as less civilized races. Western racist “scientists” at the Museum of Humanity measured the dimensions of the skulls they studied to prove white supremacy. Sociologists explored what they considered inferior cultures, while their political and military leaders invaded the lands of these “lower peoples,” imposed themselves upon them, and plundered their resources to serve the higher purposes of Western nations. In Algeria alone, millions of people were left to die of disease and starvation in order to serve the interests of France and its people. France is no different from many other Western colonial powers, most notably Great Britain, Portugal, and Spain. The conquests and exploitative rule of these colonial powers caused global destruction and immense human suffering. This is not just an outdated issue. The damage they caused continues to affect the realities of the victim states. The conclusion is clear: The West built its wealth and its pretense of a civilized democratic system on the backs and bones of those it crushed. To get past this and move forward, the harm done must be acknowledged and those responsible must be held accountable. Only then action must be taken to achieve restorative justice. Returning the skulls merely to remind the victims of the evils of the past is an insult to the damage and atrocities that have been done. – James Zogby (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)