Algeria votes to declare French colonization a crime and demands restitution

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/algeria-votes-declare-french-colonization-crime-demands-restitution-128691093

26 Comments

  1. Abject-Pin3361 on

    This is just sillyness, a lot like politicians in Argentina bringing up the Falklands whenever there’s something bubbling up to the surface. Algeria could absolutely benefit from making more deals with european countries, this is a waste of their time.

  2. Similar-Cat-9767 on

    Cool well guess all the Algerians that got French passports because of it can go back to Algeria then and enjoy . 

  3. EnvironmentalEgg2925 on

    Cool, gonna start demanding reparations from all Arabs for running the largest slave trade in history.

  4. Well, I had a feeling if I came in here with a bucket of popcorn there’d be some really stupid takes to laugh at.

    I was right.

  5. The colonization by the Caliphates was a crime. Algeria, as one of the successor states, should pay restitution to the numerous descendants of the victims.

  6. Sounds good, I think the European Union should vote to declare Barbary piracy and slavery a crime and demand restitution for the 1.5 million Europeans enslaved by them.

  7. Present_Student4891 on

    Doesn’t the Algerian government owe reparations to its own people who they’ve been treating like shit for decades? Free Algeria!

  8. My country was the site of battles between the Incas and the Aztecs, then the Spanish came with smallpox and exterminated some of my ancestors… can I demand reparations?

    The Algerian War has been recognized by France as a war of oppression since Chirac, roughly 30 years ago; there have already been reparations paid and apologies issued on behalf of the state, but here :

    _ Algeria is an authoritarian regime that wants money and tries to use it as an argument to unite its population behind a cause. The recent conviction of a French journalist on a ridiculous pretext demonstrates this, while its economy remains riddled with corruption. Bribes at customs to avoid seizures or delays are a constant…

    _ It’s the past. Those responsible are dead. If we reason this way, all of Algeria’s neighbors in the Mediterranean and on the African continent can demand reparations for its history of slavery. Every state has committed colonial atrocities, but if you cannot move forward on them, you can never develop.

    History is full of atrocities. Must we live in perpetual repentance for acts committed 3 or 4 generations ago ?

    Algeria has also never recognized the massacres of Harkis and “Pied-Noirs” at the time of independence… Many “vanished”…

    _ This is revenge because Morocco obtained the rights contested by Algeria over Western Sahara… and future access to a gigantic aquifer that Algeria would very much like to keep for itself. Guess who supported Morocco a few months ago?… France.

  9. The_whimsical1 on

    I’ve lived in Algeria. I am not French and I am not European. Algeria’s problem is its insanely corrupt and cynical ruling class. Not its history. If it’s going after France then the Berbers should absolutely go after the Arabs who invaded North Africa five hundred years earlier. They committed genocide on Algerians.

  10. *France sends all the Algerians back to Algeria where they have to live on the equivalent of about €2 a week*

    Algeria: Oh wait!

  11. Hey, Scandinavia, you owe North-Western Europe restitution for all those Viking raids!

    Pay up! 😡😡😡

  12. GeraldineTacodaego on

    It’s amazing the Algerians haven’t learned that’s not the way it works. Why have they wasted their time?

  13. I’m wondering who is the true target of this law. If you look at what they’re asking for:-

    >The text provides for the restitution of Algerian archives and property moved to France during the colonial period, and the transmission to Algiers of detailed maps of French nuclear tests conducted in Algeria from 1960 to 1966. It also calls for the repatriation of the remains of some Algerian resistance fighters taken to France.

    Okay, pretty reasonable so far, asking for the return of stolen goods. What’s next however: –

    >The law stipulates prison sentences for any action **by an Algerian** celebrating French colonialism, for attacks on symbols of the Algerian resistance, and “remarks with colonial connotations.”

    Hang on, they’re using this law to attack their own people? Is this a power grab by an authoritarian government veiled as nationalism? The same way governments use words like “Patriot Act” to push through previously unacceptable government controls on an unwitting population?

  14. Haiti needs to draw up some sort of plan.

    Paying the colonists for revolting is the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard.

  15. Agile_Scale1913 on

    Then France, Italy, Spain, Britain, Ireland, Iceland, and the Netherlands should declare the Barbary slave trade a crime and demand restitution from Algeria.