Comment: Spat between France and Algeria opens old wounds
Columnist Nabila Ramdani tells how tempers between the countries flared after the arrest of a TikTok influencer
The latest diplomatic spat between France and Algeria started after the attempted expulsion of a TikTok influencer
Leonid Altman/Shutterstock
Conflict between France and Algeria has been ferocious throughout the ages, and often feels like it will never end.
This is especially so because plenty of French people have never got over losing their former North African colony following defeat in the war of independence.
Massacres of Arabs and Berbers were common during the 132 years up until 1962, when Algeria was the jewel in the crown of the French Empire and European settlers stole land and homes by force of arms.
Such barbarity is over, but a history that is still in living memory for some intensifies flare-ups.
New spat over a TikTok influencer
The latest diplomatic spat between the two countries certainly says everything about how fractured the relations remain.
It started in early January when the French tried to deport an Algerian influencer who uses the name ‘Doualemn’ on TikTok, the video sharing platform.
His alleged crime was – in summary – saying that critics of the Algerian government should be beaten up (the original charge that he wanted to kill them was firmly disproved by translators).
Doualemn has less than 170,000 followers on TikTok – a relatively tiny sum in an age when celebrities amass millions of them – but he was nonetheless held in administrative detention in Montpellier, as the French did all they could to get him out of their country.
A deportation order was soon signed off, without Doualemn yet standing trial in France, where he has lived for 36 years.
Other Algerian influencers were also arrested and investigated for similar offences.
This was despite plenty of online fiends getting away with publishing far more incendiary material in the land of ‘Je Suis Charlie’ and Voltaire-inspired free speech.
Angered by the hypocrisy, the Algerians simply sent Doualemn straight back to France the moment he arrived in Algiers.
More than that, they insisted the influencer saga was a vicious continuation of France’s long-term persecution of Algerians.
They are frequently portrayed as an “enemy within,” especially by the increasing number of extremist politicians who are now part of mainstream France.
A history of mistrust
The Rassemblement National – currently the largest party in parliament – was created by combative French nationalists who wanted to hold on to Algeria at all costs.
They regularly demonised the vast Algerian diaspora that was imported to cities such as Paris and Marseille post-World War Two.
Many of those who arrived were itinerant workers who helped rebuild bomb-damaged France, but they were seldom given opportunities to better themselves economically, let alone socially.
On the contrary, their descendants still suffer chronic discrimination in every field, including employment and housing.
When a teenager from an Algerian background was shot dead by Paris police in 2023, prompting widespread protests, conservative politician Bruno Retailleau said many demonstrators were “regressing towards their ethnic origins”.
Mr Retailleau was accused of crass racism, but this did not stop him becoming Interior Minister in a country that apparently rewards such bigotry.
In response to the influencer saga, Mr Retailleau accused the Algerians of “trying to humiliate France”.
Using typically veiled threats, he added: “France cannot tolerate this situation. While maintaining our composure, we must now evaluate all means at our disposal to deal with Algeria.”
Anger continued unabated, with Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin saying he wanted to get rid of visa-free visits to France for Algerian officials.
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Mr Darmanin’s own forebears include an Algerian grandfather who collaborated with the occupying French during the war of independence.
Like so many members of the Paris establishment, he is instinctively antipathetic towards less traitorous Algerians, and will use any opportunity to act on his prejudices.
How do you feel France handles its colonial past? Have you observed any prejudice against people of Algerian origin? Let us know at letters@connexionfrance.com
