It was also just a decade after the war\u00a0in which\u00a0Algerian nationalists defeated\u00a0France<\/a>\u00a0in one of the bloodiest conflicts in history.\u00a0Millions\u00a0of Algerians\u00a0were killed over\u00a0the course of\u00a0132 years, as the French imposed their military might on\u00a0what is now\u00a0the largest country in Africa. Everything from gas chambers to\u00a0napalm\u00a0\u2013\u00a0the\u00a0incendiary\u00a0chemical\u00a0mixture dropped from the air over\u00a0entire villages, cities and towns\u00a0to burn victims alive \u2013 were used to subjugate the indigenous population of Arabs and Berbers.<\/p>\n By the by, Algerian towns and villages\u00a0were\u00a0also\u00a0plundered, along with some of the richest\u00a0archaeological\u00a0sites in the world.<\/p>\n You would think that anything taken\u00a0under\u00a0such circumstances \u2013 be it jewels or ancient pottery \u2013 would have to be returned, but no.\u00a0Algeria was considered the jewel in the crown of the Gallic Empire, and\u00a0many\u00a0French people remain\u00a0furious\u00a0that it was lost. Handing it back represented lost honour and a betrayal of all the colonialists who had ethnically cleansed and then\u00a0settled\u00a0on\u00a0land that never\u00a0belonged to them.<\/p>\n Many of the\u00a0Algeria\u00a0nostalgists\u00a0are members of the National Rally (RN), the\u00a0far-right\u00a0party which was founded as the Front National (FN) by men who had\u00a0fought in\u00a0Algeria during the\u00a0Independence War<\/a>\u00a0between 1954 and 1962, as well\u00a0as some who had taken up arms on behalf of the Nazis when France was part of the Third Reich. The FN\u2019s long-term leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, was implicated in torture\u00a0while serving as a lieutenant in a French Army intelligence unit. He was an abject racist who \u2013 like many of his RN colleagues \u2013 never made any secret\u00a0of\u00a0abhorring\u00a0Algeria\u2019s\u00a0Muslim majority.<\/p>\n Le Pen\u00a0died<\/a>\u00a0last year\u00a0but, shortly afterwards, the RN won a poisonous parliamentary resolution attacking\u00a0the\u00a0\u00c9vian Accords \u2013 terms at the end of the Independence War\u00a0which, among other matters,\u00a0regulated the movement\u00a0of people between Algeria and France in the\u00a0post-war\u00a0period. Algerians naturally had extremely strong links with France, and it was entirely right that they should be given relatively easy travel and immigration rights to a country that had dominated their lives for so long.<\/p>\n During the colonial era, Algeria was considered part of the French mainland, to the extent that it had its own MPs in the Paris National Assembly. In turn, the French imported tens of thousands of Algerian labourers to their major cities and towns to help rebuild them after the devastation caused by the Second World War.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yet\u00a0despite this history, the\u00a0xenophobic RN is still interested in settling scores with the Algerian authorities, and indeed with the millions of Franco-Algerians who live in France today. Hence the RN suggesting that the new bill concerning the return of stolen treasure should only apply to countries with which France has good relations.<\/p>\n This, by any objective measure, would not include Algeria at the moment, not least of all because of its constant\u00a0appeals\u00a0for a full and fair settlement following all those years of\u00a0barbaric\u00a0occupation. In December, for example, the Algiers parliament unanimously\u00a0passed a law declaring French colonisation a crime<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0demanding\u00a0an\u00a0apology and reparations.<\/p>\n President Emmanuel Macron officially agreed with the\u00a0Algerian\u00a0view\u00a0while\u00a0campaigning\u00a0before\u00a0coming to\u00a0power\u00a0in 2017,\u00a0stating<\/a>\u00a0unequivocally that what happened to Algeria was\u00a0\u201ca crime against humanity\u201d.\u00a0However \u2013\u00a0as is so typical of a politician who has a different\u00a0opinion\u00a0for every\u00a0occasion, and for whoever he is\u00a0speaking\u00a0to\u00a0\u2013\u00a0he\u00a0said his commitment to justice has changed.<\/p>\n Outrageously, the bill that he is backing even offers war as a reason for\u00a0annulling\u00a0restitution. In short, if an artefact is in any way connected with armed conflict, then it will no longer be returnable.<\/p>\n Such a caveat would include Baba Merzoug, Algeria\u2019s 16th-century bronze cannon,\u00a0which is currently a military trophy kept at the French naval base in Brest, Brittany. It was stolen following the capture of Algiers in 1830, and multiple requests for its return have been denied.<\/p>\n Other contested items include the personal effects of legendary\u00a0Algerian leader Emir Abdelkader, who led his people\u2019s resistance against the French up until 1847. They include a ceremonial\u00a0cloak\u00a0and the sword\u00a0of a still much-admired figure, who was acclaimed as a \u201cPrince among Saints\u201d.\u00a0Beyond using outstanding tactics against one\u00a0of the most technologically sophisticated armies in the world,\u00a0Abdelkader was known for respecting human rights,\u00a0at\u00a0a time when they were barely thought about by many fighting\u00a0forces, least of all France\u2019s.<\/p>\n National conscience is built around heroes such as Abdelkader, yet many French\u00a0people still\u00a0deny it.<\/p>\n There is nothing new in the weaselly manner by which former colonial powers try to hang on to their booty.\u00a0France retains tens of thousands of objects looted from sub-Saharan Africa, and has offered all kinds of reasons to keep them. This can be contrasted with the way France moved its finest art works out of Paris during the Nazi Occupation. Even the Mona Lisa was taken out of the Louvre and hidden away. Despite this, some have even suggested that taking art away from its intended setting is a \u201ccreative act\u201d in itself.<\/p>\n In fact, creativity is all the\u00a0former\u00a0colonisers\u00a0have\u00a0left as they desperately continue to defy the march of history. They should return the treasures, apologise profusely, and offer appropriate reparations to the proud peoples they exploited for so long.<\/p>\n Nabila\u00a0Ramdani\u00a0is a French-Algerian Journalist, Broadcaster, Academic, and Author of\u00a0Fixing France: How to Repair a Broken Republic<\/a>\u00a0(PublicAffairs\/Hurst).<\/p>\n Follow Nabila on X:\u00a0@NabilaRamdani<\/a><\/p>\n Have questions or comments? Email us at:\u00a0editorial-english@newarab.com<\/a><\/p>\n Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.<\/p>\n![\"Join](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Whatsapp-TNA-desktop.webp.webp\")
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