Understanding Marine Le Pen’s attacks (video)

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In 1972, ten years after the independence of theAlgeria, is created the National Front (FN) in France. Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is none other than the father of Marine Le Pen, then chairs this far-right party. The father of the current president of the RN was also engaged in the French army during the Algerian war, and has been the subject of several accusations of torture during this conflict. In addition to Jean-Marie Le Pen, the far-right party also has in its ranks figures such as George Bidault, former member of the OAS, or Pierre Bousquet, former Nazi member of the infamous Waffen SS.

Opposition to immigration

From the 1980s, the Front National made historical questions and opposition to immigration the main lines of its policy. During his electoral campaign for the 1995 presidential election, Jean-Marie Le Pen thus proposed to stop all immigration to France. A position that he would reiterate in 2002 and 2007 before the party changed its strategy in 2012.

On this date, the FN no longer asked for an end to immigration but the limitation of the number of annual entries into France to 10,000. During her electoral campaign in 2017, the president of the party Marine Le Pen proposes in its program certain points to help fight against immigration. These include in particular the abolition of dual nationality for nationals of countries outside the European Union (EU), the abolition of the right of soil or the impossibility of regularization for foreigners in France in an irregular situation.

In addition to immigration issues, this party takes a look at history that is different from the official view and often debated. Thus, with regard to the Algerian war, for example, the current National Rally often evokes what it qualifies as crimes of the FLN against European civilians, and hides the action of the French army, which nevertheless many victims among Muslim civilian populations.

Now that we have a brief overview of the history and ideology of the Rassemblement National, let’s take a look across the Mediterranean and talk about the policies that the Algerian leadership has pursued since independence.

The FLN, Algeria and France

Since 1962, Algeria has been ruled by the FLN which started the war of independence in 1954. The Algerian leaders are, for the most part, veterans of this same war of independence that they often refer to as a source. legitimacy for their power. Regarding relations with France, they are punctuated by periods of tension due to the colonial past of this country to which Algeria requests an official apology.

This question of common memory is also experiencing a certain resurgence of interest from 2017, when the current French president Emmanuel Macron described colonization as a “crime against humanity”. He will even lead successive “reconciliation” attempts with the presidents. Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Abdelmadjid Tebboune. Internally, the Algerian power maintains an ultra-nationalist discourse against the backdrop of the war for independence and the heroic actions of its actors. Like the National Rally in France, Algerian leaders often evoke the crimes of colonial France against the Algerian civilian populations, while ignoring any mistakes that the FLN might have made during the war.

Conclusion

In conclusion, neither the extreme right represented by Marine Le Pen, nor the Algerian leaders are completely right or totally wrong. The Algerian war, which is at the origin of the main differences between the two parties, is like all armed conflicts in which nothing can be all white or all black, and where events must be qualified. The Algerian FLN, in particular that of the post-independence period, can, for its part, be placed on the extreme right of the political spectrum given its strongly nationalist discourse which does not really differ from that advocated in France by Marine Le Pen and the National Rally.

Read also: Algeria – France: AFN President reacts to Marine Le Pen’s statements

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