🔗 Share this article Algeria Passes Law Designating France's Colonisation a Crime Algeria’s parliament has passed with full support a law affirming France’s colonisation of the nation a criminal act and called for an apology and reparations. Parliament members, donning scarves in the colors of the national flag, chanted ‘long live Algeria’ as they celebrated the approval of the bill. Lawmakers, gathered in parliament adorned with scarves in the colours of the national flag, chanted “vive l'Algérie” on Wednesday as they applauded the approval of the bill, which states that France holds “accountability for its history of colonisation in Algeria and the atrocities it caused”. A Significant Crisis and a Political Gesture The two countries are locked in a major bilateral dispute and analysts say that while Algeria’s action is largely gestural, it is still a major political statement. “an unambiguous signal, both internally and internationally, that Algeria’s national memory is neither erasable nor subject to negotiation.” The legislation enumerates the “crimes of colonial rule”, which include nuclear tests, summary executions, “torture” and the “systematic plundering of resources”. Call for Compensation It asserts that “complete and just compensation for all material and moral harms caused by colonial rule is an inalienable right of the Algerian state and its people”. French governance over Algeria from 1830 until 1962 was a period characterized by mass killings and large-scale deportations, culminating in the bloody war of independence from 1954 to 1962. Algerian officials states the war killed 1.5 million people. French historians estimate the fatalities at half a million in all, 400,000 of them Algerian. French Reaction and Academic Perspective The head of state, Emmanuel Macron, has previously acknowledged the colonisation of Algeria as a “crime against humanity” but has stopped short of an apology. Asked last week about the vote, a diplomatic representative said he would not discuss “political debates taking place in other nations”. A researcher in colonial history, said that “from a legal standpoint, this legislation has no international scope and therefore is not binding for France”. However, “its diplomatic and emblematic importance is considerable: it marks a break in the relationship with France in terms of memory,” he said.