For Boualem Sansal, former senior civil servant in industry in Algeria, this plea for the French language is an opportunity to evoke the Algeria of yesterday, today and tomorrow and to draw a parallel between the situation current France and that of Algeria before the civil war of the 1990s. On the set of the show Bordersthe writer who has just obtained French nationality thus returns to significant episodes in the history of relations between France, Algeria and Morocco, in order to better understand the weakening of its cultural influence and the loss of speed of the French-speaking world in Africa and the Maghreb. At the heart of French culture, whose language is today imbued with foreign influences, France’s relationship with these two Maghreb countries indeed occupies a central place.
The designation of an enemy, the key to the legitimacy of Algerian power
To better contextualize the matter, Boualem Sansal, who unlike many of his compatriots considers that Algeria owes a lot to France, and not the other way around, goes back the thread of History, to the colonization of Algeria by France, the war of independence which followed and the installation of a “Soviet-style ideological power”, which draws its legitimacy from the people by “inventing an enemy».
In the case of Algeria, explains the writer, it is in this case France, which is maintained in this role of enemy by feeding a story intended for the people: “we won the war, we drove out France, but through neocolonialism, it is coming back, it is creating problems for us, it is stealing our executives, not that it needs them, but so that we are in a situation of regression», summarizes Boualem Sansal, summarizing the official discourse of the Algiers regime which is working to perpetuate strong resentment against France.
In this story intended to demonize France, in order to better legitimize the power in place in the eyes of the people, we find the same elements of language as those used by Algeria with regard to Morocco, described by the journalist from Borders as “Algeria’s great rival“, a country “which was not colonized, but (was) placed under French protectorate for a few decades“, a country finally, “who has never repented, who has succeeded in curbing Islamism».
Between the two countries, the differences are significant and the contrast is such that a question arises: “should Algeria take inspiration from its Moroccan rival sometimes?»
Morocco, the oldest country in the world
For the author of the masterpiece “2084: The End of the World»which won the Grand Prix de la Francophonie awarded by the French Academy, it is appropriate to answer this question by looking at the respective history of the two countries, in order to better understand things. Boualem Sansal immediately makes an important reminder: “Morocco, you should know, is the oldest country in the world. Morocco has existed for 12 centuries, France has existed for 1000 years. It existed in its current form with a sultan. It is an old state which has always been very powerful, which colonized all of North Africa, almost as far as Egypt, which colonized Spain. It is a very powerful Empire which extended as far as Senegal“. A hegemony which collapsed with the collapse of the entire Muslim world following the invasion of the Mongols in 1280, followed by the breakup of the Moroccan empire and colonization.
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However, France did not colonize Morocco, recalls the Algerian writer before explaining the reasons for this choice: “because it’s a big state“. Indeed, he continues, “it’s easy to colonize small things that have no history but colonizing a state is very difficult“. Thus, he takes as an example the case of Germany which could not have colonized France, this “old country, constituted» but which failing «was able to occupy it momentarily“. Because to colonize, he recalls, it is necessary “remove its culture (in the country), put a spare», something impossible in old nations such as France or Morocco, but entirely possible in the case of Algeria, colonized for 130 years by France.
And, “at the time, French leaders were wise», he continues with regard to the non-colonization of Morocco, this ancient country with its strong institutions, a decision in particular taken by the French government has created a problem which persists over time, at the origin of tensions between the two border countries.
The story of a betrayal
«When France colonized Algeria, the entire western part of Algeria was part of Morocco: Tlemcen, Oran and even up to Mascara», recalls Boualem Sansal. However, when “France colonizes Algeria, it establishes itself as a protectorate in Morocco and decides like that, arbitrarily, to attach all of Eastern Morocco to Algeria, by drawing a border».
Faced with this arbitrary decision taken by France, “one of the greatest military powers of the time», Morocco can do nothing. A few years later, in 1954, at the dawn of the Algerian war of independence, “Algerian activists made contact with the King of Morocco», recalls Boualem Sansal, listing their requests to the Sovereign: “accommodate them, help them diplomatically, financially, and allow them to create military bases for training“. Requests that the King of Morocco accepts, “but on one condition», to return to Morocco its territories amputated by France, once Algeria regains its independence. A condition to which Algeria responds in the affirmative.
Read also: What the French secret archives say about the Moroccanness of Tindouf
But things don’t go as planned. “Independence is coming. In the meantime, Algeria has become a communist country“, explains Boualem Sansal, behind whom the Moscow regime positions itself, ready to help Algeria against “the“Morocco (which) has rallied to France and the Americans”, and which is therefore designated by the Russians as “the enemy” of Algeria, this new communist country. A story to which the Algerian regime fully adheres by refusing, upon the independence of the country – to which Morocco greatly contributed – to respect its word.
«As a result, in 1962, the Moroccan army returned to Algeria to retake its territories. There was a war for a year. In the end, reason prevailed, international mediation meant that things were retraced a little.», continues Boualem Sansal who does not seem to know that it was the border army, led by Boumediene, who took the initiative to attack a contingent of the FAR to force the armed factions of the GPRA, particularly in Kabylia, to stand together against a foreign enemy. But since then,distrust» of Morocco towards Algeria has taken hold, especially since treason and lies are added to an aggravating fact: “the Algerian military regime invented the Polisario to destabilize Morocco“. In the creation of this puppet entity, the writer also sees Algeria’s desire to maintain a communist system and to silence all Algerian voices who might want to take an example from Morocco, this country where citizens “are freer, there is tourism, things are going better».
