The largescale violence and arson following the barbaric shooting down of 17-year-old French boy, Nahel Merzouk, and the subsequent statement by the police that “We are at war with savage hordes of vermin” give an idea of the social divide within the society in the country. The truth is that France of today owes its existence to the same vermin of North Africa who gave shelter and all sorts of human, material and moral help to the fleeing French army when the rampaging German forces had captured the country in the summer of 1940, opines Soroor Ahmed.
The largescale rioting and incidents of loot and arson following the barbaric shooting down of 17-year-old French boy of Algerian-Moroccan origin, Nahel Merzouk, by the Paris Police just a day before Eid al-Adha (i.e.June 27) and the subsequent statement by the police that “We are at war with savage hordes of vermin” give an idea of the social divide within the society in the country, which proudly brags of being the nursery of justice, equality and liberty. The truth is that France of today owes its existence to the same vermin of North Africa who gave shelter and all sorts of human, material and moral help to the fleeing French army when the rampaging German forces had captured the country in the summer of 1940.
Be it the violence of language or violence perpetrated by sheer force of law implementing authorities or mob fury, both are condemnable. No civilized society is expected to allow its police to go trigger-happy nor should one condone the massive reaction. Last year alone 13 such killings had taken place by police in France, the victims obviously being Arab Muslims of North Africa or Blacks.
LANGUAGE OF VIOLENCE
But the most reprehensible development of the week-long trouble is the remarks of the police. This came even after the French President, Emmanuel Macron strongly criticised the gunning down of Nahel on such a flimsy ground. As if that was not enough, the rightist parties in France through crowd funding raised one million dollars for the accused policeman.
There is no dearth of people across the western world who are ready to accept the version of French police, even though the crime was inexcusable.
The need of the hour is to dispassionately study the worsening relationship between the French people and migrant population from North African countries such as Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, which were once part of the French colonial empire.
The violence cannot be seen in isolation as many western journalists would like the people to believe. It was a part of the same Islamophobia, especially in Europe. This is simply because another incident of burning of the Qur’ān took place on Eid al-Adha day outside a mosque in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. This incident further aggravated the situation in France.
WHO ARE VERMIN?
Notwithstanding the racist White supremacists’ boast of being civilized, the truth appears to be something else. They practise double standards and are ungrateful. The fact is that the present-day so-called secular France would not have existed had the same vermin not rose to the occasion at the time of the worst crisis in the country’s history.
After the German occupation of Paris in the middle of 1940, thousands of French troops fled to Britain. The rest who remained in France accepted to work as Nazi collaborators. Even many of those who had fled returned to France and made compromise with the Nazis. In South-west France a government was formed in the city of Vichy under the leadership of Marshal Petain. Petain was not an elected leader but was a military dictator who took over power in the country which claims to be the birthplace of modern democracy. This man was the French hero of World War-I, yet in World War-II he joined forces with Adolf Hitler. The Nazis left the French colonies in Africa and Asia in the hands of the Petain regime. It needs to be mentioned that the United States was among the 40 countries which recognised this dictatorship. The United States had joined World War-II only on December 6-7, 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
However, two years later, that is in 1942, the Germans took over the charge of entire France and thus the colonies too came under the direct control of Berlin.
French General Charles de Gaulle, who first escaped to Britain, moved to North Africa with his troops because it was impossible to wage resistance from north of France. This was simply because Britain was under attack from the German navy and air force.
It was the same North Africa which became the launching pad of Free France military campaign against Germans. De Gaulle was confident that he would get substantial support from the local population.
It needs to be mentioned that France used to treat Algeria not as its colony but as an integral part of the country. That is why there was a huge French population there. In spite of all this, the French used to treat the local Muslim population of this minerally-rich country as second-class citizens ever since it was snatched from the Ottomans in 1830. Algerians were not given voting and other rights.
Yet when the same French faced the crisis of existence, they took refuge in Algeria and neighbouring Tunisia and Morocco. They did not call the local population savage and barbaric who mistreat their women by asking them to wear hijab. This was obviously because the French needed their support.
The North African military campaign against the joint German-Italian forces started in 1942 and ended in August 1944 with the re-capture of Paris by the Allied forces.
In North Africa, the Allied army was led by British Field Marshal Montgomery and the Axis Power by General Rommel. The desert war was fought in the entire region, including Libya. The local population was used as cannon fodder by the Western powers in their bloodbath for supremacy. No doubt the British and American troops as well as soldiers of Free France took part in the battle from the Allied side yet their victory could never have been possible without the sacrifice of the people of colonies not only of Africa but of Asia as well, including British India. Millions of soldiers from these countries ensured the Allied victories in both the World Wars. Lakhs perished or got maimed.
The irony is that the French once again started treating the North Africans as the second-class citizens after their victory over Germany. In 1954 the War of Independence started in Algeria and lasted till 1962 when it got rid of the colonial rule. But this was not possible easily as 10 to 15 lakh people lost their lives.
GEOGRAPHICAL PROXIMITY
As unlike other European powers, France had big colonies in Africa just across the Mediterranean Sea, it is natural for it to have a huge population from this region in the country. Besides, since Algeriawas technically a part of France, it was not something unusual to have 10 per cent Muslim populationfrom North Africa. Apart from that about five per cent people from other African and Asian countrieslive there. Today they are called vermin though the truth is that the French badly need migrants asthe population of France and other European countries are declining.
BIG QUESTION
Now the big question is that why the people from Africa and even Asia illegally crossthe Mediterranean Seato reach France or other European countries when they are mistreated as vermin and allowed to work inthe lowly paid manual jobs. They are thrown out of jobs once they are not needed by factories. If theirliving condition is bad, as the media reports now suggest, why are there such a mad rush to reachEurope and in the process even lose their lives – many others are caught and jailed. It is understandablefor those who go legally to do white-collared jobs.
The truth is that the countries of Africa and Asia have to put their own houses in order. They areeither in the grip of civil war or other types of social strife. The former colonial masters encouragesuch turmoil as it suits them. The despotic monarchs and dictators are of great help to them.
There is a sense of growing realisation among many people of this entire region yet they are helpless.What is happening in France is not first such instance, nor may it be the last.