1-Today, we commemorate the armistice of May 8th, 1945. Nazi Germany surrendered,WWII is over in #Europe. Yet, another massacre happened on the same day: the massacre of #Setif #Guelma and #Kherrata by French colonial authorities & European settler militias.

2- While people were celebrating the end of the war (Algerian Muslim troops fought Nazism alongside the Allies), Algerian activists marched with an Algerian flag (which was prohibited at that time), pro-independence banners & called out the French on their conditions.

3- Muslim Algerians realized that despite their contribution during the war & their sacrifices, they will never be fully French & will never obtain the same rights as the population. After a century of colonization, racism,& abuses,the idea of an independent was growing.

4-These protests were transformed into a massacre when the French police/army forces intervened and killed protesters. May 8th, 1945 marked the 1st event that eventually led to the war of  independence in 1954

5- Despite what some French right wing/far-right politicians & pundits say, NOTHING,absolutely NOTHING good came out of colonization. I remind you that we still have people who truly believe that colonization was ok. For instance, this happened last April. https://twitter.com/RimSarah/status/1380972146550304779

6-The violence of French colonization in #Algeria wasn't just about occupying the land: it was also about humiliating the native populations, erasing their identities, making them be inferior human beings.

7-In other words, colonization was/is white supremacy at work. If you read French, go read what Jules Ferry- one of the architects of colonization- had to say about the "civilizational mission of France". https://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/decouvrir-l-assemblee/histoire/grands-discours-parlementaires/jules-ferry-28-juillet-1885

8-Mind you, at that time (XIXth century) we were already considered the "country of the Enlightenment "and the "county of human rights"

9-Last January, President Emmanuel Macron has ruled out issuing an official apology for abuses in Algeria; also, many on the French right view any acts of national repentance as acts of betrayal. I think it's a terrible mistake.

10-I sincerely believe that France absolutely needs to apologize to Algerians. An apology is the very least the French can do after all the crimes against humanity France committed at that time.

11-An apology is the beginning of the recognition that we did something extremely wrong.  An apology is the first step towards reconciliation and a hope for a better future in both sides of the Mediterranean.

11 bis: The Algerian regime is also using the colonization factor to control its population and justify their horrific authoritarian public policies & bad governance (obviously, as the latest waves of protests in Algeria against the regime show that the people are not buying it).

12-The status quo is not helping *anyone*. France needs to apologize for itself as well, we need to do that hard work on our past,  so we can learn, educate and do everything in our power to not repeat the same mistakes in the future. There is so much work to do.

13- However, the problem in France is that we take one step forward and ten backwards when it comes to working on our colonial past.

14- Encouraging initiatives were taken by Macron and yet, he managed to backpedal on some serious issues for obvious political motives- (e.g: access to archives- go read @dr_tgpeterson's excellent piece) https://warontherocks.com/2020/03/the-french-archives-and-the-coming-fight-for-declassification/

15- I hope we could also stop pandering to the right-wing and the far-right, who are still not over the fact that Algeria is now an independent country.