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El Chorouk
a day ago
- Politics
- El Chorouk
The Moroccan Regime Is At War To Target Algeria's Memory.
The Moroccan regime, with meticulous planning from the Royal Palace, is waging a war on Algerian memory, enlisting pseudo-historians to try and undermine one of the symbolic pillars of the revolution. This targeting also extended to a prominent French historical figure, Benjamin Stora, simply because this historian did not align with the expansionist theses of the Moroccan regime and its fifth column arms. This campaign is planned from within the Palace, and the tool is 'Al-360' newspaper, owned by Mounir Madjidi, the private secretary of Moroccan King Mohammed VI. It has consistently provided a platform for a French individual who claims to be a historian, named Bernard Lugan, who writes nothing but attacks on Algeria's history or casts doubt on its borders, precisely in line with the expansionist thesis of the Alawi regime, which knows no path to the honor of resistance and defending the nation's movement. The latest chapter of what the 'spokesperson' newspaper for the Palace wrote, penned by this alleged historian on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, was an attempt to target a pivotal historical moment in the history of the Liberation Revolution, namely the Soummam Congress. Its author, a mercenary Frenchman, tried to sow discord among the revolution's men, the makers of independence, accusing them of liquidating each other. These are illusions that French colonialism tried to exploit during the glorious Liberation Revolution to detonate it from within, but it failed. The Alawi Palace, through its article titled: 'The Soummam Congress… or what another Algeria could have been,' tried to give the impression that the imprisonment of the Franco-Algerian writer, Boualem Sansal, was due to the latter daring to repeat words that even the French themselves did not say, regarding the borders, and by accusing the men of the Liberation Revolution of being terrorists, as Sansal once said with utter impudence and baseness. What is striking is that the Alawi Palace's targeting, through its media arm, even extended to a globally recognized academic figure, particularly in France, the historian Benjamin Stora. Mounir Majidi, the private secretary of Moroccan King Mohammed VI, as its de facto editor-in-chief, did not hesitate to describe Stora as a 'charlatan in the service of Algeria.' The newspaper dedicated a lengthy article to the French historian, Benjamin Stora, describing him with the most heinous terms and using phrases inspired by the theocratic spirit of the Moroccan regime, evoked from the darkness of the Middle Ages: 'Benjamin Stora dreamed of being the hero of the great Franco-Algerian reconciliation, but he became its gravedigger.' And because Stora exposed many of the theses promoted by the Moroccan regime through some of its pawns, including the Franco-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, he became a target for the Alawi Palace, which now acts as if it is more French than the French. In the view of the 'media spokesperson' for the Alawi Palace, Benjamin Stora 'finds himself rejected by France, which is tired of his Algerian patriotism and his lack of sympathy in the Sansal case.' However, the reason for the Moroccan regime's focused targeting of historian Benjamin Stora and its attempt to tarnish his image is no longer hidden from any observer. The historian, who is highly regarded in academic, media, and political circles in France, directly refuted the border thesis promoted by the Alawi regime on French public television. This brought him the wrath of the Alawi kingdom and its allies from Zionist and far-right circles in France. It is worth noting here the devastating response launched by Stora from a French television studio, refuting what Boualem Sansal had repeated, when he said that Tlemcen, which Sansal considers part of Morocco, gave birth to the father of the national movement in Algeria, Messali Hadj, and Mascara, which Sansal also attributed to the western neighbor, gave birth to the founder of the modern Algerian state, Emir Abdelkader El Djezairi. These statements shook the foundations of French propaganda as it tried to portray Sansal as a victim of freedom of expression, only to reveal that he is merely a mouthpiece in a fifth column, working for a regime devoid of honor and knowing no path to the values of sovereignty.
El Chorouk
21-05-2025
- Politics
- El Chorouk
The crisis with Algeria will continue, and memory file may be the key to the solution
The French historian, Benjamin Stora, who heads the joint memory committee alongside historian Mohamed Zeghdidi, expects the tension that characterizes relations between Algeria and France to continue, but he does not see this tension reaching the point of a diplomatic break in its classical sense (closing embassies in both countries), and called for playing the memory file as a card that can alleviate the tension between the two countries. Benjamin Stora, who serves as an advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron on memory affairs, is considered one of the few voices calling for calm, and does not hesitate to criticize hostile stances towards Algeria by some French politicians, such as Bruno Retailleau, the Minister of Interior in François Bayrou's government. In an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Wednesday, Benjamin Stora said: 'We need strong initiatives, especially regarding the issue of French colonialism in Algeria in the 19th century. But today, in my opinion, considering the possibility of launching initiatives on memory may be an alternative to resuming political relations,' which is 'necessary to resolve issues of immigration or visas.' The historian calls for continuing this work related to memory in order to achieve calm, and emphasizes the importance of building on previous initiatives, referring to France's recognition of responsibility for the assassination of Algerian politicians and activists by the French army during the Liberation Revolution, such as the French activist for the revolution, Maurice Audin, the revolution's lawyer Ali Boumendjel, and the martyr Larbi Ben M'hidi. These initiatives came in a piecemeal manner without reaching the basic demand of Algerians, which is the recognition of its colonial crimes, which stripped those initiatives of their value. Stora believes that working on the memory file 'constitutes a possible way out of the crisis, and is indispensable in any case, and necessary in any case, because we cannot (…) consider that this Algerian history is like all other histories,' due to the heavy burden of the colonial past from its very beginnings until the Liberation Revolution, which witnessed brutal massacres against Algerians. He added: 'We cannot resolve relations that lasted 132 years with one speech or one initiative. It is a very long period, 132 years. It spans more than six generations,' and these facts have made relations between the two countries more complex, saying: We must remember that the relationship between France and Algeria has always been full of troubles and fluctuations, and a lot of tensions and detentes. Therefore, he does not see a way out of the crisis in the short term, even if France agrees to new initiatives on the memory level, due to the level the current crisis has reached, for which the French side is responsible, as it was the party that initiated the provocation when it decided to support the Moroccan regime's plan in Western Sahara, despite its awareness of the risks of such a decision on bilateral relations. It is known that the work of the mixed committee in charge of the memory file has been suspended since last summer, following the French President's decision to change his country's position on the Sahrawi issue, and this committee was about to resume its activity last April after the visit of the French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, to Algeria, but the action of suspicious parties in Paris to arrest an official at the Algerian consulate in Paris outside of norms, law, and diplomacy, brought the crisis back to its beginnings. Stora says: 'This time, the crisis is absolutely unprecedented,' which may prolong its life for a long time, and he warned that this problem is worsening more and more, because in France, as in Algeria, there are 'people and organizations who have an interest in things not always going well.' Stora did not rule out that Algeria could be a subject of the next presidential campaign in two years, as was the case in 2007. Nicolas Sarkozy 'campaigned heavily on the basis of French Algeria.'
