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The battle between old and new France is now impossible to ignore
Columnist Nabila Ramdani argues that the colonial mindset is still very strong in a country looking to the past
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France’s speed cameras are infuriating – and that’s why they keep getting vandalised
Columnist Samantha David says the devices seem designed to catch drivers out
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Reinstating the French monarchy makes no sense at all
Columnist Nick Inman argues against a right-wing delusion
Colonisation as a crime
RE: Simon Heffer (Comment, March). Firstly, he dismisses Emmanuel Macron’s statement about colonisation [of Algeria] being a crime against humanity as grandstanding rubbish.
Secondly, many French people believe that their forbears brought with them a civilising decency to the place colonised, whatever mistakes were made. Mr Heffer does not mention that Macron made his statement on a visit to Algiers earlier this year where he was in bilateral talks with the government.
In the context of the conflict, which tore France apart and brought down the Fourth Republic, Macron’s statement has some validity. Many of the colonial forbears mentioned arrived at places such as Algeria with an inherent sense of racial superiority which justified the mistreatment of people it viewed as inferior.
Philip Elliott, Vienne
