Algerian War : the necessary right to memory

March 18, 2022 will mark the 60th anniversary of the Evian agreements, which put an end to the terrible war between France and Algerian independence fighters. 60 years of peace agreements, and just as many of confiscated memories.

For decades, Algeria and France imposed an official amnesia. Paris refused to talk about the 'war', Algiers dismissed any account that did not fit in with the official line of the National Liberation Front (FLN), the sole party from 1962 to 1989 and back in power again in 1999. On both sides of the Mediterranean, the populations were compelled to bury their suffering, their memories of forced displacement and torture. This war, which lasted 7 years, is said to have caused 500,000 deaths, the vast majority of which were Algerian victims. Both Algeria and France's new generations seek to know and understand. The documentary "Ne nous racontez plus d'histoires" (Don't tell us any more stories) contributes to breaking this silence and gives the floor to witnesses, whose accounts depart from the official historiography.

Afrique Histoire Racismes

Saturday 5 March

14:00

Espace Pitoëff - Grande salle

Followed by the debate Algerian War : the necessary right to memory. The debate will be followed by a signing session with the French stage director and novelist Alice Zeniter, author in particular of L’Art de perdre, Comme un empire dans un empire and Je suis une fille sans histoire.

French

Co-presented with France Culture

Speakers

Benjamin Stora French historian, expert on Algeria and author of the report requested by Emmanuel Macron concerning the issues of colonial memory and the Algerian War

Alice Zeniter French director and novelist, author of L'Art de perdre, Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, 2017

Ferhat Mouhali Co-director of the documentary Ne nous racontez plus d'histoires!

Moderated by

Tewfik Hakem Producer of Affinités culturelles and Esprit des lieux, France Culture

To go further

“Les mémoires vives de la guerre d'Algérie“ dans France Culture, 3 mai 2021.

STORA Benjamin, “ Les questions mémorielles portant sur la colonisation et la guerre d’Algérie“, 1 janvier 2021.

This debat is preceded by the movie:

Compétition - Grand Reportage Films en VOD

Ne nous racontez plus d’histoires !

By Ferhat Mouhali & Carole Filiu-Mouhali

She is French; he is Algerian. The Algerian War rocked both their childhoods. Each had the right to a version of history: the traumatic memories of a forced exile for the journalist, whose father was a pied-noir; the mythical account of a glorious independence for the director, activist and rebel. This sensitive film gives voice to witnesses whose words have been deliberately forgotten and who fight so that a more peaceful truth may be heard.