The Harkis
« Harki » a neglected word, spoken in a whisper, the emblem of a deep wound in France’s collective unconscious. The Algerian War.
These French army auxiliary troops, native Algerians all, took a stand for France, it’s ideals, values and principles.
France tirelessly repeated that they were as French as any native son, before shamefully abandoning them to massacre and ruin. It would take the courage of numerous individual members of the military who, by disobeying orders, saved the lives of thoses who came to France.
Forty years of shame, shunning, racism, humiliation…
How can France think of integrating new arrivals when she could not welcome those who had spilled their blood, endured exxile, become traitors to their countrymen for her sake ?
What can be said of a nation that betrays it’s children ?
The Harkis
« Harki » a neglected word, spoken in a whisper, the emblem of a deep wound in France’s collective unconscious. The Algerian War.
These French army auxiliary troops, native Algerians all, took a stand for France, it’s ideals, values and principles.
France tirelessly repeated that they were as French as any native son, before shamefully abandoning them to massacre and ruin. It would take the courage of numerous individual members of the military who, by disobeying orders, saved the lives of thoses who came to France.
Forty years of shame, shunning, racism, humiliation…
How can France think of integrating new arrivals when she could not welcome those who had spilled their blood, endured exxile, become traitors to their countrymen for her sake ?
What can be said of a nation that betrays it’s children ?