AHC: Make Algeria culturally French

With a POD of not before 1850, make Algeria culturally French by 1960. By that I mean that the Algerians should be considered as Frenchmen in all but name.
 
The French might have to step up their attempts to assimilate the native Algerians. They would have to build a society where French speakers and those who follow French cultural norms are "moved up" although there might be a problem with religion. If they were really determined, they could possibly use the boarding school system the U.S. used with Native Americans. Another possibility is outright genocide like the Germans did in Namibia, and then heavy French settlement.
 

rebeu

Banned
^Well that was gruesome.

A real reason for the Revolution in the 1950's was because the elite did view themselves as French in all but name. They were the evolées the French colonial system advocated for. Some such as Ahmed Ben Bella were solely Francophone, not spoke or had command of Literary/Modern Standard Arabic, if they had any exposure it was only Algerian dialect, "Darija."

Despite this overwhelming Frenchness in all but name, they were denied equal citizenship rights without giving up their personal statuses guaranteed to them when Algiers was originally surrendered. (Contrast with Alsatians who got to keep their local personal status religious laws.)

Even to today the Algerians are the only Arabs who's mains staple starch is neither rice nor couscous but loaf bread; they drink espresso and have a café and coffee culture in-line with that of France (contrast with the more indigenous tea cultures of Arabo-Berber North Africa in Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania, Libya, etc.)

The way to do this, realistically, even within the 20th century, is to have the French Republic enfranchise the Muslim populations fully as they were already on their way to feeling culturally closer to France than Morocco or Tunisia. Even today, many Algerian educated elites do not feel stranger in France. Same with the pied-noirs, who do not feel the Algerians and North Africans in France are completely strangers as well.
 

rebeu

Banned
Also, as Napoleon I attempted to recreate the Sanhedrin, you could have Napoleon II with his idea of an "Arab Kingdom" in personal union with France, maybe tame down his idea to centralizing the scholars (in OTL France completely destroyed the clerics, doctors, native medicines, nobles, etc. of Algerian Muslim society to make it dependent) into a "Grand Oulémate" (just made up the word, from the French ouléma, for Ulema, usually a high council of Muslim scholars who make decisions in a Muslim country.) There are many ways to manipulate Islam in the late 19th century as reform movements were starting. There was a debate to Islamize modernity (traditionalists, Sufis, the Establishment, etc.) vs. Modernize Islam (Rashid Rida, Hassan Hattab, Hassan Banna-esque which would give rise to the Muslim Brotherhood, et. al.) Have France maximize on this, with an established senior government-sanctioned Islamic body integrated into the State (before the laws of secularism.) This would allow for personal-status and complete citizenship for the French Arabs of Algeria. I suppose generally though laïcité will come about in the 20th century, but this time if the French Arabs are equally involved in French politics, they will probably feel about the instituionalized Ulema the same way the French feel about the Church, i.e. they will want it dis-established. Maybe this is later, say around the 1930's. Just some thoughts.
 
One of my Algerian friends said that had France just straight up left Algeria after WW2 without fighting over it all that much, the Algerian people would have been much more French in nature, because there would be less need to seem more culturally Arab. Many Francophone Algerians feel alienated by what they perceive to be French racism, therefore, if the French govern with a looser hand and treated the Algerians more fairly, Algerian people would be more willing to call themselves French.
 

rebeu

Banned
One of my Algerian friends said that had France just straight up left Algeria after WW2 without fighting over it all that much, the Algerian people would have been much more French in nature, because there would be less need to seem more culturally Arab. Many Francophone Algerians feel alienated by what they perceive to be French racism, therefore, if the French govern with a looser hand and treated the Algerians more fairly, Algerian people would be more willing to call themselves French.

Exactly. Arab Nationalism, French discriminatory policies, and De Gaulle's Gaullist policies of viewing France as a Catholic nation and Muslims and Catholics as impossibly equally being French are what led to the Algerian Revolution. Less discrimination and more real integration of Muslim French Arabs into a less-Gaulois-more-égalité-vision-of-France are much closer to reality and more realistic ways of accomplishing this. The comments about genocide and more brutal colonization are not only ignorant of the historical reality, but also show a subconscious orientalism on the part of some naïve and ignorant posters.
 
Algeria was never a colony (significantly Algerian troops were under the authority of the Ministère de la Guerre just like metropolitan ones, not the Ministère de la Marine et des Colonies like the 'colonial' troops) but with a very ambiguous and hypocritical status.
I'm French, one of those naive people in the Mother country who in the late "50 sincerely believed in 'French Algeria' -the map of France showing the French departements posted in elementary school classrooms showed those of Oran, Alger and Constantine- and who were ashamed to discover that in Algeria France practiced a kind of apartheid. Based on religion, 'Algerian' Jews had received full 'European' status in 1871 under the pressure of the 'metropolitan' Jew community, and the secularization of the State in 1905 had changed nothing. Thus Muslims had the same duties as other French citizens (e.g. military service) but not the same rights.
Same with the pied-noirs, who do not feel the Algerians and North Africans in France are completely strangers as well.
And I can testify that most pied-noirs (and their descendants) still *hate* Muslims, from Algeria or elsewhere -and indeed claim to know them better than the Metropolitans, to be 'experts'.

The Franco-Algerian history is one of missed opportunities, and indeed mostly Napoleon III's failure to impose first, full French citizenship to all, then the creation of the Royaume Arabe d'Algérie - while he went so far as offering the crown to Abd-el-Kader, the historical leader of the Algerian 'resistance'. Ulemas feared it would lead to mass conversions, and spread the rumor that they would be enforced; but chiefly the opposition came from the European colons -most of them were not even French by birth, but Spaniard, Italian or Maltese- who clung fiercely to their privileged status. Had Napoleon III managed to impose his views -preferably a combination of both, i.e. automatic double (and full) nationality for all residents in Algeria and a 'brother kingdom' with two official religions and tongues South of the Mediterranean- the future would have be totally different. Napoleon III was well-intended (in other fields, such as social solidarity, as well) but rather quixotic and too easily discouraged.

Also, Catholic evangelism was systematically suppressed -locally because it would give equal rights to indigènes, and after 1905 by anti-clerical elements in the administration. This could represent another missed opportunity for integration, specially in Kabylia. Kabyles have their own tongue (which the current Algerian government tries to suppress in the same way as French in the name of 'arabisation'), their own 'soft' version of Islam, and feel totally different from the 'Arabs' they see as foreign to Algeria as, say, people of European ascent. But other Algerians are wary of Kabyles, so it could have be a double-edged weapon?
 
^Well that was gruesome.

I didn't intend to be gruesome, I had simply thought it unlikely that Algeria would become culturally French given its closer proximity to culturally Arab nations, as well as the religious divide between Algerians and French. A lot of the time, being French is equated with being Catholic, and it seemed unlikely that an imperialistic country would change that just to placate the natives. After all, imperialists don't seem to care much for morals (look at the Congo Free State, for example) a lot of the time, especially in the colonies which are far removed from the public eye.
 
And I can testify that most pied-noirs (and their descendants) still *hate* Muslims, from Algeria or elsewhere -and indeed claim to know them better than the Metropolitans, to be 'experts'.

Really? How, I guess you know more about me than myself then.
I'm seriously that close to report that "I know that this group are all the same", but let's admit it could have been a mistake.
If someone said something as ludicrous than "Most southerners still *hate* Blacks from South or elsewhere", it would have ended quickly with at least a warning.

Now, you don't have something like a pied-noir establishment today : basically because they didn't settled in France in the same place, lived with metropolitan french and that descendents of pied noris by their two parents is not the main case (not talking about great-parents).

For myself, I can testify of my familial life and experience that pied-noirs (not their descendents) are the more likely to know some Arab language (I don't know how many french people would do that in a "they have to use French"), to use some Arab features in their everyday life (mostly alimentation).

Finally, while no study was done on it, I suspect the far-right proportion among them must be admittedly more important than overall population (while pied-noirs or ex-"French Algeria" activits in FN have an importance, critically in their party machinery) but certainly not the majority, and is really important in provencal coast that was already a far-right/conservative stronghold since the XIX.
Outside it, in a social context that favorize right-wing extremism, the tendence is less important.
Finally while it is true that many associations of pied-noir are on FN hands, because of this, they are avoided by others ones.

If it can help : here's an article.
For non-french speakers :
-28% of pied noirs voted FN, 24% of their descendants
-26% for PS, 31% of their descendants
-26% for UMP, 15% of their descendants
- 9% for center, 14% of their descendants

Pied-noir population would reach roughly 1,2 millions, more than 3 if you count descendents that assume their ascendency.

Furthermore, and back to the OP, while the "racial" climate in Algeria was segregative, it was pretty well the same in metropolitan France. Tragic events as Massacre of 1961 (a pro-FLN demonstration in Paris was crushed bloodly by french police, that was used to torture algerian workers) or Charonne did happened in France and only the second really provoked a turmoil because it was "ethnic French" that were involved.

In French Algerian society, you didn't have an "open" racism towards Arabs (at least up to 1950's) while you had a socially acceptable one against Spaniards (my father could use Arab words at home, but one Spanish one would have owed him a good spanking). Not to say they were close and tolerent of course, but as they were basically two distinct societies living on the same territory (both because of France's law that considered Alegrians not as citizens but subjects and Arab Algerian refusal to mix with conquerors) it was hard to maintain a link between them.

Now, how make Algeria more french at the point they're considered Frenchmen? That seems really hard, and I don't see how it could be done : settlement colonies very rarily considered themselves as the same than metropole (USA, Australia, Canada, ...) when they weren't in its territorial continuity.

Let's try some things anyway.

- After the 1920's, Arab Algerian population had an important growth : the proportion of French Algerian passed below the 10% and they began to quit countryside to establish themselves in coastal towns, reinforcing the segregation in Algeria. Without going in a praise of a pastoral Algeria, you had at least direct contact between the populations.
You can't prevent the Arab population growth, that is basically due to amelioration of living standards, without a willing policy of french authorities that is going to piss Arab population more quickly.
But, with less french investment in Algeria for whatever reason, you could prevent a rural move, or more likely diminish its importance.

- Having a PCA (Algerian Communist Party) being open to Arab since the 20's. OTL it was such only in the late 30's and was still mainly a party of european coastal workers. You'll need to butterfly away the ultra-patriotist line that PCF had adopted in the late 20's (maybe continuous "bolshevisation"), give autonomy to Algerian communists, and have a maintained anti-colonialist line like it was in the 20's (it wasn't removed in the 30's but somewhat given less importance and that ended in the 50's to a reluctance to accept Algerian independence).

- Blum-Violette project is adopted : it would have allowed Algerian elit to gain citizenship without renouncing to personal and religious particularities (OTL, both were incompatibles). While anti-colonialists denounced this project as perpetuating the colonialism by submitting native elites to their domination, it could have helped even if it was far too late for making them "Frenchmen"

-More acknowledgment of Algerians in french army after 1944. Segregation was maintained in the army, with Arabs and Berbers being almost systematically disfavoured for promotion, advantages and even gifts. Many of the ALN commanders fought in french army and it can legitimally be considered as a factor of their involvment in independence fight.

-Application of 1905 separation of Church and State to Islamic religion. While it was applied to other religions, it wasn't for Islam and arab religious continued to be payed by the state and somewhat promoting official stances.
Having this separation is going to piss many people in Muslim society (that tended to prevent mix with Europeans) and in French Algerian one.

Finally, in my opinion, the only way to have Algerians being total Frenchmen is to limit the conquest of Algeria to coastal band, and make southern part a protectorate distinct from the former. it won't be a given, but would be still more doable.
 
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imperialists don't seem to care much for morals (look at the Congo Free State, for example)
Bad example: It's a matter of historical record that even the 'imperialist' powers, on the whole, were disgusted enough by the reports about how the CFS was being run to insist on its transfer out from under Leopold's [direct] authorty.
 
Bad example: It's a matter of historical record that even the 'imperialist' powers, on the whole, were disgusted enough by the reports about how the CFS was being run to insist on its transfer out from under Leopold's [direct] authorty.

Whoops, you're right.
 
It's true that an oversea territory does not have to be hidden in the heart of Subsaharian Africa for its realities to be ignored by the mother country: in 1954 most of French population in the métropole was totally unaware of the 'unfair' (quite an understatement!) treatment of the Muslims in Algeria, and of the bloody suppression of the 'events' of 1945. Of course after generations of apartheid and years of guerilla the attempt of 'integration' in the late '50 came too late -so much the more as it was half-hearted at best in many circles, and 'torpedoed' by De Gaulle himself who feared the Muslim higher nativity rate. But a century earlier, who knows?

It may seem paradoxical but religion was less an issue in 1860 than nowadays. France was still officially Roman Catholic but practicing religious tolerance; even most of devout Catholics -except for the most fundamentalists- valued Muslims' religiosity. From the Muslim point of view their was no 'panislamism', no atmosphere of jihad. 'Algerians' (the words 'Algerie' and 'Algérien' are French creations, used for the first in French Parliament in 1836) had no special sympathy for Moroccans and Tunisians, there was no widespread feeling of 'Islamic solidarity'. Berbers and Kabyles resented the Muslim authority of the Ottoman representative in Algiers as much as they later resented the French one (but the Bey tended to leave them alone as long as the traditional taxes were paid) - the rebellions under Abd El-Kader were basically uprisings of tribes fearing for their independence. Abd El-Kader himself was even more a religious leader than a 'nationalist' or 'political' one, but certainly not Christianophobic, and it seems that on a personal basis he appreciated Napoleon III and his sympathy for the indigènes.
In 1865 the colons were only 225000, Napoléon III imposed the acknowledgement of the possession of the land by the 'native tribes' (broken under the IIIrd Republic, specially by the Loi Warnier 'francizing' the lands) and a sénatus-consulte allowed any Muslim to switch to full 'French' status and citizenship. The fate of the Muslims drastically worsened under the IIIrd Republic -they were more and more treated as 'natives' in the new colonies- specially with the décrets Crémieux assimilating 'native' Jews to Europeans, creating 'Whites only' juries, abolishing the Bureaux indigènes created by Napoléon III to protect the interests and rights of the Muslims &c... The official support to increased colonization -with 'native' lands seized and given to the new settlers- to 'dilute' the native population and set up a 'network' controlling the countryside. Then the Code de l'Indigénat of 1881 implementing a real apartheid and even a kind of servitude (restrictions to circulation, deprivation of many civil rights - abolished in 1946 only), the non-application of the 'secular' law of 1905 to Islam, keeping their religion as an excuse and tool to maintain Muslims in a 'different' (inferior) status... Had the Royaume Arabe be established and Muslim elites accessed to power, providing a link between the communities and progressively 'europeanized' in culture, the future may have be quite different.


Born in 1944 I was too young to be sent as a draftee in Algeria but for the atmosphere in metropolitan France I can testify there was no widespread 'racism' in the late "50 (truth to tell, they were not many Muslims here before the 'Law of family reunification' of 1976). The 'Paris massacre' of 1961 happened after 7 years of civil war, after bombings and ambushes in metropolitan France had killed a number of policemen (17 in the few previous weeks). It was a time when policemen moved in jeeps rather than cars of civilian types, never without bulletproof vest and submachine gun; when all police stations and many administrative buildings were protected by walls of sandbags and steel sentry boxes. The 'peaceful demonstration' (just like the massacres of Europeans in Philippeville in 1955) was a deliberate -and successful- attempt by the FLN to create, dig a 'bloody rift' between what still were two French communities by eliciting a blind, bloody crushing. In metropolitan France also French police had been unable to prevent the infiltration and control of the Muslim community by the FLN, and many Muslims later testified they went to the demonstration for fear of reprisals, eventually they were perhaps 50,000 demonstrators: several policemen, feeling isolated facing a threatening mob, panicked and open fire; afterwards...

Despite the attempt by the independentists to implement religion as a mark of 'national identity' religion was not a major concern in the late "50 -less than it is now- partly because it was less 'demonstrative', conflictual than to-day. You saw a few veiled women in Marseille, just disembarked from the boat, but after a few weeks most of them dressed just like any other woman in metropolitan France; none dressed like Saudian or Iranian women, as not a few do to-day.

AH considers possibilities, and not only the most likely ones. Despite what the republic had done to them during 90 years, at the independence and during the following 2 decades many Algerians were culturally more 'French' than many young '3rd generation' French Muslims nowadays. Had Napoleon III imposed his Royaume Arabe, had Abd El-Kader accepted the crown and a fair partnership instituted between France and Algeria, *maybe* the IIIrd Republic would not had dared to 'reconquer' it (unlikely, OTL it conquered Morocco and Tunisia under the label of 'protectorate'), and then a 'Muslim French culture' may have emerged?
 
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