Relations between Algeria and France are going through an unprecedented open crisis against the backdrop of a memorial dispute and political, economic, and geostrategic disagreements.
Of all that they share in common, the diaspora constitutes the element that can prevent the two countries from reaching a total rupture. The two countries are aware of the importance of this human dimension of their relationship obliges them to transcend crises.
A very strong Algerian community is established in France. It is essentially made up of former or newly settled emigrants and their descendants, many of whom have dual Algerian and French nationality, not to mention the descendants of former harkis.
Some advance the figure of 5 million, but no one knows the number of French people with Algerian origins, the law in this country prohibiting “ethnic” statistics. On the other hand, we know that the weight of the Algerian diaspora is not negligible.
It is today an essential community in French national life, therefore in electoral deadlines and political debate. There are many successes in the field of culture, sport, the media, but also medicine, politics, and business.
And it is no coincidence that we are talking about it more than usual with the approach of elections. This is what we are witnessing six months before the presidential election next spring.
Immigration and the place of Islam in France have emerged as a central theme of the debate due to the rise of extremism and the irruption of the probable candidate Eric Zemmour, himself of Algerian origin.
The Algerians in France are as if caught in a pincer movement and are suffering the repercussions in this degradation of relations between the two countries.
At the same time, however, they are courted by the authorities of their country of origin and by the applicants for the management of the affairs of their host countries.
The Algerian ambassador to France, Mohamed Antar Daoud, who is in Algiers following his recall in the wake of the crisis triggered by the words of President Emmanuel Macron on September 30, spoke on the question last Wednesday.
“I say that the double, the triple, or the quadruple nationality must constitute an asset for the Algerians (…). And it is up to us to ensure that those who want to invest in Algeria are not faced with an obstacle course,” declared the diplomat to the Forum of the newspaper El Moudjahid, pleading for a better role for the diaspora both in Algeria and in Algeria. in France.
“It is unacceptable that Algeria, which has the largest foreign community in France with 18 consulates, cannot be a lever to intervene not only in Algerian policy but (also) at the level of French policy”, he said.
More than an electoral weight
Last August, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ramtane Lamamra, publicly welcomed the contribution of Algerians abroad during the double crisis of oxygen and fires.
On July 15, he spoke of a new strategic orientation vis-à-vis the diaspora, insisting on the need to “create bridges with members of the community in order to allow the latter to contribute to national construction as by the past”.
In France, although there is no movement of Algerians in this country, members of the community are nevertheless courted for their electoral weight. In 2017, just before the presidential election, Emmanuel Macron traveled to Algiers where he called colonialism a “crime against humanity”.
A gesture that analysts explain as a nod to the strong Algerian community in France. Although he is accused of backpedaling in an attempt to stem the rise of the extremist current by making his controversial remarks of September 30, Macron knows that he cannot completely turn his back on the Algerians of France, for the needs of his re-election but also to prevent relations with Algeria from deteriorating further.
Appreciated by part of the diaspora for the gestures he made to make peace of memories between the two countries that no other French president has dared to do before him, Emmanuel Macron, who plays the balancing act, his sport favorite in politics, seeks to hold Franco-Algerians with one hand, and his right-wing electorate with the other, without which it is difficult for him to stay at the Elysee Palace for a second term.
“If Macron enjoys a capital of confidence with Franco-Algerians for everything he has done on memory in particular and the sending of Canaders to extinguish the fires which ravaged the forests of Algeria this summer, he must do better on political and socio-economic integration or the fight against discrimination. There is no minister of Algerian origin and expectations are high,” said Farid, a Franco-Algerian business leader.
Tired by the endless crises between Algeria and France and worried, the Algerian diaspora experiences discomfort because first of all, it is attached to the countries, and then, it is difficult for it to easily choose its camp, in this new crisis.
“We need a peaceful and ambitious relationship where we will be in the front row and no longer spectators because we are the natural link,” says Farid. We continue to do without us and it cannot work.
By questioning the existence of the Algerian nation before French colonization, Emmanuel Macron managed to irritate Algerians and Franco-Algerians alike, including political opponents of Algerian power. He touched on their identity.
President Macron must clarify his position and rectify the situation if he wants to reduce seduce the diaspora which can play a key role in the current crisis between the two countries, and in anticipation of the French presidential election next spring.
