Repression, reprisals and rhetorics of massacre in Algeria's war

Abstract

From 1945 to 1962 France’s war with Algerian nationalism generated some of the most extreme violence and counter-violence of French decolonization. Repression and reprisal increased in intensity over these years, becoming integral to the strategies pursued by the warring parties. Some explanation for this escalatory dynamic lies in the rhetorical appeals made to justify what might seem unjustifiable. As the conflict dragged on, French civil and military authorities, as well as settler groups and French political leaders, defended ever-widening circles of repressive action by reference to earlier notorious instances of Algerian political violence. Focused on materials from these various sources, this paper examines the process of rhetorical violence in action from the Sétif uprising of May 1945 to the final OAS bombing campaign in Algiers during the early months of 1962. Particular attention will be paid to the Constantine massacres of August 1955, perhaps the point at which highly-politicized rhetoric transformed the French imperial public sphere, opening the way to a dramatic increase in human rights abuses in colonial Algeria.