France is an amazing country. I can say this out and loud without risking to be considered a chovinist or something of the sort, as I have not been born here, I have no French nationality and I have a crappy level of French. I've just lived some time here and it has been enough to develop a certain feeling of belonging to it (which is pretty interesting for someone that never got any sort of identification with the coutry in his passport, just with a small "region" hidden between the sea, the clouds and the mountains). For sure this is not a perfect country, there are tons of problems: Islamofascism, la racaille, huge taxes spent in feeding people that don't want to be part of this community... but anyway it's a fascinating country.
The French Revolution, Laicite, an incredible culture, a last stage of the colonization "with a human face", the most amazing architecture in the world, an open, mixed and multicultural society... OK, OK, this post was not supposed to be an exaltation of the French nation, on the contrary it's to talk about a not so known disgraceful episode in its history.
If you are Spanish maybe you'll be thinking about the horrible treatment given to many Republicans seeking refuge when the fascist scum won the Spanish Civil War. I'll talk about an even more shameful episode (as it affected people that had fought for France), the Harkis. I prefer to use the term to refer to any Algerian Muslims fighting/supporting the French side in the Algerian independence war, regardless of whether it was officially integrated in the auxiliar units under that name.
You should read the wikipedia article, as I'm not plannig to resume it. I'll just say that to me what de Gaulle did, abandoning Harkis to death/torture in Algeria (see paragraph below) or interning in concentration camps the few that somehow (many times thansk to the aid of French soldiers disobeying de Gaulle commands) managed to reach France, is absolutely inhuman, an act of pure treason, that along with his decision to get out of Algeria rather than turning it into an overseas territory, places him, regardless whatever he did in the WWII, on the side of the monsters of history.
Hundreds died when put to work clearing the minefields along the Morice Line, or were shot out of hand. Others were tortured atrociously; army veterans were made to dig their own tombs, then swallow their decorations before being killed; they were burned alive, or castrated, or dragged behind trucks, or cut to pieces and their flesh fed to dogs. Many were put to death with their entire families, including young children.
What I find even more shocking of all this is that after the Algerian War the French government would be accepting an enormous amount of Non-Harkis Algerians. So France would open its doors to Algerians that had turned against France and supported the Algerian independence (but now were abandoning their beloved Algerian nation and moving to the "hated colonial empire" for a better future), while those ones that had spilled their blood to remain as a part of France were neglected or treated like beasts ...
In the last decades the French Government has recognized its responsibility in the Harkis tragedy, establishing a Day of National Recognition. I think it's particularly interesting the attitude of the FN, with its support and recognition for the Harkis, directly calling them "compatriots". This is quite interesting, cause while the FN strongly adheres to the disgusting idea of Jus Sanguinis (notice that for me the right to nationality should not be based on Jus Soli either, but in a proof of assimilation and loyalty), they accept a different (and quite beautiful really) condition to deserve the nationality, the blood risked or spilled (Français par le sang risqué et par le sang versé,). Anyone that (like the Harkis) has risked or spilled its blood to defend the French nation, is a French citizen. I really like this concept, and while I would consider it tragic and catastrophic if the FN ever reached power, it comes to show that it's not easy to consider them a real Far-Right party anymore. If they support that you can become a French citizan by your loyalty and your services to the French community, regardless of your DNA... it's quite difficoult to continue to consider them racists.
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