The February 23, 2005 French law on colonialism was an act passed by the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) conservative majority, which imposed to high-school teachers to teach the "positive values" of colonialism to their students (article 4). The law lifted a public uproar and opposition from the whole of the left-wing, and was finally repealed by president Jacques Chirac (UMP) in the beginnings of 2006 after accusations of historical revisionism from various teachers and historians, including Pierre Vidal-Naquet, Claude Liauzu, Olivier LeCour Grandmaison or Benjamin Stora. Its article 13 was also criticized as it supported former OAS terrorists. February 23 is the 54th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Union for a Popular Movement (Union pour un Mouvement Populaire), initially named the Union for the Presidential Majority (Union pour la Majorité Présidentielle), and more usually known from its French acronym as simply the UMP, is the main French conservative political party of the right-wing. ... Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ... See colony and colonisation for examples of colonialism which do not refer to Western colonialism. ... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... Jacques René Chirac (born November 29, 1932) is a French politician and the current President of the French Republic. ... Historical revisionism is the attempt to change commonly held ideas about the past. ... This is a list of historians. ... Pierre Vidal-Naquet (1930, Paris) is a French historian, teacher at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS). ... Olivier LeCour Grandmaison (September 19, 1960, Paris) is a French historian. ... The Organisation de larmée secrète (OAS; Secret Army Organization) was a short-lived French right-wing terrorist group formed in January 1961 to resist the granting of independence to the French colony of Algeria (Algérie française). ...

Article 4 on the "positive role of the French presence abroad"

The controversed article 4 asked teachers and textbooks to "acknowledge and recognize in particular the positive role of the French presence abroad, especially in North Africa." ^[1] This was considered by the left-wing and in the former colonies as a denial of the racist crimes of colonialism, and had national and international consequences until its repeal start of 2006. Hence, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, president of Algeria, refused to sign the envisioned "friendly treaty" with France because of this law. On June 26, 2005, he declared that the law "...approached mental blindness, negationism and revisionism." ^[2]Famous writer Aimé Césaire, leader of the Négritude anti-colonialist litterary movement, also refused to meet UMP leader (and probable contender for the 2007 presidential election) Nicolas Sarkozy, leading the later to cancel his visit to oversea department Martinique, while a thousand persons demonstrated against his venue in Fort-de-France. An African-American man drinks out of the colored only water cooler at a racially segregated street car terminal in the United States in 1939. ... Abdelaziz Bouteflika (عبد العزيز بوتفليقة) (born March 2, 1937) is the President of Algeria (since 1999). ... June 26 is the 177th day of the year (178th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 188 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Aimé Fernand David Césaire (born June 20, 1913) is a Martinican author and politician. ... Négritude is a literary and political movement developed in the 1930s by a group that included the future Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor, Martinican poet Aimé Césaire, and Léon Damas. ... Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (born 28 January 1955 in Paris, 17th arrondissement), simply known as Nicolas Sarkozy ( — ), is a French politician born of a Hungarian father and French mother, often nicknamed Sarko. ... Under the 1946 Constitution of the Fourth Republic, the French colonies of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana in the Caribbean and Réunion in the Indian Ocean became départements doutre-mer (Overseas departments) or DOMs. ... Fort-de-France is the capital of Frances Caribbean département doutre-mer of Martinique. ...

UMP deputy Christian Vanneste was criticized for having introduced the expression "positive values" in the text. On April 25, 2005, more than a thousand professors and thesis students had signed the petition "Colonisation: No to the teaching of an official history". MP Christiane Taubira called the law "disastrous" and enacted because of lobbying from the harkis and the pied-noirs, remaining silent on the Indigenate Code or forced labour in the former colonies. April 25 is the 115th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (116th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Christiane Taubira (February 2, 1952, Cayenne, French Guiana -) is a French politician. ... It has been suggested that Interest representation: Academic overview be merged into this article or section. ... Harki (from the Arabic Haraka: movement) was the generic term for Muslim Algerians serving as auxiliaries with the French Army, during the Algerian War of Independence from 1954 to 1962. ... Pied-noir is a term for the former French colonists of North Africa, especially Algeria. ... Unfree labour is a generic or collective term for forms of work, especially in modern or early modern history, in which adults and/or children are employed without wages, or for a minimal wage. ... Map of the first (light blue) and second (dark blue — plain and hachured) French colonial empires France had colonial possessions, in various forms, since the beginning of the 17th century until the 1960s. ...

Repeal of the law

Supporters of the law were decried as a resurgence of the "colonial lobby", a term used in late 19th century France to label those people (deputies, scientifics, businessmen, etc.) who supported French colonialism. In defiance of this revisionism, Chirac finally turned against his own UMP majority that had voted the law, and declared that "In a Republic, there is no official history. It is not to the law to write history. Writing history is the business of historians." ^[3] He then passed a decree charging the president of the Assembly, Jean-Louis Debré (UMP), with modifying the controversial law, taking out the revisionist article about the "recognition of the positive role of the French presence abroad". In order to do so, Chirac ordered Prime minister Dominique de Villepin to seize the Constitutional Council, whose decision would permit the legal repeal of the law. ^[4] The Constitutional Council judged that history textbooks regulation is not the domain of the law, but of administrative reglementation. As such, the contested amendment was repealed in the beginning of 2006. Decree is an order that has the force of law. ... Jean-Louis Debré is a French politician. ... Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (born 14 November 1953 in Rabat, Morocco) simply known as Dominique de Villepin ( — , is a French diplomat and politician. ... A republican guard giving directions to visitors at the front entrance of the Constitutional Council The Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel) was established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958. ...

History and the law

In a tribune Liberty for history, 19 historians (including Elisabeth Badinter, Alain Decaux and Marc Ferro) demanded the repeal of all "historic laws": the February 23, 2005 Act, but also the 1990 Gayssot Act against "racism, xenophobia" and historical revisionism, the Taubira Act on the recognition of slavery as a "crime against humanity" and the law recognizing the Armenian genocide. This call was controversed; although many historians supported non intervention of the state on historical matters, few went as far as asking the repeal of previously existing acts (that is, some were against the Gayssot Act and others laws, but thought repealing it would send the wrong message and be worst). Alain Decaux was born July 23, 1925 in Lille, France. ... Marc Ferro is a French historian specialised in the history of Russia, the USSR and cinema. ... The Gayssot Act (Loi Gayssot), voted for on July 13, 1990, makes it an offense in France to question the existence of the category of crimes against humanity as defined in the London Charter of 1945, on the basis of which Nazi leaders were convicted by the International Military Tribunal... For other uses, see Slavery (disambiguation). ... A crime against humanity is a term in international law that refers to acts of murderous persecution against a body of people, as being the criminal offence above all others. ... The Armenian Genocide (also known as the Armenian Holocaust or the Armenian Massacre) refers to the forced mass evacuation and related deaths of hundreds of thousands or over a million Armenians, during the government of the Young Turks from 1915 to 1917 in the Ottoman Empire. ...

Un passé qui ne passe pas (A past that doesn't pass...)

The debate lifted on the February 23, 2005 law point out, however, to a further debate in France concerning colonialism, which is linked to immigration. As the historian Benjamin Stora pointed out, colonialism is a major "memory" stake that is influencing the way various communities and the nation itself represent themselves. Official state history always had a hard time accepting the existence of past crimes and errors. Historian Olivier LeCour Grandmaison also criticized the law. Indeed, the Algerian war of independence (1954-1962), previously qualified as a "public order operation", was only recognized as a "war" by the French National Assembly in 1999. ^[5] In the same sense, philosopher Paul Ricœur (1981) has underlined the needs for a "decolonization of memory", because mentalities themselves have been colonized during the "Age of imperialism." One of the most influential doctrines in history is that all humans are divided into groups called nations. ... Olivier LeCour Grandmaison (September 19, 1960, Paris) is a French historian. ... Combatants FLN Algeria France The Algerian War of Independence (1954–62) was a period of guerrilla strikes, maquis fighting, terrorism against civilians on both sides, and riots between the French army and colonists, or the colons as they were called, in French special département Algeria and the FLN (Front... Paul Ricoeur, French philosopher Paul RicÅ“ur (February 27, 1913, Valence - May 20, 2005, Chatenay Malabry) was a French philosopher and anthropologist best known for his attempt to combine phenomenological description with hermeneutic interpretation. ... Colonialism in 1945 Decolonization is the process by which a colony gains its independence from a colonial power, a process opposite to colonization. ... A cartoon portraying the British Empire as an octopus, reaching into foreign lands Imperialism is a policy of extending the control or authority over foreign entities as a means of acquisition and/or maintenance of empires, either through direct territorial or through indirect methods of exerting control on the politics...

References

1. ^ LOI n° 2005-158 du 23 février 2005 portant reconnaissance de la Nation et contribution nationale en faveur des Français rapatriés (French)
2. ^
   • "Les principales prises de position (concernant la loi du 23 février 2005)", Le Nouvel Observateur, January 26, 2006. (French)
   • "French Revisionism: Case Of Positive Role Of French Colonisation", The Cameroun Post, December 18, 2005. (English)
   • "France under pressure to defend its colonial past", Agence France Presse, December 8, 2005. (English)
3. ^ "History should not be written by law" says Jacques Chirac (Ce n'est pas à la loi d'écrire l'histoire), quoted by RFI, December 11, 2005: [1] (French)
4. ^ "Chirac revient sur le 'rôle positif' de la colonisation", RFI, January 26, 2006. (French)
5. ^
   • "Colonialism: A Dangerous War of Memories Begin (by Benjamin Stora)", L'Humanité, December 6, 2005 - transl. January 17, 2006 from French original article. (English);
   • "At war with France's past (by Claude Liauzu)", Le Monde diplomatique, June 2005. (English)

Le Nouvel Observateur (often shorten to Le Nouvel Obs) is a weekly French newsmagazine. ... Agence France-Presse (abbreviated AFP) is the oldest news agency in the world. ... Radio France is a French public service radio broadcaster. ... December 11 is the 345th day (346th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... ... LHumanité (Humanity), formerly the daily newspaper of the French Communist Party (PCF), was the only French newspaper owned by a political party. ... The monthly publication Le Monde diplomatique (nicknamed Le Diplo by its French readers) offers well-documented analysis and opinion on politics, culture, and current affairs. ...

See also

• Historical revisionism
• Colonialism