From The Editor's Desk

In the October 2001 issue of the French Review Deborah Hess made a point in her article, "L'Algérie en 1999: le choc des civilisations?" that our readers recognize: "L'Algérie occupe, depuis le dix-neuvième siècle, une place prédominante dans le monde francophone . . ." (68). Hess might have added that one cannot really understand contemporary France without understanding the history of French/Algerian relations. She goes on to analyze the Algerian crisis of the past ten years and the historical reasons for it, and suggests possible future directions for Algeria.

In the same issue James P. McNab ("Bloc-notes culturel: l'année 2000") presents new revelations about the French practice of torture in Algeria from 1954-62 and examines the controversy surrounding them (57-58). He also discusses the role of Islam in France (its five million practitioners make Islam the second religion of France). McNab points out that Jacques Chirac was the first French president to invite a delegation of representatives (four) of Islam to meet with him, thus recognizing the legitimacy of Islam in France. For his part, Jean-Pierre Chevènement, then Minister of the Interior and now a candidate for the Presidency of France, proposed the creation of Islamic chaplaincies in hospitals, French collèges, and lycées, as well as in the French army. He also initiated government ritual slaughter of sheep for those Muslims dependent on French social services, thus sanctioning a long criticized and misunderstood practice. Sixteen Islamic representatives ratified these measures. The Haut Conseil à l'intégration recommended that female Islamic students in lycées be allowed to wear a veil (long a subject of dispute in France) and that meals not containing pork be made available in school canteens when pork was being served.

The October issue also contained an article by Pascale de Souza entitled "De l'errance à la dé(sap)partenance: Journal 'Nationalité' de Sakinna Boukhedenna," which explores the problems of identity for those Algerians caught between Algerian and French cultures. In the present issue Benjamin McRae looks at the nineteenth century background to French/ Algerian relations in "The Revolution of 1848 and Algeria." In the May 2002 Special Issue Michael F. O'Riley will analyze the French/Algerian conflict and its multicultural aspects in "Translation and Imperialism in Assia Djebar's Les Nuits de Strasbourg." If Volume 75 of the French Review reflects the renewed interest in French/Algerian questions, this interest has only increased in 2001-02 in the wake of ground breaking negotiations between the two countries and the conjunction of several anniversaries and movements, not to mention the events of September 11, 2001.

One of the most significant events was the agreement signed on July 11, 2001 by the French and Algerian governments modifying the accord of 1968 which has governed the status of Algerian immigrants to France ever since. The 1968 agreement gave fewer rights to Algerians living in France than to other foreigners, a fact that has poisoned French/Algerian relations. In general the new agreement, yet to be ratified by the parliaments of the two nations, would improve the status of Algerians without papers by allowing them to present themselves for a residence card good for one year and then transferable to a ten-year residency card. Since 1968 the waiting period has been fifteen years. Retired Algerian workers would be able to acquire a "retiree's card" (giving them official status), heretofore unavailable. This would allow them to return to Algeria, but still come back to France for up to one year, after which they could renew the stay. Algerian parents of French children would be granted a "vie privée et familiale" card for one year-the card could then be converted to a ten-year residency card. Article 8 of the European Convention of the Rights of Man was already being invoked to give parents this right, and this change would bring France into alignment with the European Convention. An Algerian married to a French national would be able to present a tourist visa to acquire a certificate of residence good for only one year whereas before, the card was good for ten years, but one had to have a long-term visa in order to qualify for the ten-year card. Immigrants would have to live in France for one year before bringing over their families (currently they can bring them over right away), and they will have to meet stricter financial requirements if they are to bring them. Polygamy would no longer be tolerated (it has been since 1968). Foreign students from Algeria would be able to hold down part-time jobs, but would have to seek permission to work from the French government, something not required before. Though some of the measures are far from ideal, conditions would nonetheless improve greatly for the 471,000 Algerian nationals now living in France if the two parliaments were to ratify the agreement (Le Monde, 28 juillet 2001: 1, 6, 11).

Other Algerians, namely the "harkis," those Algerians who fought on the side of the French during the French/Algerian war, have finally received recognition for their support. After the Evian accords of 1962 tens of thousands of "harkis" were slaughtered during the mass exodus from Algeria, abandoned by the French, and since that time those who made it to France have been stigmatized as "Arabes" by racists and "fils de traîtres" by the Algerians (Le Monde, 10 juin 2001). Their life in isolated ghettos and the poverty in which they have lived have long been ignored. Now forty-three harki organizations have sued for "crimes against humanity," and President Chirac organized a "Journée nationale d'hommage aux harkis" which took place on September 25, 2001.

These and other initiatives, as well as new information on the number of deaths of Algerians (somewhere between 30 and 200) which took place on October 17, 1961 in Paris during and after a demonstration protesting the curfew imposed by Maurice Papon who was Prefect of Police, are steps in the right direction towards reconciliation in the relations between France and Algeria as well as among those Algerians and French of Algerian descent living in France and the rest of French society. It is reassuring to know that according to recent polls, Islam is better accepted in France now than ever before. It is also true that most French Muslims condemned the terrorist attacks that took place in the United States on September 11, 2001.

Christopher P. Pinet