Farida Dowidar for Amnesty Sciences Po Menton
September
The Harki - A term derived from the simple word movement in Arabic, but loaded with controversy in the Francophone world.
The Harkis describe a group of native Muslim Algerians who fought on behalf of the French army in the Algerian War between 1954 and 1962. The Algerian War was a decolonial independence war fought primarily between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN). Though one of the most significant wars of liberation, the conflict was characterized by war crimes, guerrilla warfare, and internal civil wars.
Weighing on the war was the unique position that Algeria held. Unlike the rest of the French colonies, Algeria was declared an integral part of France in 1848, with Algiers, Oran, and Constantine organized as French departments. Subsequently, up to 200,000 Muslim Algerians served as regular soldiers in the French Army. With the outbreak of the Algerian War in 1954, many had their loyalty tested between serving their state or their people. The Harkis had various reasons for serving against the Algerian decolonial movement. Primarily, high unemployment rates among Algeria’s Muslim population made serving in the French army an attractive source of income. Many Harkis felt little devotion to France but sought a stable livelihood for their families. Additionally, as part of the FLN’s political tactics, by 1956, they had co-opted and dissolved all other rival nationalist groups, attacking their members to push their agenda. Thus, some Algerians joined the French Army in order to avenge the death of relatives. Conversely, some Harkis fought for France as they had traditionally, and generationally, served France.
With a substantial number of Algerian Muslims fighting for France as auxiliary forces, the end of the war prompted questions about their fate. Though according to the peace agreement, the Evian Accords, no one, Harkis or Pieds-Noirs (Algerian-born Europeans), would suffer the consequences of their position during the war after independence, the realities on the ground looked vastly different. Considering them to be national traitors, widespread reprisals occurred against the Harkis, with lynch mobs, often coordinated by the FLN, killing at least 30,000 and potentially, according to some estimates, up to 150,000, including the Harkis and their families.
Charles de Gaulle’s government initially banned the migration of the Harkis into metropolitan France following the end of the war. Regardless, many officers disobeyed and helped their fellow soldiers and families escape. Estimates indicate that about 90,000 Harkis and their families found refuge in France. However, having no right to residency, they were confined to “temporary” internment camps surrounded by barbed wire. Supervised at all times, Harki communities, both within and outside these camps, were subject to destitute conditions.
Although they had served as soldiers for France, many Harkis were housed in these transit camps, tents, or huts. Many were put in industrial towns or council estates, but 69 “villages”, subject to 25 families per village, were built by the state in rural areas— in Languedoc-Roussillon, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, and Corsica—to house these communities. Despite some efforts by the state to “integrate” the Harkis, they were placed on the margins of French society on both a geographic and social scale.
A recent ruling, Tamazount and Others v. France, by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), saw five descendants of the Harkis standing against the state of France for their human rights violations against the Harkis. The ECHR condemned the state of France for inflicting upon the Harkis "inhuman or degrading treatment" (Article 3) in the Bias camp, one of the temporary internment camps, as well as for failing to respect their "right to privacy", as stipulated in Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights.
In this context, a series of strikes and demonstrations, beginning in the early 1970s but continuing until now, brought public attention to the case of the Harkis. Short-term measures were adopted through the 1970s and 1980s by the state, but demands for compensation and recognition were, for the most part, ignored. Though some laws were enacted, the Harki community still suffered from various socioeconomic issues that were rarely acknowledged and even less addressed.
Caught in the crossfire of the nuances of the war, the Harkis are perceived as traitors among Algerians, with slur-like connotations of the word Harki. In France, they still serve as a reminder of how the country took a firm stance against the very people who fought to maintain the Empire’s power and control.
Feelings of abandonment remain present within the Harki community. Though the government has begun to acknowledge the importance of the Harkis in the last two decades, as Macron admitted, France "failed in its duty towards the Harkis, their wives, and their children.” Speeches and commemorations of war acknowledge their abandonment, but in law, too little is done too late.
Given their socioeconomic context, with high levels of societal alienation and illiteracy, there remains to be little literature on their experiences. Few memoirs exist to capture their struggle in either France or Algeria, but secondary literature has been vital in recording their history.
The children of the Harkis have begun to capture testimonies to maintain the memory of this uniquely situated community. The hope is that their recorded history will not just stand as a footnote but a sobering reminder of the French colonial legacy and the consequences of the abandonment of a people. While recent efforts towards recognizing and acknowledging the struggle of the Harkis is taking steps towards the right direction, there is a bigger picture. By preserving the memory of the Harkis and advocating for justice, real justice, we can prevent future cases of forgotten communities.