In our CANOPE series (ex CNDP) is a goldmine: this file proposed to teachers on Algeria by the same CNDP that can be found here: https://www.reseau-canope.fr/musee/fileadmin/user_upload/2019_dossier_pedagogique_algerie.pdf?fbclid=IwAR39ATfUSU4LkaUMlj54YWUBlUGRfkoxOW8d2CHKn80XVSkozqBmnKdmbf8
The documentary and the file can be viewed here: https://www.reseau-canope.fr/algerie/#0-Accueil
We see the memory glorified there by Abd-el-Kader and Sidi-Brahim, and the criticism of "French propaganda which manages to transform into a glorious episode linked to the fierce resistance of French soldiers. These images also glorify the great military figures who distinguished themselves in Algeria: the Duke of Aumale, Marshal Bugeaud, General Lamoricière, etc." (p. 7)
Finally, on p.8 we find an astonishing description of the Algerian collectivist paradise, based on the evocation of an "Algerian tradition" 130 years before the creation of the country and after 400 years of Ottoman colonization, ruined by "predatory France". Certainly the question of the embryo of the Algerian nation remains complicated as Gilles Manceron explains[1]
The model mentioned (joint ownership of land) deserves a comment, so that the teacher can be sure that it is not anti-liberal propaganda, but the designer of the file remains discreet:
"Until 1830, agricultural land on Algerian soil was undivided and exploited collectively. The new colonial power removes this by applying it the European system of divided lands between owners.
The file finally presents an evocation of the Algerian school before colonization ruined by "the colonial power". We finally see the "responsibility" of France in the flight of the persecuted Algerian elites, further causing the ruin of a country:
The other profound upheaval brought about by colonization concerns traditional school and religious functioning. Funding for Koranic schools (primary level, where one learns to read, recite the Koran and write based on its content), madrasahs ou madrasas (which can be compared to our current high schools) and mosques, until then insured by the so-called goods habous (whose usufruct is devoted to a religious or public utility institution), is suspended. These fundamental places in the functioning of traditional society are becoming impoverished so, like the zaouias, brotherhoods bringing together a school, a convent and an inn around the tomb of a sacred figure of Islam whose name they bear. French schools gradually replaced Koranic schools, zaouias and madrasas. This impact of colonization caused the flight of Muslim elites to the Middle East, and therefore a cultural impoverishment in Algeria."
We return to this on p. 11 to show that the local “colonial lobby” until 1945 was a brake on development:
"The main cause lies in the opposition of local European notables – embodying the “colonial lobby” – to the access of Maghrebi youth to republican education. Thus, from 1884 to 1908, the rector of the Algiers academy, Charles Jeanmaire (mentioned on panel 7), sought to develop access to education for Muslim youth, in direct application of Jules Ferry's school policy. This commitment aroused very strong opposition from the Europeans established in Algeria. This situation of profound educational discrimination gradually improved only after 1945. »
The story of Algerian history is complex. It should be reconsidered in the version proposed so much is it biased. It is the novel of a country constituted then colonized by a force destructive of progress (the French "colonial power", with the exception of no other). This story should be taken with a pinch of salt, to say the least. We refer to the abundant literature on the subject...
