In Algeria, saying historical truths can send to jail

Evoking the colonial origins of Algeria’s current borders is a taboo issue in Algeria that can send those who venture to tell the truth to jail.

That was the fate of Boualem Sansal who said in an interview with a French TV channel that western territories of today’s Algeria have been part of Morocco.

Sansal has been behind bars since mid-November, facing charges of terrorism and undermining national unity for saying historical truths about the colonial history of Algeria’s borders.

Algeria’s president ranted at Sansal calling him an “imposture…who does not know his father,” in a violent reaction to Sansal’s remarks which are known to all the globe’s historians, except Algerians.

When Algeria obtained its independence in 1962, it inherited large swathes of lands amputated by colonial powers from Morocco and Tunisia.

Morocco rejected to negotiate the borders with French colonial powers, opting instead for backing the Algerian resistance and the provisional government GPRA, which promised the late King Mohammed V to redraw borders upon independence.

Discussing the borders took the form of the Sand War after the military coup that set Algeria on a territorial consolidation course to the detriment of its neighbors, notably Morocco.

While Morocco has no territorial claims in nowadays Algeria, Rabat has called for normal ties and freedom of movement that would make the borders a mere administrative issue instead of a divisive factor.

Algeria, under its current leadership, has made history a new battle ground. It has instructed its mouthpieces in the media and the academic circle to demonize Morocco and erase any Moroccan contribution to Algerian independence.

As a nation-state, Algeria in its current form has no precedent in history and should rather accept the fact that it is a state forged by colonialism instead of fabricating a false national narrative based on falsifying history, because history repeats itself.