Leftist Europeans supported distant decolonizations while denying Algeria’s own independence question

Evidence

When it broke out on November 1, 1954, the Algerian Revolution was suddenly to reveal our ambivalence. We had pronounced ourselves in favor of the right of the Vietnamese people and the Tunisian people to their independence. These positions were purely theoretical, however, as the total absence of political life in our community afforded no opportunity for concrete attitudes. As for the rights of the Algerian people, the question did not even arise, and we took refuge by comfortably and magically denying the problem. — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 544

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the ‘paternalism’ critique later developed by postcolonial scholars — comfortably supporting distant causes while ignoring the proximate colonial situation. — connects to: French colonialism denied that Europeans could genuinely support Algerian independence; The Algerian Communist Party sided with French settlers rather than Muslim nationalists; Metropolitan terrorism alienated the French Left that supported Algerian independence (+3 more)

Related

• French colonialism denied that Europeans could genuinely support Algerian independence (similarity 0.94)
• No genuinely independent left existed among Algeria’s European democrats before the revolution (similarity 0.89)
• French republicans denied Algerians the very liberty they taught them (similarity 0.88)
• The French Left’s inaction eliminated any liberal alternative for Algeria’s Europeans (similarity 0.87)
• The Algerian Communist Party sided with French settlers rather than Muslim nationalists (similarity 0.87)
• Algeria’s liberal European third force collapsed once the French Left aligned with settler fascism. (similarity 0.82)
• A liberal colonia could have kept Europeans in independent Algeria. (similarity 0.82)
• Algeria’s Europeans grew conscious of Algerian nationality during the Revolution (similarity 0.81)
• Any social revolution in Algeria required breaking colonial ties first (similarity 0.81)
• Metropolitan terrorism alienated the French Left that supported Algerian independence (similarity 0.80)
• France could not contemplate Algerian withdrawal because Algeria was legally part of France (similarity 0.79)
• Algerians credited France’s Algerian achievements as benefiting French settlers, not natives. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• The French Left’s inaction eliminated any liberal alternative for Algeria’s Europeans #exemplifies (0.75) — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 568
• France could not contemplate Algerian withdrawal because Algeria was legally part of France #qualifies (0.60) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1649