O.A.S. leaders rationalized terrorism as theater addressing assumed Arab mentality

Evidence

The explanation given by one of the O.A.S. leaders for the “scorched earth policy” is as follows: “You have to remember Arab mentality — to impress the Arabs, you’ve got to make a solemn performance of killing a man. Don’t just shoot him, but put him up against a wall with a firing squad. In revolutionary war the riposte must be, if possible, both rapid and spectacular. So it was with the ‘scorched earth policy’. We had to do something that would really make them understand the significance of what was happening….” — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1626

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘spectacular’ killing as performative message connects to the book’s treatment of ritualized violence by both sides and to the Savagery of Peace concept’s dark twin. — connects to: The O.A.S. sabotaged peace talks by assassinating moderates and Muslims. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 1481
• SEED: The admitted logic that violence must be a spectacle to ‘impress the Arabs’ is a useful primary-source datum for writing about the racialized presumptions embedded in settler terror tactics.

Related

• The O.A.S. sabotaged peace talks by assassinating moderates and Muslims. (similarity 0.80)