Pied noir denial and metropolitan complacency froze Algeria into a vicious deadlock
Evidence
Most disappointingly of all perhaps for the F.L.N. was the fact that, after the initial shock of All Saints had subsided, the pieds noirs resumed their way of life as if absolutely nothing had happened; if anything, they had averted their gaze still further from the root causes of Algerian discontent. … In metropolitan France, Mendès-France had not been deflected from carrying out his North American tour in mid-November, and it was still not yet considered necessary to decree a state of emergency in Algeria. Deadlock threatened. Says Pierre Leulliette: “Fear engenders cruelty; cruelty, fear, insanity and then paralysis. In the centre of Dante’s circle, the damned remained motionless.” This vicious circle now began in Algeria. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 332
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Censorship and metropolitan distraction masked the gravity of the Algiers crisis.; French metropolitan public had grown apathetic about Algeria by late 1961.; The European settler minority is the central obstacle to ending the Algerian war (+10 more)
Related
- French metropolitan public had grown apathetic about Algeria by late 1961. (similarity 0.93)
- Censorship and metropolitan distraction masked the gravity of the Algiers crisis. (similarity 0.88)
- Pied noir survival in Algeria was untenable even without O.A.S. violence (similarity 0.85)
- The European settler minority is the central obstacle to ending the Algerian war (similarity 0.84)
- Every French reform effort in Algeria was blocked by pied noir pressure groups (similarity 0.83)
- Pied noir control of the Algerian Assembly blocked every major reform since 1909. (similarity 0.82)
- Pied noir soldiers balked at shooting Muslim demonstrators to save Algérie française (similarity 0.81)
- The barricade massacre crossed a catastrophic frontier in the Algerian war. (similarity 0.81)
- Pied noir denial and metropolitan distraction forestalled any French response to the revolt (similarity 0.80)
- Pied noir racism toward Algerians was rooted in indifference rather than overt hatred (similarity 0.80)
- The pied noir dilemma left its people dispossessed in both countries. (similarity 0.80)
- Pieds noirs never honestly wanted Algérie française but a protected white-ruled Algeria (similarity 0.79)
- Metropolitan France was largely oblivious to the gravity of the Algiers crisis. (similarity 0.78)
- The pieds noirs, not Muslims, triggered the events sealing Algérie française’s fate (similarity 0.78)