Pied noir soldiers balked at shooting Muslim demonstrators to save Algérie française

Evidence

If the pied noir attitude to the indigenous Algerian could be summed up in a word, it was, simply, indifference. He was regarded, says Pierre Nora, “as an anonymous figure of whom it sufficed to know that one provided his welfare, so that one had no need to be concerned about him”. In so far as he supplied the labour essential for exploiting the country, he was simply “a part of the patrimoine immobilier [real estate inheritance]”. At best he would be treated with paternalism, fairness and a kind of formal acceptance of his different religion and culture. But too often he was regarded with disdain, and from a vantage of superiority; which manifested itself in many different ways, and more insidiously among the poorer levels of whites where the frictional contact was closest. Bicot, melon, figuier, sale raton — there was a plethora of derogatory slang for an inferior race that sprang all to readily to the lips. Equally a host of preconceived inherited notions about the Algerian were accepted uncritically, without examining either their veracity or causation: he was incorrigibly idle and incompetent; he only understood force; he was an innate criminal, and an instinctive rapist. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 161 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The pied noir lobby immediately demanded violent suppression of the revolt; The pieds noirs, not Muslims, triggered the events sealing Algérie française’s fate; The Belcourt crowd erupted into racial violence against pied noir residents (+3 more)

Related

• Pied noir racism toward Algerians was rooted in indifference rather than overt hatred (similarity 0.88)
• The pied noir lobby immediately demanded violent suppression of the revolt (similarity 0.87)
• The pieds noirs, not Muslims, triggered the events sealing Algérie française’s fate (similarity 0.87)
• Pieds noirs never honestly wanted Algérie française but a protected white-ruled Algeria (similarity 0.86)
• Pied noir denial and metropolitan distraction forestalled any French response to the revolt (similarity 0.83)
• Pied noir settlers related to Algerians through indifference and paternalism (similarity 0.83)
• Pied noir survival in Algeria was untenable even without O.A.S. violence (similarity 0.83)
• Pieds noirs actually wanted economic privilege, not formal French Algeria (similarity 0.82)
• Pied noir loyalty to France rested on war service they felt earned full Frenchness (similarity 0.82)
• Pied noirs justified Frenchness by blood shed in two world wars (similarity 0.81)
• Pied noir civilians enthusiastically participated in killing O.A.S. targets directly (similarity 0.81)
• Pied noir militants read self-determination as betrayal of the war dead (similarity 0.81)
• Pieds noirs and metropolitan French spoke different political languages. (similarity 0.81)
• Pied noir factions demanded a second front against FLN and Paris alike. (similarity 0.81)
• Every French reform effort in Algeria was blocked by pied noir pressure groups (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Pieds noirs never honestly wanted Algérie française but a protected white-ruled Algeria #complicates (0.55)
• Pied noir racism toward Algerians was rooted in indifference rather than overt hatred #complicates (0.50) — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 161
• Pied noir denial and metropolitan distraction forestalled any French response to the revolt #responds-to (0.40)