In a surreal segment aired on France Inter, journalist Léa Salamé flippantly suggested a grotesque “exchange”: trading the 9,000 skulls of Algerian men and women stored in Paris’ Musée de l’Homme for the supposed “liberation” of the controversial writer Boualem Sansal. This offhand remark, delivered with alarming nonchalance, betrays a profound ignorance of colonial history, a troubling contempt for Algerian memory, and an indecency that demands condemnation.
When ‘Humor’ Becomes an Insult to the Dead
What does such a suggestion truly signify? That even in death, decapitated and displaced, Algerian bodies may still be used as bargaining chips? That a mutilated national memory can be reduced to a rhetorical device in a radio broadcast? Behind this tasteless comment lies an unspeakable idea: the remains of anti-colonial resistance fighters, displayed as trophies by a former empire, are still treated as negotiable objects of French discretion.
A Colonial Memory Still Denied
The 9,000 skulls in question are not mere anthropological artifacts. They are the last remains of women and men who resisted French colonization — many beheaded and shipped to France as macabre souvenirs. Their restitution is not a symbolic gesture; it is a moral and historical obligation. It is not up for debate, much less exchange.
Writer Xavier Le Clerc, also speaking on France Inter, reminded listeners of a horrifying historical fact: in the 19th century, the French army used the bones of Algerians — along with those of animals — in large furnaces to bleach sugar beet molasses. Emir Abdelkader, the Algerian leader and theologian, condemned the act at the time, describing it as a form of cannibalism. That such a revelation was followed by a glib “proposal” from a French journalist is a chilling illustration of moral blindness.
Boualem Sansal: A Writer or a Pretext?
Boualem Sansal, the writer at the center of this bizarre suggestion, is no doubt a controversial figure in Algeria — often criticized for his political positions and perceived alignment with neocolonial intellectual circles in France. But regardless of one’s stance on Sansal, the notion of comparing his status to the fate of 9,000 decapitated martyrs is an insult to both logic and justice. Sansal is alive, publishing, and traveling. The skulls in the museum are silent witnesses to one of the darkest chapters of French colonialism.
The Colonial Arrogance Repackaged in 21st-Century Media
What is most disturbing is not only the suggestion itself, but what it reveals: a lingering French arrogance toward Algeria’s trauma. In the eyes of many French elites, Algeria remains a symbolic playground where memory is trivialized, pain is aestheticized, and history is distorted or erased. When Algerians demand justice, they are met with sarcasm, deflection, or disdain.
Conclusion: No Room for Bargaining with Dignity
The 9,000 skulls of Algerians are not tokens for exchange, not tools for political leverage, and certainly not props for media entertainment. They are sacred remains — a testament to the crimes of colonialism and the resistance of a people. France must return them without condition, hesitation, or calculation. True reconciliation begins not with literary debates or radio quips, but with the solemn recognition of past atrocities and the unwavering respect for those who resisted them.
By Belgacem Merbah
Comments
Post a Comment