Daily Times

Emmanuel Macron’s decisive victory in France’s recent presidential election signifies a new chapter in French politics. In a country where traditional parties have dominated the political landscape, his achievement is all the more staggering given that he has emerged on the platform of his newly-founded party En Marche.

Moreover, France’s rejection of far-right hardliner Marine Le Pen indicates that right wing sentiment across Europe has not gained the traction initially envisaged by many, as evidenced in recent election results in Holland and Austria.

France’s far-right has had a marked resurgence in the wake of recent deadly terrorist attacks. Though National Front leader Marine Le Pen was able to double her father’s score from 2002, she was unable to surpass the critical 40percent target as was feared by many.

At just 39-years of age, Macron is France’s youngest elected president. Perhaps this has shaped his outlook on France’s colonial past — a deeply polarising subject to this day. In an interview with Le Figaro in February, he had asserted that France’s 132-year occupation of Algeria would today be categorised as a ‘crime against humanity’ and urged France to apologise for transgressions committed during the eight-year Algerian war of independence that ended in 1962.

His comments drew sharp criticism from Marine Le Pen, who responded on Facebook: “Is there anything worse when you want to become president than going abroad to accuse the country you want to lead of crimes against humanity?”

A similar sentiment was echoed by former prime minister and defeated presidential candidate Francois Fillon, “This dislike of our history, this continual repentance, is unworthy of a candidate for the presidency of the Republic.”

In spite of this condemnation from his political rivals, Macron held fast to his position, adding in a video statement sent to Reuters, “We must find the courage to call things by their name…Are we condemned to forever live in the shadows of this traumatic experience for our two countries?”

Though his stance could have severely eroded his electoral base, Macron ultimately proved popular enough with voters across the political spectrum to secure an overwhelming majority.

Rather than a ‘dislike’ of history as Fillon suggests, Macron’s approach signifies an unwillingness to continue with an elision of the past. The reverberations of France’s protracted occupation of Algeria are keenly felt to this day and continue to be the subject of intense debate. A denial of ‘this traumatic experience’, as Macron states, only perpetuates the pain of a complex and violent chapter in the history of both countries. Macron’s call for the recognition of a painful colonial past represents a progressive approach towards France’s imperial legacy.

France must not cede this opportunity to recalibrate its narrative with former colonies still smarting from the ravages that colonialism invariably engenders. As France’s new president has signalled, an acknowledgment of the past would go some way towards healing pain which still runs deep, enabling both France and Algeria to move forward and perhaps craft a more constructive, mutually beneficial relationship.

This would build on former President Francois Hollande’s acceptance of French injustice in Algeria. During his visit to Algeria in 2012, Hollande had stated, “For 132 years, Algeria was subjected to a profoundly unjust and brutal system of colonisation… I recognise here the suffering that colonisation has inflicted on the Algerian people.”

Born after France lost her overseas territories, Macron represents a new post-colonial generation of French politicians who could redefine the country’s often fraught relations with her former colonies, ushering a new chapter of international relations. At its apogee, France’s empire stretched across the globe, however Algeria always represented its most prized imperial possession — leading to a violent war for independence in which over one million people died.

Instead of an unflagging reluctance to come to terms with the past, Macron has offered a chance to shed the politics of anger and resentment, allowing for an acceptance of common history and mutual anguish between two countries which will always remain powerfully linked through language, culture and history.

The writer is the founding editor of Blue Chip magazine. She tweets @MashaalGauhar