Evening star., 1955-10-09
Algeria Is Most Vexing
OF French Africo Issues

SSUS
able to resist long enough fol
help to arrive.
Have No Illusions
There is little Illusion about
what the forces Of order" are
up against. According to the
French. the nationalist move
ment in Algeria is confined to q
relatively few intellectuals who
draw for support on the most
backward elements Of the rural
population. There are also large
numbers Of Algerians who have
learned their nationalist creed
and their anti-French bias in the
slums Of MarSeilles and Paris.
But the major inspiration for
revolt comes from outside. The
nationalist movement In Algeria
has its links with those Of Tu-
nisia and Morocco. And still
more important Is the inspira-
ton Of other Arab nations-in-
cluding the leading U.N. critics
of French colonial policy in
Africa-whose own theories about
coping with the situation are
summed UP bluntly in the fol-
lowing monitored broadcast from
Radio Damascus on September
10. beamed at Algeria:
mo compromise is possible.
The one way to settle this prob
lem is with blood and the sword.
Treat your imperialist oppressors
the same way they treat you,
Kill them. Burn their houses. The
souls Of 10000 martyrs killed by
the French In the last 40 days
win not rest until you have slain
10000 bloody French imperial
lists. Kill them before they kill
you--exterminate them!"
Social, Economic Unrest
The root Of the problem, how
ever. is not simple effective prop
aganda. Broadcasts such as
this make up the regular fare
from government controlled
radio stations In Damascus,
Cairo. Budapest and Tetouan in
Spanish Morocco. The fact that
they find a large and ready
audience in French territory is
due to deep-lying social and
economic unrest there,
The French are not shy about
their record in Algeria. Starting
virtually from scratch they have
built there the foundations of
. modern community in an area
four times the size Of France.
They have introduced industry
where none existed before,
brought large areas under culti-
They have built fine
cities. roads and railways. They
have built hospitals and schools.
wiped out pestillence and offered
educational opportunities to
Individual Algerians equal to
those Of any Frenchman.
With . large measure Of sue
cess, q primitive tribal structure
has been adapted to the political
Of a modern civil
Ized state. Algerians send dele
gates to the National Assembly
n Paris. elect members to their
own local parliarnents and name
The leaders Of their local COM
Population Gains
The net result is hair -raising
In so years. the population
Of Algeria has quadrupled. 1t
is one-third higher today than
before the war and is increasing
at q rate Of 25O.000 a year.
Running against this popula-
lion treadmill. the French In
for all their effort. are
making progress backward. Com
to q policy Of raising liv-
lng standards to European levels,
hey face the inevitable proba-
oility that living standards must
soon begin to decline. The proc
ess. indeed. may be said to have
started already In a situation
where. with 80 per cent of the
still illiterate, the
number of children grows faster
than schools can be built to ac-
commodate them.
The simple fact is that Algeria
Is still q poor country where a
arge proportion Of the popula-
ion is unemployed and where
the French capacity for economic
t$75 million last year
doubled this year, has its limits.