This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/17/how-the-french-state-was-corrupted-by-its-use-of-torture-in-algeria-conflict
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| How the French state was corrupted by its use of torture in Algeria conflict | How the French state was corrupted by its use of torture in Algeria conflict |
| (4 months later) | |
| Your report (France admits to torture during Algerian conflict, 14 September) says allegations of torture being used systematically by the French government during the Algerian war of independence were previously “shrouded in secrecy and denials”. However hard the French government of the day tried to hide these facts, in 1963, within a year of independence, Pierre Vidal-Naquet wrote a book, translated and published in the UK in 1963 as Torture: Cancer of Democracy, France and Algeria 1954-62, describing in detail the extent to which the police and the army used torture as a matter of routine. He argued that the horrific practice of torture, founded on both class and racial prejudice, had become endemic in France despite the fond belief of most French people that it was a “characteristically foreign institution” – one that France, with its constitution based profoundly on the rights of human beings, would never subscribe to. He revealed just how far the cancerous effects of torture had spread throughout France (of which Algeria was then claimed to be a part) on both sides of the Mediterranean during the tragedy of the war, corrupting the institutions of the state at all levels. Gillian DalleyLondon | Your report (France admits to torture during Algerian conflict, 14 September) says allegations of torture being used systematically by the French government during the Algerian war of independence were previously “shrouded in secrecy and denials”. However hard the French government of the day tried to hide these facts, in 1963, within a year of independence, Pierre Vidal-Naquet wrote a book, translated and published in the UK in 1963 as Torture: Cancer of Democracy, France and Algeria 1954-62, describing in detail the extent to which the police and the army used torture as a matter of routine. He argued that the horrific practice of torture, founded on both class and racial prejudice, had become endemic in France despite the fond belief of most French people that it was a “characteristically foreign institution” – one that France, with its constitution based profoundly on the rights of human beings, would never subscribe to. He revealed just how far the cancerous effects of torture had spread throughout France (of which Algeria was then claimed to be a part) on both sides of the Mediterranean during the tragedy of the war, corrupting the institutions of the state at all levels. Gillian DalleyLondon |
| • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com |
| • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters |
| • Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition | • Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition |
| France | France |
| Torture | Torture |
| Europe | Europe |
| Algeria | Algeria |
| Africa | Africa |
| Middle East and North Africa | Middle East and North Africa |
| letters | letters |
| Share on Facebook | Share on Facebook |
| Share on Twitter | Share on Twitter |
| Share via Email | Share via Email |
| Share on LinkedIn | Share on LinkedIn |
| Share on Pinterest | Share on Pinterest |
| Share on WhatsApp | Share on WhatsApp |
| Share on Messenger | Share on Messenger |
| Reuse this content | Reuse this content |