By Ali Rıza Taşdelen
My first thought on reading the French military officers’ declaration published on April 21st in the extreme right-wing, xenophobe, islamophobic and racist magazine Valeurs Actuelle was: there is nothing here worth being analyzed. In summary, they were saying in a racist discourse that there was not enough fight against Islamism, thus provoking politically.
The French government led by Macron is already pursuing an institutionally racist policy against Islam. This policy is not limited to discourse, it produces new laws and spreads hate against Muslims.
United in racism and hostility to Islam
They are provoking Armenians and Turks living in France against each other with the lie of an Armenian Genocide. They place hostility against Turks in their school books and poison young brains. Macron did not stop there and brought up a law draft on “struggle against Islamic separatism” on the agenda, which foresaw interventions in all aspects of daily life of Muslims living in France. Than the draft became law, its content untouched, but its title changed to ‘Principles to strengthen respect to republican values’.
In this sense, the generals and the Macron Government follow the same line of hostility against Islam. They also agree on France’s imperialist expansion. The generals defend all the barbarian acts they have committed in Africa and West Asia. And who has given the order to these acts? Macron!
Another frequent question is whether these generals are pro-American or not. If one was to state that these were pro-Atlanticist generals who were trying to get Macron back in line, that the question arises, where Macron is currently positioned.
Since he has taken over the government, Macron has demonstrated in his 4-year-long governmental practice from Africa to West Asia, from the Eastern Mediterranean to Ukraine and the Caucasus that he is the most determined defender of Atlanticist interests in Europe. Macron’s passionate “Pro-European” positioning should not fool anyone.
The question is frequently asked because the US had realized Gladio activities in the past in order to bring France, which was hesitating concerning Russia and Ukraine, back in line.
Another question is: Has the US provoked the generals against Macron, because the President is defending Europe’s “strategic autonomy”? I would answer with a question: Does Macron really take a positioning against the US?
Pro-American coup against De Gaulle
Another confusing aspect was the fact that generals’ declaration was made public on April 21st.
Back then, De Gaulle was following the policy to solve the Algeria Question by meeting and negotiating with the Algerian resistance. This policy of him had caused great discomfort in the US, and Washington had answered by setting the Gladio, the NATO-connected secret organization in motion and organizing a coup d’état against De Gaulle.
On April 21, 1961, the Organisation d’Armée Secrete (OAS), comprised of military officers rejecting Algeria’s independence, had declared to have taken over the power in Algiers and thus staged o coup d’état. The Spokesperson of the Elysée Palace himself had announced immediately after the OAS attempt, that “The generals participating in the complot were enjoying the support of the US government.”
In other words, the coup attempt from April 21st 1961 pro-American. It was undertaken against a General de Gaulle, who had positioned himself against the NATO and the US. The contemporary generals who wrote a provocative and racist open letter targeting Macron may have taken the coupists from 1961 as inspiration, but Macron clearly is not another de Gaulle.
Second declaration
A second open letter is published on May 9th. It declares support for the retired generals who signed the statement of April 21st and states “some of us have seen enemy fire in Afghanistan, Mali, Central African Republic and other places. Some of us have lıst companions. They have given their lives to eliminate the Islamism that you compromise here on our own soil.”
The second latter was warning that, if precautions were not taken immediately, France would descend into chaos, living violence in its streets erupting not from military officers but from “civil insurgency”. The letter used the formulation “a civil war is prepared silently, and you are well aware of it.”
The generals aim in both letters on the popular movement that is going to rise and propose repression.
The military officers have chosen April 21st as a symbolic date. They are racists. There are maybe pro-American officers among them, but their initiative is not guided and planned by the US.
And Macron is, evidently, not de Gaulle.
Then we have to ask: With France going to presidential election in a year, who benefitted from the generals letters? What is their objective? Which forces are behind the generals?
It is expected that Macron and Marine le Pen will make it to the second round in the elections, facing each other. How does the generals’ letter fit into that context?
We will seek for answers in the next part.
To be continued…