Resistance and the Fight for Justice: The Algerian War through Colonial Archives

Abstract

This article examines the strategic role of propaganda in the Algerian War (1954-1962), highlighting how the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) combined psychological strategies to wage a multidimensional struggle for justice and self-determination. Throughout the conflict and the years leading up to it, the FLN framed their resistance as a fight for justice, seeking to “sauvegarder notre dignité humaine [et] pour defender nos idées de justice et liberté” (“La Propagande”, 1957, 2). Confronted with a militarily superior French army, the FLN developed a propaganda system codified in the 1957 directive “La Propagande” to frame the conflict as a struggle against colonial injustice. Domestically, these efforts mobilized Algerians to the nationalist cause; internationally, they reframed the conflict as a moral and political indictment of colonialism, appealing to the United Nations and Afro-Asian solidarity movements. The FLN used propaganda as both a weapon of resistance and a tool for legitimacy. Through a critical analysis of FLN propaganda and directives in the French military archives held by the Service historique de la Défense in Vincennes and the United Nations archives, this article argues that propaganda played a pivotal role in the Algerians’ resistance and advancing the broader pursuit of justice and independence.

Publication Title

Contemporary French and Francophone Studies

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