The president of the LR senators takes over. French colonization in Africa was marked by “dark hours”, but also “beautiful hours”, Bruno Retailleau said on Tuesday, criticizing the “perpetual regret” that, according to him, “weakens” the country.
“Colonization is, of course, hours that have been dark, but they are also hours that have been beautiful, with outstretched hands,” he declared on Sud Radio.
The Vendée senator initially referred to Morocco’s “silence” in the face of the aid offered by France after Friday’s deadly earthquake. “The sign of the failure of Emmanuel Macron’s African policy,” said the head of the senatorial right, linking the recent coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Three countries where “a form of anti-French hatred was expressed,” which is “without a doubt (an) effect of colonization,” he admitted. But “when I go to Africa, they don’t tell me that,” she added, “they tell me that they expect a France that does not repent, that is strong and that assumes its responsibilities.”
“Shame”, “ignominy”
This statement did not go unnoticed, especially among the left who protested on social networks. The first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure, bitterly saw it as a return to “the time when the white man brought civilization to the natives who had not yet entered History.” “Fortunately LR is there to save us from regret,” he lamented.
The EELV deputy, Sandrine Rousseau, for her part, criticized the thesis as a whole: “Colonization was an invasion, a unilateral takeover of entire countries.”
Other members of the Nupes have also used the adjective shower. The statements are “ignominious”, according to the PS deputy of Guadeloupe, Élie Califer, and “abject” for Arthur Delaporte. “Bruno Retailleau will continue to live through ‘the good times’ of stagnant political statements,” added MP Boris Vallaud.
The environmentalist and former Macronist Aurélien Taché directly mentioned Senator LR when denouncing “statements that engender anti-France and the happiness of Russian imperialism.” “What a shame, Bruno Retailleau,” he said on his X account, formerly Twitter.
The latter also responded immediately. “Let us not hide anything about the excesses and errors of colonization, but we also highlight what France has contributed as positive: the schooling of children, access to health,” he said. And he added: “Manipulating history is the worst way to build the future.”
Source: BFM TV
