France-Algeria: Colonial Past Lingers In Immigrant Exploitation By Hussein Sani

The Algerian parliament recently unanimously passed a law declaring France’s 130 year -old colonial rule (1830-1962), a ‘’state crime.’’ France’s colonial past, however, lingers in labour injustice, racial bias and unacknowledged suffering.

While the law confirms France’s legal responsibility for its colonial past, it also made an already fragile diplomatic relationship more visible. Paris called this move hostile, while the law asks France to face crimes ranging from nuclear tests and extra-legal executions to organized torture and looting of Algeria’s resources. It also asks for ‘’full and fair’’ compensation for the material and emotional damage caused by these crimes.

The Algerian war with France for independence destroyed its peasant economy. About 2.35 million peasants who survived military operations were forced into ‘’Re- groupment Centers’’ surrounded by barbed wire and mines, and France’s scorched-earth policies destroyed 8,000 villages, took livestock and left the peasants without tools or animals.

During French colonial rule, Algeria was structured as a supplier of raw materials and cheap labour, while France acted as the center of processing and management. When Algeria gained independence in 1962, France changed from extracting resources from Algeria to extracting the country’s human capital till today.

This shift from direct colonial exploitation to the contemporary reliance on Algerian migrants as a source of low-cost labour is not a random break with the past, but rather an evolution of an asymmetric relationship system. The need by Algerians to migrate for survival replaced formal colonial control.

It ensured the old colonial relationship continued, through migrant labor inside French territory by systematically allowing North African immigrant workers into the country as France faced serious labor shortage in rebuilding roads, buildings, subway lines and industrial infrastructure after 1945 the second world war ended.

These men and women and their descendants who under colonial era worked on French-owned farms in Algeria for extremely low wages, out of economic hardship, migrated to France and silently added to France’s wealth as cheap labour. The economic benefit France got from this labor reportedly is about 350-535 million euros.

These jobs were among the heaviest and most dangerous, often avoided by French workers, and even when skilled, immigrants had no chance of promotion. Given that working and living conditions were tough, workers had to live in crowded, dirty barracks near construction sites. Accidents like collapses, falls and electric shocks were common.

Exposure to toxic things like asbestos and lead raised the risk of lung disease, poisoning and cancer. Medical care was almost nonexistent. In the industry, companies like Renault, Citroen, Simca, and Peugeot relied heavily on North African labor. 95% of them were reportedly classed as unskilled, and assigned to the heaviest and most dangerous sections.

These workers reportedly encountered racial and class disparities, with 87.2% of Algerians, 81.4% of Moroccans and 70.3% of Tunisians confined to low-paying, semi-skilled jobs, while French and European migrant workers were placed in higher status, better-paid positions. Between 1954 and 1962, the number of Algerian immigrants in France grew fast, surpassing other immigrant groups. France became highly dependent on this work to keep its industrial and construction projects running.

Its ageing population created new demand for young workers, so young Algerians migrants filled labor shortages in key sectors. Their work supports the French social security system, which relies on a sufficient working-age population to fund pensions and healthcare. Today, approximately 40% of caregivers for the elderly in France are of North African origin.

Algeria’s economic dependency persisted through trade agreements and French investments in Algeria. France maintained its influence through Bilateral migration agreements such as the 1964 treaty that formalized the recruitment of Algerian workers. Visa and immigration policies allowed France to control migration flows. Financial channels, including remittances sent by migrants back to Algeria became a critical source of foreign currency for the weak Algerian economy.

The French cultural influence, particularly the continued dominance of the French language as a prerequisite for education and career development have ensured the French continual influence in Algeria. The quota system for Algerian workers effectively replicated colonial-era practices of labor recruitment, but now with the formal consent of an independent state. A system of social segregation has persisted, evolving from colonial hierarchies into post-colonial inequalities.

Cultural stereotypes evolved into modern prejudices. The image of ‘’Algerians as cheap labour’’ persists in public discourse. A narrative has emerged about the ‘’inability to integrate’’ among Maghrebi migrants – echoing colonial ideas of cultural inferiority.

Algeria’s independence was a deep historical defeat for France. After this defeat, and sadly continuing today, Algerians became the target of growing racist stereotypes in France. Politicians and media linked them to crime and disorder, stigmatizing them in society. In French media during the 1970s and 1980s, Algerians were often portrayed as ‘’temporary workers’’ who did not need full societal inclusion – a direct echo of colonial attitudes that viewed indigenous populations as auxiliary labour.

Colonial stereotypes have morphed into modern xenophobia and Islamophobia in Algeria. The French Residential and educational segregation perpetuated inequality across generations. The current situation is not merely about ‘’using cheap labor,’’ it is the systemic reproduction of colonial relationships in new forms.

The French-Algeria relationship since 1962 exemplifies how post-colonial ties can reproduce patterns of exploitation without formal colonial status. The legacy of colonialism persists, not through flags or governors, but through economic dependency, institutional frameworks, and enduring social hierarchies. Political rhetoric about a ‘’migration problem’’ diverts attention from systemic causes of inequality.

That is why Algerians consider French colonialism as a ‘’state crime’’ and are now asking for compensation.

*Sani writes from Lagos