The debate over the policy of Arabization and linguistic choices in Algeria has resurfaced, after old statements by the late politician Abdelhamid Mehri were brought back to the forefront, in which he said that “Arabization was imposed by the French President Charles de Gaulle,” in the context of a general debate in Algeria about reforming educational curricula and the future of the school.
The reaction to what Mehri, one of the most prominent officials of the National Liberation Front after independence, said, was due to his being considered one of the Arab nationalist current in Algeria. This prompted the other side, which was not enthusiastic about Arabization policies, to exploit it in the ongoing debate about the history of the Arabic language and its status in the Algerian state and school, especially in light of the strong return of the discussion about the future of French and the trend towards strengthening the presence of English in the educational system.
What further fueled the controversy were statements made by Hadda Hazam, director of the newspaper “Al-Fajr,” to the “Al-Khabar” channel. She quoted the late Abdelhamid Mehri as saying that Arabization was “imposed by De Gaulle” because he believed Arabic was a backward language that would prevent Algerians from developing. She also claimed that the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser sent professors and teachers from the Muslim Brotherhood to Algeria, which, according to her account, led to the group's control over the education system.
In a Facebook post, Hazem offered a more detailed account of the background to what was attributed to Mehri. She stated that the Algerian negotiating team during the Evian negotiations outperformed the French team in terms of their fluency in French, their unwavering commitment to independence, and their diplomatic prowess, which led the French negotiator to repeatedly withdraw to consult with de Gaulle.
She added that De Gaulle was “astonished by the strength of the Algerian heroes,” and that he told the French that “these people, after their country’s independence, at this level, will surpass you in every field.” Hizam linked this to what she described as advice De Gaulle later gave to the Algerian authorities after independence: to implement Arabization so that new generations would not have access to a modern and scientific education.
In an attempt to find the source of Mehri's statements, an article appeared in the newspaper "Echorouk" covering a 2006 interview Mehri gave to the cultural radio station, in which the late Mehri spoke about the need to review a number of cultural issues and the national language policy. He said that "Arabization was essentially De Gaulle's project, who is considered the first to establish it," explaining that, in his view, this was in a direction that served French interests even after the end of military colonialism.
Mehri also spoke about the linguistic situation in Algeria, considering it an arena for foreign maneuvering. He said that Francophonie is “policy and strategy” before it is merely the teaching of the French language, and that, in his opinion, it means the politicization of linguistic issues.
Mehri criticized the length of time spent teaching foreign languages in Algeria, pointing out that educational studies in the world, according to him, do not require more than three years to teach a foreign language, while French was taught in Algeria for ten years, which he considered an indication that the matter was not related to pedagogical logic, but rather to a political choice.
These statements quickly opened up a debate about what Mehri meant and its historical context, especially since the phrase relating to De Gaulle being “the first to establish Arabization” was treated by some commentators as evidence that the Arabization policy adopted by Algeria after independence was, in its origin, a colonial project.
Many responses, commenting on what Hadda Hazam said, rejected this conclusion, stressing that Mehri’s words do not mean that De Gaulle imposed Arabization on independent Algeria, but rather refer to a colonial policy that France followed in the last years of its presence in Algeria towards the Arabic language.
One response suggested that Mehri, in speaking about De Gaulle, was referring to the colonial administration's attempts to contain demands related to the Arabic language and to use Arabic education as part of a policy aimed at maintaining French influence in Algeria a year before Algeria's independence, when education in schools during the colonial period was prohibited in Arabic.
The respondent emphasized that “the Arabization that took place after independence was a sovereign decision made by the Algerian state,” and that reducing Mehri’s words to the phrase “De Gaulle imposed Arabization” is, in his opinion, a distortion of their meaning. He also criticized relying on what was published in the press as a definitive scholarly reference, calling for a return to the original text of the dialogue and a reading of Mehri’s words in their full context.
The response also rejected the narrative linking De Gaulle’s decision to his admiration for the strength of the Algerian negotiators in the Evian negotiations, stressing that what Mehri mentioned, according to this interpretation, relates to a decree issued by De Gaulle in 1961 regarding the teaching of the Arabic language, in a final attempt to keep Algeria within the French sphere while granting Arabic some linguistic rights.
Those who hold this view believe that French policy towards Arabic was merely an attempt to contain national demands and redeploy the language within a project to maintain French influence, which is what Mehri meant by his statements, while the decision of independent Algeria to adopt Arabization came from the necessity of restoring Arabic to its position as part of regaining sovereignty.
This controversy coincides with a renewed political and educational debate regarding the role of French in Algerian schools. In recent days, conflicting positions have emerged from figures associated with both the Islamist and progressive movements concerning the reforms announced by Education Minister Mohamed Seghir Saadaoui, which aim to delay the teaching of French and strengthen the position of English in the early stages of education.
This debate has transformed into a symbolic confrontation between two visions of the Algerian school system. The first sees the shift towards English and the reduction of French as a continuation of the restructuring of language policy after independence, and a way to overcome the legacy of colonialism in schools. The second argues that the problem lies not with French itself, but with the quality of education, and that weakening one language does not necessarily mean strengthening another, especially if schools and universities are not prepared for the transition.
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