State of emergency : the spaces of the French

colonial continuum

Autor(en): Lambert, Léopold

Objekttyp: Article

Zeitschrift: gta papers

Band (Jahr): 2 (2018)

PDF erstellt am: 23.04.2021

Persistenter Link: http://doi.org/10.5169/seals-853324

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State of Emergency:
Spaces of the French
The Spaces French Colonial Continuum
Leopold Lambert
Léopold
On October
October 30, 2017, the French Parliament approved
30, 2017, approved
the "reinforcing internal
the law "reinforcing internal security security and and the the fight
fight
against terrorism"
against terrorism" by 415 votes to 127.
415 votes 12Z This law was
drafted
drafted by the Macron Macron administration
administration to crystalize into
common law most
common most of of the exceptional measures the
the exceptional the
state of emergency
emergency enables. enables. After After almost almost two two years
of application
application in France and the the so-called so-called "overseas
territories," the
territories," state of
the state of ::~~~\:~nEi~~;~;i~~,decs
PREFECTURE DE POLICE
; ManyofthePJgenansa"estedac
Maurice Papon is giving his orders • CHATELET
Many of the Algerians arrested ac-
from the command room. The
~~l~i~:1~:~i~~r~i:negt~- •~ ~ ~:t~~;=~~n~~:a~:~:~:1~
,•~ cross Paris are first gathered at Chat-
i

emergency thus ceased,

technological level of its monitoring is 1 elet before being transferred to the

ceased :~~~~~o~~:i~hua~;~·~:i~~~:~. ' ~ r ~::~:.~~:~:,~·::::~Ar,eSlees

•

emergency f
high enough to understand that
everything that is happening that night
is
1seither directly ordered or tolerated
directly ordered
'. '~
various detention facilities. Arrestees
are systematically beaten.
.

b LIt it
but t was
·1 rep Iaced by
wasdreplaced by a ~.
a ·.~~:~·~~~:~:~::~::;~~~~~. ··,;
by the Prefect. At 10pm, the large
~
courtyard of the Prefecture is full of
arrested Algerians being beaten by
arrested
·!.,_;:·
•
1,c· •_ •r
• .. ..
:, • , ,,;· '· • • · ·~

I I
N

cheers.
officers. The woundedare
The wounded are dragged
dragged • .

n Orm a 1IZe
1

e g
normalized legal regime, a
1
into a police truck to be "brought to
1n10a police truck to be "brought to

reg I me f ::r::!:";~~T;;.~?~~~:,hi~~; •. i ~ ~
the hospital." The Hôtel Dieu hospi-
| tal, across the street however only re- C,·
~
:Q-;-I:
• • ·., •
.
r
·q,,;,·';!;~'11
•
~~:~! ;;e i~:
\~n°s~~~::~:~~ t~:e.
j ceives 29 wounded that night. 1
others are instead thrown into the
The
It

thereby confirming
thereby confirming the 'ta"ci...,...k•lled=.-
the
river and killed.

If~- ~---;:'--.·11a
cliche that
cliché that thethe exception
exception
becomes the
always becomes the rule.
QUARTIER
SAINT-SÉVERIN
This neighborhood
counts many
hotels where Algerian

The law immutably

immutably implies _ ~ ) workers live.
Between 1958 and
1962, they are
regularly raided.

territory of its jurisdic-

the territory jurisdiction,
PLACE SAINT-MICHEL
PLACE
~
SAINT-MICHEL

tion, as well well as the physi- ~g~f4fJ~§l~Jf~;s

The front of the left-bank demonstration

the physical towards the Préfecture de

Police is blocked by police officers.
Many Algerians are arrested and

ca I means
means through
th rough which which ~:=~~:'.~.~~~;~~;~•:i.~.:.,
systematically beaten. Others are
thrown over the bridge into the river.

it materializes
materializes and enforces itself.
and enforces itself. There There is is therefore
there-
architecture of
fore an architecture of the
the state state of of emergency,
emergency,
and through this
and through ratification of
this ratification of permanentpermanent emer-
gency most
emergency architectures that
most architectures that make up the the cities of
France are affectedaffected and in turn turn affect affect how how they they are
experienced
experienced by the the bodies
bodies they they organize organize in space.
understand the
To understand
To nature of the
the nature the political political order order theythey
implement, it is
implement, crucial to examine
is crucial examine the the genealogy
genealogy
of the
the French state of emergency. emergency.

126
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gta papers
Originally drafted
Originally drafted to be applied immediately to aa sit-
applied immediately
uation that
situation perceived to require
that was perceived require hypertrophied
hypertrophied
executive and police
executive powers, the first state of emer-
police powers,
approved on April
gency, approved
emergency, April 3, 1955, by a vote
3, 1955, vote of the the
French Parliament, came into effect effect solely in the colonial
colo-
territory of Algeria
nial territory Algeria for months, five months
eight months,
for eight months
after the
after the anticolonial offensive of the
anticolonial offensive the National
National Lib-
eration Front (FLN) began.
Liberation began. It was later replaced
replaced in
March
March 1956 1956 by an equivalent
equivalent measure that that gave "spe-"special
cial powers"
powers" to the the French government.
government. During During thatthat
time, the French army muzzled Algiers's Casbah, from from
where the FLN
where FLN was operating, setting up checkpoints
operating, setting checkpoints
to control movements of residents. Meanwhile,
control the movements Meanwhile, in
rural areas, the the colonial emptied entire
colonial army emptied entire villages
villages
and
and forcefully relocated their
forcefully relocated residents to camps
their residents camps
whose architecture
whose architecture was fully fully oriented
oriented toward
toward sur-
control, as described
veillance and control,
surveillance described by Samia Henni Henni
in her book Architecture of
book Architecture of Counterrevolution:
Counterrevolution: The
French Army Army in Northern
Northern Algeria (2017).
Algeria (2017).
On
On April
April 23, 1961, state of
1961, a state of emergency
emergency was
declared in both
declared both the
the colonial territory and
Algerian territory
colonial Algerian
in France. Although the
France. Although the exceptional
exceptional measures were were
triggered by the attempted
triggered military coup, the
attempted French military
bodies
bodies they they targeted Algerian. Prefect of
targeted were mostly Algerian.
Police for for Paris Maurice Papon, whose
Paris Maurice experience in
whose experience
colonial counterinsurgency was deemed
colonial counterinsurgency adequate to
deemed adequate
run the police of the
the police capital, used the
the French capital, the state
of emergency
emergency to intensifyintensify his operation targeting all
operation targeting
suspected of acting
Algerians suspected
Algerians solidarity with
acting in solidarity with thethe
FLN.
FLN. On October 5,
On October 1961, he declared
5, 1961, curfew for
declared aa curfew for

Leopold Lambert
Léopold Lambert State of Emergency
Emergency 127
127
Algerians in Paris
Algerians Paris and its banlieues. Twelve days later, later,
the FLN organized massive evening
FLN organized evening demonstrations
demonstrations
against this racist measure.
against measure. The massacre that ensued
is usually remembered
is remembered as locally locally and temporally
temporally sit-
uated. According to this officialized
situated. According narrative, a few
officialized narrative, few
dozen
dozen Algerians were thrown
Algerians were thrown by the Dolice into the
the police the
Seine from from thethe Pont Saint-Michel
Saint-Michel in tthe ie heat of the the
moment. In reality, the
moment. systematic and
the massacre was systematic
occurred
occurred in multiple multiple spaces
spaces and and temporalities
temporalities as
shown by the
shown precise research of Jean-Luc Einaudi
the precise
bafaille de Paris
in La bataille Paris (1991). Algerians living
(1991). Algerians living and
and
working in Paris's
working Paris's banlieues
banlieues wouldwould have had great great
difficulty reaching the
difficulty reaching center of the
the center city in order
the city order to
join the demonstrations.
join demonstrations. Bridges and subway stations
particular sites of violence
were particular violence —places
- places where
where Alge-
Algerians

rians were arrested, beaten with with batons, or even shot

thrown in the
and thrown the Seine —as- as their narrowness aided
their narrowness aided
police efforts to exert
police efforts exert tight, systematic control.
tight, systematic control. Later
that night and in the following
that night days, the beatings
following days, beatings and
killings continued
killings continued in various buildings that
various Parisian buildings that
had been been turned improvised detention
turned into improvised detention centers.
estimated two
An estimated two hundert
hundert to three hundred Algerians
three hundred Algeri-
ans were killed in a massacre for which no one in the
for which
police force
police force has been held responsible.
responsible.
Colonialism controls
Colonialism controls its own critique in order
own critique order
to ensure perpetuation while
ensure its perpetuation manufacturing the
while manufacturing the
myth of
myth past historicity.
of its past independence of
historicity. The independence of
Algeria on July
Algeria 1962, is
5, 1962,
July 5, interpreted in the
is interpreted the French
national
national history marking the
history as marking the end
end of "the coloni-
zation." What this narrative
colonization." What deliberately omits
narrative deliberately omits isis the
the

128
128 papers 2
gta papers
colonial
colonial reality
reality experienced territories that
experienced in territories that were
were
never decolonized remain under
decolonized and still remain under the
the vague
vague
appellation of "overseas departments"
appellation (Martinique,
departments" (Martinique,
Guadeloupe, Guiana,
Guadeloupe, Réunion, and
Guiana, Reunion, Mayotte) and
and Mayotte) and
"overseas collectivities" (Kanaky-New
"overseas Caledonia, Wallis
(Kanaky-New Caledonia, Wallis
and Futuna, Tahiti Nui, Saint Barthélémy,
Barthelemy, Saint-Mar¬
Saint-Mar-
~~~:!~~:~,0;c~5,?.6.600
PALAIS DES SPORTS
On the evening of Oct. 17, 6,600
rested Algerians
arrested are detained
Algeriansare in this
detained 1n th
PORTE DE VERSAILLES
When arrested Algerians get off the
buses requisitionned by the police,
tin, and
and Saint Pierre and and
Oct. 18,
Oct.
' certs
RayCharles
18, Ray
- .-c.u::,vr,c; ■
concert hall, before being transferred
~:~i:~:,~lld~='~;;:~:~i~a~:.~:
to the Parc des Expositions. Starting
Charlesplays six con
plays six
thousands of prisoners
concerts here. The thousands pr1s0 those who fall on the ground.
M '1q LIe IOn) —statuses
they are awaited by an aisle of police

Miquelon)
officers who systematically beat each
of them with their batons and kick
- stat LIses that
that
ers are
are kept silenced but
kept silenced but there
there are
are
JX)rtSof spec1ators
reports spectators hearing
chants coming from the Parc des
Algeri
hearing Algerian

Expositions outside the concert hall.

..~.·all nonprotectorate
nonprotectorate colonies
colo-
~ .: nies shared fromfrom 1946
1946 until
un-
...· _(_.::i. -17.~til the
the date they became
date they became
~~~'--?Jl_·_
u' · I independent.
independent. lnsurrec-
Insurrections
. -~ Ji.. tions and
and general
general strikes 6
: ':··-~~ . , _ ~·- M_.u
the6.600a"estedAlgecianstcans-
ferred from the Paais des Sports
1

Peopleare penned like ca1tleand do

, ,e
~..>:~
..'.'....... __
-
in, these overseas territories
in
,,·_:·_ h
. •

d territo-
Iar-
- _

;~\~~~:=~~~;!~:~~::~e~t~
introductionof a toxic gas. Ottered
~'":.:
=:::.
c:iffee containsunne from police otli-
~ -~··. '_
. -- ...
~~
. nes ave
have occurred
occurre regu
regularly
E;:;:;~~~~~~i:r~~~~s~ot ',;-~_., -- ly since their
their annexation.
annexation.
and killed. Many of the detainees are

l\~·,· ~
t:roughtdirectlytoOrtyafewdays
latecandacedeportedtoAlgena
~\'
ome were
Some bI00 d 1Iy sup-
were bloodily s I

pressed by the
suppressed the French police (e.g., in Guadeloupe,
police (e.g., Guadeloupe,
1967,or
1967, or Martinique,
Martinique, 1974), 1974), and in 1985 1985 French gen-
darmes in Kanaky-New Caledonia
gendarmes Caledonia killed Éloi Machoro,
Eloi Machoro,
one of the
one leaders of the
the leaders indigenous Kanak revolt,
the indigenous
a few
a few hours hours before before a state of emergency emergency was de-
clared in the
declared the Pacific archipelago. archipelago.
The state of emergency emergency was next applied in a
next applied
geography
geography relating relating to the the "French colonial
colonial continuum":
continu-
um": the banlieues of twenty
the banlieues twenty cities in France (including
(includ-
ing the the five largest: Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Lille, and
Paris, Marseille,
Toulouse), where where many former former colonial subjects and
colonial subjects
their
their families families had been been assigned assigned to live in the the modern,
mod-
ern, large-scale social-housing social-housing complexes complexes segregated
segregated

Leopold Lambert
Léopold Lambert State of Emergency
Emergency 129
129
 nanmzi s

BËÊËÊmI

Métro station
Pont de LevaHois
Métro station
Porte de ta Ch;

jéCtfe de Clichy

ERVAIS

MmSm

WàTftttSà ak

ILLANCOURT

6&W& V-C^tf
Btâgrifi;
^vj&sSi/,«vvr^.
&?t#? «> -vtu *'.! U C\
from
from the the city
city centers.
centers. In In October
October and and November
November
2005, some some of the banlieue youth revolted
banlieue youth revolted against
against
the
the profound inequalities to which
profound social inequalities which they
they were
subjected. They burned
subjected. burned many cars, as well as aa few
cars, as
buildings, and
buildings, responded to the
and responded police violence
the police violence
deployed
deployed against against them.them. The state state ofof emergency
emergency
declared
declared in reactionreaction to this uprising
uprising made
made explicit
explicit
the target of the
the target the legal measure of exception;
exception; it thus
inadvertently interrogated the
inadvertently interrogated nature of what
the nature what has
been
been called
called postcolonialism, revealing the
postcolonialism, revealing the colonial
colonial
logics at work
logics work on territories where nonwhite
territories where nonwhite popu-
Ten years later, the two-year-long
live. Ten
lations live.
populations two-year-long state
of emergency
emergency declared declared afterafter the murderous
murderous attacks
Saint-Denis and Paris
on Saint-Denis Paris reconfirmed
reconfirmed such a targeting.
target-
capacity to muzzle demonstrations
Yes, its capacity
ing. Yes, demonstrations and
opposition was on full display during
opposition during the 2015
2015 COP22
COP22
Summit and during
Summit during the numerous demonstrations
numerous demonstrations
against the
against the new labor legislation in the
labor legislation spring of
the spring
2016. And,
2016. And, for people whose
for people whose social and economic
economic
status enables them them to live in French city centers, the
state of emergency
emergency was manifestedmanifested by the threatening
threaten-
presence of fully
ing presence fully armed
armed patrolling soldiers and
patrolling soldiers
police officers.
police officers. Away from from city
city centers, however, in
the banlieues, the police suppressed demonstrations
demonstrations
with less
with less restraint. And violence did
And the most intense violence
not occur public space but in the five thousand
occur in public thousand
Muslim-owned apartments,
Muslim-owned apartments, houses, offices,
offices, restaurants,
restau-
rants, and
and religious buildings that
religious buildings were searched
that were searched
sometimes in the
police, sometimes
by police, the middle
middle of
of the
the night
night
often with
and often with aa high degree of physical or verbal
high degree verbal

132
132 papers 2
gta papers
violence, but seldom with the state
violence, taking further
state taking
legal action:
legal action: 99.6 percent of these
99.6 percent these searches
searcheswerewere not not
followed
followed by by any
any prosecution (HassinaMechai
prosecution(Hassina Mechai & SihemSihem
Zine, L'état
Zine, d'urgence (permanent),
L'efaf d'urgence (permanent), 2018).2018).
Studyingthe French
Studying state of emergency
Frenchstate emergency is is therefore
there-
because itit mobilizes
useful because
fore useful multiplicity of
mobilizes the multiplicity
geographies and
geographies temporalitiesof the colonial
and temporalities colonialcontinuum.
contin-
Through its
uum.Through regime of exception,
its regime exception, itit renders
renders par-
particularly visiblethe French
ticularlyvisible efforts to
state'sefforts
Frenchstate's sustainthe
to sustain
political, social,
political, social, economic, geographic, and cultural
economic, geographic, cultural
essentialist
essentialistinequalities between white
inequalitiesbetween and nonwhite
white and nonwhite
bodies through which colonialism colonialism enforces
enforces itself.
itself.
Architecture
Architecture is is not simply the neutral
not simply neutral frame in in which
which
thisviolence
this violencetakes Ratheritit has
place. Rather
takesplace. has aa full part in
full part in the
struggle between the colonial
struggle between order,which
colonialorder, which itit enforces
enforces
with efficiency,and the anticolonial
with great efficiency, anticolonial resistance,
resistance,
to which
which itit can occasionallycontribute.
can occasionally contribute.
figs.1 a—c "Chrono-cartography of the October
a-c "Chrono-cartography October 17, 1961Massacre of Algerians
17,1961 Paris," The
Algerians in Paris," The Funambulist, May 22,
22, 2017,
2017,
https://thefunambulist.net/history/chrono-cartography-october-17-1961-massacre-algerians-paris
https://thefunambulist.net/history/chrono-cartography-october-17-1961-massacre-algerians-paris (accessed
(accessed August
August 16,
16, 2017).
2017).
Illustration by Léopold
Leopold Lambert, 2017.
2017.

Leopold Lambert State

Léopold State of Emergency 133
133