11RXNdQ

Colonialism and Neocolonialism 46
favourite? Proof was provided on the 4th of this month: he can talk on the radio, on
television, before an audience; but in the public forum, never. Unless casualties are no
cause for concern.
No, his government is not the outcome of a revolution; just a military coup. Neither the
silence of the press that has rushed into servitude even before anything has been asked of
it, nor the temporary bonhomie of officials, nor the circumlocutions of foreign diplomats
will make us forget that General de Gaulle was brought to power by the colonels of
Algiers.
He does not forget it himself. Does he suffer as a result? I hope so. In any case he is in
a hurry to have us sanction a breach of the law. As long as we have not said yes,
whatever his prestige may be, he reigns by force. By the force of others – that is the worst
of it. And by the weakness of our elected representatives. As for the throne which was
stolen from the Louvre for him to sit on, nothing will be done with it until we give it to
him out of love.
And this is the trickery: power, even when usurped, always has the appearance of
legality; it is enough that disorder reigns, especially if it is majestic, for it to be confused
with order. Many French people are mistaken about this; the sanctimonious paternalism
of the constitution will complete the process of leading them astray. To vote ‘yes’, it
seems to them, is to vote for moral order; and a ‘no’ vote would plunge us into anarchy.
Even if it were as straightforward as that, the referendum would be a fraud: we are
promised a return to calm, to discipline, to tradition, so that we will give our votes to the
rioters of Algiers.
Let us not be mistaken: all the referenda in the world cannot prevent a military
takeover from being and continuing to be disorder. What is bred in the bone will come
out in the flesh: the Gaullist regime, up to its end, in all its manifestations, will smell of
the arbitrariness and the violence from which it came.
I said that we would vote without constraint – but that is only half true. The electorate
is an indivisible whole; when gangrene sets in, it spreads right away through the whole
electorate. If a vote is extracted by force, all others are forced. Who would dare claim at
present that the Muslims in Algeria will vote freely and that they will demand their
independence in the face of 500,000 soldiers whose task is to stop them from taking it?
The additional support of the votes extracted from the Muslims gives extra
effectiveness to each ‘yes’ in France, and takes away from each ‘no’ vote a little of its
power. The moment their voting slips drop into the ballot box, those who are opposed
become second-class citizens. Their refusal does not have the same value as the approval
of their neighbours.
To complete the clouding of the issue, two separate referenda are being held at once.
The peoples of Africa, in effect, care very little about the relationship between the
executive and the legislative in the new Constitution. The black voters want
independence, but ask themselves whether the resources and economic development of
their country allow them to do without our support. That is their only concern and their
vote will depend on the response that they themselves give …
And that is how a YES, which in Madagascar means internal autonomy and a
progressive move towards freedom, will come to mean in Paris the tutelage of the French
people and will further reduce the effectiveness of the NO votes. This insidious violence