CRIME FILE OF FRENCH IMPERIALISM – CONCLUSION

In the first two parts of this series, we examined how French imperialism pursued colonial and neo-colonial policies across the world, committing genocides, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

In this third and final part, we turn to human rights violations, counter-guerrilla operations, and extrajudicial executions targeting migrants and revolutionaries within France itself.

France cultivates an image—especially among the global petty bourgeoisie—as a republic founded on liberty, equality, and fraternity, as a protector of culture and art, and a bringer of peace. Yet behind this hypocritical façade lies hunger, poverty, war, and massacre in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and all neo-colonial countries like ours. Its domestic policies reflect this same hypocrisy.

FRENCH IMPERIALISM’S ATTACKS AND COUNTER-GUERRILLA ACTIVITIES AGAINST ETA (BASQUE COUNTRY AND FREEDOM)

In mainstream narratives, attacks and counter-guerrilla operations against ETA in France are framed within the context of 1980s–1990s Franco-Spanish relations, anti-terror policies, and European intelligence cooperation. In reality, France either turned a blind eye or actively facilitated massacres and extrajudicial killings by providing intelligence and operational support.

ETA operated primarily in Spain, but France played a critical role, since from the 1960s onward many of its members used southern France—adjacent to the Basque region—as a safe haven and logistical base.

From the mid-1980s, France began collaborating with the Spanish state to attack ETA.

French secret services and special police units carried out joint operations, shared intelligence, arrested ETA members, and extradited them to Spain.

These secret operations included extrajudicial executions.

The GAL (Antiterrorist Liberation Groups), linked directly to the Spanish state during the 1980s, conducted counter-guerrilla attacks against ETA members—including assassinations and kidnappings—inside French territory.

OPERATIONS BY THE SPANISH STATE’S GAL, IN COOPERATION WITH FRANCE

• GAL was an illegal counter-guerrilla structure active between 1983 and 1987.
• Lasa and Zabala Execution (1983): ETA members kidnapped in Bayonne were taken to Spain and executed.
• Segundo Marey Incident (1983): An innocent man was kidnapped by mistake.
• Monbar Hotel Attack (1985): Four ETA members were killed in Bayonne; one civilian was injured.
• In total, GAL killed 27 people in roughly 40 operations.

AS A STATE POLICY: FRENCH IMPERIALISM’S ATTACKS ON MIGRANTS AND RACIST ACTIVITIES UNDER THE BANNER OF “TERROR”

French imperialism is racist and aggressive. Its repressive policies against migrants have always coincided with waves of “terror” demagoguery.

Historically, every so-called “terror threat” has been followed by attacks on the rights of workers and labourers, with new restrictions introduced. Migrants—often from former colonies, driven into exile by the poverty imperialism itself created—have been singled out as scapegoats and subjected to violence.

Racism, Xenophobia, and Attacks on Migrants

These are not isolated incidents, but the product of a centuries-old state policy.

FROM THE FRENCH COLONIAL LEGACY TO THE PRESENT

French colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries—from Africa to the Caribbean to Southeast Asia—established a permanent hierarchy between “citizens” and colonial subjects.

After the Second World War, between 1945 and 1975, France needed massive labor migration—particularly from former colonies—to rebuild its industries with U.S. aid. This wave of migration fed the French economy but also entrenched new forms of exploitation and racism.

After the Algerian War, hundreds of thousands of migrants were met with racism and state repression inside France. From the 1960s onward, they were pushed into public housing projects (HLM) on city outskirts. This physically segregated “citizen” French from “colonial” peoples, relegating them to marginalized neighbourhoods.

During the Algerian independence struggle and ETA’s armed campaign, French repression intensified through bans, emergency laws, and repressive measures—all in a country that claimed to be the “homeland of democracy and secularism.”

Today, such practices have been legalized and normalized under “anti-terror” policies.

“SECURITY THREAT” AND THE REPRESSIVE RESPONSE OF THE FRENCH STATE

The French state’s justification for security policies has not only relied on “Islamist terrorism,” but also anti-migrant rhetoric and the Basque movement.

ETA Era (1970–1990): Tightened Border Security and Extradition Mechanisms

• From the 1970s, ETA militants fled repression in Spain and established bases in France’s Basque region.
• France exploited ETA’s presence to promote false “security” narratives, creating an atmosphere of manufactured terror.
• In 1984, France signed agreements with Spain to accelerate extraditions and shorten terrorism-related legal processes.

These measures quickly expanded beyond ETA, becoming the basis for stricter controls on all foreigners.

• 1983: In response to rising racism, immigrant workers and refugees organized the March for Equality and Against Racism (Marche pour l’égalité), a landmark protest led by youth of immigrant origin.

1990–2000: Decline of ETA, Institutionalization of Security Measures

• Even as ETA’s activities waned, high-security policies remained in force.
• “International threat” narratives were broadened to include migration, organized crime, and terrorism.
• Visa restrictions, residence permit denials, and deportation policies intensified.

2001–2015: Post-9/11 Expansion of Anti-Terror Laws

• The Law on Daily Security (2001) elevated anti-terror measures to a national priority.
• Reforms in 2006 and 2011 expanded surveillance, communication monitoring, and cross-border data sharing.
• Migrants were increasingly treated as “potential threats.” Deportations and denials of residency accelerated.
• In response, uprisings erupted in 2005 and later years in migrant-populated suburbs.

2015–2017: Paris Attacks and the State of Emergency

• After the November 2015 Paris attacks, a state of emergency gave police sweeping powers: warrantless searches, detentions, and house arrests.
• Although lifted in 2017, these powers were made permanent through the Internal Security and Anti-Terrorism Law.
• The result: intensified police raids, torture, and extrajudicial killings, especially in Muslim and migrant neighbourhoods.
• Meanwhile, the racist National Front (FN) gained strength—fueled by state narratives.
• In 2024, France and other European states enacted a new Migrant, Refugee, and Security Law, codifying the formula “foreigner = terrorist.”

ATTACKS ON FOREIGNERS INSIDE FRANCE

Racism is implemented as state policy. Police violence and extrajudicial killings against foreign youth continue.

• In 2024, more than 16,000 racist attacks were officially recorded, but only 4% of victims filed complaints. Most did not, due to deep mistrust of the state.
• For the first time, in the case of Hicem Miraouri—killed by a fascist—France recognized the act as “anti-immigrant terrorism.”
• Under the guise of secularism, the French state normalizes racism in everyday life. Muslim migrants face restrictions on religious freedoms, verbal and physical assaults, and systemic humiliation.
• Migrants, treated as “colonial, inferior races,” are relegated to the dirtiest jobs under conditions of modern slavery.
• The French state actively promotes a top-down model of secularism to legitimize and normalize racist organizations.
• Despite signing human rights conventions, France has repeatedly been tried at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

Examples of ECHR Rulings

• France has been condemned multiple times for inhumane conditions faced by refugees and migrants, particularly in border zones. Yet rulings have not improved conditions.
• The detention of migrant children—including infants—has been repeatedly ruled a violation of human rights.

• In 2025, the Karim Touil ruling formally recognized racial profiling: being treated as a criminal based solely on skin color. A French citizen of African descent, stopped three times for ID checks in ten days, was deemed a victim of systemic discrimination.

France often evades accountability by offering compensation, while continuing the same practices.

CONCLUSION

To conclude this series on the crimes of French imperialism:

• French imperialism continues its colonial policies. In the era of neo-colonialism, only the form has changed—exploitation, repression, and violence remain.
• From the outset of its colonial strategies, France has been directly or indirectly responsible for crimes against the world’s peoples.
• It bears responsibility for aggressive colonialism under capitalism, for both world wars, and for legitimizing conflicts through NATO during later crises.
• The French state systematically promotes racist parties and encourages hostility toward migrants.
• One of France’s imperialist roles is hypocrisy: presenting itself as “democratic, secular, and culturally advanced” while masking its violence.
• When its interests are at stake, France does not hesitate to use against its own population the same methods it perfected in its colonies.
• France has supported and participated in counter-guerrilla operations worldwide, through training, financing, and direct involvement.
• By imposing the “superiority” of French culture, it has carried out assimilationist policies that erase the languages and cultures of diverse peoples.