ALBERT CAMUS AND FRANCOIS MITTERRAND

                                               

ALBERT CAMUS AND FRANCOIS MITTERRAND ..

In my various visits to France, I came to know  that Francois Mitterrand was a great admirer of Albert Camus, often more so than of his rival Jean-Paul Sartre. Mitterrand  liked Camus as a humanist, a moralist, and an author who embodied a conscience in public life. That is why Mitterrand saw Camus as friend and would attend events and functions where Camus was invited . The B&W photo in this post relates to year 1954  when Camus was invited as Chief Guest by Algerian writers in joint Book Release event in Paris. Camus was closely associated with 

Mouloud Feraoun of Algeria. Mouloud Feraoun (1913–1962) was a well-known Muslim writer, educator,  nationalist and a powerful voice against French Colonialism in Algeria He wrote in French language .Although  Camus was against French Colonialism,  he raised his voice firmly and fearlessly against Algerian terrorism and the terrorists who indulged in bomb blasts and killings .

 Francois Mitterrand was a cabinet minister in 1954 . He attended this event as Friend of Camus without being invited. Camus was happy yet  surprised at this visit. Mitterrand was a minister of interior under President Gustave Jules Rene Coty who remained President of the French Republic from 1954 to 1959.Gustave Rene Coty was a right-wing politician who evolved from a moderate republican to a conservative. Rene Coty was followed by Charles de Gaulle as President of the French Republic. Camus and Mitterrand  represented  two different facets of the French left, which experienced significant ideological clashes during that era, particularly regarding the Algerian War. 

Although Camus was not always in agreement with the political left of his time yet Mitterrand's admiration stemmed from Camus's commitment to justice and humanism, even when it meant remaining alone in his position. This admiration became a point of public discussion when a later right-wing president, Nicolas Sarkozy, also attempted to claim Camus's legacy by proposing he be interred in the Panthéon, a move met with some skepticism from French intellectuals who saw it as political point-scoring. In French politics, every act of pantheonisation has  been considered political and partisan. When Charles de Gaulle transferred the remains of the Resistance hero Jean Moulin to the Panthéon in 1964,  people believed him to be buttressing the conservative myth of a nation united against the German occupiers. In a symbolic tit for tat, Francois Mitterrand marked his presidential victory in 1981 by entering the Panthéon alone in order to lay a rose on Moulin’s tomb, reclaiming the legacy of the Resistance for the Left. Mitterrand's connection to Camus, however, is generally seen as a more consistent and personal intellectual alignment. Mitterrand was a right-wing politician in 1954.However, he moved towards the left, opposing Charles de Gaulle after 1958 and becoming the candidate for the socialist and communist left in the 1965 presidential election. After becoming the first secretary of the Socialist Party in 1971, he began a major reorganization of the party that greatly increased its electoral appeal. He remained the President of the French Republic from 1981 to 1995.

It was Mitterrand who abolished the Death Sentence in France in 1981 .

( Avtar Mota )

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