Manifesto of the 121  

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A Scheme for abolishing all Words is one of the wittiest and smartest comments on semantics. (Illustration: extreme close-up from the movie "The Big Swallow" (1901), produced and directed by James Williamson (1855-1933)
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A Scheme for abolishing all Words is one of the wittiest and smartest comments on semantics. (Illustration: extreme close-up from the movie "The Big Swallow" (1901), produced and directed by James Williamson (1855-1933)

The Déclaration sur le droit à l’insoumission dans la guerre d’Algérie (Declaration on the right of insurrection in the Algerian War), better known as the 'Manifeste des 121' (Manifesto of the 121) was an open letter calling on the French government and public opinion to recognise the Algerian War as a legitimate struggle for independence, denouncing the use of torture by the French army, and calling for French conscientious objectors to the conflict to be respected by the authorities.

The Declaration was drafted by Dionys Mascolo, Maurice Blanchot and Jean Schuster. It was published on September 6 1960 in the 4th volume of the journal Vérité-Liberté. It stated that the cause of the Algerians was the cause of all free men, and that the struggle was striking a decisive blow to the cause of colonialism.

The '121' refers to the number of French intellectuals, writers and cultural figures who signed the declaration. They included figures from a variety of movements, such as Marxism, existentialism, and a number of figures associated with the nouveau roman and New Wave literary and cinematic trends.

Prominent signatories included:

Writers: Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Nathalie Sarraute, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Claude Simon, Dionys Mascolo, Maurice Blanchot, Marguerite Duras, Michel Butor, André Breton, Christiane Rochefort, Robert Antelme, Michel Leiris, François Maspero, Françoise Sagan

Film-makers: Alain Resnais, François Truffaut, Robert Benayoun (film critic)

Academics and intellectuals: Henri Lefebvre, Jean-Pierre Vernant, Jean-Bertrand Pontalis, Pierre Vidal-Naquet


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French profile

Selon ses propres termes, il cherche à informer les français du mouvement de contestation contre la guerre d'Algérie. Les 121 y critiquent l'attitude équivoque de la France vis à vis du mouvement d'indépendance algérien, en appuyant le fait que la « population [algérienne] opprimée » ne cherche qu'à être reconnue « comme communauté indépendante ». Partant du constat de l'effondrement des empires coloniaux, ils mettent en exergue le rôle politique de l'armée dans le conflit, dénonçant notamment le militarisme et la torture, qui va « contre les institutions démocratiques ».

Le manifeste se termine sur ses mots :

Les soussignés, (...), déclarent :
  • Nous respectons et jugeons justifié le refus de prendre les armes contre le peuple algérien.
  • Nous respectons et jugeons justifiée la conduite des Français qui estiment de leur devoir d'apporter aide et protection aux Algériens opprimés au nom du peuple français.
  • La cause du peuple algérien, qui contribue de façon décisive à ruiner le système colonial, est la cause de tous les hommes libres.
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La liste des signataires



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