De la cause du droit à la cause anticoloniale. Les interventions de la Ligue des droits de l'homme en faveur des « indigènes » algériens pendant l'entre-deux-guerres

In: Politix: revue des sciences sociales du politique, Band 16, Heft 62, S. 39-64

Abstract

From the Cause of Law to the Anticolonial Cause. A Study of the Interventions of the French Human Rights League in Favor of the Algerian Natives between the Two World Wars
Laure Blévis
By studying the interventions of the French Human Rights League (Ligue des Droits de l'Homme) in favor of Algerian natives during the twenties and the thirties, this article seeks to question the definition of the cause defended by cause lawyers. LDH members intervened on Algerian issues before anticolonialism and independence became a legitimate and public cause, adopted by French left wing parties. The association claimed only the cause of Law as its purpose was not at all anticolonialist. Yet, the LDH members revealed the inherent contradictions of the colonial project by pointing out the daily institutional breaches of republican legal principles in the judicial, media and political arenas. Therefore, they participated, against their own will, in the construction of an anticolonial cause.