The Inside Story Podcast Can former colonial powers be held accountable for past atrocities?
Dec 2, 2025
Join Abdelkader Abderrahmane, an expert on Algerian history, Liliane Umubyeyi, co-founder of the African Futures Lab, and Nicolas Normand, former French ambassador, as they tackle the complex web of colonial accountability. They discuss the challenges of defining colonialism as a crime and the need for reparations. Abderrahmane emphasizes the lasting scars of colonialism in Algeria, while Umubyeyi ties colonial extraction to current crises in Africa. Normand debates the moral imperatives of acknowledgment against the challenges of financial reparations.
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Episode notes
Colonialism's Legal Gap
- Colonialism lacks a recognized legal status as a crime against humanity despite related rulings and declarations.
- Liliane Umubyeyi notes specific cases and UN recommendations point toward obligations for reparations linked to colonial crimes.
Moral, Not Only Monetary
- Nicolas Normand frames reckoning as primarily a moral and political question, not just an economic one.
- He argues colonization also brought infrastructures and investments that complicate purely financial assessments.
Colonial Roots Of Today's Crises
- Contemporary crises like debt and climate link back to centuries of extractive colonial practices.
- Liliane Umubyeyi argues reparations should address these structural legacies rather than be dismissed as mere charity.
