Page "Historical revisionism (negationism)" Paragraph 55

On 23 February 2005, the Union for a Popular Movement ( UMP ) conservative majority at the French National Assembly voted a law compelling history textbooks and teachers to " acknowledge and recognize in particular the positive role of the French presence abroad, especially in North Africa ".

Criticized by historians and teachers, among them Pierre Vidal-Naquet, who refused to recognise the French Parliament's right to influence the way history is written ( despite the French Holocaust denial laws, see Loi Gayssot ).

That law was also challenged by left-wing parties and the former French colonies ; critics argued that the law was tantamount to refusing to acknowledge the racism inherent to French colonialism, and that the law proper is a form of historical revisionism.