This paper aims to investigate the connection between the sentiment of despoilment and the image of the former colonizer in contemporary Algeria. Indeed, memories of the colonial period and the war of independence have often been instrumental to the construction of a post-independence hegemon over the past fifty years. Such memories have served as a stage to the founding myth of the State: the military’s aspirations of tutelage and the ascendancy of the revolutionary family. However, beyond this reinterpretation by the ruling coalition, memories of colonization are also used to express claims for equality and justice from below these too form a part of postcolonial national consciousness. Thus, the current Algerian political, economic and social discontent is often linked to the memory of what is seen as archetype of tyranny: colonial rule. For example, brutal coercion by the police can be compared to the exactions of French troops. Public construction projects that do not have the backing of the local population can be presented as a form of “colonization”. In some cases, the unequal development of the country, especially to the detriment of the South, is seen as a proof of ruling elite racism toward a category of sub-citizens. Subsequently, the former revolutionaries are turned into internal colonizers. This non-dominant discourse can be understood as an answer to the tendency of the ruling elite to foster a narrative that legitimates the current order by advancing a caricatural vision of the people as violent and immature. This work draws on interdisciplinary tools, borrowing from the fields of critical theory as well as sociology and political science. It centers on nine month of extensive fieldwork, during which I used semi-directive interviews and observations in situ during protests and political meetings. I also collected pictures, newspapers, cartoon, chants sung at soccer games, rumors and popular jokes that enabled me to use sources that are often overlooked in political science