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Has Political Islam Failed In Algeria Essay

Has Political Islam Failed In Algeria? Essay, Research Paper


Has Political Islam Failed in Algeria?


The question whether Political Islam has failed or not due to the


internal structure of the Islamic political movement, in either Algeria or any


other country in the Islamic World, is an important question for the analysis of


the politicized Islamic phenomena. Olivier Roy sees the movement as a failure,


not only in Algeria but also in the whole area from Casablanca to Tashkent, the


movement has resulted in failure due to many reasons that are seen as common


among all the divisions of the movement regardless of their different socio-


economic and political background that are more or less responsible of the


generation of such movements. The Algerian case is the best case one can see as


a direct application of Roy’s theoretical analysis of the Failure of political


Islam.


The Islamic movement started in Algeria by the end of the 1980’s, after


a long era of the corrupt regime and it’s economic in efficiency that led the


country to live under extremely harsh standards of living for the average


individual. While most of the Algerian citizens are under 30, namely 75%, which


means a huge number of people in need for a high rate of creation of jobs,


especially with the growth rate of population that is up to 3%, thirty percent


of the Gross National Product used to go to service the payment of the national


debt . This, of course, resulted in the decline of the growth rate of the GNP.


What made it even worse is the fall of natural gas revenues during the 1980’s. ?


In the days after the dual fall of the price of oil and the value of the dollar,


the demographic expansion had pushed the GNP’s growth curve below the horizontal


for the first time in years. ?


Such economic conditions were very much responsible for the instability


and the weakening of the legitimacy of the FLN government. ?The plummeting of


oil prices in the 1980’s combined with the mismanagement of Algeria’s highly


centralized economy brought about the nation’s most serious economic and social


since the early days of independence. ? Housing conditions were extremely bad


and it was normal for the average citizen to live in one room with six other


people. The economic frustration was a general of the Algerian citizen and


still is. This economic frustration led to street riots that were not


characterized by an Islamic attitude but rather a normal frustration that any


population would feel towards an inefficient corrupt regime that seems to be


directly responsible for such economic status. ?The masses that took the


streets of Algerian cities, in October 1988, were not only Islamists but workers,


students, secularists, leftists, feminists and Berberists, all demonstrating


their disillusionment with the FLN (National Liberation Front). ? The FLN


government responded by the Army intervention and the arbitrary arresting of the


protesters. They used torture against people which ultimately created a high


measure of resentment and destruction of the government legitimacy. Moreover,


the government doctrine to reform the Algerian economy was so much supportive to


those who had money already, which gave no benefit to the crushed masses that


were striving under poor standards of life, which is the case in most countries


that undergo transitional periods of economic reform where the desperate need


for investment forces the government to grant the investors more rights and less


duties to assure an attractive business environment. However, the corrupt


regime seemed to do that for its own benefit since most of the rich Algerians


were practically either government officials or having strong connections with


the authority. Thus, the economic reform fired back on the FLN.


Meanwhile, there was another severe problem that affected the countries


domestic politics; the problem of identity. As a French colony under the French


authority, prior independence, Algeria suffered what Arab writers and


journalists call ?farnasah? which means Frenchization of Algeria. This is what


is noticeably seen in most if not all French colonies. Spencer mentions that ?


Largely -but not exclusively- because of the colonial legacy of France, language


has been politicized since independence and continues to present problems for


national unity. ? The French suppressed any attempt to apply Arabization of


education and thus succeeded in creating an elite of French speakers. After


independence, Arabization of education in Algeria started to grow which gave the


rise to a frustrated Arabic speaking population that suffered from the lack of


job opportunities for them which was a sort of discrimination against those who


cannot speak or write French in a country that is a member of the Arab League


with an official religion that has Arabic as a necessity. In 1979 the so called


Arabised demonstrated their frustration through the use of mass mobs asking for


equal rights with the French educated. Chedli Benjadid, the Algerian president


tried to rectify the bias against Arabic educated but still they felt that


discrimination. The Islamists, always encouraged Arabization to create a


national identity separated from France. The problem of national identity and


unity is basically drawn along linguistic lines, especially with the existence


of the Berbers who have their own language that has never been recognized by the


authority as an official language although the Berbers constitute 15-20% of the


Algerian population. In addition, being a French speaker has been stereotyped


as being a pro-France anti-Islamic . Thus, the Algerian society suffered from


both cultural divisions and economic frustration which gave rise to the FIS.


As a way to gain the lost legitimacy the mono-party people’s assembly


approved a new multi-party constitution under which the formation of the FIS (


Islamic Salvation Front) took place. In one year time, FIS was very


successfully able to spread its popularity among the frustrated population by a


doctrine to solve the national identity problem, since practically all Algerians


are Muslim despite the clear bias of the FIS to Arabic because of its Islamic


appeal.


The main success of FIS was that it could quickly unify the Islamic


ideological fanatics under its banner, getting over the differences of the


streams between the groups forming this organization. This is why it is seen


that FIS is a revolutionary type organization which is willing to take of power


using all necessary means, as power is the major objective because it is the


tool with which change might be a possible act. The founders of the FIS were


able to permit ideological quarrels between its members and postpone them till


they assume power, which was the basic objective . Since the FLN was supported


by the most powerful institution in the country which is the army, violence was


not to serve the FIS and would not assure them the assumption of power. The


democratization process that was taking place in Algeria was a golden change to


try to peacefully change the current regime by stepping firstly in the local


government level to increase their popularity.


What shows that Olivier Roy was right to categorize the FIS as a neo-


fundamentalist group is their political attitude. The definition he sets for a


neo-fundamentalists’ approach is the strive for power whatever it costs.


Violence, compromise, mobilization of masses and whatever it takes to get to


power is possible as it serves the ultimate goal which is establishing the


Islamic state, since no virtuous population without the establishment of an


Islamic state.


This is what seemed to be a vicious circle for Roy ?How can one escape


the cycle: no Islamic state without virtuous Muslims, no virtuous Muslims


without Islamic state. ? This might seem Machivillian to a large extent. Yet,


the FIS was able to do that in more than one case to assure reaching the


domination of the National Popular Assembly. ?The two most spectacular examples


of this were the mobilization over the United Nations’ war against Iraq in


January 1991, and the mobilization over unfair electoral laws in May-June 1991?


. This happened despite the fact that Iraq is dominated by the infidel


Ba’athists who cannot be Islamic. Forming a party, in itself, is not something


that Islamists should do since they would have to compromise with the mass


support by neglecting some of their principles for the sake of mobilization of


voters .


In June 1990, the municipal and provincial elections were held and they


resulted in an extensive defeat for the ruling FLN. Their loss was the FIS’s


gain since they were the only main player on the political scene. Of course


there were so many others since Algeria opened up to the multi-party system to


the extent that something like 50 parties or even more appeared at once. Yet,


there were only two main parties and the others were real not political parties


but they were mostly ?debating societies around one or more old politician? .


The FIS was able to run the local provinces efficiently while preparing for the


elections for the National Popular Assembly (APN), that was supposed to be held


in the first quarter of 1991. The government, however, delayed the election to


the June 1991 and then it was held in December 1991.


The FIS was able to survive the elections victoriously at the first


round of elections when they won 188 seats, with about three million votes while


the FLN got half of the number of the votes but only 16 seats in the assembly.


This was due to the system of election individual election in which one votes


for a person not for a party as it is in the proportional representation system


electoral system. This was seen as unfair since the ruling FLN had gotten half


of what the FIS had while the FLN won 188 seats the FLN only gained 16 seats.


This is why, Liamine Zeroual, supported by most of the political figures in


Algeria, has decided to change the electoral system to the proportional


representation instead of voting for individual candidates. Thus, a balanced


parliament would be conceivable given the nature of the political life in


Algeria .


What made it possible for the FIS to achieve such a victory over the FLN


although it could not socialize its Islamic ideology as much as the results of


the elections of 1991 may show, was the weak position of the FLN that had ruled


the country for three decades and resulted in ultimate failure. Most of the


voters, according to Burgat and Dowell statistics, 55 to 82 %, voted for the FIS


altho

ugh they had no Islamic ideological orientation. They call these votes ?


rejection votes?. The FIS had used the other weapon the FLN used to use, which


is nationalism.


They seemed to be able to find a paradigm that can unify the country


under one banner no matter what it is and decrease the separationist trend in


the country . The voters had decided to bring the FLN down because of their


frustration and despair of this ruling party that brought all of these problems


to the country. This seems to be the case in, not only Algeria, but also in so


many other Muslim societies where the population is very frustrated because of


the severe economic conditions and the repressive behavior of their government.


The Islamic solution attracts the attention of the crushed cynical population


that lost hope in the current regimes.


Nevertheless, no one can argue whether the FIS were successful at


maximizing their benefit out the frustrated masses and they could mobilize them


in more than one incident. This is a very strong point that shows how organized


the FIS was and how it could lead the government to do whatever the FIS wanted.


On the 29th December 1989 they mobilized the “one of the most important


opposition demonstrations in the history of independent Algeria.” The mob was


asking for the application of Sharia law and the abolition of mixed education.


They wanted different schools for the different genders.


The FIS did that again on 20th of April. Despite the fact that the


government tried its best to scatter the mob and used some other Islamists like


Nahnah and Sahnoun to counterattack the FIS, the popularity of the FIS and its


massive support of its followers, who are very politically articulate, managed


to keep the struggle which led the government to go for the election which was


the beginning of the end of the FLN control of the situation.


After the first round of the election and the overwhelming defeat of the


FLN, Chdli still thought that he could keep his position without the FLN in


parliament. Yet, the army stepped in and took power with a military coup d’etat


against him on Jan 11, 1992. This anti-democratic move of the army that was


keeping an eye on the event and ready to intervene was the worst move in


Algerian history. This started the bloody story between the military


transitional government and the FIS, which is still going on up till now with


almost no significant government control over anything. The situation in


Algeria is a civil war that no one can win.


The dissolution of the FIS, although it seemed to be the only possible


way to get rid of their huge influence, was a very unsuitable thing to do. Both


of Abbassi Madani and Belhadj were put in prison. Democracy was killed and the


FLN lost its credibility forever because it committed itself to democratization


and it then, after they lost elections, are there with an iron fist to crush the


civilians who have all the right to choose whom to rule the country.


Now Algeria is in civil war, decline of GNP, foreign debt accumulation


and all sorts of problems that appear due to lack of governmental control over


the society that turned wild. Estimations of casualties and deaths among the


fighting armed groups with the state authority ranging from 30,000 to 50,000


deaths. The destruction of the infrastructure of the country and the


impossibility of development is such a situation makes it seem like a nightmare.


Nevertheless, it is quiet obvious that political Islam has succeeded in


Algeria in many ways while it did not have the chance to be tested in others.


The theory of Olivier Roy is, therefore, subject to question. It is true that


some of what Roy says about political Islam in general has happened in reality


in Algeria. It is also true that he has done a very good analysis and


characterization of the FIS as the main Islamic force in Algeria. Yet, there is


a sort of underestimation of the success of the political movement. Such an


organization that can force the government to get in elections that was known to


be lost from the very beginning deserves to be acknowledged for what it has done


in unifying the country under its banner. Whether they succeeded or not to get


the official control is another issue, since their victory was aborted


illegitimately by the force of the army.


Roy categorizes the types of Islamic groups into three main categories.


Firstly, there is the Islamists or the extremists who are trying to change the


society from top down by means of assuming political power. Their aim is to get


the power using any means possible to be able to impose the Shari’a Law so that


they can make the people virtuous by order as they will get habituated to what


is imposed on them. Secondly, there is the religious fundamentalists who are


peaceful groups that are trying to change the society by grass roots technique


with no need to authoritarian powers. The basic aim is to provide the


population with a model of how to be a good Muslim rather than forcing them to


be so. Thus, they are not very much into conflict with the governments under


which they live. Thirdly, the most radical of all is the neo-fundamentalist


groups, like the FIS who are striving for power no matter what it takes to do so.


He sees the FIS as the clearest example of that kind of Islamic groups. I


agree as I mentioned before on that issue since the nature of their political


behavior is typical of a neo-fundamentalist group.


The main question is “Has political Islam failed in Algeria or not? And


if the answer is yes, did it fail for the reasons he mentioned in his book?”


Roy, sees the failure of political Islam as a result of many factors that are


common among the different Islamic movements from Casablanca to Tashkent. The


case study of Algeria is a good example of what Roy is mentioning in his book as


reasons for the failure.


“The absence of an Islamic Alternative” is one of the main points behind


the failure of political Islam in the Muslim World. Roy argues that Islamist


thinkers did not provide the population with any other alternative to the


existing situation that is the main reason for their frustration. Saying that


Islam is the solution would not help decreasing the both internal and external


debt, raising the rate of growth of the GNP, develop up to date technical


assistance to develop industrial infrastructure and high value added products or


solve the problem of repression and authoritarianism. In addition, the


Islamists do not have a clear political agenda to tell what they are going to do


with the banking system that is based on interest. Neither do they have a clear


view of how to keep the government budget and save it from deficit while


canceling out taxes according to the Shari’a Law, depending only on Zakat which


is only 5-10 % of the yearly income of the population .


For the Algerian case, Roy makes perfect sense. Hugh Roberts reports on


that by saying, “Yet, in fact Algerian Islamists had virtually nothing to say


about economic policy. Not only did not have positions of its own, it did not


even bother to canvass the kind of notion concerning properly Islamic banking


and so forth that has been fashionable in international Islamist circles since


the Iranian revolution.” In addition the FIS did take the government side on


the issue of economic reform and saw that privatization of government’s


enterprises . This resulted in the decline of their popularity among the


workers in Algeria.


The notion of “Bleak Society” is mentioned by Roy to emphasize that the


Islamic movement have drawn an image of their ideal society which seems rather


bleak and depressing. All entertainment methods would be “Haram” banned because


they are either Western or they are helping the bad habits to spread away among


people which makes them not virtuous. The Islamists, he argues, want to live in


the past while it is impossible because people have gotten used to entertain


themselves in many way that are not harmful. Closing cinemas, theaters and


night clubs and banning music would be very unacceptable by the population.


This is exactly what the FIS did when they controlled the local level of the


society after the local elections. They banned the Rai Music and they banned


serving alcohol.


This is a very valid point that Roy makes. Yet, the Algerians


themselves participated in mobs, as mentioned above in one of the greatest


demonstrations ever seen in Algeria since independence. A huge number of people


have adopted the ideas of how the society should be. The ideology of the FIS


was well known by the Algerians and every one knew what they would do if they


assume power in the Parliament. Still, the first round of the elections gave


them 188 seats while the FLN got only 16. The movement has succeeded to


socialize and sell their ideas to the population. This results should not be


considered as a failure by all means.


The notion of “Islam of Resentment” was mentioned by Roy to illustrate


why these movements got established from the very beginning. For Algeria, with


its history of being a colony of France till the mid 1960s, and the FLN failure


to find a paradigm to solve the problems of the society with its socialist model,


it is quiet probable that resentment was a basic factor for the creation of the


movement and its success among the population. The socialization of the FIS was


more than excellent, especially if one takes in account the very short period it


took to form a political party and defeat the ruling regime.


In conclusion, the failure of political Islam is a theory, although


seems to apply successfully to the Algerian model, but it is rather a mistake to


think that Islam has failed in Algeria. Although the FIS did not have a real


economic plan that could save the Algerian economy, one cannot say that if they


are to come back and elections are to be held again democratically they would


loose the elections because they have failed. The FIS had been very successful


in convincing the masses with their plans and what they would do. Yet, the


extremely undemocratic action that was carried out by the army to cancel the


elections was what prevented the movement from doing something to save Algeria.


In fact, no one can say whether or not Political Islam would have failed in


Algeria hadn’t the army intervened to cancel the elections. Yet, it is very


obvious that the FIS would have had a really hard time to solve these problems


and, at the same time, keep their popularity among the crushed masses that were


striving under very poor conditions.

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