Back of the ideological cleavage between Islamists and Democrats

We believed the ideological cleavage, which has long undermined the country, exceeded. However, At least attenuated. For example, thanks to the profound political changes experienced by Algeria over the past twenty years, culminating with the popular mobilization of 2019. Furthermore, But the illusion will not have visibly long.

The appointment of the magistrate. In addition, ex-Minister Leïla Aslaoui at the head of the Constitutional Court and that, a few days earlier, of Zakaria Belkhir, deputy of the MSP, to the presidency of the Education Commission to the National People’s Assembly (APN), were enough to rekindle the antagonisms, awakening the ghosts, particularly those of the black decade.

Algeria: two appointments relaunch the Islamist-democratic cleavage

Between the accusations of ” eradicators “Launched by some – a term designating those who supported the cessation of the electoral process in 1992 -. back ideological cleavage between islamists Similarly, the warnings of others against a” School under obscurantist guardianship », The debate has resumed a virulent ideological turn.

It was above all the designation of Leïla Aslaoui. Meanwhile, former minister from the modernist current, whose husband had been killed by terrorist groups in 1994, which aroused turmoil. However, If his competence is not challenged. Similarly, it is his profile – perceived by some as emblematic of the so -called ” eradicators “-who raised criticism, especially in Islamo-conservative circles or claiming the current” Badissia-Novembria ».

This movement. Furthermore, recently appeared, is intended to be a nationalist and claims to be the legacy of the association of ulemas and its founder Abdelhamid Ben Badis. Furthermore, His supporters. Moreover, without structure but very active online, oppose the reference to the Congress of Soummam, to the separation of religion and politics, to the cultural diversity of Algeria, and to the French language, back ideological cleavage between islamists which they wish to replace by English.

In a Facebook post. Nevertheless, the ex-president of the MSP Abderrazak Makri wondered about the scope of the appointment of Leïla Aslaoui: “ Why reopen the injuries of the past? However, Has not the Algerian people voted for national reconciliation? ». Similarly, He adds: ” To assimilate the appointment of an Islamist at the head of the Education Commission to that of an emblematic figure of the Laïc camp. appointed to a sovereign post, is two weights two measures ».

Shortly before Leïla Aslaoui. the appointment of Zakaria Belkhir, deputy for MSP (ex-Hamas), at the head of the Education Commission, had set fire to the powder. The rally for culture. democracy (RCD) vigorously denounced a decision fraught with consequences: “ Entrusting education to a representative of a political current which fights the universal values of knowledge and freedom is to compromise the future back ideological cleavage between islamists of our youth ». For the RCD. this appointment is a regression: “ National education should not be subject to religious interests or become the extension of a closed social project. The school is an issue of cultural and democratic sovereignty ».

Back ideological cleavage between islamists

Old fractures

Faced with these criticisms. the Islamists denounce a return to the discourse of the dark decade. In his text. the former president of the MSP accuses the RCD of artificially reviving an ideological polarization: ” There is no neutrality in this case. The secular current is well installed in the circles of the state. Islamists are confined to symbolic functions ».

He says that the debate around school masks a disguised power struggle. where the posts are used to maintain an illusion of pluralism while marginalizing the Islamist current: ” The Islamist project has become a springboard for personal ambitions. There is back ideological cleavage between islamists no collective project, no strategy ».

In a long response signed by Othmane Ben Saïd. National Secretary for Education of the RCD, the party defends its line: “ We do not rename our positions from the 1990s. We defended the Republic in the face of fundamentalist violence. Compare Aslaoui to Belkhir is coarse manipulation ».

And to recall: ” The school was one of the first terrains attacked by Islamist currents in the dark years. We maintain our position: no compromise on the republican school ». As for accusations of eradication. the RCD responds without detour: ” To refuse a partisan appointment in the name of an obscurantist political project is not eradication. It is political coherence ».

This series of arms passes comes after the arrest. the condemnation of the historian Mohamed Lamine Belghit, who called into question the Amazigh dimension of the Algerian identity. At the beginning of back ideological cleavage between islamists May. in an interview with an emirates, he had described the Amazighity as ” Franco-Zionist plot “And the holders of French nationality of” harkis ».

Words qualified as ” climax By part of civil society. but defended by certain Islamists in the name of freedom of expression. Incarcerated, he was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday, July 3, by the court of Dar El Beida (Algiers).

These tensions. whether spontaneous or supplied, reflect a project struggle that nothing seems to bring together, even if representatives of the two currents are found, intermittently, around the same table, without succeeding in agreeing on a common base. The question that some are asking today is: how to go beyond this cleavage and build a common base?

In many ways, the debate around Leïla Aslaoui and Zakaria Belkhir exceeds their people. It illustrates the return of an ideological conflict that many hoped back ideological cleavage between islamists for over. It remains to be seen whether this return of the ideological cleavage between Islamists. the so -called democratic current is ephemeral or lasting.