International Viewpoint #202 • March 18, 1991
ALGERIA
"The dignity of women is inseparable from the dignity of peoples"
Interview with Algerian feminists ON JUNE 12, 1990, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) won a big victory in the local elections, the first pluralist elections in Algeria (see IV 189, July 16, 1990). At the start of the Gulf war the fundamentalists were caught off balance owing to their ties to Saudi Arabia. Subsequently, however, they have been trying to take advantage of the new opportunities created by the conflict.
Faced with this menace, Algerian women have not ceased to struggle for their rights; today, at the same time, they have been speaking out in defence of the rights of the Arab people and against the aggression against the Iraqi people, saying: "the dignity of women is inseparable from that of peoples." We spoke to Samira Fellah and Nawal Zien, members of the Algerian Socialist Workers Party (PST) and militants of the tance from Saudi Arabia. It claims that it has never received aid from that country and has even called for the Saudi regime to be overthrown, and replaced by a real Islamic government. It wants to turn the war into a religious war, but for the time being this is only being partly successful. The fact is that on both sides there are flags bearing Islamic inscriptions.
The FIS' main aim is to mark itself off from the other traditional parties and gain ground against the Algerian government, with an eye to the forthcoming legislative elections. They have very violently attacked the government for not siding openly with Iraq and have demanded the opening of training camps for the sending of popular militia to the Gulf. They hope by this latter proposal to latch onto the anger of the youth. We are not opposed to this idea in principle, but we are against the arming of partisan militias under the control of the FIS, which will be used against democrats and us, rather than against George Bush.
The democratic parties have, unfortunately, been pretty feeble. They announced that they would suspend all their political activities because of the war, thus effectively joining the camp of the government.
The war has thus offered the government an unexpected opportunity to create a quasi-consensus (excluding the PIS) around its economic reforms. This is in a situation of growing economic crisis, including galloping inflation. The democratic parties are totally discrediting themselves in the eyes of the population by this attitude. The fundamentalists reap