The challenge for
Algerian Trotskvists the benefit of those who have been on top for 34 years already? No way! At the very least, the democratic parties should propose a special commission [to ensure that the resources freed by cancelling the debt be directed into health, education and other social programmes].
Sanhadja: I still put my hope in the women's movement. Women still go to work, they still refuse to wear the veil -
Who's killing whom?
by Radouane Osmane
"Lets put the record straight on the "civil
For my cousins in the smaller towns, to speak together, to go out, all this is almost a militant act. And even though the women's demonstrations of 22 March 1994 and the democratic demonstrations of June were completely aimed against the fundamentalists, and ignored the role of the regime, you have to admire the courage of the women who took part. * war" casualties... Military and police patrols
Algeran rutskyists The Socialist Workers' Party (PST) office in downtown Algiers is still open: no small success given that a number of political parties have no existence beyond the occasional press release. According to PST militant Radouane Osmane, "We continue to hold meetings, intervene in trades unions, and in the Berber cultural movement. In recent mobilisations, such as the teachers' strike, we try to build a third force: against the privatisation programme and against fundamentalism. "We help animate the broad-based Initiative Association of Social Resistance (AIRS), which includes a number of trades union federations and militants. The vice-president is from the railway workers' federation and the president is a regional union leader from Rouiba. Intellectuals and youth are also involved in the Initiative. There is a base here for long term work. *In Bougie and Oran an independent youth organisation, "Rage" has addressed the problems of democracy, torture and executions. The PST tries to support all their intitiatives in a practical and a political sense. These are young people, with a new experience. "Parties like ours can only live if they are actively implicated in the struggle for justice and equality among the masses. Yes, the situation is very difficult. But if we do not continue to aggitate, we will dissapear. For example, the former-Communist Party El Tahadi has now completely adopted the regime's "exterminist" rhetoric towards the Islamic fundamentalists." * have sharply reduced the number of fundamentalist attacks in the centre of Algiers. The fundamentalists have now started attacking the working-class neighbourhoods near their strongholds. The headline-grabbing attacks on journalists and former anti-colonial fighters only represent 2% of victims: In fact, three out of four victims are workers. In 1994 1,800 skilled workers were killed, and 500-700 shopkeepers. Only 2% of the fundamentalist's victims are members of state institutions. And the 61 foreigners killed so far (from a total foreign population now down to 8,300) represent a further 2%. And with the fundamentalist strategy being to terrorize neighbourhoods, and wipe out delinquency and drugs dealers, the unemployed have not been spared either. The newspapers here tend to addapt themselves to an imagined, external, Western set of preconceptions: this leads them to present the fundamentalists as attacking only "liberated" women, foreigners and intellectuals. In fact, society as a whole is being terrorised The media reduce things to a mass of fundamentalist "terrorists." Some intellectuals wh, have succeeded in leaving the country, talk in increasingly hysterical terms about Algerian society as a whole from the other side of the Mediterranean. The best refutation of this distortion is the daily resistance of Algerian women, who continue to brave death by going to work in the morning and comming home in the evening. The second thing to remember is that this "civil war" includes the atrocities committed by the regime. Thousands of fundamentalists were killed in 1994. Not all of them were "terrorists." Most were sympathisers, or civilians killed by the regime for one reason or another, with the blame put on the fundamentalists afterwards. There is a balance of terror now. Neither side can get the upper hand. Having said this, there is growing disaffection with the fundamentalists in working-class districts. People are more and more critical of random bombings. They inform those under threat, and warn each other about suspicious strangers in the neighbourhood. The regime is considering a presidential election, but none of the preconditions for a real election exist! Outside the centre of the capital, the security situation is deplorable: democratic freedoms hardly exist. Algerians do not have the right to organise or act politically, and all demonstrations except those in support of the regime are banned. If there is an election, the abstention rate will be very high. The regime still hopes that an election will give them a new lease of life. Once the positive publicity of an election has run its course abroad, and people have calmed down, the locks will snap shut again. It would be a regime like that of Ben Ali in Tunisia. The only possible regime candidate at the moment is the incumbent, Liamine Zeroual The armed fundamentalists are not ready to accept a compromise until they have established a balance of forces which gives them the chance of achieving something Until they think the balance of forces is favourable, they will oppose elections even if some well-known fundamentalist personalities participate. Between now and May there may even be a series of attacks by groups who want to prevent an election. In short, the fundamentalist camp is in disarray. As for the democratic opposition, the FFS has said they will only support a coaltion "peace" candidate. The PT say they will not stand. All in all, it won't be easy to get the elections off the ground."* 1) A last minute agreement may result in the nomination of an "opposition" candidate like F.L.N. General Secretary Abdel Hamid Mehri, a recurring fixture in the governments of the last 30 years, and one of those responsible for the present mess. He thinks he can cosy up to the fundamentalists and thus neutralise them. But he would probably get the thumbs down from the electorate.
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International Viewpoint #265 April 1995
Chechnya/C.I.S.