Protests in Algiers against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika represent a great victory for democracy in Algeria in particular and for the Muslim world in general.
This Algerian experience of democratisation shows once again that the deepest life of democracy is in the passion of its citizens, and that politics is a fluid arena which has to deal with unforeseen challenges from both within and outside the political spectrum. The Algerian experience of democracy shows clearly that the process of democratisation in the Muslim world takes place less within the framework of existing state systems than at the level of civil societies.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is seen in Algiers, Algeria April 9, 2018. Credit: Reuters/Ramzi Boudina/File Photo
Before the appearance of the new democratic paradigm in the MENA region, many observers ascribed the weakness of civil societies in the Muslim world to cultural factors. This perspective forgot two things. First, the sheer ruthlessness of regimes that refused society any room to manoeuvre: no free trade unions, no real opposition, no free press, no tolerance of even a hint of dissent. Second, the miracle that stubborn civil societies did persist in countries like Algeria, Tunisia and Iran. Consequently, after decades of brutal rule, underwritten by external economic and diplomatic support, courageous activists continued their work, and helped lay the ground for the democratic revolt.
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Moreover, the Algerian experience shows that even within a one-party state dominated by the National Liberation Front (NLF), a basis for “civic pluralism” can be created. Although other forms of civility and civic discourse exist in Algerian society, this civic pluralism – with roots in a civic-based reading of pluralism, in opposition to moral and political “monism” – offers a rich model for those seeking to make democratic change sustainable.
There is potential in the Algerian movement for a new approach to politics that is both civil and democratic, and thus transcends the banal choice that has dominated much of the last five decades between an ossified view of the Qur’an (proclaimed by a rigid Islamism) and uncritical adoption of western norms (advocated by a dogmatic mindset impervious to reality on the ground).
But to realise this potential, the Algerian society needs to refine such concepts as civic decency, institutionalised pluralism, and individual rights to fit within its own principles of political reasoning.
People gather during a protest against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s plan to extend his 20-year rule by seeking a fifth term in April elections in Algiers, Algeria March 1, 2019. Credit: Reuters/Ramzi Boudina
This is the challenge for civic activists in Algeria, as it continues to be the case in Tunisia and Morocco. The core principle that should shape their work is a pluralist acceptance of a common human horizon in the process of democratic development. This is the basis on which they can contest the hegemony of both religious and political fundamentalists.
The truth is that the absence of democracy has trapped many regimes of the MENA region and blocked any hope of their achieving pluralism. As a result, the democratic transition did not come to fruition and Algeria still remains an authoritarian state. Indeed, the gap between the rulers and the people is so wide that – as events in Algiers and Oran make clear – it cannot be bridged without the help of civil-society leaders. Civil society, more than the state apparatus, has become the core actor of democratisation in Algeria, as it was the case in the Jasmin Revolution in Tunisia.
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A space has now been opened for a new civil and democratic politics in Algeria. As it evolves, it is unlikely that the Algerian civil society will demand for a change from a secular regime to a government that would incorporate Islamic demands.
Though it is true that Islamism is still a banner which holds for some groups in Algeria, there is no shadow of doubt that the transition from an authoritarian government to a liberal government is around the corner. However, what will remain of the Algerian experience is an understanding that democracy is a form of political association that can accommodate the plurality of communities while not rejecting the traditional wisdom.
The events in Algeria therefore suggest that the emerging civic struggle in the Maghreb could distinguish itself by associating debates on freedom (including those in relation to Islam) with debates on models of good governance. As such, there is a big agenda in waiting, and many tests for civil society. To establish and nurture a process of mutual listening and learning among (and within) secular and religious forces in the region will be a vital component in making public life more democratic and accommodating. No reason to add that civic activists from all areas of social life are central to the events now unfolding in Algeria.
Either intellectuals or feminists, students or lawyers, they carry crucial democratic responsibilities: connecting freedom and good governance, creating a culture of democracy, and shaping a civic pluralism where the religious and the secular can coexist. Undeniably, Algerians have lit a benign fire that fills the region with hope.
Ramin Jahanbegloo is the director of the Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Peace at Jindal Global University.
