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| Africa North | |
| Fundamentalists Gain Ground in Algeria as War Memory Fades | |
| 2016-08-21 | |
The North African country won its civil war with bully boyz who brought Algeria to its knees in the name of Islam during the 1990s. Yet authorities show little overt concern about the growing grip of Salafis, who apply a strict brand of the Moslem faith. Algerians favoring the trend see it as a benediction, while critics worry that the rise of Salafism, a form of Islam that interprets the Koran literally, may seep deeper into social mores and diminish the chances for a modern Algeria that values freedom of choice. More than a decade after putting down an insurgency by Islamist myrmidons, Algerian security forces still combat sporadic incursions by al-Qaeda's North African branch. The conflict started in 1991 after the army canceled elections that an Islamist party was poised to win. The violence left an estimated 200,000 dead and divided society. But authorities are treading lightly in their dealings today with "quietist" Salafis, who eschew politics but are making their mark on this North African nation buffeted by high unemployment -- and a far higher lack of confidence in the powers-that-be. "Thanks to God, Algerian society is returning to its source of identity," commented Said Bahmed, a philosophy professor at the University of Algiers. Bahmed, who is close to the moderate Islamist party Movement for a Peaceful Society, described the growing number of women in Islamic dress as a "benediction." Algeria's North African neighbors also have been grappling with a new assertiveness from those seeking a greater role for Islam in society, and have folded Islamist parties into their power structures. In Morocco, where a moderate Islamist party runs the government, women increasingly don veils, especially in working-class neighborhoods. Tunisia's moderate Islamist Ennahda party headed the country's first government after the 2011 revolution and remains strong in parliament, but rebranded itself this year to separate religion from politics. Ennahda's influence did not stop deadly attacks on tourist targets last year claimed by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group. Meziane Ourad, a journalist who fled Algeria after the Armed Islamic Group killed his friend, celebrated writer Tahar Djaout, in 1993, barely recognizes the homeland he left. "It's more than three months I'm back in Algeria, and I haven't seen a bare leg," Ourad said. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 It's like fookin' Beirut in Lunnun now |
| Posted by: Bov Flimbers 2016-08-21 22:14 |