Algeria and the Surrealistic Vote

To get a taste of the kind of bias one finds toward Bouteflika in much of the media, understand that El Moudjahid, the semi-official French-language paper, describes Bouteflika as
“l’homme qui défend les valeurs authentiquement algériennes dans leur triple dimension l’amazighité, l’islam et l’arabité pour imprégner les valeurs nationales, de paix et de fraternité à la jeunesse”.

Bouteflika always wins the elections with a surrealistic 84.99 per cent of the votes cast. When Bouteflika first ran for the presidency in 1999, all opposition candidates dropped out on the eve of the election. Why do you think all the candidates gave up? The vote was marred by fraud, of course!

Bouteflika is the chosen one by the shadowy military structure that we call (the Algerians and I) "the power" or the "deciders."

Bouteflika presented himself as the savior of the nation: the only man who could guarantee the eradication of terrorism and the miracle of the "national reconciliation"!!!

But Bouteflika does not rule the country! It is the army, the Algerian Generals, who rule Algeria with their cruel methods and their repressive methods. Bouteflika is indeed trying to limite the army's function and role but it is very difficult since the army is still the actor who decides for Algeria! We do not have any laws that limit the power of the army and the security forces. The gendarmerie, the army and the security forces kill the demonstrators without impunity.

Impunity, in the human rights context, refers to the lack of accountability for human rights violations committed by the agents of state. The army, which considers itself as the guardian of justice, is killing the demonstrators.

The FLN, since its foundation in 1954, represented itself as the "incarnation of the unified nation whose survival had to be guaranteed by an all-compassing state represented by the FLN regime" (Lamchichi:1991). As Frantz Fanon said it so well, in order to be free, the subjugated Algerians have to purge their minds of the regime left by the FLN.


Hutchinson, Martha, Crenshaw, 1978. Revolutionary Terrorism: The FLN in Algeria, 1954-
62. Stanford, Calif: Hoover Institute Press.

Lamchichi, Adderrahim, 1991. L’Algérie en crise. Paris: L’Harmattan

FLN is the acronym for Front de Libération nationale. FLN launched the Independence War in 1954. FLN was the only legal party since the independence 1962 up to 1989.

http:///www.mission-algerie.ch/anglais/index2.htm. Preamble to the 1996 Constitution.

Revolution in the World and Women

Women in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and Algeria must fight for their human rights and the revolution has yet to translate into greater equity in employment and in political and social positions.

In these patriarchal societies, religion or tradition are used as a barrier for equal rights. We cannot change the past but we can change the future. The equality that women have found during the revolution must live on!

The pro-democracy activists must not forget to promote and protect women's human rights. I urge women to keep fighting for more rights. We must be inspired by all these popular uprisings calling for freedom and change!

Women lag far behing men in nearly any mesure of equality. When women are educated, you can bet that men are too! It is not acceptable to still see women in the twenty first century who are illiterate, poor and powerless.

In this new century, we hope to raise the standard of living for non-western women to levels now enjoyed by European and American!

Ethnocentrism and Human Rights

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to view one's own culture as superior and to use one's own standards and values in judging outsiders.

Some people consider their own cultural beliefs to be truer, more proper, or more moral than those of other groups.

During my Cultural Anthropology course, I have often reexamined my own ethnocentric beliefs. I have understood that one of my goals, as an open-minded person, is to show the value of the lives of others!

But what happens when cultural practices, values, and rights come into conflict with human rights?

According to an idea called cultural relativism, it is not right to use outside standards to judge behavior in a given society; such behavior should be evaluated in the content of the culture in which it occurs.

But several cultures have customs requiring female genital modification and many human rights advocates have been opposed to such practices.

The idea of human rights invokes a sphere of justice and morality beyond and superior to particular countries, cultures, and religions. Human rights mean that people have the right to speak freely, to hold religious beliefs without persecution, and not to be murdered, injured, enslaved, or imprisoned without charge. Human rights are seen as inalienable (nations cannot abridge or terminate them).

But the cultures in Africa and the Middle East which have customs requiring female genital modification claim that they have cultural rights. Unlike human rights, cultural rights are interested not in individuals, but in groups. Cultural rights include a group's ability to raise its children in the ways of its ancestors.

Some anthropologists choose not to study a particular culture because they know in advance that they will be confronted to a morally repugnant practice or behavior. But do you think that when confronted with such behavior, an anthropologist must make a judgment about it?

Should we describe and judge other cultures by using our own cultural standards?

Or should use cultural relativism in order to have a methodological position rather than a moral stance? avoiding the use of outside standards to judge behavior in a given society...

But it is so difficult for me, as a Cultural Anthropologist student, to accept the clitoridectomy and infibulation that some cultures impose on little girls!! Infibulation involves sewing the lips (labia) of the vagina to constrict the vaginal opening. I cannot accept female genital mutilation (FGM) and I am completely opposed to this custom.

This custom infringes on a basic human right: disposition over one's body and one's sexuality!! I hope that these practices will fade and disappear!