Algeria’s Brotherhood rooted in staunch opportunism of crises

Indiana Khaled

As usual, the Brotherhood in Algeria is seeking to exploit current events and crises in order to achieve great gains in its favor, and it has not hesitated to seize the available opportunities stemming from the global corona virus pandemic.

In keeping with the tendency to co-opt any party for its own sake, Algeria’s Brotherhood-affiliated Movement of Society for Peace (MSP) announced its support for a proposal to suspend the country’s popular protest movement due to the outbreak of the novel corona virus pandemic. But this support comes in exchange for “calm measures by the authorities, foremost of which is the release of detainees.”

According to a statement from the movement on March 15, it considers suspending activists’ mobility a responsible idea that should be adopted, which increases the credibility of those fighting for freedom and makes the struggle more effective, while the authorities must take reassuring measures, at the top of which is stopping prosecutions and releasing detainees.

Fluctuating positions

Although MSP made it clear that it appreciates the fatwa of avoiding mosques as a place of transmitting and spreading the virus, the head of the Justice and Development Front (FJD), Abdallah Djaballah, criticized what he called the “disruption of the congregational and Friday prayers”, affirming that closing mosques and disrupting prayers due to the spread of the corona virus needs to be delayed.

Djaballah said in a post on Facebook matter of mosques and prayers cannot be measured like any other affair, because prayer is the most beloved deed to God, is the duty of a Muslim that never ceases until the time of his death, and must be performed in the prescribed manner in all circumstances and conditions. He went on to claim that the emergence of new diseases is due to the propagation of lewdness and misconduct among people, and what he described as “attempts to escape from corona” through the application of a quarantine.

In Algeria, there are five movements affiliated with the Brotherhood, some of which splintered from others. They include the El-Binaa movement, which splintered from MSP, and FJD, which splintered from Ennahda, in addition to the National Reform Movement (Islah).

Staunch opportunism

In July 2019, Algeria’s Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) party accused Brotherhood currents in the country of “opportunism and fear of democracy and transparency.”

RCD leader Mohcine Belabbas launched a sharp attack against both Djaballah and MSP leader Abderrazak Makri, saying that they are “staunch opportunists.”

Observers believe that following the Brotherhood’s failure to ride the wave of the popular movement in Algeria and their unprecedented public rhetoric, they are trying to use any crisis in the country in order to impose their logic and pass their agendas by means of contradictory statements, taking positions coaxing the government at one moment and then claiming to adopt the protesters ’demands in another moment.

No popular power 

Dr. Mohamed Mogahed al-Zayat, director of the National Center for Middle East Studies in Cairo, told the Reference that the Algerian Brotherhood have no influence in suspending or continuing the country’s popular movement, because they are not the main driving forces behind it. He contended that the MSP statement regarding the release of detainees due to the impact of the corona crisis will not pressure the Algerian government.

Zayat added that MSP made this statement with the aim of proving its presence within the popular movement, while the fact remains that they have no influence or role in it, and their opinions or proposals will therefore not be considered.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has not taken any decisions against the Brotherhood during the current period due to the fact that the group still controls some of the state authorities, Zayat noted.