Hamas accuses parties of treason to confront Algeria’s secularism

Nahla Abdel Moneim

Algeria is experiencing an important transitional stage in its political history towards democracy and the enrichment of pluralism, but attempts by the international organization of the Brotherhood through its branch the Movement for Society of Peace to search for a role in power may have some impact on the civil progress of the state.

The February 2019 mobility was a starting point to monitor the repercussions of the Brotherhood’s spread in Algeria on the progress of democracy and human rights, including the multiplicity of political and party spectra, and its endeavor to form circles of interest on the country’s political, popular and cultural map.

Does the group accept the other?

In its dealings with other currents in the Algerian arena, especially the secular trend, the movement relies on accusations of betrayal as a way to expand its popular base at the expense of the other national partner, as one can find a recurrence from the leader of Hamas, Abdel-Razek Maqri, to accuse the secularists of working for France against their country.

In March 2020, Maqri said in a gathering of his movement that the secularists seek to dominate all parts of the state, and attributed the movement to themselves only, as he accused them of representing the role of the opposition, but in reality they are part of the authority and seek it voraciously.

In another speech in February 2020, Maqri claimed that the Algerian secular trend was infiltrated by Freemasons and the French, accusing them of clients. He also indicated that they wanted to monopolize the popular uprising in which Bouteflika was removed from power and prevented from running for a fifth term.

Parliamentary elections an important indicator?

In order to try to gain a broader understanding of the course of events in Algeria, and the intertwined relations between the various currents on the ground, the Reference has contacted sociology professor at the University of Oran, Algeria, Ammar Yazli, who explains his vision on the impact of enthusiasm on civil and democratic life in the country with several factors.

Ammar pointed out that the Islamist movements, especially those of the Brotherhood’s source, whatever their branches in Algeria, are the result of political openness through the Constitution of 89.

The Algerian researcher also confirmed that Hamas entered the pluralist political field from the Islamic section represented in the first designation, but it was forced to change the name to Hamas by deleting the Islamic adjective to become a movement for a society of peace and not Islam, and this caved in front of the law that prohibited Islamists from having the right to the privilege and credit of monopolizing the name of Islam.

Accordingly, the movement should accept the laws of the democratic game and what is required of it within the civilization of the state and democracy. As for its work within the framework of Islamic principles, it is a loose condition.

Everyone may claim that it works within the framework of respecting Islamic principles, from secular, national, liberal, and even the most radical. Respecting Islam is one thing and practicing it is another, and this is why Hamas wants to remain within the positive interpretation of the condition, and operate politically within it.

The researcher continued his speech by saying that the enthusiasm of a pragmatic movement was fragmented from his point of view and no longer had significant organic ties with the International Brotherhood, as it was trying to enter the plural field within the civil state.