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The martyr's torch: memory and power in Algeria

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 16; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13629387.2010.550138

1743-9345

Raphaëlle Branche,

Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis

Abstract The memory of the War of Independence is a primordial social and political resource in Algeria from 1962 onwards. The State has always been very eager to control it and to watch carefully any alternative narrative. Focusing on the war as a victorious armed struggle against the French colonial power, the official narrative always had a social efficiency. The civil war of the 1990s has revivified the need for a strong national narrative. As the State was facing a crisis of legitimacy, it had to delve into the past to reassure its power over a society torn apart by the war. The article explores the ways in which a commemorative policy has been elaborated as of 1962, stressing the main periods and focusing more particularly on the last two decades. It presents dates and places of memory selected by the main actors of this policy and eventually address the issue of consensus within the Algerian society towards this memory. Keywords: AlgeriaMemoryWarMudjahidShahid Notes ‘The mujahid is a combatant in uniform who, between 1 November 1954 and 1 July 1962, voluntarily took up arms to liberate the Homeland. The fedayeen and moussebiline that actively took part in the armed struggle during the period in question are assimilated to mujahideen in uniform’. Law No. 63-321 dated 31 August 1963, on social benefits for former mujahideen. Jundi (plural junud) means ‘soldier’ in Arabic, whereas mujahid means more specifically ‘soldier for God’, or jihadi. Law No. 91-16 dated 14 September 1991, on Mujahideen and Shohada. Philippe Pagès, director of the veterans department at the French Embassy in Algiers, estimates the number of mujahedeen applications handled by the Ministry for Mujahideen at 300,000 (interview with Julie Le Gac, December 2008). ‘Few societies were as destructured, socially and institutionally, by colonisation [as Algeria]’, and ‘this is a major, but often forgotten, difference with other Arab countries, notably Morocco and Tunisia, which were already more strongly established before the colonial conquest, and explains even today the type and the shape of some Algerian identity reactions’ (Henry 1996 Henry, J.-R. 1996. France-Algérie: assumer l'histoire commune. Confluences Méditerranée, 19: 17–29. [Google Scholar]). This article grew out of a report ordered by the Centre for Social Science Studies for Defence (French Ministry of Defence) and was written with support from the Ministry's DMPA (the department for memory, heritage and archives). That report was entitled ‘War memory of the Algerian war for independence (in France and Algeria)’. I would like to thank Christopher Mobley for his help with the translation. Kassaman was one of the numerous patriotic songs written by Moufdi Zakaria during the war. He also wrote a ‘Song of the ALN’, a ‘Song of the national symbol’, a ‘Song of shohada’, etc. Article 5 of the Constitution, revised in November 2008, specifies that ‘The national symbol and national anthem are conquests of the Revolution of 1 November 1954. They are immutable’. The national hymn is designated as ‘Kassaman with all its verses’; this precision is the result of a debate about whether or not to remove the specific reference to France. The first law on former mujahideen effectively guaranteed some benefits for them (Law No. 63-321 of 31 August 1963 on the social protection of former mujahideen). This law was preceded by another one, on 2 April, ‘on the implementation of a disability pension and protection of the victims of the war for national liberation’. Law No. 63-321 specified that a certificate from a Communal Commission ‘made up exclusively of former mujahideen’ was necessary. Constitution of 10 September 1963. http://www.marxists.org/history/algeria/1963/09/constitution.htm The first of this Charter's four sections reads like a history course in itself. This was the third law passed that year: Law No. 84-03 of 2 January 1984. In Algeria, the Official Journal uses the Christian calendar. However, the Hijra calendar date is also given in the Arabic version. Moreover, these medals were created using as a model the medal for military merit, which, beginning on 6 June 1981, was awarded to meritorious individuals from the ANP who were also former ALN members, i.e., the men that the regime greatly relied upon. Constitution of 1989, Article 59. These two dimensions were already included in the Constitution of 1976, but in two separate articles (Articles 84 and 85 of Chapter VI). Thus, on 5 July 1999, in his speech for the 37th anniversary of independence, the Algerian President stated that four of the country's major airports would be named: Messali Hadj for Tlemcen, Abbane Ramdane for Bejaïa, Krim Belkacem for Hassi Messaoud, and Mohammed Khider for Biskra. In November 1999, he went so far as to proclaim St Augustine ‘Father of the Nation’. Executive Decree No. 94-42 of 29 January 1994. Preamble to the Constitution of 1963, which was preserved in successive constitutional revisions up to and including the most recent modification, in November 2008. This is the case of Mohamed Benchicou's Journal d'un homme libre, which was censured in October 2008. The accusation of ‘trivialising the crimes of colonisation’ was made by Khalida Toumi, the Minister of Culture. In 1996, following a constitutional revision, Article 59 became the current Article 62. I would like to extend warm thanks to Malika el Korso for providing lists of these associations and of foundations. The birth of the ONEM, in 1993, is also attributable to the context of the expanding power of Islamist maquis and the need to fight them using not just the material resources of the people's militia, whose ranks are made up of young Algerian men, but also the symbolic resources from the war for liberation. This term is much older. In the 1960s, it referred to all large organisations that, linked to the FLN, organised Algerian society. As in many other countries where freedom of expression is controlled, humour is definitely an important venue for social and political criticism in Algeria. Former members of the Special Organisation of the MTLD, who met in June 1954 and who are considered to have been behind the decision to start armed conflict. Unlike the case of war monuments in France, which are similar in number, these monuments may be located in widely diverse locations. This analysis was made by Emmanuel Alcaraz, who is preparing a doctoral dissertation on the places of memory of the Algerian war for independence, under the direction of Benjamin Stora. I would like to thank Mr Alcarez for sharing his work with me. Chadli Bendjedid was elected President of the Republic in January 1984, after replacing Houari Boumediène, who died in office in late 1979. The declaration of the Congress of Soummam is still considered one of the four founding texts of the Algerian Republic, apart from the Constitutions, according to official website http://www.el-mouradia.dz/. However, at the museum at Ifri-Ouzellagen, the emphasis is placed on the war's culture, not on the founding principles established during the Congress (Emmanuel Alcaraz's doctoral dissertation, unpublished). This site, which was made an annex to the Museum of Mujahideen in 1995, has had a commemorative stele since 1984, when substantial improvement works were carried out. Ighil Imoula is the village of Ali Zamoum, who received the text from Krim Belkacem for copying (see his Mémoires). He personally worked to preserve this memorial site. I would like to thank Dalila Aït-el-Djoudi for this detail and for her valuable help. Dalila Aït-el-Djoudi has written a thesis published in 2007 (Aït-el-Djoudi 2007 Aït-el-Djoudi, D. 2007. La Guerre d'Algérie vue par l'ALN 1954-1962. L'Armée française sous le regard des combattants algériens, Paris: Autrement. [Google Scholar]). This day has actually existed since 1968. According to James House, whom I would like to thank for these details, it was conceived during the national seminar on emigration in Algiers in August 1966 (see L'Émigration algérienne: problèmes et perspectives, Paris, Direction centrale de l'Amicale des Algériens en Europe, 1966). No. 67 of L'Algérien en Europe (1 November 1968, pp. 10–11) mentions it specifically. What is presented as a new commemorative date in 1993 is thus, in this respect, more a reaffirmation. Nineteen March 1962 is the date of the ceasefire, 19 May 1956 the beginning of the students' strike, 20 August refers to the uprising in North Constantine in 1955 and the Soummam Congress of 1956 (the date of the congress was intentionally an anniversary), 17 October refers to repression in Paris in 1961 and 11 December to the popular demonstrations of 1960. Article 53 of the Law of 5 April 1999. Article 52 of the Law of 5 April 1999. The beneficiaries of mujahideen are their ascendants and widows (Article 14). Since its creation in 1990, the foundation for 8 May 1945 has focused on obtaining recognition for the May and June 1945 massacres as crimes against humanity. This Foundation, formed as a lobby to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe, and favourable to creating a new forum similar to the Russell Tribunal, continued its activities after 1995. President Bouteflika's address to the nation, 1 November 2008. Emphasis added. On the foundational myths of contemporary Algeria, see the works of Harbi (1975 Harbi, M. 1975. Aux origines du FLN: le populisme révolutionnaire en Algérie, Paris: Christian Bourgois. [Google Scholar], 1980 Harbi, M. 1980. Le FLN, mirage et réalité, des origines à la prise du pouvoir (1945–1962), Paris: Jeune Afrique. [Google Scholar]). This is, word for word, the first goal set by the Declaration of 1 November 1954. The second goal was ‘to respect all basic freedoms regardless of race or religion’. As explained very clearly by Lahouari Addi (1999 Addi, L. 1999. L'Armée, la nation et l'État en Algérie. Confluences Méditerranée, 29: 39–46. [Google Scholar], p. 40), the violence behind independence had two effects on Algerian political culture: ‘1) violence is the foundation for policy and 2) policy is only aimed at opposing foreigners and traitors’. Communiqué from the CCDR's national office, 3 December 2008. Initially presided by a veteran from wilaya 2 (Colonel Salah Boubnider), the CCDR is currently headed by Commandant Azzedine, backed by his reputation as a maquisard from early on in the independence movement and chief of the very famous Ali Khodja commando, then head of the Algiers autonomous zone at the end of the war. Logically, the same rivalry surrounds the word shahid, which Islamists dispute, arguing that fallen ALN combatants died for the homeland, not for Islam. This led to acts of vandalism against shohada monuments in the 1990s. In fact, being a child of a mujahid can already open doors in Algeria. Obtaining a legal guarantee would have an obvious impact – although laws are not necessarily enforced – but it would not hinder a practice whereby the reputation of the father is carried down to the children, for good or bad, in fact, as shown also by the case of the children of harkis. The French expression is a play on words, ‘Mars’ meaning the month of March and the planet where Martians are supposed to come from. ‘The teaching of history is a mandatory and fundamental subject in the national education system’. Article 62 of the Law of 5 April 1999. School attendance is mandatory for children ages 6 to 16. According to El Watan (2 September 2008), this house was listed as an historical monument in September 2007 – 50 years after his assassination. However, renovation works had not moved forward as of 2009. For a long period, Algerians that had migrated to Metropolitan France and given financial support for the war effort also saw their role diminished or even ignored. Moreover, some mujahidate used their valuable symbolic capital during major demonstrations against the Family Code, but in vain. The Family Code was adopted in June 1984. In 2006, at Algeria's ENA, the institute for national administration, the entering class gave Audin renewed visibility by naming itself after him. Is this an acknowledgement that he had been ignored previously? Or a signal aimed at France? According to El Watan, 23 October 2008. Law of 5 April 1999 on Shohada and Mujahideen.