WUNRN
ALGERIA - CITIZEN BARAKAT MOVEMENT
FOR DEMOCRACY - WOMAN FOUNDER SPEAKS
-
"The government did not expect that there would be such a vigilant
civil society. They thought we were dead, but we were only in convalescence".
Amira Bouraoui co-founded the Barakat (Enough!) movement, and spoke to Karima
Bennoune about the goal of the new citizens' movement to establish democracy in
"Enough lies."
Dr. Amira Bouraoui sits in at the National TV station in Algiers, along with
other members of Barakat on Mar 24.
Karima Bennoune: Can you
explain the aims of the Barakat movement and the recent history which shapes
it?
Amira Bouraoui: The goals of the Barakat movement are to
establish democracy in
KB: What was it about
President Bouteflika’s record that inspired your protests?
AB: Mr. Abdelaziz
Bouteflika came to power in 1999 – 15 years ago. The Algerian constitution had
been amended a few years earlier so that its Article 74 limited
presidential terms to two. In 2008, Mr. Bouteflika increased
the salaries of legislators. He thereby influenced the deputies to violate
the constitution by amending it without a referendum, without the opinion of
the people being expressed, and so the third term was stolen. We were very
attached to Article 74 because even if Bouteflika was “elected” in conditions
that were not very transparent, people said to themselves he will be here for
two terms, and then he will go. When a president has term limits – like
in many democratic countries - he knows he will have to leave one day, and he
tells himself that one day he will have to give an account of what he has done.
When you know you will have to account for your actions, you work hard and you
try not to make mistakes. But when you decide you will stay in power until you
die, like a dictator or a monarch, you think you can do anything you want. You
think the republic belongs to you, and this is not the case.
When you go back to
President Bouteflika’s last speech of May 2012, he said ‘my generation is
finished.’ He said that a man must know his limits. He said
this in Arabic. We were somewhat reassured in May 2012 when he said ‘we must
pass the torch’ – a torch that is preferably lit and not extinguished. Despite
a third stolen term, we thought we would finally have elections that would
bring back hope.
Every generation needs
hope. A president who stays in power for more than ten years, for more than two
terms, presides over a generational transition. And the new generation is no
longer connected with a president who stays too long in power.
Nevertheless, this year we saw politicians calling on the president to seek a
fourth term even though he is very sick, and has been in power for 15 years,
and the constitution has been violated, and we had not seen him in public for
two years, and he had not even given a speech for two years. Both physically
and mentally, he is in no condition to govern. So, we decided with
activist friends to go out into the street and to say, ‘no.’ ‘Stop!’ We did not
expect the rapid popularity of Barakat, a movement that was just created on
March 1st.
KB: What is it
about a fourth term for President Bouteflika that is so unacceptable?
AB: Before President
Bouteflika’s candidacy was announced, many, many Algerians – in universities,
cafés, businesses, hospitals - would say, ‘no he would not dare to go for a 4th
term.’ That would be unacceptable. The 4th term is simply the symbol of a
regime and a system that is archaic. This regime and this system have contempt
for the people, deeming them immature. They think the people are stupid. But
they do not realize that the people are so aware of the situation that that is
why they do not vote anymore. They have not had the right to a real
choice. We are witnessing an electoral masquerade, a process designed to
impose Abdelaziz Bouteflika for a 4th term. Instead, we call for the people to
be really and truly consulted about its choice of leader.
KB: The threat of
instability is often used to silence protest in
AB: Our anger, our
rejection commenced when President Bouteflika violated the constitution. At the
time, we wrote and signed petitions. We tried to protest, even if we had just
come out of a decade of horror. Algerian citizens were afraid: afraid of
destabilizing the country, afraid of falling again into a cycle that had hurt
us very much in the past. But we find that this stability-through-blackmail
that the regime offers us now, telling us to shut up or else we risk
destabilizing
KB: What is your
strategy from here until Election Day on April 17? Perhaps even more
importantly, what will your strategy be afterwards?
AB: From now until April
17, we will continue to organize actions aimed at pressuring the non-responsive
regime, and trying to make it hear reason. The regime tries to justify the unjustifiable.
It defends the indefensible. Those in power need to realize that they are
running right into a brick wall. After the 17th, we will continue to struggle,
and we will continue to be present on the ground, so as to reject this
illegitimately elected president. Most Algerians do not even have a
voting card, have never had a voting card, and do not plan to vote because for
them the outcome is a foregone conclusion.
KB: The Barakat Movement
has said many times that it is a citizen movement which is political but
non-partisan. What does that mean?
AB: We are a citizen
movement, made up of Algerian citizens who were not all political activists. We
work for democracy and the acquisition of citizenship. When you have not chosen
your president, you are no more than a pilot project of a citizen. You are not
an actual citizen. I would say Barakat is supra-political, because to permit
political parties to take part in democracy, you must have rules of the game
that are clear, transparent and respected. This citizen movement aspires
to create these rules. We do not want to be a political party, and we do
not want to be political in the partisan sense.
KB: You have received a
great deal of support, including on your FACEBOOK page where you
now have been “liked” by over 30,000 people in just one month. However,
you are also being harshly critiqued by some, often in what appears to be an
organized way. Why do you think this has been the case when you are such
a young movement?
AB: The government did not
expect that there would be such a vigilant civil society. They thought, ‘we got
a third term, so we will get a fourth term in total silence.’ They thought we
were dead somehow, but we were only in convalescence. We were learning to walk
again, and soon we will be able to run, so as to protect the republic and
democracy. The government used every kind of propaganda to try to tarnish our
movement. They invented so many lies, and they called us every conceivable
name, just because we aspired to be citizens and to defend democracy.
But, we will not give up. They do have the capacity to inflict damage with
their propaganda because they have television stations and newspapers at their
disposition. They are trying to turn public opinion against those of us who
contest this electoral masquerade. We are called everything from the tools of
the foreigners to Zionists. It went very far. We were called
supporters of the FIS (Islamic Salvation Front), and then “eradicators” (a term
used to smear staunch opponents of fundamentalism) all at the same time –
whatever can give us a bad image in the eyes of the public so as to put us on
the back foot. However, we will stay the course.
KB: Barakat is, first
and foremost, an Algerian movement speaking to an Algerian audience, but do you
also have a message for the international community?
AB: We are for the freedom
of all peoples, and we would like
KB: What has the
experience of Barakat’s first month been like for you, one of the movement’s
most visible representatives?
AB: I had to take 15 days
off of work as a doctor because I was badly manhandled during my first arrests.
The way I was arrested was very difficult for me because I had had back
surgery. However, I am going back to work tomorrow. I love my work.
I think human beings are
not born simply to eat and sleep. We are born to dream of freedom, to realize
our dreams, to defend our ideas, to think. In