MER Article Editor's Picks January/February 1995) Abu Libdeh, Hassan, et al. A Survey of the Syrian Population in Occupied Golan Heights (Majdal Shams: Arab Association for Development, 1994). Amnesty International. Algeria: Repression and Violence Must End (London, 1994). Association of Israeli-Palestinian Physicians for Human Rights. The Transf The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article Bezness Nouri Bouzid, Bezness (1992). What happens when a poor Arab country with a high birth rate, an enormous youth population and endemic unemployment bases a significant part of its development strategy on attracting European tourism? In Nouri Bouzid’s film, Bezness, the Tunisian coastal town of Souss Garay Menicucci • 5 min read
MER Article Egypt's Factory Privatization Campaign Turns Deadly The Egyptian government’s campaign to sell off the cream of its state-owned factories to private investors took a violent and murderous turn after some 7,000 evening-shift workers at the Kafr al-Dawwar Spinning and Weaving Factory staged a spontaneous sit-down strike on September 30, 1994. Security Joe Stork • 3 min read
MER Article Paris, Washington, Algiers The prospect of an Islamist victory in Algeria has alarmed French policymakers and politicians across the political spectrum. The French right, from the National Front's Jean Le Pen to Gaullist Interior Minister Charles Pasqua have, in varying degrees, raised the specter of Algerian “boat people” sw Roger Diwan, Fareed Mohamedi • 4 min read
MER Article Algeria's Battle of Two Languages As the cancellation of Algeria’s electoral process reaches its third anniversary this January, the conditions for a political settlement between the Islamist groups and the army-backed government are becoming exceedingly complicated. Even if the “moderate” voices within both the established order an Abdeslam Maghraoui • 12 min read
MER Article The Menace and Appeal of Algeria's Parallel Economy In March 1994, fighting between Algerian security forces and armed Islamist guerrillas reached a critical intensity around Blida, about 90 miles east of Algiers. A commercial strike to protest army killings of young men became the target of yet another military action. Blida is a center for private Deborah Harrold • 11 min read
MER Article "I Am Living in a Foreign Country Here" A friend introduced me to ‘Abd al-Haq during the elections in Algeria in December 1991. I was surveying the electoral behavior of youths of the poorer quarters of Algiers (the casbah), the suburbs (Bachdjarah) and a mixed neighborhood (El-Biar). At the time I was trying to meet pietistes (devout one Meriem Verges • 11 min read
MER Article "Hassiba Ben Bouali, If You Could See Our Algeria" On January 2, 1992, Algerian feminists demonstrated against the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) and their victory in the national elections of December 26, 1991. Their target was the Islamist assault on women’s rights and the threat of violence against women. One of their posters addressed a martyred Susan Slyomovics • 14 min read
MER Article Algeria's Crisis Intensifies The military-led regime in Algiers has abruptly terminated its halting year-long effort to initiate a “dialogue” with its Islamist opponents, with no sign of when discussions might be resumed. It appeared for a time that the “reconciliators,” led by President Lamine Zeroual, had won out over hard-line “eradicators” opposed to Arun Kapil • 17 min read
MER Article From the Editors (January/February 1995) Two years ago, Algeria’s army displaced the ostensibly constitutional regime of Chadli Benjedid to forestall an all-but-certain victory of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) in a second round of elections scheduled for a few weeks later. The chief consequence of that army intervention is a war whose The Editors • 2 min read
