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| Africa North | ||
| Algeria campus protests raise fears of religious extremism | ||
| 2010-05-30 | ||
| [Maghrebia] Recent student activism at the Emir Abdelkader University of Islamic Sciences in Constantine has some educators fearing a return of Islamist fervour like that which preceded Algeria's Black Decade. The university's Free Union of Students on May 19th forced the relocation of a campus lecture by Abdelhamid Mehri, a politician and former secretary general of the National Liberation Front (FLN). The lecture was moved from a main hall to a smaller venue after protests by the group, which has also protested against clothing styles, behaviour and exhibitions it calls un-Islamic.
"These movements that come...on the student day are not innocent," he added. "It's a tool of pressure backed by certain entities that want to manage Algerian universities according to their own ideas." The protesters issued a statement including demands for the incorporation of "sharia subjects in...the university's new majors" and an end to "immoral violations". Their protest included refusing to enter lecture halls and department offices. "We won't accept any unveiled girls at the Islamic university," a representative of the students, Omar Medahi, told the local press. "Some of them wear immodest clothes. Also, we won't permit...meetings that have nothing to do with the characteristics of the Islamic university". "Today, we're demanding an internal law for the Islamic university that includes its special characteristics, where there's no place for immoral behaviours or nakedness," he added. The protesters earlier took issue with medical exhibitions, and many were angered when expatriate Algerian singer Amel Wahbi sang patriotic songs at an April 16th campus event. The university's president told the local press that he was surprised by the most recent protest, especially because administrators were not notified in advance. "Their demands are not objective and are irrational," Abdellah Boukhelkhal said, adding that the university is state-owned and will keep its doors "open to everyone". One student contacted by Magharebia for comment on the protests said his classmates were simply defending the "sanctity" of the campus. "Some [university] visitors don't find it an embarrassing thing to smoke...or throw cigarette butts everywhere," added Mohammed, whose last name was withheld to protect his privacy. "Also, some female visitors come with their full make-up on, and in this way they offend us in public." But other students said they opposed the protests and felt that outside interests were manipulating events. "Since the Free Union of Students didn't give notice about the protest, then the decision must have come from above and in an urgent way against Mehri, from parties that have an interest in creating chaos," said Othmane, 23. "It's also immoral to prevent female students from studying if they're unveiled; guidance is to be endowed by God, not through compulsion." "What took place at the university confirms that things were confused because of the attempts of some people to politicise what the students want," said Nabila, 24. "A university is a university and a mosque is a mosque." "What's this reactionary thought and backwardness?" she added. "Weren't the years of fire and the Black Decade that Algeria lived through enough for us?" | ||
| Posted by:Fred |