Political change in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia had a profound impact on salafist movements and Islamist parties, Amel Boubekeur said at Casablanca conference in October. Photo: Imrane Binoual
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Magharebia, Text and photos by Imrane Binoual (Casablanca, Morocco, March 7, 2014) — French-Algerian Amel Boubekeur is an internationally-recognized expert on political Islam. Her books include “Whatever Happened to the Islamists?: Salafis, Heavy Metal Muslims, and the Lure of Consumerist Islam.”
Magharebia met with Boubekeur in Casablanca to learn more about what she calls the “transformation” of salafist and Islamist movements in the Maghreb.
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Magharebia: What is the first thing people need to know about Islamists in the Maghreb region?
Salafists gained “revolutionary legitimacy” with the Arab Spring, sociologist Amel Boubekeur says. The question now is what they will do with it. Photo: Imrane Binoual
Amel Boubekeur: These movements can be viewed in terms of how much access they have to political power. It is more meaningful to talk about whether parties have been legalized or not than to distinguish between “moderate” or “radical” Islam.
In Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, we find legalized parties that have accepted the rules of the game…Then there are parties, which are more or less tolerated in public places but are not at all permitted to participate in elections.
Magharebia: What changes have the Islamists undergone since the Arab Spring?
Boubekeur: Acquiring a new revolutionary legitimacy or portraying their victory as the result of a democratic transition gave them an opportunity to re-launch their presence in politics, and they have done so with varying degrees of success.
They are discussing the theoretical aspects of their ideology less and have had to adapt to the demands for social justice made on the streets. For example, Al Adl Wal Ihsane is now talking much more about the price of fuel as a danger that could cause a social explosion than about the “roaya” (vision) of the late Sheikh Yassine in order to announce a probable “kaouma” (revolution). They have also had to agree to govern in coalition with non-Islamist parties in order to consolidate their presence.
Now, however, there arises the question of the Islamist relevance of their use of institutions, which rarely goes beyond the anecdotal. The fact that they do not yet have the creation of a common front with the newer Islamist parties or the salafist movements as an election strategy is quite telling, and reveals that as parties, they have been quite disoriented by the way that the revolutions or transitions have turned out. They are probably still at a stage where they are “digesting” their integration into the mainstream.
Magharebia: Who do these movements aim to serve?
Boubekeur: I think that when Islamist parties are in power, their role is to keep radical tendencies in check. We have seen the impact of the dissolution of the FIS in Algeria on the violent scattering of its most hard-line fringe. At the same time, it seems to me that these parties have not solved the dilemma of deciding what their social support base is.
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