Boualem Sansal and the tree that hides the forest

For ten days, Algeria has been the target of a hateful political-media campaign in which we find pell-mell the most repugnant voices of the Islamophobic far-right and the unconditional defenders of the genocidal state of Israel.

In question, the arrest of their friend Boualem Sansal, a writer praised in Parisian circles not so much for his literary qualities as for his services rendered in the ideological war against Islam and Algeria.

Tell me who you’re dating and I’ll tell you who you are. Just take a look at the list of petitioners who have appealed for the release of Boualem Sansal to know what it is all about.

All without exception are fierce defenders of the genocidal war waged by the colonialist and racist state of Israel in Gaza. All without exception are mobilized in the ideological and social war against Islam and Muslims in France and in Europe in the name of the fight against the “great replacement”.

Boualem Sansal was arrested at Algiers airport on November 16 and was brought before the public prosecutor within six days of his arrest as stipulated by Algerian law. Placed under arrest warrant, he was interned in a penitentiary unit of a hospital in Algiers.

Boualem Sansal has appealed his detention, said one of the local lawyers who work in collaboration with his Parisian lawyer. The indictment chamber has 21 days to rule on this appeal.

Boualem Sansal’s lawyer, Me François Zimeray, who is also, it should be remembered, Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyer in The Hague, recognized that his client “ was able to speak freely today with the Algerian lawyers working as a team with his French defender. His general state of health is monitored and he did not complain of mistreatment during his custody” (Le Monde November 27, 2024)

Freedom of expression with variable geometry

By describing the “unfounded detention” of Boualem Sansal as “unacceptable”, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, did not hesitate to set himself up as a judge in an independent and sovereign country.

By stating that “we will endeavor to prepare a defense while taking care to exclude as much as possible the political dimension of the case”, Boualem Sansal’s lawyer, Me François Zimeray, knows deep down that only the invocation of a formal and abstract right to freedom of expression can save his client.

Indeed, the shocking argument used by those who defend Boualem Sansal is obviously the sacrosanct principle of freedom of expression, a formal legal principle which immediately dismisses the question of agreement or disagreement with the content which is expressed. This principle is illustrated by the famous quote attributed to Voltaire: “ I don’t agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death for you to have the right to say it. »

But does this beautiful formal principle have limits or not? For example, what does the European Convention on Human Rights, which applies in all European countries, say on this subject? In its article 10, paragraph 2, it is stipulated that “The exercise of these freedoms involving duties and responsibilities may be subject to certain formalities, conditions, restrictions or sanctions provided for by law, which constitute necessary measures, in a democratic society, for national security, territorial integrity or public safety, the defense of order and the prevention of crime, the protection of health or morals, the protection of the reputation or rights of others…“.

So in Europe, freedom of expression is subject to legal restrictions and no one finds anything wrong with it, but in Algeria, freedom of expression should be WITHOUT LIMITS?

What happened in Descartes’ country? Has common sense disappeared? In France, one cannot express solidarity with the resistance of the Palestinians without being accused of “incitement to terrorism”. In France, negationism and revisionism are not points of view but offenses punishable by law. As far as Algeria is concerned, on the other hand, anything can be said and written in the name of freedom of expression!

Algeria is not a jungle

Of course, Algeria is not a Swiss democracy. The Algerian state suffers from numerous bureaucratic shortcomings as its own leaders admit. Fundamental freedoms deserve better protection. But Algeria is not a jungle. It certainly has its imperfect laws and institutions which need to be improved, but that is no reason for it to agree to judge Boualem Sansal with laws other than its own.

Me François Zimeray has the right and the duty to defend his client in the best way he deems appropriate but he will be obliged to do so within the framework of Algerian law which, in this case, hardly deviates from international law.

The restrictions imposed by the Algerian legislator on freedom of expression are not fundamentally different from those we find in the European Convention on Human Rights.

By adopting the false propaganda of the Makhzenian networks on the so-called belonging of western Algeria to the Kingdom of Morocco (an belonging which only exists in their sick heads) in a regional and international geopolitical context marked by the will of certain powers to redraw the map of the region through the use of new hybrid wars, Boualem Sansal did not fly the accusation of attack on territorial integrity and national security.

Not content with having betrayed the country which adopted his Moroccan father and which granted him the same rights as all Algerians to the point of making him a central director at the Ministry of Industry, Boualem Sansal did not hesitate to commit himself with all his soul to the service of the colonialist and racist state of Israel without the slightest respect for the feelings of the vast majority of his compatriots reduced to the rank of barbarians on occasion.

How many Sansals are still in clandestine service?

Let’s quickly close the lid of the trash can to avoid having to breathe in its nauseating odors any longer. The only question that should interest and worry Algerians is this: for one Boualem Sansal arrested and unmasked, how many other Sansals are still active underground within the institutions of the Algerian state?

By offending Algeria and the Algerians, France is doing them the greatest service. The trend towards disconnection from the former colonial power, which involves the decolonization of minds, as imagined by Frantz Fanon and Malek Bennabi, is gaining ground.

Under pressure from a nomenklatura that still has too many ties to France, the Algerian state still hesitates to definitively cut the umbilical cord that binds it to the former colonial power, as illustrated by the presence of French, alongside English, in the primary education cycle and as illustrated by the regrettable fact that medicine and engineering continue to be taught in French, and not in English as it should be quite naturally.

But heavier structural factors, such as the irrepressible aspiration of Algerians for shared prosperity thwarted by neocolonial dependence and the appearance of new opportunities on the international scene, are in the process of unraveling what has so far prevented the Algeria is finally flying on its own towards independent development.

This trend is now irreversible, especially with the gradual arrival at the helm of a young generation of managers who see the world in its true dimension, a world in which France is only a middle power among others.

And this explains the paradox according to which the more France will helplessly witness the decline of its status in Algeria, and in Africa more generally, the more the nostalgic voices of a past forever gone will redouble their volume in an attempt to stop the inexorable march of history.

The Hate Merchants

In their false propaganda, the mainstream media do not hesitate to present the Algerian aspiration to free itself from the harmful influence of French neocolonialist circles as a form of hatred towards France.

The lie is gross. Not only do Algerians feel no hatred towards France, but they know that deep down the anti-Algerian hatred conveyed by the mainstream media is essentially the work of circles which have long pledged allegiance to a foreign power.

This allegiance goes so far as to contradict the interests of France as we saw recently during the outcry against President Emmanuel Macron when he ventured to demand a restriction on the delivery of arms to Israel.

This is why in their legitimate quest for a respectful and balanced relationship, the Algerians will find on their way the many French people who have understood that their beautiful country has been taken hostage by ideological lobbies who gargle pseudo-secular slogans and pseudo-universalists to better hide their tribalism and their subservience to hard-hitting foreign interests.