A local approach to the Udma

Local-Level Politics During the Decade of Political Parties, 1946-56

Bibliographic Data

ID3979460
AuthorsMalika Rahal (0000-0002-9707-6217, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume18
Issue5
Pages703-724
Publication date2013-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of North African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1362-9387 • E-ISSN: 1743-9345
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13629387.2013.849897
OpenAlexW2020437329
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited7

This essay considers the local political and historical anthropology of a political party – the UDMA (Union Démocratique du Manifeste algérien). It describes how the experience of ‘doing politics’ in a single city nuances, or contradicts, conventional narratives of the party's place in the history of Algerian nationalism. In particular, it shows that the reputation of the party (among former activists, in collective memory, in historiography) is rooted in one local experience (that of Constantine) rather than others (for example, Oran). Furthermore, examining local experiences illuminates power relations within the party as well as Algeria's broader political development during the decade of political parties (1946–56). It allows analysis of what appears at the national level to be progressive disaffection for the party system, often described as a passive phenomenon, by instead identifying the locally active agency exercised in party politics' apparent ‘running out of steam’. Rather than being a moribund era, this was a period of intense activity, discussion and action. The essay thus reappraises both this decade in the Algerian political experience and the place of politics in Algerian history.Keywords: party politicsUDMAlocal politicsurban politicsOranConstantine AcknowledgementsThe research owes a lot to historian and former mayor of Oran Saddek Benkadda who shared his knowledge of the city with me and was a companion in the fieldwork that allowed me to collect the material. I am very grateful for knowledgeable and constructive comments from James McDougall and Robert P. Parks.Notes† This article is based on a chapter of my PhD thesis: Malika Rahal, ‘L'Union Démocratique Du Manifeste Algérien (1946–1956). Histoire D'un Parti Politique. L'autre Nationalisme Algérien’ (INALCO 2007). It was first presented at the AIMS annual conference in Oran 2010. All translations into English were by Malika Rahal and Benjamin T. White.1. Mohammed Harbi, for example, questions how appropriate it was for the student Union, the UGEMA (Union Générale des Etudiants Musulmans Algériens), to have the ‘M’ in its name: ‘Why exclude those who were in favour of Algerian independence because they were not Muslim?’ See Moore (Citation2010, 618) for the interview with Harbi. On ‘la querelle du M’, see also Pervillé (Citation1999, 118–119).2. The PCA remains strikingly understudied though newer work is emerging (see Sivan Citation1976; Drew Citation2003).3. Despite distancing himself from this type of discourse, Meynier, for example, still expresses impatience with the nationalist movement when he analyses earlier attempts at political unity in the light of the final and successful one, i.e. the creation of the FLN (Meynier Citation2002, 69–88). See Thénault (Citation2005) for critical discussion of this notion of ‘failed attempts’.4. Messali's organisation, le Parti du Peuple Algérien (PPA), was banned just before Second World War. It remained as an underground party but established a legal cover in the MTLD in 1946.5. Constantine was the main exception to this pattern. For lack of sufficient early European immigration, the intra-muros city remained mostly Jewish and Muslim, with a new ‘European’ quarter developing outside the city centre in the twentieth century. Figures for the Orani population are from Coquery (Citation1965).6. The words ‘Muslim’ and ‘European’ were used in the colonial period as legal categories dividing the population of Algeria between colonial and colonised populations. These categories were in fact racial rather than properly religious (as it was for instance possible to become a ‘Christian Muslim’ by converting to Christianity). When used in this legal–racial sense, they will appear in inverted commas.7. ANOM (Archives nationales d'Outre-mer, Aix-en-Provence), Oran 111*, PRG (Police des renseignements généraux) d'Oran report, 26 June 1952. Among the speakers were Abdelkader Mahdad, Kouider Allali and shaykhs Saïd Zemmouchi and Moussa Hamani.8. As a member of the party central committee and political bureau, Ahmed Tahar (1905–81) was an important figure in the region. He was elected to the French senate (Conseil de la République) in 1948 and taught at the lycée in Mascara, near Oran.9. ANOM, 5I 112*, PE (Police d’État), Oran, report, 29 September 1953.10. Interview with Abdelkader Maachou, Oran, 26 June 2006; ANOM, Oran 21, Prefect's monthly report, 20 November–20 December 1946.11. Interviews with Abdelkader Rached, former UDMA activist, and Lahouari Missoum, former MTLD militant, Oran, 18 June 2006.12. Interview with Mokhtar Boughrassa, former MTLD activist, Oran, 27 June 2006.13. ANOM, 5I 113*, PRG Oran report, 23 June 1947. Abdelkader Sebbag, Mohammed Sebaa, Mohammed Belaid, Elhouari Abderahim and Abdallah Fouatif are mentioned.14. ANOM, 51 113*,‘Liste des militants UDMA ville d'Oran’, January 1949 (no source given).15. ANOM, E 262, PRG Oran report, 9 June 1951.16. Interview with Abdelkader Rached, Oran, 18 June 2006.17. ANOM, 5I 112*, PRG Oran report, 8 January 1953.18. ANOM, 5I 112*, PE Oran report, 5 January 1953.19. Alger Républicain, 4 January 1953; ANOM, 5I 112*, PRG Oran, report, 5 January 1953.20. Oran Républicain, 5 January 1953.21. ANOM, 5I 112*, PE Oran report, 5 January 1953.22. La République algérienne, 9 January 1953.23. La République algérienne, 9 January 1953.24. Interview with Abdelkader Rached, Oran, 18 June 2006. Abdallah Rached was born in 1912, his son in 1934.25. ANOM, Oran 106*, PRG Oran report, 8 January 1953.26. Interviews with Abdelkader Rached, former UDMA activist, and Lahouri Missoum, former MTLD activist, Oran, 18 June 2006.27. In the same fashion as Khadra (Citation2011), a novel set at the end of the colonial period in Algeria where a pharmacy is the location for political activity.28. Interviews with Abdelkader Rached, former UDMA activist, Oran, 18 June 2006.29. Interview with Abdelkader Rached, former UDMA member, Oran, 18 June 2006.30. ANOM, 5I 113*, police reports, no source given, 6 and 20 July 1948.31. ANOM, 5I 113*, draft for a monthly report, 10 June–10 July 1948.32. ANOM, 5I 112*, PRG Oran report, 17 October 1955.33. ANOM, 5I 113*, PRG Oran report, 7 December 1946.34. ANOM, 5I 113*, PRG Oran report, 14 April 1947.35. ANOM, 5I 112*, PE Oran report, 14 October 1952.36. ANOM 5I 115*, PRG Oran report, 8 April 1952.37. ANOM, Oran 685*, PRG Oran report, 1 December 1947. The dispute opposed Hamou Boutlélis and Brahim Zebaïri, both of them deputy mayors of Oran and MTLD members, to Sid Larbi Miloud (probably Cheniour) and Mahi Bensnouci of the UDMA.38. ANOM, 09 CAB 106*, Direction de la sécurité générale, PRG Oran, telephone information, 29 March 1948.39. Interviews with Kada Mazouni, former MTLD member, Oran, June 2006 and Abdelkader Maachou, Oran, 26 June 2006.40. UDMA members blamed the MTLD for the failure of negotiations aimed at creating a unified list of MTLD, UDMA and PCA candidates for the municipal election. All nationalist parties then competed separately in elections that were ultimately won by the MTLD. Message from the UDMA candidates in Oran Républicain, 18 October 1947.41. Interview with Abdelkader Maachou, Oran, 26 June 2012.42. Médiène Benamar, ‘Mohammed Benahmed dit Commandant Moussa. Une figure oranaise, une figure nationale’, http://www.commandant-moussa.com/mediene.htm.43. Benali Seghier became the third mayor of Oran in the immediate aftermath of the 1965 military coup. He was later elected mayor and served two mandates.44. Interview with Abdelkader Maachou, Oran, 26 June 2006.45. ANOM, 5I 112*, PRG Oran report, 2 December 1950.46. ANOM, 5I 111*, PE Oran report, 23 May 1951. The wave of protest against Abbas involved the whole party: younger militants were particularly unhappy with their leader. However, discontent was stronger in Oran than anywhere else in the country (Rahal Citation2007a, 154–157).47. 5I 111*, PRG Oran report, 24 May 1951.48. ANOM, 5I 111*, PRG Oran report, 1 August 1951.49. In fact Benali Khaled.50. Interview with Abdelkader Maachou, Oran, 26 June 2012.51. Interview with Abdelkader Maachou, Oran, 26 June 2006.52. Interview with Abdelkader Maachou, Oran, 26 June 2006.53. Interview with Abdelkader Maachou, in the presence of S.A. Bessaïh, also a UDMA member, Oran, 26 June 2006.54. See the very interesting narrative given by academic Benamar Mediène, following several long interviews with Benahmed: http://www.commandant-moussa.com/mediene.htm.55. ANOM, 5I 115*, PRG Oran report, 28 January 1952.56. Generally Souiyah (also known as Souaih) or Zebaïri for the MTLD and Fodil, Malki or Hamadene for the PCA.57. Interview with Abdelkader Rached, Oran, 18 June 2006.58. Kaïd Ahmed (1921–78) was a member of the UDMA from Tiaret. He took to the maquis and became one of Houari Boumediene's lieutenants. After independence, he was a minister in governments both before and after the military coup of 1965 that brought Houari Boumediene to power and served as secretary general of the FLN.59. This characteristic of Oran remains true today. Considered one of the birthplaces of Raï music, it is renowned for its cabarets and nightlife.60. La République algérienne, 27 February 1953.61. Ahmed Medeghri (1934–74) was the son of a UDMA member in Oran. He joined Houari Boumediene's command during the war of independence, and was Minister of the Interior from 1965 until his death.62. Sid Ahmed Ghozali was born in 1937. He was the son of Lakhdar Ghozali (born 1908) of Nedroma, an Arabic teacher, UDMA member as well as an occasional ‘ulamā supporter. He became prime minister in 1991. ANOM, Oran, 359, Préfecture, Oran, note de renseignement du SLNA, 6 November 1951. Interview with Nourredine Benazzouz, former ALN combatant and commissaire politique, also from Nedroma, Paris, 2 February 2008.63. ANOM, 5I 112*, PRG Oran report, 18 March 1955.64. ANOM, 5I 112*, PRG Oran report, 17 October 1955.65. Médiène Benamar, ‘Mohammed Benahmed dit Commandant Moussa. Une figure oranaise, une figure nationale’, http://www.commandant-moussa.com/mediene.htm.66. On 6 February 1956, Prime Minister Guy Mollet was bombarded with tomatoes by a ‘European’ ultra mob during his visit to Algiers, an experience that encouraged him to adopt a very repressive attitude towards Algerian nationalists. For images of Guy Mollet's trip to Algiers from the television evening news, see the INA website: http://www.ina.fr/economie-et-societe/vie-sociale/video/AFE85006606/l-arrivee-de-monsieur-guy-mollet-a-alger.fr.html.67. Interviews with Sadek Hadjerès, former PCA leader and negotiator – with Bachir Hadj Ali – of the PCA-FLN agreement of July 1956, Athens, September 2011.68. Le Monde, 15 July 1964. Mohammed Benahmed (1920–2004) was arrested in 1963, condemned to death and reprieved only in 1965. He retired from politics except to support Abdelaziz Bouteflika's candidacy for the 1999 presidential elections

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