Steeled for peace
By Hisham Fahim /alahram weekly / 1999NB .LOUISA HANOUN IS AGAIN CONDIDATE FOR THE PRESEDENTIAL ELECTIONS OF APRIL 2009
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Dubbed the "Iron Lady", Hanoun's strength and determination in the face of opposition has earned her many enemies on the Algerian political scene. Yet even these enemies view her with respect, on account of her principled positions, and her unwavering dedication to socialism and to the Workers Party, which she has led since founding it in 1990.
Born in 1954 in Al-Shafqa in Hegal governorate east of Algeria, Louisa Hanoun is the youngest ever candidate to run for president. In the early 1970s, she started her career as an employee at Air Algérie. She soon became active in the trades union movement and joined a number of women's groups. In the late seventies, she was a militant with the Socialist Workers Organisation, an underground Marxist group. In 1983, she was one of the founders of the Algerian Human Rights Association. Nine months later, she was sentenced to prison, and was only released in 1988.
The following year saw the official adoption of political pluralism in Algeria. Louisa Hanoun took advantage of the new climate to found the Workers Party (WP). Under her leadership, the party established itself as a radical formation opposed to the policies of the regime, In particular, it took a firm stand against the cancellation of the general elections in 1992 which the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was poised to win. The WP subsequently contested the June 1997 legislative elections, winning four seats. Hanoun herself was elected as a representative for Algiers. Although there are not many of them, the WP deputies have since established their party as a significant presence on the political scene.
Why did you decide to run in the presidential elections and what does your party hope to achieve by your candidacy?
Since President Liamine Zeroual declared early elections on 11 September 1998, the central committee of the Workers Party has been involved in a wide-ranging dialogue with the people of Algeria. Despite our doubts about how serious these elections really are, a majority of our members were in favour of our having a go, if only to publicise our positions and proposals -- in particular, our demand for a national congress for all Algerian political groups, including the FIS, so as to put an end to violence.
This meeting would also aim to defuse the explosive situation in the country, which threatens to tear the nation apart, and thus establish the foundations for a peace which would help us move towards a real democracy and could give us hope for the future.
Isn't it odd to nominate a woman in an Arab country, where many people might not feel comfortable with a woman president?
Our major concern is with the future of the country, not with whether a man or a woman becomes president.
Personally, I have no complexes about being a woman. Although we still have a number of conservative laws pertaining to women and the family, the question of gender is of no significance to Algerians.
I felt it was my duty to accept my nomination by the central committee, so as to do what I could to help the country find a way out of the present crisis.
Tell us about the priorities of your electoral programme.
Peace is my highest priority and the very core of the electoral platform on which I am standing. Peace has been our party's aim since 1992. We have reiterated this aim continuously.
We want to restore confidence and hope to Algerians, curb violence and put an end to the guerrilla war that is being waged under the cloak of terrorism. We want to escape from this vicious circle, so as to alleviate the suffering of the people, after seven long years of violence.
Today, that violence is shifting to new areas. No family in Algeria has been spared. Children are orphaned, women widowed. The entire country is faced with a future of assassination, aggression and rampant crime. The settling of old scores and the reign of criminal gangs are the order of the day.
Yet the right to live in peace shall prevail. We have to remember that the war of liberation lasted for seven years. Already we have suffered seven new years of bereavement. This cannot go on any longer. How can we possibly take any more of this horror?
Does your entire electoral programme come down to this determination to restore peace?
My electoral programme stems from the priority of peace and of the halting of bloodshed. Peace is the prerequisite for solving all our other problems -- for life itself.
We have many economic and social policies in place, with which the Algerian people are familiar. We have to put a stop to the economic reform measures which are currently in progress, since they prevent the state from playing its essential role of providing for the most urgent and basic needs of the people.
These "reforms" are destroying social well-being and compromising human dignity. We demand that the privatisation of banks and agricultural land be put on hold, that the public sector be preserved, together with the gains achieved by independence -- social security, old-age pensions and free education.
In the domain of human rights, we demand that democracy be irreversibly adopted, and that to this end a constituent assembly be established to draft a new constitution for Algeria.
We demand the settlement of the Tamazight language problem and of all other such problems, even though these are of a less urgent nature, as by necessity they are secondary to the right to peace and the right to life itself.
What kind of candidate could forge a consensus among the Algerian people? If such a candidate were to emerge in the course of the election campaign, on what conditions might you give them your backing?
As a matter of principle, we do not believe that any one individual can represent an entire nation. As far as the issue of a consensus candidate is concerned, we have yet to see their electoral programmes and learn their ideas, particularly where peace is concerned.
We support the right of any party to nominate candidates and we endorse freedom of speech as a right that stems directly from the sovereignty of the nation. That said, I would be ready to back any consensus candidate who viewed the issue of peace as our party views it, and who would pledge to halt the process of privatisation which is generating poverty and fueling violence.
How do you assess the guarantees that have been given that the election results will not be tampered with? And what is your party's view on the proposal to bring in monitors from abroad to oversee the elections?
The technical guarantees given so far seem dubious. Political parties are still experiencing obstacles and pressure of various sorts.
We have been through a number of elections in the past, and we cannot be certain that what happened in the past will not happen again -- that the election results will not be falsified, despite the genuine intentions of President Liamine Zeroual and the reassurances he has given us. The president, after all, simply cannot be in every election station at once!
Yet despite this, we are determined to take part, because there is no alternative, at least at this moment. However, we reserve our right to change our position if the situation should deteriorate further.
As for the question of bringing in monitors, we are categorically against any such action, which we would regard as a violation of our national sovereignty. We also found that the monitors' impact on previous elections was negative. But we will certainly send a WP representative to the independent national committee to supervise the elections, notwithstanding our dissatisfaction with the committee's basic mandate and terms of reference.
Would you like to be the first Arab woman to be elected president of a republic?
I have neither personal nor party ambitions to become president. My only aim is to help the country emerge from the present cycle of horror, and to see peace and true democracy prevail in Algeria.
Peace, and more peace -- that is my ambition. I am standing in these elections because I want to give some real meaning to the idea of peace.
ouarda L/
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