Zawaya

Setting frameworks for political participation

By: Mahmoud Belhimer

It’s hard to talk about participation in politics and society under closed political systems. No matter how different their names and descriptions are, political systems in the Maghreb are closed ones, since various authority organs apply meta-management to society and allow only shallow participation in political life.

On another level, Maghreb expatriates are behind in terms of joining political and social associations or organizations; experiences of this are very few, limited to social and cultural areas and avoiding involvement in politics. Besides, the expatriate community is also politically divided, and took with it abroad the same political conflicts and divisions that we see at home.

However, the situation should be dealt with as is. Maghreb expatriates can contribute positively to the political and social life of their home countries by setting political and social frameworks or institutions that enable their communities to gather and their members to meet and discuss. An example of that is to establish associations, clubs, and centers for dialogue and research, etc., that would allow the expatriate community to gather, and act as institutions for exchange and dialogue with their home countries and institutions in their host countries.

On the social side, I’d like to mention – as an example – the positive role played by the Algerian American Association of Greater Washington, DC, composed of members of the expatriate community, that transfers Algerian patients who require treatments that are not necessarily available at home, to be treated for free in American hospitals. All surgeries have so far been successful, and evoked good responses from the members of the Algerian community in the United States.

But things seem to be different in terms of political participation; political activities are currently limited to election campaigns, including the election of expatriate community deputies to act as the community’s spokesmen in the Parliament, as is the case of Algeria. However, the predominant aspect of their political activity remains the requests concerning the expatriates’ problems with bureaucracy at home and abroad.

Although the political activity of expatriates remains highly sensitive in the eyes of Maghreb authorities (under charges of serving foreign agendas?!), the expatriate community can play a significant political role, provided that it uses the appropriate frameworks for that purpose, such as associations that are active in civil society, the spread of democracy and the State of Law, as well as scientific forums, exchanging visits, and organizing seminars at universities and in various political institutions, etc.

This kind of activities can result in creating a permanent dynamic in local political life through interactions with skillful expatriates, especially as this is not about imposing the political model of western societies in which these expatriates live, as much as it is about interacting with the expatriate community in order to develop sound ideas concerning change and how to practice politics in a world that is no longer divided into two camps, and which has rather become a small village…

We face a big challenge in the Maghreb region on how to produce new ideas and have our expatriate community contribute to this process.