The brutal arrest of Boualem Sansal worries well beyond the borders of Algeria and sheds light on the nature of Abdelmadjid Tebboune's regime. The Algerian writer, former teacher, business manager and senior official at the Ministry of Industry in Algeria was above all a tireless opponent: he was arrested by the Algerian police and is currently imprisoned, according to his relatives cited by the magazine Marianne. He has not given any news since his arrival in Algeria on November 16. At the time of publication, we know nothing of the reasons given by the regime nor of the conditions or location of his detention.
Aged 75, this brilliant intellectual, recognizable by his long hair, wrote novels and essays in French that were praised in France but widely censored in Algeria. He won the Grand Prix du roman from the Académie française in 2015 for his book 2084: the end of the world (Gallimard).
“Mafia power”
He is a friend and great admirer of France, which Algeria has just imprisoned. A resolute adversary, above all, of Islamism, friend of Boulevard Voltaire who often interviewed him, admiring his clarity, the acuity of his analyzes and his great courage. On September 28, he confided to Gabrielle Cluzel, following the publication of his essay, French, let’s talk about it!published by Éditions du Cerf. A plea for the French language which, according to him, was “the language of power, freedom, beauty, knowledge, diplomacy, universal revolution, seduction, the art of living in lightness”.
Boualem Sansal did not mince his words: “Algerian power is a mafia power”he insisted, he compared it to the mafia. “It has become a mafia oligarchy”. He told how “the Islamists and Arabists” had “worked twenty years in the shadows. What is currently hanging in your face and what is going to happen has happened is that (the Islamists) one day revealed themselves to be much more numerous than us (the French-speaking Algerians), much more effective than us and they have priced power and they chased us away”. He also denounced the strategy of entryism of Islam into France and his speech on “Islam of Enlightenment”and considered France as “surrounded on all sides”.
In October 2022, still with BV, Boualem Sansal was already dotting the i's, about the weight of Islam on societal issues. “The real enemy of women is Islam, which they are also the first to defend, but it is also and above all man, who also likes so much to be the secular arm of Islam to punish them”.
In his fight, Boualem Sansal now takes on the appearance of Solzhenitsyn of Islamism, of immense lucidity. “Islam has won and will continue to win more and morehe said to BV in 2022. It is definitively established in France and in Europe, both as Islam in France and Europe, protected by the laws of the Republic and the Commission, and as Islam in France, protected by the world umma and the Muslim states which , now, have all the means to punish the offenders”. Cet Islam, “in my opinion, he will be Salafist and possibly dangerous if he is denied recognition of Islam as the state religion, the annulment of laws in favor of homosexuality, adoption, etc. »
BV will not let Boualem Sansal down
Before falling out with the Algerian power by recognizing Morocco's rights over Western Sahara, Macron's France will have rolled out the red carpet towards those who today pose a vital risk to Boualem Sansal. In August 2022, Emmanuel Macron had touching words about the Algerian regime: “(…) We have the same conviction that deep down, the relationship is not simply a bilateral relationship like the others. It is a relationship of deep intimacy. » Elisabeth Borne continued in the same tone a few weeks later, in October, during a trip where she was accompanied by half of the French government. But France, which had nevertheless multiplied concessions on the history and memory of the Algerian war, had obtained nothing, neither gas nor good will for the resumption of the numerous OQTFs in arrears.
At home, the Algerian government had not changed its muscular habits towards the media. On December 23, the boss of two free media outside the influence of power, Radio M and the news site Emerging Maghrebwas arrested at his home and taken for a search of his media headquarters, handcuffed. No explanation, premises placed under seal. We don't change anything about the practices that win.
But this time, Algeria is attacking a friend of France, known, appreciated, read, crowned with prizes in our country. France would grow by banging its fist on the table, for once. BV in any case will not let this great writer friend be forgotten.
Print, save this article as PDF
