Seminars, Conferences, Addresses 

Islam, Democracy., and Freedom 
in North Africa 

London School of Economics, London, U.K. 
Shusan 26,102/February 29,1992 

The Islamic Society of the London School of Economics (London 
University) recently orgamed a one-day conference on “Islam, Democracy and 
Freedom in North Africa.” In attendance were scholars from several universities 
as well as religious leaders and former statesmen. The audience was composed 
mainly of university students. 

The first session featured S. Salaam of the Sorbome (Paris), who discussed 
the recent situation in Algeria after touching on late nineteenth- and early 
twentiethcentury social, political, and religious developments. He talked about 
the ulama’s role as a source of mobilization against French colonial rule as well 
as their attempts to motivate the masses, through their dynamic Islamic teachings, 
to struggle for the emancipation of Algeria. According to him, the moral and 
spiritual support of the learned segment of Algerian society enabled the nationalist 
leaders to unite the people behind a national cause, one which is also conceived 
of as the religious obligation of jihad. On a more recent note, Salaam noted that 
the media has attributed the Islamic Salvation Party’s (FIS) success in the last 
elections to Algeria’s economic backwardness. While there may be some truth 
to this argument, the success of Islamic ideology lies in its emphasis on social 
justice and equality, the strengthening of morality, and the uplifting of Qur’anic 
teachings. This is in stark contrast to the widespread corruption prevalent among 
the ruling elite. Salaam argued that the FIS has provided people with an authentic 
sense of identity which can be used to fill the gaps caused by modernization. 

The second paper was presented by Julian C. Hollick, a radio joumalist with 
America’s National Public Radio organization. Addressing the topic of Islam 
and the media, Hollick laid out the Western media’s misconceptions and 
distortions of Islam, which he attributed to either poor journalism or ignorance 
of (or prejudice towards) Islam. He noted that journalists are not as objective 
as is commonly believed, for they are products of a given society and share in 
its stereotypical images and prejudices. These factors can prevent a journalist 
from penetrating beneath the surface of a foreign culture and society. Hollick 
proposed that ignorance of different interpretations of events and a superficial 
study of the phenomenon being investigated results in both poor journalism and 
a distorted coverage of events. He stated that many Western journalists tend to 
cover the ”pathologic aspects of development“ in the Muslim world (i.e., militant 
Islam and women’s rights) since such stories have a greater chance of being 



Seminars, Conferences, Addresses 2ll 

published or broadcast, especially when they coincide with the already negative 
(and sometimes hostile) attitudes of editors and are accompanied with effective 
visual material. 

Timothy Niblock (University of Exeter, UK), who presented a paper on “The 
Role of Europe and Democracy in the Middle East and North Africa,” tackled 
the implications of European intervention in those two areas. He opined that 
Europe has failed to see the importance of democracy and human rights, as 
Westerners in general adhere to the traditional colonial preference for economic 
gain and exploitation. He argued that European governments should not interfere 
in North Africa’s or the Middle East’s domestic affairs, since it has been observed 
that their involvement in the name of high values, modernization, civilization, 
and so on has created discord and resentment among the area’s inhabitants. 
Niblock concluded his presentation with the assertion that there is only one form 
of democracy-that is that the people have the right to choose and be represented 
by their free will irrespective of haw others label their choice. 

John 0. Voll (University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH) spoke on “North 
African Islamic Movements and Problems of Wstern Perceptions.” He pointed 
out that various ambiguous concepts employed by researchers and politicians 
(i.e., democracy, modernism, secularism, fundamentalism, and others) may lead 
to misunderstandings and misconceptions. To prevent this, these concepts should 
be defined in a way designed to give a better understanding and a more accurate 
perceptionof the problems being examined. After outlining the general features 
of two contrasting trends of Islamic thought (traditionalism versus modernism), 
Voll discussed the problems associated with the West’s perception of Islamic 
movements in general and of Algeria’s in particular. He suggested that the 
contemporary leaders and intellectuals of the Islamic movements have to be 
listened to, and that historical sources must be consulted, in order to analyze 
current developments correctly. In his concluding remarks, Voll argued that 
democracy may serve as a revolutionary vehicle if it fails to create a stable and 
representative regime, and that the overthrow of a dictatorial regime should be 
seen as a first step towards democratization. 

Franpis Burgat (Center of Documentation, Economics, Judicial, and Social 
Sciences, Egypt) addressed the issue of “The Islamic Movement’s Attitude in 
North Africa towards Democracy.” His main theme was the conceptual inability 
of Western academics to see the importance of various variables that have played 
effective roles in the development of recent regional events vis-‘a-vis Islamic 
consciousness and awareness. Burgat noted that the Western world and media 
has remained silent over the violation of human rights in North Africa, thereby 
adopting a double standard. 

Mohammed Mzali, former prime minister of Tunisia, explored the colonial 
experience of North Africa and developments in the process of democratization 
in a paper entitled “The Current Political Scenario in Tunisia.” He also discussed 



278 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 9:2 

the current situation in Tunisia, where a young generation (what he called a 
“second generation”) has raised its wice against corruption among the ruling elite. 

Rashid al-Ghanoushi’s paper, “Islam and the West,” focused on the 
misunderstanding and misapplication of modernization, a process which was 
supposed to give priority to freedom of thought and expression in contemporary 
Tunisia. He argued that the Western model of democracy, based on secularism 
and modernization, has taken a very different form in Tunisia than it has in the 
West. nnisian modemism ended the freedom of expression and silenced those 
intellectuals whose ideological stand provides the young generation with a sense 
of Islamic ideology, as opposed to those corrupt ruling elites who exploit 
modernism to serve their own ends. 

John L. Esposito (College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA) examined 
the Western perception of the growing Islamic consciousness in his paper 
“Democratization, Islamic Movements, and the West.” He argued that the 
escalation of Islamic sentiments, usually referred to by the Western media and 
scholars as “Islamic fundamentalism,” is regarded as a threat to Western interests 
in Muslim societies. Esposito contended that when religious groups began to 
vote in elections, they became a threat to both Western interests and to the 
Westernized elites in Muslim countries who assume that the Islamists are 
somehow going to hijack democracy. 

The conference ended with a paper entitled “Crisis of Democracy in the 
Maghreb” by Bourhan Ghalioun of the Sorbonne (Paris), who analyzed the 
process of democratization in the area. 

Talip Kucukcan 
Research Fellow 
Turkiye Diyanet Vakfi 
Centre for Islamic Research 
Istanbul, Turkey