French “Le Monde” Is Angry With Algeria’s New Language Policy

The French newspaper Le Monde published a report on the reasons behind the start of the war between the French and English languages in Algeria.

Le Monde said in its report that “the language war was revived in Algeria, after the announcement of the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Tayeb Bouzid early last month, that work will begin on the development of mechanisms to promote the use of English at universities and research centers, at the expense of the French language, and he explicitly said: “The French language doesn’t lead anywhere!”

The newspaper explained that the minister himself ordered Algerian universities to use only Arabic and English in the correspondence and official documents, as a first step to replace the French language in English in education.

The newspaper reviewed the views of Algerians in these decisions, and the opinion of the director of the linguistics laboratory at the University of Algiers 2, Khawla Taleb Brahimi who said; “since the country reached independence, the war of attitudes in the country depends on two intellectual and linguistic patterns, one in French and the other in Arabic.”

She asserted that; “There is a group of academics who encourage the decision to help English become the dominant foreign language in the country’s education system”.

“The university professors have not been consulted any further. Moreover, the illegitimacy of the current government casts doubt on all its decisions.”

The newspaper wondered: “How does a transitional government which is facing a major challenge from the street, can impose a new language policy on the country”, adding that Algeria is still mired in a political crisis since five months.

“Opponents of the resolution consider it just a political maneuver to divert the eyes of people from the system that is facing a popular uprising today, and in order to seek to divide public opinion on the basis of identity; such as the criminalization of carrying the Amazigh logo in demonstrations.”

The newspaper continued: “According to critics, the government will try to restore links with Islamic movements and conservative currents, to meet the demands of the civil movement. English was used in the eighties and nineties by the conservatives in Algeria, as an alternative weapon against the French language in education, and therefore for the French-speaking people are considered democrats or ordinary people.”