The Algerian Militancy and Activism: Source of Algeria’s Diplomacy

Algerian diplomacy and all of Algeria celebrate the National Day of Diplomacy on the 8th of October of each year. The date on which the Algerian national flag was raised at the United Nations building by the first President of the Algerian Republic, Ahmed Ben Bella on the 8th of October, 1962, three months after the declaration of Algeria’s independence and its national sovereigntyrestoration.

This independence came as a result of the struggles of the Algerian people, whose end was with a well-organized armed liberation revolution fought by the National Liberation Army Mujahideen against French colonialism and its NATO allies. For nearly eight years of continuous military action supported by the intense activity of the diplomacy of the revolution, which sought to be popular diplomacy, in which all the existing activities in the Algerian nation get involved. The National Liberation Front had a central role in moving through all international forums to publicize the Algerian national cause.The first diplomatic victory of the Algerian revolution at the international level was in 1955, only a year after the start of the armed revolution; For the first time, the question of Algeria’s independence was included in the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly.

The struggle and the successes of the revolution’s diplomacy continued with the issuance of a UN list in 1960 recognizing the right of the Algerian people to self-determination and independence.

This struggle waged by the National Liberation Front as a national liberation movement representing the Algerian people has become one of the basic principles and political doctrine of the diplomacy of the Algerian Republic. Which is the principle of combating colonialism and defending the rights of oppressed peoples, the principle of supporting national liberation movements across the world in line with the principles of Algeria and the Charter of the United Nations.

Just as the significant role of offices of the National Liberation Front (FLN) deployed in many peace-loving countries and nations supporting the struggles of peoples for liberation, independence, and self-determination, also the Algerian organizations during the revolution had a great role in consolidating the work of the diplomacy of the National Liberation Front. Such as, the popular diplomacy of the General Union of Algerian Workers, the Association of Algerian Muslim Scholars, the Algerian Islamic Scouts, and the National Liberation Front football team played an important role in introducing the Algerian cause in various international forums, and on all international occasions.

The Algerian students had a key role in introducing the Algerian cause, and even supplementing the diplomacy of the revolution and then official diplomacy after the independence with the necessary cadres to frame the diplomatic work. As it came out of the Algerian Muslim Student Union Many diplomatic cadres of the newborn Algerian republic. The students of the 54’s November Revolution led the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on more than one occasion, as well as they were assigned as ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions.

After a luminous phase of diplomatic work with an activism and militancy background, the role of Algerian diplomacy declined for years, especially in the last thirty years. During this, political and social forces worked hard to fill the void, as figures such as Sheikh Mahfoudh Nahnah, may God have mercy on him, had a key role in defending Algerian interests and resisting the fierce attack that Algeria was subjected to from several parties and countries. As Algeria was trapped in many spaces, in which it came to attempts to interfere in its internal affairs during the crisis that Algeria experienced in the nineties. Thus, in the period of the first twenty years of the third millennium, its role was limited to any Impact on international files, and even on the files that concern Algeria directly, such as the deteriorating situation in Libya. Algeria was absent from the Maghreb, Arab, Islamic and African issues, which are the main circles in Algerian foreign policy.

The current president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, expressed that Algerian diplomacy was at its lowest, to reiterate in his speech to the governors in September 2022 the historical and militant dimension of Algerian diplomacy, citing the role of Algerian scholars such as Sheikh Al-Mughili and Sheikh Al-Kinti, may God have mercy on them, and their role in spreading Islam and their great influence on the African continent. The Algerian president highlighted the necessity of ensuring the role of popular diplomacy in the success of the diplomatic work of the state, and this was embodied by the support of civil society to carry out the required diplomatic role and the Sufi orders with African and global extension as well as the role of the Algerian community spread in various countries and continents of the world.

The Day of Algerian Diplomacy is a reminder of the struggles of large segments of Algerians who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of the country and the restoration of national sovereignty. The colonialist and NATO diplomacy could not stand in the way of its daily struggle and relentless work to publicize the Algerian cause and to attract supporters and friends from all countries of the world.