Can Palestinian expertise offer aid to Algeria?
By Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj
January 1999
I think that one of the gravest implications of the Algerian situation today is that it is repeatable, that the possibility exists for similar scenarios to be played out in every Arab country. From what has been said today, the seriousness of the situation becomes apparent. Arab culture lacks democracy, lacks respect for the rule of law, and is totally dominated by corrupt regimes that have no respect whatsoever for human life and dignity. All Arab regimes can be described this way, without exception. In addition, all Arab countries are now candidates for division and ethnic wars, because there are so many ethnic groups, religions, and so many tribal divisions within each and every one of the these countries. The crucial question now is this: Are internal conflicts after independence really so inevitable, or is there a way that we can avoid this fate? We cannot rely on the Arab regimes, because they are there to enjoy power. In fact, they behave like a Mafia, coming to each other's aid but rather than helping the people they protect one another from their own people. One cannot rely on the Arab League, because it only serves as a club for these corrupt regimes. The argument of sovereignty, so often put forward to ward off outside intervention, rings very hollow when it comes from the junta in Algeria. What is sovereignty when your people are being killed by your own army, and by religious extremists? Where is sovereignty here? When the Lebanese were killing each other, many of the victims did not even know why. Where is sovereignty? These regimes are promoting the slogan of sovereignty in order to divert the attention from the real problem. And the real problem is the nature of these Arab regimes.
Perhaps in Palestine today we are luckier than the people of Algeria. Even with all of our grievances against the brutal, thirty-year Israeli occupation, even considering the forced uprooting that has left 70 per cent of us living in refugee camps and in exile; even with all of that, perhaps we are still luckier than those living in Algeria today. As Palestinians we had a common enemy, we were united in our struggle against Israel, we had our land to liberate. In Algeria they finished with their struggle long ago when they rid themselves of French colonialism in the 1960s. With the cohesive force of the outside enemy gone, they ended up with an internal enemy. And this is what every Arab country is heading for, what we in Palestine are now heading for - if we do not learn from the lessons of Algeria.
To return to the issue of trauma and after-care: Let me give you just a few examples of the effects of trauma on the psychology of children and adults in Palestine today. The latest research results tell us that 17 per cent of the adults in Gaza suffer from clinical depression. This is a staggering figure by any standard - in no country in the world is depression estimated to be more than 4 per cent of its total adult population. In Gaza this statistic is, I repeat 17 per cent (the research resulting in this finding was carried out according to strict methodology based on internationally accepted research tools, through co-operative efforts between various universities and the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme). What are the reasons for this abnormally high prevalence of depression among the population of Gaza? The following statistics should give some indication:
17 per cent of adults had witnessed, before the
age of 12, the death of a family member and 35 per cent of them witnessed
the death of a family member after that age;
7 per cent of them had witnessed clashes with
the army before the age of 12, and 32 per cent of them have witnessed such
events after the age of 12;
19 per cent of the adult population has witnessed
the killing of a stranger,
14 per cent have been tortured themselves (and
add to this the resulting effect on their families).
And these individuals have experienced many other dramatic events in their lives - these statistics are only given as examples - in addition to having to get through their daily existence in an atmosphere of prolonged tension and fear.
These sorts of trauma are now occurring in Algeria today on a massive scale. Children are witnessing killings, torture and sustaining injuries to themselves and to their families. What has led up to these events, and what will most likely follow them, is what we call the 'cycle of violence'. For example, when a child is abused by the father (who was probably, himself, mistreated as a child), he is almost inevitably going to be an abuser in his adult life - unless this kind of victimisation ends with him through treatment and therapy. Why has this cycle of violence taken on such a dimension in Algeria? I think it has a lot to do with colonisation. The French colonisation of Algeria was so brutal and so inhuman that it left behind an enormous amount of damage on the psyche of the Algerian individual, and on that of the society as a whole. As a result, violence has become part of the environment; after so much suffering at the brutal hands of French colonialism, this pattern of behaviour has become ingrained in the society.
We can see signs of the same phenomenon in Palestine today. There is the widespread feeling that we are heading towards a range of internal conflicts: tribal clashes, religious conflicts, clashes between the people and the authorities, etc. Polarisation is also developing in the political arena: we have an extremist Islamic group on the one hand and, on the other, the Palestinian Authority that is so content with having, and keeping, power. Thus, the potential for a range of conflict exists. In Palestinian prisons (and I am glad to say that this year we have witnessed less torture and fewer deaths in detention), the brutality of the treatment is, at times, unbelievable. But why all this brutality? Because the people meting out the torture were themselves the victims of cruel and inhuman treatment at the hands of the Israeli colonists. This ill-treatment has instilled a sense of inhumanity in the former victims that allows them to become torturers in their own right, to accept abuse as a normal form of human behaviour.
Identification with one's aggressor is a common
pattern. Unconsciously the victim, when he subsequently finds himself
in a position of power, takes on the behaviour previously displayed by
his oppressor. I witnessed this phenomenon when I was in detention
myself: I could hear some Palestinians torturing other Palestinians, and
I was startled once to hear one of the interrogators shouting in Hebrew
to his victim. These men had, themselves, been tortured in Israeli
prisons and were now inflicting the same treatment on others. The
French colonisers' exploitation of Algeria was systematically inhuman in
the same way. The colonial ideology held that the native population
was subhuman, and should be treated in that way. Even now, long after
Algerian independence, I think that the majority of the French still look
down on the Algerians. And I think the majority of the Israelis -
even today when both Prime Minister Netanyahu and the progressive elements
in Israel talk about peace - do not see us as equal human beings.
The brutal treatment we have received at the hands of the Israelis is made
possible by their ideological concepts, which are similar to the racist
ideological concepts, which are similar to the racist ideology seen in
South Africa, where blacks were considered part of the animal kingdom,
like monkeys. Israeli scholars have even discovered that some Israeli
children believe that Palestinians have tails, and the Israeli chief of
staff Eytan once said publicly that Palestinians were like grasshoppers
and cockroaches and should be put in jars and smothered to death.
An Israeli mayor in a settlement said that Palestinians should not come
to the settlement, and if they did their shoulders should be stomped on
(this was a form of abuse used by Nazis on the Jews in concentration camps).
Identification with the aggressor, the perpetuation of the cycle of violence,
is clearly evident here.
I think that many Jews, upon hearing of the maltreatment
of Palestinians, would have the impression that one is referring to the
Jewish victimisation of the past. Just as Palestinians, hearing of
the suffering of the Jews, would feel that it was their own suffering that
was being discussed. In so many ways, victims and aggressors are
only mirror images of each other.
As Arabs, and as human beings, every heart in our part of the world bleeds for Algeria today. But we are so helpless. The magnitude of the suffering is too much for any of us to bear, and whatever we can do will be only a tiny drop in a huge ocean. Especially when we know that the junta in Algeria will be so resistant.
It is time for us to prepare ourselves for different possible scenarios, not only in Algeria, but also throughout the Arab world. One of these possible scenarios is the outbreak of civil war. A second is the rise of Islam leading to the Islamists coming into power, and this is not so far from being realised. In that vein, we must face the possibility that some Islamist regimes will be very radical and extremist, and very oppressive. A third scenario, particular to Palestine, is that we will invite the Israeli occupation back; or that one day Israel will perhaps get tired of this peace process, will admit that it wants land more than anything else, and so will invite itself back. Lastly, there is the dim and very remote possibility that we will see the emergence of a democratic Arab state. This idea is very distant and I do not think it will come about soon. Perhaps within the twenty-first century? For the time being, however, it seems that it is inevitable that conflicts will arise in every Arab country. We can only hope that, in doing all we can to help Algeria heal its wounds, we will see a new type of society emerge from this ongoing conflict -a society where respect for human rights will not come as an imposition from the West or from the elitist intellectuals in the Arab world, but through the will and consent of the people themselves.
We hope we will be able to transfer to the Algerians what modest help we can from our experience in Gaza. We are sending a psychiatrist in two weeks' time from Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, as was requested by UNICEF, to train a group of Algerian psychologists in counseling and therapy of traumatised children. Through arrangements such as this we hope to train and to help as many people as possible. However, the only way out of the Algerian crisis of violence is through a democratic atmosphere. Though I am far removed from the reality in Algeria, I have the impression that establishing such an atmosphere will be very difficult, because of two serious forces standing in the way: the extremists and the government.
In the meantime, there is a growing population of traumatised people in great need of support. Treatment is not easy to carry out in an environment such as that of Algeria today. One enormous problem we face when it comes to treatment of the victims in this context is the general lack of trust gripping the population today; it is not possible to carry out effective therapy when people are fearful and suspicious. We tried group therapy in Gaza during the Intifada uprising and it failed miserably. This was because everyone in the group was suspicious of everyone else; they were afraid that some of the other participants could be working for the Israelis as spies. I am sure that in Algeria today many people are experiencing this type of fear, will suspect others of being part of this or that dangerous element. Thus, at this point anyway, group therapy would be difficult in Algeria. Without an atmosphere of security and confidence, people cannot talk about themselves, cannot discuss their traumas and their distress. And where can you find such an atmosphere in Algeria? This is a very difficult question. In Gaza we practised individual therapy and family therapy at home, and still it took many weeks of sessions to gain the confidence of the clients and their families. I do not know how easy this will be in Algeria.
The role of women is very important in the prevention and treatment of trauma. From our experience in Gaza, we learned that in order for a mother to best protect her child from lasting damage she should not only be a warm and protective mother, but also a communicative mother. This is to say that it is beneficial for the mother to communicate openly with her child, to tell the child what is happening in social and political life, what is happening in the neighbourhood, what is happening everywhere - and, as best as she can, why it is happening. Thus, to maintain an optimum sense of security in this type of insecure situation, it is important for the child to have a mother who is both protective and communicative.
This brings us to the role, and experience, of the father in these harsh circumstances. The father finds himself in a particularly difficult position, as it is part of the Arab culture that the men must be strong and in control, must never be seen as weak. Asking for help is a sign of weakness. Arab men are generally very resistant and possessive, considering women and children as part of their property. Therefore they are very uncomfortable with the idea of social workers or psychologists interfering with this 'property', and can be very difficult to deal with. Similarly, policy makers, particularly doctors in the health establishment, are also very resistant to this type of mental health intervention. Even they, as health professionals, usually consider psychology and psychiatry to be rubbish, nonsense, a waste of time. Drugs, injections, hospitals and x-rays: these are the accepted tools for medical treatment. Therefore, one will usually have serious difficulties in convincing any Arab policy-maker of the value of the kind of treatment we are discussing here, of quality mental health care.
As mentioned, the ultimate hope, and what we should strive for, is that the violence should end with the victim. We must struggle to ensure that the victims of brutality receive the support, treatment and education necessary to prevent the continuing spiral of aggression and suffering. If violent behaviour does not end with the latest victim, we are going to see repeated and never-ending cycles of violence on the grounds of ethnic, tribal, or political affiliation, or whatever the newest excuse may be.
Thank you.
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*This paper was presented during
a conference held in Norway entitled: "Algeria & the International
Society, the Crisis of Violence, and published in the Human Rights Report
No. 1. 1999 of the Norwegian Institute of Human Rights - University of
Oslo
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