'Zorro of the niqab' renounces French nationality for Algerian presidential bid

September 8, 2013

By: Colin Randall

MARSEILLE // A French-Algerian businessman nicknamed “Zorro of the niqab” for his support of French Muslim women fined for covering their faces in public has renounced French nationality to stand for the Algerian presidency.

Rachid Nekkaz, a self-made millionaire, hopes to replace the country’s longest-serving president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in elections next April.

Mr Bouteflika, 76, a veteran of the war of independence that brought Algeria freedom from France in 1962, is in failing health.

There has been speculation about his ability to continue his presidential functions. His absence from Eid Al Fitr prayers at the Grand Mosque of Algiers last month drew attention and was unprecedented in three terms of office that began in 1999.

Mr Nekkaz, who made his fortune from internet and property interests, was born in France to Algerian parents, giving him dual nationality. He has now relocated to his family’s native country.

His presidential ambitions required him to hold solely Algerian citizenship. But Mr Nekkaz met this condition with dramatic flourish, writing to the French president, François Hollande, asking him to cancel his French nationality with immediate effect as a “serious decision, deliberate and without appeal”.

He declared continuing affection for French values, culture and history but condemned the 2011 law banning the niqab in public places as a departure from the country’s principles of freedom.

“For a child who was rocked to sleep to the fables of La Fontaine, for a student who fed on the philosophies of Rousseau and Voltaire, the man I have become cannot breathe the draconian and corrupt oxygen prevailing in France today,” he wrote.

Touches Pas a Ma Constitution (Hands Off My Constitution) was founded by Mr Nekkaz in France in 2010 as the country prepared to enact the anti-niqab law. He explained that while he personally disliked Muslim women choosing face-covering headwear, he regarded it as their fundamental right to do so and promised to use the fund to pay any fines imposed.

Two years after the law took effect he estimates his organization has settled 688 fines, plus legal fees, imposed on 412 women in France and also Belgium, which has a similar law, at a cost of €115,000 (Dh558,000).

In his letter to Mr Hollande, Mr Nekkaz said the law effectively condemned women to house arrest if they were determined to stick to their principles and did not wish to be arrested.

“Some may consider my decision a whim or a stunt,” he wrote, “or simply as an act of folly at a time when thousands of foreigners risk their lives in rickety boats to enjoy the crumbs of western paradise and live in France, where hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants live in precarious conditions with no more than the dream of marrying a French national [to gain citizenship].”

In an email interview about his move to Algeria, Mr Nekkaz said he expected the formalities of abandoning his French citizenship to be completed within weeks, allowing him to campaign freely in Algeria.

“As yet, the Algerians do not know my name,” he said. “But they all know there is an Algerian who defends the freedom of women to wear the niqab in France and Europe. They know this is a man of principles and beliefs who is not a product of the Algerian political system that has disappointed many in its 51 years.”

He nevertheless paid tribute to Mr Bouteflika for, in particular, “significantly reducing violence in Algeria after a civil war that killed 200,000 Algerians in addition to 20,000 missing [in the 1990s].”

But he added: “When I look at the map of Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world as a whole, I see that violence has become a daily given, almost a foregone conclusion.

“Whether it be in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, Mali, Nigeria or Afghanistan, there is an urgent diplomat, human and even spiritual to react in a swift and enduring manner.”

He proposes the creation of an international Muslim peacekeeping force, 50,000-strong, to serve as “the armed wing of the new Muslim diplomacy that I advocate”. As for Algeria itself, he promised higher wages as part of an attempt to rebuild a “rich country whose people are poor” as a model for the Maghreb and Middle East.

“The potential is enormous, but society is completely blocked,” he said. “Algeria has the second largest foreign exchange reserves of the Arab world after Saudi Arabia. I want to invest all this in the agricultural, industrial and technological fabric of our country instead of funding western economies.”

In an interview with the Algerian news website Alger Info, he said Algeria had no option but to change. “When you see the situation deteriorate in Egypt, Algeria must now become an example, to show it has drawn the political consequences of the black decade our country knew in the 1990s.”

Mr Nekkaz has presented himself for election at various levels in France, including unsuccessful attempts to stand for the presidency, which is restricted to candidates able to secure the signatures of 500 mayors. His wife, Cécile, Californian-born of French and Uruguayan parents, and their son have accompanied him on his “great new human and political adventure”.

Source: Muslim Village.
Link: http://muslimvillage.com/2013/09/08/43607/zorro-of-the-niqab-renounces-french-nationality-seeks-algerian-presidency/.

Spain gets award for promoting rights of disabled

September 10, 2013

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Queen Sofia of Spain has accepted an award to her country for adopting laws to include people with disabilities in all aspects of society — from education and jobs to public life.

She called the Franklin Delano Roosevelt International Disability Rights Award "a stimulus to keep moving ahead toward a society with equal opportunity for all." The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice and the Roosevelt Institute presented the award to Spain at a U.N. ceremony on Monday.

In a message, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised Spain for taking major steps to implement the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was adopted seven years ago. "However, for too many persons with disabilities, stigma, discrimination and exclusion remain a fact of everyday life," he said.

Portugal's post-coup Constitution foils government

September 13, 2013

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Three times over the past year, the 13 judges of Portugal's Constitutional Court have solemnly filed into a tall-ceilinged room in Lisbon's 19th-century Palacio Ratton and slammed the brakes on key steps in the country's attempts to overhaul its economy.

Dressed in full-length black robes, the judges ruled that the government's plans to cut spending by more than 3 billion euros ($4 billion) were unconstitutional because they would infringe on workers' rights, including equality and job security.

Since coming to power two years ago, the government hasn't won a single economic argument with the court and has had to scramble to make up the budget shortfall, largely through higher taxes. Those increases have cost many people the equivalent of more than a month's pay this year.

The rulings have tried the patience of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, who is desperately trying to conclude Portugal's three-year bailout program. He has urged the judges to show "more common sense" and take into account the country's economic plight. Portuguese government attorneys are now scouring law books, looking for a way through the constitutional minefield.

The repeated rebuffs highlight some of the difficulties encountered by debt-heavy southern European governments as they attempt to jettison costly entitlements and safeguards that were adopted last century.

For Portugal, which needed a 78 billion euros ($103 billion) rescue in 2011, the problem is becoming acute. Under the terms of the bailout agreement, it is supposed to get its finances back on a sustainable footing by the middle of next year. But that goal is increasingly in doubt as the center-right coalition government has missed deficit targets, and Portugal may need more help.

Though possessing one of the smallest economies among the 17 countries sharing the euro currency, its constitutional predicament could keep a fire under the bloc's debt crisis. The country's unemployment rate stands at 16.5 percent, and the economy is expected to shrink 2.3 percent this year for a third straight year of recession. The government has fallen short of its initial budget deficit targets for the past two years.

The Portuguese Constitution was written almost 40 years ago following a 1974 military coup that ousted a dictatorship established by Antonio Salazar in the 1930s. After the so-called Carnation Revolution, the country lurched to the political left. Its new Constitution enshrined previously neglected workers' rights.

Since then, amendments have stripped the Constitution of its more radical features, such as the pursuit of a "classless society" and the "socialization of the means of production." But its preamble still speaks of "paving the way for a socialist society." And working for the government has for years been prized in Portugal, as it offers shorter working hours, is commonly a job for life, and still provides a better pension than in the private sector — thanks to the constitutional guarantees.

Portugal's bailout creditors — the country's fellow euro members, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — insist the government employs too many people and pay and pensions are too generous. Their demand for cuts in the payroll of some 574,000 staff is a key plank of the bailout program.

However, the Constitutional Court has repeatedly struck down government plans to reform and save money: — Measures that would scrap last year's vacation and Christmas bonus for government workers and pensioners were ruled by the judges to violate the principle of equality as private-sector workers would still get their bonuses. The missed saving: 1.065 billion euros.

—Earlier this year, more pay cuts, including to bonuses and welfare payments, failed to make it past Palacio Ratton. Lost saving: 1.326 billion euros. —The latest black eye for the government came in August, when the court ruled that a plan to retrain surplus government workers and then, if there is no place for them, lay them off was ruled unconstitutional. It violated guarantees of job security, the judges declared. Lost saving: almost 900 million euros.

Antonio Costa Pinto, a Lisbon University political scientist, said the central problem is that the government is trying to introduce retroactive reforms in the public administration, which break contractual promises.

"The government will come up with financial alternatives" to meet its spending targets, Costa Pinto said. "But the reforms will take longer" because they likely will have to apply only to new hires, he said.

Portugal is in a race against time. If it doesn't comply with the bailout agreement, the lenders would withhold disbursements of the rescue money. The next assessment by the lenders' inspectors begins next week, and their consent is needed for Lisbon to get its next check, worth 2.8 billion euros.

In place of the money-saving reforms the Constitutional Court rejected, the government could hike taxes again. But Passos Coelho has conceded such a move could further choke the economy. Also, with municipal elections due Sept. 29, the government is reluctant to make itself more unpopular.

Pressure is on the government lawyers to come up, speedily, with legal arguments that circumvent the judges' ruling. More broadly, changes to the Constitution may prove necessary. But that requires a two-thirds majority of votes in Parliament, which the government doesn't have.

The government's discomfort is unlikely to end any time soon. Opposition parties and labor groups say they'll ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the lawfulness of other imminent measures. They include an increase in civil servants' working hours to 40 hours a week from 35, and an average 10 percent cut in the pensions of most government workers.

Passos Coelho has raised the alarm: any backsliding on promised reforms could leave Portugal needing a second bailout, under terms harsher than the first rescue. He slammed the Constitutional Court judges for being "more protective of standing entitlements than of future generations."

"Has anyone thought to ask the more than 900,000 people who have no job what the constitution has done for them?," he added.

Catalans form human chain in Spain separation bid

September 11, 2013

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — More than 1 million people showed their support for Catalan independence Wednesday by joining hands to form a 400-kilometer (250-mile) human chain across the northeastern region of Spain.

The demonstration on the region's annual public holiday aimed to illustrate the strength of local backing for political efforts to break away from Spain. The Catalan regional government estimated 1.6 million people in the region of 7.5 million residents took part in the human chain, many of them with red, yellow and blue pro-independence flags draped around their shoulders.

"Today is a historic day. The Catalan people have reaffirmed their determination to be a free state," said Carme Forcadell, president of the Catalan National Assembly, which organized the human chain.

The protest in Catalonia was peaceful, but a small group of Spanish fascists in Madrid stormed their way into the office of the Catalan government's delegation building in the capital. Television images showed about 10 men with Spanish fascist flags shouting, pushing people, knocking over furniture and hitting a journalist's TV camera. They yelled "Catalonia is Spain!" and quickly left, but reportedly opened a tear gas container, forcing the 100 or so people gathered there to evacuate.

During Francisco Franco's fascist dictatorship from 1939-1975, the Catalan language was banned in schools, publishing and from public use. Despite sharing many cultural traits with the rest of Spain, many Catalans claim a deep cultural difference based on their language, which is spoken side-by-side with Spanish in the wealthy region.

Catalonia's regional leader Artur Mas has promised to hold a referendum on independence in 2014, but the Madrid-based government has said that such a vote would be unconstitutional. Polls indicate that the majority of Catalans agree on holding a referendum, though surveys indicate support among residents for independence is around 50 percent. It falls to less than that when those questioned are asked whether they would want a separate Catalan state outside the European Union.

The Spanish government's refusal to grant Catalonia similar fiscal powers held by the Basque Country - the other region with a strong separatist movement - combined with the country's double-dip recession have swelled the pro-independence ranks in recent years. Many Catalans feel secession would allow them to pull free of Spain's economic troubles.

"It's becoming clearer that we have nowhere to go with Spain. We want to be free," said Montse Espina, a 44-year-old sales representative holding a pro-independence flag in Barcelona. Pro-independence supporters raised their arms and chanted "Independence!" during the demonstration. There was a festive mood across the countryside, with church bells ringing out in some towns and villages.

In Barcelona, the human chain passed through the city's main square, around the famous Sagrada Familia cathedral and through the Camp Nou Stadium where the Barcelona soccer team plays. "The message has been sent," Mas said. "If we are not given a way to channel this widespread patriotic movement, then I think the Spanish state has a serious problem with Catalonia."

Spain's deputy prime minister, Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, said Mas was promoting political divisions. "The worst thing a politician can do is force people to separate" into two groups, she said.

Catalans gather for pro-independence human chain

September 11, 2013

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Supporters of an independent Catalonia separate from the rest of Spain are braving rain as they gather in Barcelona and across the region for a rally supporting their cause.

Separatist organizers in favor of a new Catalan state hope hundreds of thousands of people will join hands Wednesday afternoon in a line stretching 400 kilometers (250 miles) across the bilingual northeastern region where Catalan and Spanish are both spoken.

The human chain is happening on a traditional regional holiday that last year saw over 1 million protest in Barcelona in the largest show of separatist sentiment since the 1970s. Catalonia's regional leader Artur Mas has promised to hold an independence referendum in 2014, but has been unable to get the Spanish government's approval.

Catalonia readies for large pro-independence march

September 10, 2013

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The Catalonia region was gearing up Tuesday for what organizers hoped could be its largest ever demonstration in favor of breaking away from the rest of Spain.

Supporters of Catalan independence were optimistic that Wednesday's demonstration will draw more than the 1 million people who filled Barcelona streets last year on the region's Sept. 11 public holiday.

Independence campaigners plan to create a human chain stretching for over 400 kilometers (250 miles) across the economically powerful northeastern region. The Catalan National Assembly, the group organizing the human chain, says more than 300,000 people have signed up on a website to be part of it.

The expected display of separatist sentiment comes at a critical juncture for the pro-independence movement, which since last year has been pushing for a referendum to be held in Catalonia before the end of 2014.

The Spanish government has said that such a ballot would be unconstitutional. But Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy recently met privately with Catalonia's regional leader, Artur Mas, in an apparent effort to defuse the political tension and heal grievances.

Many regional leaders, like Mas, have in recent times expressed anger about austerity policies imposed by the central government in Madrid. Those measures, designed to cut the national debt, have cut deeply into regional budgets and forced a scaling-back of some public services.

Mas says he is trying to reach a deal with Rajoy on a referendum "agreed to or tolerated by" the Spanish government. But if that is not possible then a second option would be waiting until regional elections in 2016, which would be used as a proxy vote on independence, according to Mas.

Polls indicate that the majority of Catalans agree on holding a referendum, but there is not a clear majority for independence in the region which has its own cultural traditions and language, existing side-by-side with Spanish.

Opinion surveys in the region of 7.5 million people have shown support for independence stands around 50 percent, with that support falling if independence means exiting the European Union.

Berlusconi aides deserting him in Italy's crisis

October 01, 2013

ROME (AP) — Many of former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi's fellow lawmakers have begun deserting him in his bid to bring down the government as fallout over his tax-fraud conviction — a rare rebuke to his authority that could save the fragile ruling coalition and its efforts to revive the country's economy.

The unusual defiance of Berlusconi could signal that the three-time former premier's influence is seriously eroding in Italy, especially in the wake of his conviction and four-year prison sentence, which threaten his seat in the Senate. But the 77-year-old billionaire media mogul has withstood numerous political setbacks in the past, only to re-emerge strong.

Carlo Giovanardi, a Berlusconi stalwart, said Tuesday that he and many other center-right lawmakers will vote to keep Premier Enrico Letta's five-month-old government afloat. Those votes would boost Letta's chances of winning a legislative confidence vote on Wednesday that could be pegged to the government's survival.

"We have the numbers — there are more than 40 of us," Giovanardi told reporters. "We are resolute in wanting to maintain the government's equilibrium and that's why we will vote yes" in the confidence vote.

The pressure on Berlusconi to abandon his spoiler strategy grew as the day went on, especially after his political heir and former justice minister, Angelino Alfano, openly defied him. "I remain firmly convinced that all of our party tomorrow must give Letta the confidence vote," Alfano was quoted in Italian news reports as saying, adding that Berlusconi's Freedom People party should avoid a schism.

Alfano had been serving as interior minister in Letta's government until last week. That was when Berlusconi, unhappy that center-left lawmakers were going to vote Friday in a Senate committee to strip him of his Senate seat because of his conviction, demanded his five Cabinet ministers resign.

The resignations of the ministers convinced Letta that he needed to seek renewed backing in Parliament, setting up Wednesday's showdown. Some Berlusconi die-hards said they would vote in favor of Letta only if their leader allowed it. Late Tuesday, Berlusconi was reportedly huddling in his palazzo residence in downtown Rome to map out his next move.

"At this point, even though I'm convinced that the best thing is to bring down this government, I will vote in favor of the confidence vote only if Silvio Berlusconi asks me to — nothing else," Sandro Bondi, a top Freedom People party official, said in a statement rebutting Alfano.

Letta stayed silent, preparing the speech he will deliver Wednesday morning to the Senate, where his own center-left Democratic Party depends on support from Berlusconi's center-right party — the lynchpin partner in the governing coalition. Later, Letta will bring his case to the lower Chamber of Deputies, where the Democrats have a comfortable majority.

The premier has stopped short of saying he will stake his government's future on a confidence vote. If he chooses to do so, and loses, early elections could be the result, further distracting the country from efforts to shake off a recession. Letta could also ask for confidence votes not pegged to the government per se but to specific policies.

Letta's minister for parliamentary relations, Dario Franceschini, said the government would act "so that every choice is made in Parliament, in the light of the day, without ambiguity and hypocrisy and without negotiations."

Tensions in Letta's coalition have been high since Aug. 1, when Italy's top criminal court upheld lower courts' conviction of Berlusconi and his four-year prison sentence for tax fraud. A 2012 law says anyone receiving sentences longer than two years cannot hold public office for six years. Berlusconi — who will in reality serve just a year due to efforts to reduce prison crowding — insists he is innocent.

Algeria president appoints three new ministers

Thu Sep 12, 2013

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has reshuffled his cabinet, appointing new foreign, interior, and justice ministers.

Bouteflika also named a new vice defense minister on Wednesday.

Analysts say the appointments are meant to boost the president’s allies ahead of next year’s general elections, in which many say the ailing president may not run.

Seventy six-year-old Bouteflika suffered a heart stroke in April this year. In July, he returned to his country after receiving treatment at a hospital in France.

Bouteflika had been reelected for a third term in 2009.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/09/12/323409/algeria-president-names-new-ministers/.

Moroccan Islamist opposition urges protest at subsidy cuts

By Aziz El Yaakoubi
Rabat | Mon Sep 9, 2013

(Reuters) - Morocco's main Islamist opposition movement urged leftist groups on Monday to join a protest front against subsidy cuts as a shaky government prepares to raise energy prices as part of IMF-recommended budget reforms.

The government is planning to reduce fuel subsidies and bring energy prices closer to international market levels by reviewing them twice a month, according to country's official bulletin released last week.

Al-Adl Wal Ihsane movement (Justice and Spirituality), which does not recognize the religious status of King Mohammed, called the decision a dangerous step with unforeseeable consequences.

"We call on all the honest and committed activists to form a broad front to support and oversee social protests, which must avoid political rivalries that strengthen the regime," it said in a statement on its website.

While the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) which leads the government supports the monarchy, Justice and Spirituality rejects the king's status as Commander of the Faithful.

It is unclear whether leftist groups will respond to the call of the Islamist movement, which has been the only force capable of mobilizing tens of thousands of protesters against the government since the fall of the communism in the 1990s.

It formed the backbone of the February 20 movement in 2011, the Moroccan version of the Arab Spring protests, which led to the appointment of PJD leader Abdelilah Benkirane as prime minister after early elections and constitutional changes.

Benkirane has been struggling to form a new coalition since July after five ministers from the nationalist Istiqlal party, his former coalition partner, resigned accusing the PJD of hurting the poor by reducing subsidies.

A new government is expected to be named in the coming days after tough talks with the National Rally of Independents, a liberal party seen as close to the king, which has the third largest parliamentary group after the PJD and Istiqlal.

Analysts believe the royal palace, ill at ease sharing power with an Islamist group, may have backed Istiqlal's defection and encouraged the RNI to squeeze Benkirane in order to weaken the PJD-led government.

Slaheddine Mezouar, the head of the RNI who is aiming for the finance ministry according to local media, and Benkirane denied there had been any interference in their negotiations.

The International Monetary Fund has urged the government to cut subsidies that cost 53.36 billion dirhams ($6.3 billion) in public money in 2012 or 6.4 pct of Morocco's economic output. The government aims to keep spending in 2013 within the 42 billion dirhams set in the national budget.

(Reporting By Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Paul Taylor)

Source: Reuters.

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/09/us-morocco-opposition-subsidies-idUSBRE9880O320130909.