Editing of the Arabic edition: Khalil Kalfat Translation: Ubab Murad English Copyediting: Rachel Aspden
December 2014
The views represented in this book are the sole responsibility of their authors of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung.
The original Arabic title of the Work: خارطة اليسار العربـي: تونس- م1 – اليمن- الســودان – المغرب - الجزائر
Table of contents
Introduction by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung 4
On the Arab Left and Arab Revolutions 6
The Map of the Tunisian Left 16
Leftist movements in Egypt 44
The Contemporary Yemeni Left Scene 70
The Left in Sudan: resources and contemporary challenges 106
The Moroccan Left: the reality of the crisis and the throes of change 134
Leftist Movement in Algeria: A Legend to Glorify Hope 162 Introduction by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung
Why Mapping the Political Left?
The Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (RLS) is concerned with a number of topics relevant to progressive political life in and outside of Party, we function as a think-tank for the wider spectrum of social justice and direct democracy. Although the contexts of relevant developments within the worldwide political Left may vary, the effects are similar: efforts politics may address important social issues, they are not necessarily attractive to relevant constituencies. The questions therefore are: what are the appropriate ways to organize for political parties? How can parties advance social movements and vice versa? How can the Who could be partners in this struggle? In general, there seem to be more questions than answers. rising disillusionment with (traditional) party and parliamentary politics. The number of party members, let alone active ones, is through powerful and socially broad political initiatives. These initiatives, on the other hand, are mostly short-lived, which, again, stresses the need for strong, socially rooted, sustainable political organizations. In a range of Arab countries we have been witnessing the same developments. The discrepancies between various movements are marginalized, some lack internal democracy and
4 Mapping of the Arab Left are, thus, neither attractive for younger activists nor promising for practical ways to achieve social justice, the obstacles seem overwhelming: foreign debt and its repercussions, the draining or exploitation of local labor and resources by foreign investments, or free trade agreements, of which only the stronger economy This study adds to previous RLS efforts to understand and analyze the composition of the global Left. A list of those publications (with links for download) is included at the end of the book. “From We would like this material to be used as a basis for a process of sharing analyses and learning from each other’s practices and experiences. We hope for it to be a small contribution to improving the understanding of political processes in different contexts and to the advancement of networks between progressive parties progressive values and political practices with life on the basis of social justice and equality.
Peter Schäfer
5 On the Arab Left and Arab Revolutions On the Arab Left and Arab Revolutions
Khalil Kalfat