Counter-currents: Mzabi independence, pan-Ottomanism and WWI in the Maghrib.

This paper focuses on the impact of the First World War (WWI) and its aftermath on the political activism of the Mzabi community in the Algerian desert. Following the French annexation of the Mzab Valley in 1882 and the military draft imposed on Mzabis in 1912 and again in 1918, Mzabis, who are Amazighen (sing. Amazigh, also known as Berbers) and Ibadis (members of minority sect in Islam), felt more and more threatened by French policies towards the Mzab and its inhabitants. This paper shows how the events of WWI and the hope in a French defeat and an Ottoman victory provided Mzabis with the opportunity to link to trans-border anti-colonial movements, especially in Tripolitania and Tunisia, and to promote their case for Mzab’s independence from French Algeria. Those movements, tied to Istanbul, had emerged earlier during the Italian invasion of Libya in 1911 and were reinvigorated during WWI and the Ottoman efforts of mass mobilization. Mzabis were linked to resistance groups in Tripolitania and thus were able to easily integrate themselves during WWI into cross-border anti-colonial movements. They perceived themselves as part of a pro-Ottoman North African movement opposed to European colonial projects and not part of an Algeria they considered to be ‘French.’ In particular, given their strong connections to Tripolitanian activists who were also Ibadis and connected to Istanbul, they believed that they were better positioned to negotiate their independence from France than the Maliki (followers of the Maliki religious school of jurisprudence) majority of Algeria. Their activism during and shortly after WWI and struggle for their own independence as ‘Mzabis,’ distinguishing themselves from the rest of Maliki Algerians, highlight three important themes. The first is the need to create one uninterrupted narrative linking the Italian invasion of Tripolitania in 1911 to WWI in terms of shaping cross-border alliances and political strategies in the Maghrib towards the Allies. The second is the significance and continuous relevance of the Ottoman context for North African and Saharan communities in the definition of their political allegiances during WWI. Third are the alternative political imaginations Mzabi activism during WWI presents us. Rather than the usual perception of WWI as being the catalyst for nationalist stirrings in the region, the case of the Mzabis provides a counter-narrative to nationalist historiographies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]