How do you go from being a young man who dreams of being an actor to a cold-blooded fundamentalist terrorist who thinks nothing of killing women and children? To our minds it seems unconscionable, but in the world created by Yasmina Khadra, and in the head of Nafa Walid, his protagonist in Wolf Dreams, it's simply the path of least resistance.
Since winning independence from France in 1962, Algeria has been a secular state, but in the mid- to late eighties, fundamentalists are beginning to take over mosques in areas where they know they will be able to recruit. Initially keeping a low profile in the community at large, they gradually began to expand out from their power base in the mosque.
In the Casbah of Algiers, where Nafa Walid lives, the changes are only gradually noticeable. When he loses a job yet again, this time after refusing to be party to covering up the murder of a young woman by his employer, he turns to the mosque for comfort of the familiar and to try to deal with his shame over what he believes is his complicity in the girl's death.
In his disillusioned and despondent state he is ripe for the picking by the fundamentalists. Like any cult, they find those who have been alienated and then move in to fill the void. They offer a ready-made purpose, a sense of belonging, and best of all they've reduced everything to a black and white equation. Something is either right or wrong and there is no room for debate.
Algeria was short of everything. Demonstrations turned to riots so bad that the army was sent in. Not trained in crowd control, somebody panicked and they began firing at a crowd and nearly 500 people eventually were killed, with thousands more arrested. It's not until after the food riots of 1988 that the fundamentalists hit their stride in Algeria. Contending that they were the supporters of the poor and downtrodden, they said, “Follow us and we will change the way things are run.”
In their brave new world it would be the righteous being taken care of, while those who had been sucking the country dry would be gotten rid of. They offered a banner that people could flock behind and feel like they were on the right side. Those who would openly speak against them became fewer and fewer as it became less and less healthy to do so.
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