A glimpse of a dark decade

The story is based on real events

May 2, 1999, there were three weeks left until the end of the training season. I was a non-contracted teacher at the Institution of Vocational Training in Biskra - Central - a simple job I got after pulling a few strings with one of my relatives in the capital. It was a normal Sunday, I closed my apartment, got on bus number three, stopped at the hospital, and crossed the street to the training center which was new at the time, so new that its pale green paint today was as shiny as the grass of a football stadium at that time, I stood in the corner of the square out of respect for the national anthem and as soon as it finished I led my students to the classroom, while I was sitting behind the desk there was an unusual calm between them and a strange fear on their faces. I quickly opened the notebook, ready to make the call and record the absences. Tariq, the typical class clown, said with a seriousness that I had never seen in his face before that day:

Have you heard of Masoud, Mr. Radwan? .

Masoud was the quiet boy who always sat in the back, he was very disciplined and I guessed from the first moment when I saw him that he was older than his colleagues because of his haircut and the style of his clothes.

- is he okay ? . I asked curiously.

- He disappeared over the weekend. Tariq said. The police did not say anything but I think he was kidnapped by terrorists.

A random hum resonated between the corners of the classroom after Tariq's speech and i could see that it was going to turn into a mess of flying arguments so I hit the desk violently, shutting all mouths, and said:

- I understand your concerns, but we cannot link everything to terrorism. The press does that because it has a goal ... a purpose and we should not be an easy prey to them .

- Tariq looked at his colleagues who remained silent and then asked again :

- And what do you think happened, sir? .

- i do not know . I answered him. And you don't have to think about that either, now you should focus on your graduation projects.

Immediately after that sentence, the headmaster interrupted the class by entering, asking permission:

- Mr. Radwan, can I see you for a moment?

Principal Musa was a man who had spent his life in the field of education at various levels to the extent that in his wrinkles you could see wisdom and experience. I politely asked permission from the students to go out and hurried to join the principal in the hall, with a kind of anxiety he shook my hand and said:

- Have you heard ? .

- Yes, I just heard.

He quickly took a peek at the classroom and said:

- Our problems do not stop here. Some of the parents stormed my office as soon as I arrived in the morning. They are accusing the kid of joining the terrorist groups and they want to scratch his name off the school records and expel his family from the city.

- what ? . I asked in disgust. They cannot do anything without proof.

- They are not thinking rationally, there is a dilemma and they want to throw any solution on it as soon as possible to bury it.

Contrary to principal Musa, I gathered my thoughts slowly and then said:

Hold a meeting for the students parents tomorrow and we will explain it to them.

Do you have any idea in your head? . asked the headmaster.

We'll cross that bridge as soon as we get to it. I answered calmly.

***

The next day, I found myself locked inside our conference room with seven angry parents and a furious mayor, after he finally settled on his chair following few superficial conversations that I avoided engaging in with the rest of the parents i introduced my self and the principal who was sitting next to me then said :

- Now do we have a problem with the boy being a terrorist, or if he looks like a terrorist? .

as I assumed, the parents presented the torch of speech to the mayor, who said in a sharp tone:

- Of course you will defend one of your students, but we all know that sooner or later people like him will join their comrades in the mountains.

- People like him? , I asked curiously.

- yes . he answered. Short haircut, short pants, refuses to shake hands with women, what do you call a person like that? .

- I call him a Muslim. I answered him quickly. A committed Muslim.

From his pocket he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, then said:

- And Wasn't the Islamic party the reason for the awful situation we are in today?

I was silent for a while while he was lighting his cigarette, then I said :

- "Prosthetic" solutions such as expelling an entire family based on an assumption will not make the people trust you. As a politician, your motive for doing anything is to maintain your position... I know this, but this solution will not work.

- With an angry expression, the man rose from his place and said with a flicker:

- I have an office to run and I have no time for this nonsense. I did not come here to discuss you, but to tell you that we will vote with the rest of the council on the decision of expelling them, and if the approval is unanimous, they will leave the city.

Without adding another word, he left the room and behind him gathered the parents while the director looked at me worriedly, asking:

- And now what ? .

- They won't be fired, don't worry. I answered quickly, as I was about to leave, and then added:

- I have a class to join.

Quickly I ran through the hall, trying to keep calm, until I reached the classroom, i noticed as soon as i entered a huge question mark on everyone face so i said :

- everyone listen to me.

The Mouths stopped talking and the eyes stared at me as I continued:

- Normally I would not use my position to make any speech, but in view of these recent events I will say a few words.

Their eyes were waiting, and their minds were ready to receive the words.

- Before I became your professor, I was in your eyes just the young Radwan, an unemployed university graduate, and each of you had a point of view on me... .

I looked straight at Tariq and asked him:

- Tariq, what did you think of me? Say it, I won't be bothered.

- Tariq looked strangely at me and then at his colleagues and said:

- Honestly, I thought you were rich and arrogant.

Laughs echoed in the air here and there while i asked rima in the back:

- And you, Rima, what did you think of me? .

- A lonely weirdo. She answered briefly.

For a few moments I looked at each of them and then continued:

- It is the nature of man to assume that everyone around him is bad, it is a defense method in case that person is really bad, we will not be shocked because we assumed in advance that he is not a good person, but...

I raised my hand up so that they wouldn't lose their attention. Then I continued:

- I just poked a loophole in that logic, what Tariq saw as arrogance and Rima saw as crazy is really just an introvert, I am a man who likes the company of himself and I see people who like the company of other people but I don't judge them.

I walked quietly to the office, then said:

- I know that this may be confusing to you. You did not accuse Masoud of joining the terrorist groups, but some people you might know ... Parents , brothers , sisters think that, and they might influence you. Now you can't go about life judging people just because they are different from you, you have the right to Live your life the way you want to, and so as they.

After I said that, I prayed to God, and I still pray to Him to this day, that my words had made a change in them, but at that moment all I could do was look into their eyes, hoping to read any change. Principal Musa entered immediately after I finished, so I authorized the students to leave while he whispered in my ear:

- You have received a summons from the police, they want you to come tomorrow for questioning.

***

After an hour of murderous waiting inside an interrogation room the size of my apartment bathroom, a bald headed, big-bodied police officer came in at last holding a few papers in his hands wich he placed on the table before taking his seat on the chair, for a moment he flipped between the pages and said:

- All right, Mr. Radwan, let's try to help each other out here and get this over with quickly, okay? .

- I nodded in agreement as he continued:

- Did you notice any strange behavior on Mr. Masoud before his disappearance? Talks about his destination maybe ? .

- no . I answered briefly.

- are you sure . The officer insisted, and I answered again:

- positive.

- The officer returned to scatter another bench of papers from the pile in front of him, and then said:

- We have kept this a secret and I would like it to remain so after you leave Mr. Radwan, before his disappearance, masoud had set out on a trip to attend a small meeting in the wilaya of Setif with a group of his friends in the boy scouts, in addition to a few professors whose descriptions matched ... the bad people if you know what I mean, did you have any contacts with the professors? .

I was more focused with his description of the professors than his question about the professors themselves so I answered:

- No, and what do you mean by specifications that match bad people? .

- With some sarcasm, he replied:

- Long beard, short pants, you know.

- I know . I said . So now you have a compelling reason to accuse them of joining the terrorists, a group of religious people stop their car in the middle of the road and go up the mountain to join their fellows .

- No need to jump to conclusions, sir...

- I'm not doing that. I boycotted him. But did you really need to tell me all that story about his fellow Scouts and their mentality and the way they dress only to finally ask me about my knowledge of the teachers, do you think I'm an idiot? .

- The officer leaned on the table, approached me, and said in a low tone:

- Mr. Radwan, the influence of these terrorists is great, and people like Massoud and his colleagues are easy targets. I have many issues to deal with, and I know for sure that Massoud and his friends are now in one of the mountains of Mila or Skikda, training to fight... .

He quickly turned his eyes to the mirror on the wall, and then went on:

- I want to make it easy for both of us and for your colleagues in the institute and for the colleagues of the boy, we know the result, so why not take the shortcut.

I remember that at that moment I was not shocked but disappointed, of all the good inspectors in the state the case was referred to the worst of them, for a moment I stared at him so well that I sank into his soul and then said quietly:

- Are we done? .

Angrily, he leaned back, removing his body from the table, then replied:

- For now, yes, we will contact you if we need to.

***

That May 5th was the first day my landline telephone ever rang, As soon as I opened my eyes, I noticed that the light of day was just beginning to overshadow the darkness of the night so I answered expecting it to be a wrong number, but the voice of Director Musa spoke from the other side:

- Mr. Radwan, I'm sorry to bother you at this time, but... your department students are organizing a protest and things are not promising.

- shit ! I whispered with a little anger at the stupidity of the kids then said:

- I'll be there shortly.

- After a quick tour around the apartment I left, joined the early bus and before I got there a few blocks away I could see the police cars framing the traffic and the pedestrians, I remember the bus driver refusing to approach their gathering thinking that someone might detonate a bomb between them and parked next to the first turning point Which was so close that I could see their sit-down and hear their chants, I jogged along the sidewalk until I bumped into the director Musa standing in the midst of a group of strangers, so I caught my steps towards him, saying in confusion:

- what are you doing here ? .

With a bit of anger he replied:

- I'm a man of education, not a riot police.

- There isn't any... . I tried to explain to him that there was no riot, but I stopped and asked:

- Why are they doing this? .

- Suspiciously, he looked left and right, then approached me and said:

- They found the bus in which Massoud was, a little bit above the state of Batna, the matter was announced in the news without mentioning alot of details, but there were a few shots of the bus and i think that the students recognised it, I mean there is only one Toyota bus in the city and the name of Uncle Muhammad was written on its side .

- What did they say on TV? . I asked .

- An attack from which only one person survived, and there is no news about Massoud so far. The gendarmerie and municipal guards are combing the area, that's all.

- alright . I whispered. And what do they want now? .

- An apology. The headmaster replied. It is now clear that Masoud has probably been kidnapped.

- For a few minutes, I stood near the principal, Musa, contemplating the protest of the students. It was clear that they were feeling sad, but they did not know how to deal with it. With some spontaneity, I adjusted my suit and tie and then said to Musa:

- I'll talk to them.

I walked towards them until I reached the iron barrier set up by the police, and for a moment I searched for Tariq until I saw him screaming in the corner so i called him and he quickly ran towards me asking:

- Do you want to join the sit-in, Mr. Radwan? .

- I want you to shut them up and make them pay attention to me. I said sharply.

He nodded his head at me, then turned to his colleagues and shouted:

- Listen ... Listen, Mr. Radwan wants to say a few words.

- The screaming turned into murmurs, and then the murmurs turned to complete silence. I looked at their faces and saw fear, anger, sadness, feelings that young men of that age should not experience. I put my hand on the barrier to make myself visible, and then said:

- Just like you, I am shocked to hear the news. Last week, Masoud was with us and now he is a victim of terrorism. Things may turn quickly and this is scary. I understand that, but facing their violence with more violence will not make us different from them. I see some of you carrying rocks thinking that you are taking a stand but in reality you are just making yourselves targets and people will fear you.

I paused for a moment, looked at the crowd behind me, and then continued:

- These people behind me look at you... You as students, young children and even adult men look at you, you are the elite and they are seeing what you will do to follow your steps and this is not the picture you want to convey to them, gathered like this with the rocks in your hands, disrupting the police from their work and making yourselvs a huge target.

- A few mouths behind me agreed with my words with faint shouts as I continued:

- The bus driver who usually puts me here refused that today thinking that things might go wrong and here the trust of a good man in you has gone and you will not regain it again, in a dark time like this we do not want demonstrations that remind people that our youth are being kidnapped by terrorists to think that this situation will last forever, but we want to remind them that we, as young people, are the bright future they are looking forward to, and we are the ones who will end this tragedy.

I clenched my left fist, then raised it up high and continued in a loud voice:

- You want an apology? Behave like an elite, go to the mayor's office or the governor and ask him for an apology, he won't hear you here. He is up there is his hight tower, You want Masoud's family to stay. Go to his house and stand by him to prove that we are all one family.

The rest of the story in the comments