Hadj-Moussa 271of the mosques on the population” became a key tactic of the FIS.^19 When
it was granted legal party status, the FIS was critical of what it deemed the
“unacceptable” imitations of French society offered by Radio Chaîne III
(the only network broadcasting in French) and cast doubt on the Algerian
pedigree of its announcers, but was not critical of satellite television.^20
certain qualitative transformation occurred between the period A
when satellite television was utilized (though critiqued) and the moment
when it came to represent nothing but the Other, the incommensurably
different. This passage from the “justification of ends” [rationalité par
finalité] to the “justification of values” was especially notable in February
1992 after the suspension of elections that were predicted to result in a FIS
victory.^21 With the decimation of the ranks of the Islamists, the restric-
tion of speech and the changing tone of international media undermin-
ing their ideological position, the Islamist groups and their supporters
transformed themselves into ardent defenders of morality, challenging
the “t.āghūt” (i.e., the satellite dishes). T.āghūt is an Arabic term that has
recently surfaced in the discourse, designating the idols that must be
attacked according to traditional interpretations of the Qur’an. The more
fervent protesters tried to convince the population that the satellite dishes
were a satanic technology because they incited splits in the Algerian fam-
ily. Satellite dishes were seen as vehicles for immorality and the corrup-
tion of youth. Youth gangs who identified themselves with the FIS intimi-
dated “subscribers” to try to convince them to divest themselves of their
dishes. Slim, a father of four, described his experience to me. He lives with
his family in a housing project on the outskirts of a small city that was
intensely damaged during the civil war.^22 In his city the seeming normal-
ity and quiet of the day is replaced by fear brought on by the uncertainties
of the night and its darkness, the moment when everyone has to be home
to comply with the curfew imposed by the state of siege:
Slim: In 1993, “they” took away the dish [h.abassūhalna]. The
emir was passing through. He found the leader and told him
“we give you two or three days to make the dish disappear.”
“Their”^23 emir himself, who is well-known in the neighbor-
hood, came. Sometimes “they” send their soldiers, who then
say, “Remove the dish. We have been sent.”