{"id":39492,"date":"2012-05-03T07:24:19","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T13:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=39492"},"modified":"2012-05-04T06:08:49","modified_gmt":"2012-05-04T12:08:49","slug":"cruces-restaurant-owner-seeks-algerian-parliament-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2012\/05\/cruces-restaurant-owner-seeks-algerian-parliament-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruces restaurant owner seeks Algerian Parliament seat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fatah<\/a>

Fatah Hafassa<\/p><\/div>\n

Fatah Hafassa lived in Las Cruces for 12 years and still owns International Delights Cafe. Now he\u2019s seeking to represent what may be one of the largest legislative districts in any government in the world.<\/h4>\n

If you\u2019ve ever eaten at International Delights Cafe<\/a> in Las Cruces, you may have seen Fatah Hafassa working there.<\/p>\n

Hafassa is an Algerian living in the United States. After a brief stint in California in the 1990s, he moved to Las Cruces and started the restaurant in 1998. He still owns it today, though he and his family moved to Virginia in 2010.<\/p>\n

Now he\u2019s seeking to represent what may be, geographically, one of the largest legislative districts in any government in the world.<\/p>\n

The Algerian Parliament includes eight seats for Algerians living in other countries (there are about 37 million people in Algeria, and 2 million Algerians living abroad). Hafassa is running to represent a massive area \u2013 Zone 4, which includes North America, South America and all of Europe except France.<\/p>\n

The elections run from May 5-10, and the protests and demonstrations that have spread across the Arab world since December 2010 are a big factor.<\/p>\n

This election is something the \u201cruling elite, in power for 50 years, hopes will soak up the pressure for change that has been building since the \u2018Arab Spring\u2019 revolts in neighboring countries,\u201d according to Reuters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hafassa is running on a platform of getting Zone 4 Algerians \u2013 particularly youth \u2013 more involved in their homeland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe upcoming elections of May 5th-10th will provide a unique opportunity for all of us to maintain our connection with the homeland, our commitment to our Algerian identity regardless of where we reside and an appreciation to our host countries,\u201d Hafassa wrote in a message posted on his campaign website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can follow his campaign travels on Facebook<\/a>. Hafassa has recently been in Houston, New York and Montreal, and also made an appearance on Aljazeera TV to discuss the elections.<\/p>\n

From Algeria to Europe to America<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

But until a couple of years ago, Hafassa spent his days in Las Cruces, running his business, which now includes a grocery store in the same shopping center as International Delights, and a second, smaller restaurant on the NMSU campus. Today, Hafassa says, the business employs 28 people in the Las Cruces area. A photo of Hafassa posing with U.S. President Barack Obama, which was taken during an Obama campaign stop in Las Cruces in 2008, hangs on the wall at the original restaurant.<\/p>\n

In 2003, Hafassa enrolled at New Mexico State University. He earned a master\u2019s degree in political science with a focus in international relations. While in Las Cruces, he also helped found the local Islamic Center and, his website states, was involved in the \u201csmart growth\u201d movement.<\/p>\n

He seems to have been moving toward a run for office since he left Algeria in 1988. Hafassa, who was born in Algiers in 1969, left 19 years later for London and Switzerland to \u201cseek more education in world politics,\u201d according to his website After he returned home to fulfill his obligation to serve in the military, he moved to the United States.<\/p>\n

With the political science degree and successful small business from his time in Las Cruces on his r\u00e9sum\u00e9, Hafassa is making his case to Algerians in the Americas and Europe. But what\u2019s most important, it seems from his website, is his connection to his homeland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile immersed in the culture of the United States, Fatah never forgot his roots and continued strong ties with the homeland by travelling there frequently with his family and maintaining relationships,\u201d his website states. \u201cA businessman, family man and community leader, Fatah is the right representative for the Algerian Diaspora.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s pledging to work to maintain and strengthen the connection between Algerians in the zone and their homeland. That includes educating youth on the importance of participation in their government and about the \u201cAlgerian identity.\u201d Among his proposals are programs to allow Algerians abroad to participate in the nation\u2019s social security retirement system, fund youth trips to their homeland to participate in community service and volunteer programs such as teaching foreign languages, and college financial aid for Algerians living in Zone 4.<\/p>\n

About Algeria<\/h3>\n

The People\u2019s Democratic Republic of Algeria is located in Northwest Africa. Algiers, where Hafassa was born, is its capital. A Wikipedia<\/a> article states that Algeria \u201cis an\u00a0authoritarian regime, according to the\u00a0Democracy Index 2010.\u00a0The\u00a0Freedom of the Press 2009\u00a0report gives it rating \u2018Not Free.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

More, from a Wikipedia article on the nation\u2019s politics<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitics of Algeria\u00a0takes place in a framework of a\u00a0presidential\u00a0republic, whereby the\u00a0President of Algeria\u00a0is\u00a0head of state\u00a0while the\u00a0Prime Minister of Algeria\u00a0is the\u00a0head of government, and of a\u00a0multi-party system.\u00a0Executive power\u00a0is exercised by the government.\u00a0Legislative power\u00a0is vested in both the\u00a0government\u00a0and the two chambers of parliament, the\u00a0People\u2019s National Assembly\u00a0and the\u00a0Council of the Nation.\u00a0Algeria\u00a0has a long history of revolution and regime change, making the political climate dynamic and often in a state of change. The country is currently a constitutional republic with a democratically elected government, though the\u00a0military, in practice, remain major powerbrokers. Since the early 1990s, a shift from a state capitalist to a free market economy has been ongoing with official support.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Presidents were limited to two, 5-year terms until 2008, when term limits were eliminated.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more on the politics of the election and the \u201cArab Spring\u201d from Reuters<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cWary that the May 10 election could be the catalyst which brings upheaval spilling over from its neighbors, authorities have tried to counter the \u2018Arab Spring\u2019 with their own, re-branded version that favors managed transition over revolution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe official slogan of the election, repeated in commercials running on state television, is: \u2018Algeria is our spring.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe country\u2019s rulers have heeded pressure for reform by easing restrictions on political parties and making the election process more transparent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next parliament, as a result, is likely to be more lively and diverse and have a large contingent of moderate Islamist parties, reflecting a trend across the region in the aftermath of the \u2018Arab Spring.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBut opponents say the authorities\u2019 moves towards reform are window dressing and that they will still not allow any genuine challenge to their hold on power.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fatah Hafassa lived in Las Cruces for 12 years and still owns International Delights Cafe. Now he\u2019s seeking to represent what may be one of the largest legislative districts in any government in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[287,145],"class_list":["post-39492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-international-politics","tag-las-cruces"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}