[5] Rachad was founded in 2007[6] by a number of Algerian opponents of the current government, including Abbas Aroua, Mourad Dhina, Rachid Mesli, Mohamed Samraoui, and Mohamed Larbi Zitout (who comprise the movement's secretariat, and all live in exile),[7] and others living in Algeria whose identity has not been made public.

In September 2008, its founding member Abbas Aroua, through the Cordoba Foundation, organised a conference in Geneva, "Perspectives on political change in Algeria", which brought together Algerians from a variety of political perspectives who oppose the current system, including Rachad, to agree on a set of shared principles.

[8] Along with other groups across the political spectrum, it called for a boycott of the 2009 presidential elections;[9] afterwards, it condemned the reported results as fraudulent and claimed that the true participation rate was just 16%.

[10] The organisation has made extensive use of TV and the Internet to spread its ideas, with spokespersons appearing on major channels including Aljazeera.

Rachad's pronouncements have been supportive of the Arab Spring uprisings, including the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya,[12] while condemning the Algerian political reforms undertaken by the Bouteflika régime as a "masquerade".