And now, Algeria
So, on Saturday, the wind finally blew Algeria’s way.
Bordered by
Tunisia, where it all started, the so-called People’s Democratic
Republic of Algeria found itself shutting down Internet providers and
deleting Facebook accounts across the country as thousands of
protesters were arrested following street demonstrations.
No doubt taking
their cue from the people of Egypt and Tunisia, the citizens took to
the streets in the capital Algiers, demanding that the president –
Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has been in office since 1999 – leave office;
this despite the fact that the government had initially banned the
gathering and warned citizens against joining the protest.
The conditions
that led to this final action are strikingly identical to those in
other parts of North Africa where protests have threatened the status
quo since the new year began: long-standing governance by state of
emergency, and a ban on public protest in Algiers. In response, an
estimated 26,000 riot police were set up to battle the demonstrators.
There were reports of 400 people detained, others stopped from coming
into cities, state-sponsored officials harassing journalists, and
plastic bullets and tear gas being used to disperse those arrested
during the five-kilometre-long march to 1 May Square in the capital’s
centre.
The Algerian
government decided to wage a concerted battle against the Internet, and
in a move to handicap the organisers and shut down their ability to
communicate with the rest of the world the authorities closed down
online access and stifled the demonstrators’ ability to organise
through Facebook.
Evidently,
something is happening across North Africa that the governments
couldn’t have imagined – a people pushed to the wall and pressed to the
ground have finally risen up to say enough of oppression and a
government that has continually refused to acquiesce to the wishes of
the citizens.
This is despite
the fact that these are a people who have been scarred by conflict
through their experience with the extremist Islamic insurgency in the
1990s that left hundreds of thousands dead. Indeed, Algeria has been a
hotbed of political crises, defined by the decade long battle for power
that lasted from 1992 to 2002.
But it was bound
to happen. An oil rich nation, Algeria has the eighth largest reserves
of natural gas in the world, yet the majority of the population –
especially its young people suffer from mass unemployment, a housing
crisis, debilitating poverty, all underpinned by political corruption.
The demands of the
protesters are for an end to the government of Bouteflika and its
19-year state of emergency. Mounting grievances over the spiralling
cost of food and unemployment finally exploded in the riots that began
early this month, no doubt encouraged by public protests in Tunisia
that forced its president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee on January 14.
The Algerian
government tried to respond by reducing the prices of oil, sugar and
other basic necessities, and promising continued subsidies. Still the
people remain angry and in the past two weeks, almost 10 martyrs have
set themselves on fire.
This happens to be
the second time this year that ordinary Algerians are taking their
destinies into their hands. In January, at least five people were
killed and 1000 arrested as citizens took to the streets. Now the
February 12 Revolution – and the overflowing police cells – make an
eloquent statement: when a people decide that they have had it, there
are not enough army tankers to hold back the momentum.
Without a doubt,
what is happening is a people-power uprising that comes from years and
years of sitting down and taking it. As one of the protest leaders
noted, “Algerians want their voices to be heard too. They want
democratic change.” Right now, the rally has been disbanded and a
surface calm has returned to the country’s capital, but as another
protest leader told the media, in an ominous sign to dictators all over
the continent: “The fear is now gone,” he said.
Algeria’s
president should pay attention to these words. If not, he will soon
find out what Mr. Mubarak did too little too late – that the change
this time, is inevitable. Resistance is futile.
