Algeria: The revolution that never was

Does 'progressive leadership' or something more complex and sinister explain why Algeria's 'Spring' never materialised?

The 'Arab Spring' of 2011 brought down autocratic governments across North Africa and the Middle East. But, despite widespread street protests that initially threatened to spark a Tunisian or Egyptian style revolt, an expected uprising in Algeria failed to materialise. President Abdelazziz Bouteflika's regime - often accused of being one of the most repressive in the region - promised modest political reform and managed to hold onto power. Earlier this month it claimed to have delivered on these promises when parliamentary elections were held, in which the ruling National Liberation Front (or FLN) won an overwhelming majority of the votes. Although opposition groups were quick to deride the poll as a sham and to accuse the government of manipulating the results, European and American observers called the poll a step toward democracy. So what has been going on in Algeria for the last year? Did it genuinely, as the government would claim, avoid the upheaval that swept through the rest of North Africa last year because of the Bouteflika regime's 'progressive leadership'? Or has something darker and more complex been going on - a story that opponents and human rights activists say has more to do with a wary population traumatised by the country's violent past and living in fear of its secret police?  People & Power wanted to find out, but getting into Algeria is difficult - not least because Al Jazeera has been denied official access to the country since 2004. Nevertheless, when our requests for journalist visas were ignored, our filmmakers managed to get in unofficially and were able to work discreetly. Producer Caroline Pare describes what they found. Producer's view In the capital Algiers at least, life seemed freer and more lively than we expected. The shops and cafes were full and, superficially at least, this did not seem to be a place on the cusp of revolution. It felt like a country coming out of something very bad and now quite determinedly making the best of a difficult situation. Why did the expected uprising fail to materialise in Algeria?[EPA] But when we began meeting human rights activists, we got a much better sense of what ordinary Algerians are up against and what they really think. To start with, the military and intelligence people, the DRS, are omnipresent, so meetings had to be arranged surreptitiously. On one occasion, for example, a contact identified himself at a street corner by using pre-arranged code words. Then he asked us to follow him very discreetly and at a distance to the Metro, past the police and the surveillance cameras, onto a train and out to his tiny apartment in the suburbs. Only when safely behind closed doors did he feel able to speak freely about the repression and the many economic problems the country faces - a housing crisis, rocketing unemployment and spiralling food prices. He told us things were so bad that desperate young people were burning themselves alive. There were around 130 self-immolations in Algeria last year. Indeed just before the election in the seaside town of Jijel, a 25-year-old man, Hamza Rechak, set himself on fire, in despair at having been prevented by police from selling cosmetics from his small stall and then at being taunted by them. His death caused outrage in the town and sparked a riot as young men attacked the police station in fury. Other Algerians told us that theirs was actually the first country to have an 'Arab Spring'. In 1988, the people took to the streets and forced the government to hold a free and fair election. After the first round of voting it became apparent that the opposition Islamic FIS party was set to win. But it was not to be because the military intervened. The country turned in on itself and entered a 'dark decade' of bloody violence that saw an estimated 200,000 people killed. To this day it casts a fearful shadow. The chaos enabled the DRS to get a stranglehold on the country and the body politic that democracy activists say persists to this day. So the elections that were held this month do not seem to have much credibility among voters. Indeed we heard from various political analysts before the election that they could predict the turnout - based on what the government required to make the process acceptable in international eyes - and sure enough they were pretty close to the 43 per cent officially announced. The governing party won overwhelmingly. In Algeria, we are told, everything is preordained by the powerful shadow state, the DRS. And it does not brook criticism. Algeria is a country rich in oil and gas reserves, earning it perhaps $200bn each year. But there are few jobs in the oil industry for Algerians and unemployment and poverty are real problems. Youth unemployment is at over 40 per cent. The level of desperation on the ground is such that discontent boils up into street protests on a daily basis - we were told that there were 40,000 such protests last year alone against housing, food prices, police corruption etc. Yet Algerians have not yet turned to outright revolution. We began to understand why when talking to people about the 'dark decade' and the terrors they lived through that still traumatise their lives. To put it simply, people are scared. We spoke to families whose loved ones were killed or vanished during those years. As many as 20,000 of these 'disappeared' are still being sought by their families, according to a group called SOS Disparu that supports families looking for their loved ones. They introduced us to one woman whose husband was snatched from their doorstep 18 years ago. She has heard nothing officially of him since then, despite writing and visiting all the government offices she could think of. The only information came from fellow detainees who tell her he was probably horrendously tortured. All these years later the memory of her husband still moves her to tears. Will all this change? We were taken to see Dr Salah-Eddine Sidhoum, an orthopaedic surgeon and one of Algeria's most respected opposition figures. As we sat in his study, the TV in the corner was showing a live broadcast of the funeral of Algeria's first post-independence president. We asked Sidhoum why the events that shook the rest of the Arab world in 2011 seemed to have passed his country by. His response was emphatic. "Algeria is not an exception," he said. "The revolution will come here in Algeria sooner or later - it's just a question of time." http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2012/05/2012516145457232336.html

Algerians sound off on election boycott

Politicians and activists share views on whether Algeria's legislative elections will actually bring change. Yasmine Ryan Last Modified: 10 May 2012 08:31 inShare3 Email Print Share Feedback

Opposition activists are divided on whether voting or boycotting is best way to achieve change [Photo courtesy of FFS]

Algeria's legislative elections are scheduled for Thursday, but experts have predicted that the majority of Algerian voters will boycott the polls. The Algerian regime has so far resisted the dramatic upheaval in neigbouring countries including Tunisia, Libya and, most recently, Mali. The elections, portrayed by the authorities as a sign of their willingness to allow gradual political overture, are a bid to retain control. The implications of a massive boycott have caused signs of panic from authorities. In a speech on Tuesday, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the Algerian president, appealed to citizens to go to the polls. Legislative elections in 2007 produced the lowest turnout in Algeria's history, with only 35 per cent of the 18.7 million eligible voters casting ballots. The stakes for the ruling elite are even higher this year. The population is increasingly cynical of political rule by forces they refer to as le pouvoir, or "the power", a term for the generals who allegedly hold the real power behind the façade of official government. The ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) has argued that a turnout of 45 per cent would give the elections legitimacy. Opposition activists, however, have said the real turnout could be as low as 10 per cent. Al Jazeera spoke with Algerian opposition politicians about their hopes of change for Algeria, and whether boycotting or supporting the vote is the best means of achieving it. Hayet Taiati Meziani: Supports voting Hayet Taiati Meziani, right, a candidate on the FFS's list for Algiers, the capital [Photo courtesy of the FFS] Hayet Taiati Meziani is a Socialist Forces Front (FFS) candidate for the party's list in Algiers. A secular left-leaning party, the FFS is the oldest opposition movement in the country. It was founded by Hocine Ait-Ahmed, one of the architects of the Algerian War of Independence, when he went into opposition against the FLN in 1963. "Of course, it is important to participate in this election campaign. With everything that is going on in the Arab world, our participation is important to warn the public of the dangers around us and to fight peacefully against violence in our society. People are tired of violence. We lived through 15 years of violence and now people just want to live in peace. The public is divided between those who want to vote, and those who want to abstain. It is unlikely the rate of participation will be high. Since the president's speech yesterday, however, yes, it is possible the number of people who vote will increase [compared to the number that might otherwise have boycotted]. Of course, there are many people, especially the young, who don't have jobs or housing. Most of them believe these elections won’t bring any change, and so they won't vote. That is why the president gave his speech yesterday, because otherwise he knows that there will be very low participation tomorrow. It is little by little that things will change, it won't happen overnight. That is why we are participating, to bring change in the future. It has to start somewhere. We are well-respected amongst the population for our history, for our struggle that has lasted for years, for our honour, so I hope people will vote for us." Mohamed Zitout: Supports boycott Mohamed Zitout, Algerian activist-in-exile and co-founder of the Rachad movement [Photo courtesy of Zitout] Mohamed Zitout is an Algerian activist-in-exile and former diplomat now living in the United Kingdom. He is a co-founder of the Rachad movement, an organisation dedicated to achieving "radical and responsible change" in Algeria through non-violent means.  "The regime is really panicking at the moment. They are threatening the people that there will be foreign intervention in their country, like what happened in Libya; accusing those who don't vote of being 'sick', and threatening that they will go to hell-fire. [The minister of religious affairs said on Saturday that failing to vote would be haram, or forbidden, under Islam.  "Those who are calling for boycotts are cowards, hypocrites with whom we can't construct a society or establish a partnership," Gholamllah is reported to have said.] They are right to be afraid. This election is threatening to be a nightmare for them. For the first time in the history of Algeria, we have had young people destroying banners, writing on walls, distributing tracts. And this is coming, not from political forces, but from just young people, and we are having very strong comments on Facebook and YouTube, people are joking about what some candidates are saying. The regime is feeling that they have put themselves in a very bad situation, because their friends, namely the Americans, the British and the French, are telling them that they can't afford to protect them and to help them all the time. Officially, foreign leaders are still supporting Algeria. But, in private, they are telling them that they can’t support them all the time. Abstention is going to be extremely high. I would put it at 80 to 90 per cent. In this case, will the regime accept these results? They need the turnout to be around 40 to 50 per cent, but that is wishful thinking. If they inflate the results, this might be the start of huge problems. These elections will be, in my view, something similar to what happened in Egypt. This will be the start of the end of the regime." Kamel Mida: Supports voting Kamel Mida, centre, press officer for the MSP, during the campaign [Photo courtesy of the MSP] Kamel Mida is press officer for the Movement for the Society of Peace (MSP), a party running as part of the Green Alliance. It was in coalition with the ruling FLN until the build-up to the legislation election. The MSP is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. "We have been welcomed by Algerian citizens. We have been really active on the ground and have been going door-to-door, to convince them to vote for our lists. People have come to our meetings, gotten involved, and are enthusiastic about voting for our alliance. I think there will be a higher turnout than usual [this year]. In our meetings, people seem very aware of the importance of voting, they want to vote. We are expecting very good results, to come first, and that after these elections, we will become the strongest party [in Algeria]. The FLN has been in power in 50 years, and we are the party that represents change. Many people agree with our policies and share our convictions. We want to follow the Turkish model. They have made a choice. They say that a low voter turnout will mean that the Algerian system is in crisis and that the Algerian people want radical change, like what has happened in Egypt or Syria. But we think we can achieve peaceful change, change via the ballot box. Change that can take Algeria into the future, an Algeria that is modern and prosperous. We want to change the government, to win the majority in the parliament, to work with the president of the republic until 2014." Hacene Ferhati: Supports boycott Hacene Ferhati became an activist when his brother was forcibly disappeared [Photo courtesy of Ferhati] Hacene Ferhati is a member of SOS Disparus, an association that fights for truth and justice in the cases of more than 8,000 Algerians who were forcibly disappeared by state security forces during the civil war of the 1990s. Ferhati became an activist after his brother disappeared in 1998. "I won't be voting, but I respect the right of those who do choose to vote. I have decided not to vote because le pouvoir [the Algerian regime] has been lying to us for 50 years. There is extensive vote-rigging every time, and why would this time be any different? For us, they are liars who have never done anything for the people, why would they start now? In Algeria, we don't have the right to protest or denounce anything. The Algerian state categorically refuses people the right to peaceful expression. Why should I go vote when they don't even let the people calling for boycott express themselves? [Reference to the arrests of activists calling for a boycott, including one on May 1 in Algiers.]  There is no democracy in Algeria. It is a pure and simple dictatorship. This year, the authorities are afraid of the risk of massive abstention. Out of all my family and friends, there are only two out of about 100 who say they are going to vote. Now, all Algerians know the truth. People know they should boycott the election and not give any legitimacy to le pouvoir. Algeria is a very rich country but people are living in poverty. They need to change the system in this country, and let people work in their own country. All the people in power are old, there are no young people, no graduates. What happens after the election is a question mark." http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/05/20125913575262654.html