Imagine being ruled for two decades by an authoritarian, elitist, mute (yes, mute), 82-year-old President who hasn’t made a speech in seven years. Now, imagine he’s not even residing in your country but, in fact, living in Switzerland. This is the end of his term so you sigh yourself with relief, thinking whoever comes in his place will be better than this president. Except the President isn’t going anywhere, he’s running for a new term. This isn’t some sick political anecdote, this is what the people of Algeria were experiencing less than a year ago.

What Happened?

Mr. Bouteflika, now the former president of Algeria, wasn’t the best political leader: he was involved in questionable relations with Russia, violated the Constitution by creating a third presidential term, and appointed himself as editor-in-chief of Algeria’s state television station. Despite all these unlawful actions, Bouteflika managed to stay in power since 1999. However, it would be naive to assume that Algeria’s current unstable position is solely Bouteflika’s fault. In 2013 the president suffered a stroke and became basically mute. A resignation wasn’t an option though, at least it wasn’t for his party loyalists; they knew that with the current president out of power, they would lose their privileged positions under the new rule. This is how Bouteflika became a puppet for another six years.

When Bouteflika’s party members announced in February of this year that he would be running for the next term, not many Algerians were ready to cope with the puppet for an additional five years. This was the trigger for the 2019 Algerian protests that are still going on today. Almost 1 million Algerian citizens came out to demonstrations against Bouteflika in February, his party loyalists were shocked and ultimately resulted in Bouteflika’s resignation as President.

Why are the protests still going on if the president resigned?

Massive protests paralyzed Bouteflika’s right-wing loyalists and left them with no option other than to resign. Not only that, but they were also faced with multiple corruption charges in the government’s attempt to “clean out” the remnants of Bouteflika’s legacy. Further, Army Chief of Staff Ahmed Gaïd Salah, siding with the protesters, called for two elections. The first one, scheduled for July 4th, got canceled due to “The need to accelerate the establishment of an independent body to organize and oversee the election … stop those who are trying to prolong the crisis,” says Gaïd Salah. The second election occurred on December 12th and protests are still continuing.

#Algeria 🇩🇿: thousands are again out in the streets against the military regime and president-elect #Tebboune pic.twitter.com/mKXne05PG1 — Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) December 17, 2019

It seems likey that the situation is going exactly in the protester’s favor. Why have the demonstrations been lasting for almost a year? This problem has to do with the very foundation of Algeria’s government. When the country’s politics is based on a state-run media and an elitist regime “el pouvoir” (Power), the situation created distrust between the people and the government. The reason citizens keep rebelling is due to the fact that they don’t believe elections will change anything. “The biggest question for Algeria is: Will this election solve the crisis?” says Rochdi Alloui, an expert on North Africa. “I think only if there is a large turnout for the elections. If not, it says that the Algerian people didn’t buy into what the candidates, and then the new president, were selling. If this happens, then the crisis will continue and it will actually worsen.”

Now What?

Protests in Algeria contribute to a much bigger issue: the world tragedy map. Why is it that the Notre Dame fire creates instant media coverage, thoughts & prayers, and millions of donations around the world? Meanwhile millions of people across the globe struggle to get their simplest political rights. Protests have been an abundant theme in 2019, but many protests that have occurred in Latin American and African countries are largely forgotten by the public. The future of Algeria’s government remains uncertain, but it is clear is that Algerian citizens won’t tolerate further injustice.

welcome to our new article series: The Year of Protests! 2019 has been a year filled with street protests from around the world, and no one has been able to figure out why. In this series, New Voice reporters, Juliette Reyes and Polina Protozanova, will analyze and explain these various protests going on in countries from around the world.

Advertisements

Share this: Facebook

Twitter



Leave this field empty if you're human: