In Algeria, the hour is no longer for protest, the spirit has fallen for hundreds of thousands of protesters who invaded the major cities every week to demand the end of the “system”. Covid-19 got better with this popular glow, but Hirak, a protest movement born on February 22, 2019, resists.
Hirak militants has suspended its protests due to Covid-19, but the movement has not run out of steam, the spirit of rebellion remains. It is less visible, less present on the streets, yet Hirak survives and the men and women who created this popular movement in February 2019 still demand change.
The protest is organized today, explains Nadia Salem, from the Free Algeria collective: “People work to organize themselves in professional companies, students, artists, lawyers and for what concerns me in the diaspora. Abroad, because the diaspora is active. Today, I in Paris, I communicate with Algerians all over the world, in the United States, in Canada, in Italy, in Belgium, everywhere we are connected today, we are organizing and we are preparing for the future. “
New resistance agent
The Hirak movement has moved from the streets to social media to put pressure on power, but everything that is written is monitored by the security services. Hirak militants condemn a police state in Algeria, which they say is not without resemblance to that of Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s previous regime, but even as legal action increases, “Hirakists” have found new ways to resist, say Karim Tabbou, Algerian opponent and former prisoner.
“Algerians have become very creative, sometimes we see people writing about Trump and in writing we understand that it is about Tebboune, it is not about Trump. For example, election fraud that existed in Algeria, people wrote on Facebook that the rigging of the election in the US, the person responsible is Mr. Chorfi. Mr Chorfi is the chairman of the electoral body in Algeria, “said Karim Tabbou.
Hirak’s activists continue to challenge the legitimacy of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. The president has been gone for almost two months, officially to be treated in Germany for Covid-19, and his government is also in a way on trial. It suffered a scorching setback last month in the constitutional referendum, which left voters unmanned.
For Karim Abderrahim, a researcher at the Institute foresight & Security in Europe (IPSE), the regime is stuck: “Algerians’ mistrust exists. It is a regime that only represents itself and that should therefore allow European leaders to understand that it is also important to enter into discussions with this society because when the upheavals, when the changes occur Again, Europe and France should not miss the train again. ”
Towards a reorganization of Hirak?
Kader Abderrahim is still very critical of French President Emmanuel Macron, who had supported the Algerian head of state in an interview with Jeune Afrique. The researcher therefore raises a need to participate in discussions with Hirak, but there is no new representative. Paralyzed by the bitter experience of the past, activists are reluctant to consider any structuring of Hirak.
For some, however, the movement must think of the way to go from rejecting the system to a real project. This is the opinion of Soufiane Djelali, leader of the opposition party Jil Jadid, who accepts the principle of a dialogue with the authorities: “Bouteflika’s regime as such is over, it has collapsed. You have dozens of senior officials facing justice. So now it’s about building a new political regime and not wanting to destroy what is left of the Algerian state, because unfortunately we really do not have living examples in Libya, Syria and Algeria. must enter a phase of destruction of state structures, but on the contrary to move forward in a peaceful and peaceful way. ”
After Covid-19, it remains to be seen how this refusal can be embodied in a real democratic transition for Algeria.
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