The riots that gripped Algeria’s capital last week and spontaneously spread to most major cities across the country have started to die down, in their wake leaving five dead, hundreds injured, and a slew of torched government buildings and businesses. Protests broke out after the announcement of a 30 percent increase in food stuffs, but quickly unleashed the bottled up wellspring of frustration and desperation lived daily by the country’s jobless youth. Although riots are not new to Algeria, there are several points worth noting about this latest wave of protests.
Algeria is not Tunisia: These riots are not a simple extension of pent up angst that blew over the mountain from Algeria’s eastern neighbor. Tunisia’s uprising has been going on for a month now and continues to escalate, with a curfew just announced for Tunis. The extent of bloodshed in Tunisia is commensurate with the Ben Ali regime’s insecurity amidst the first real challenge to his rule in the past 20 years. Nobody knows for sure what next week will hold for Tunis. Authorities in Algeria, by contrast, have exercised restraint, recognizing that these riots lack a broad constituency and do not threaten the regime.
Rioting is the only game in town: Algeria’s civilian government, together with Le Pouvoir—those generals who still call many of the shots—have gutted most opposition groups to the point where there is no association, political party or union that can claim to speak for the people. Even nominal opposition politicians have failed to capitalize on these protests to demand well deserved concessions from the government, instead joining in condemning the use of violence. Unlike in Tunisia, Algerians do not even have the benefit of support from a unified trade union. The complete failure of government programs to extend to those citizens not born into the right family has left direct confrontation the only recourse. Throwing stones and burning buildings is the only voice of Algeria’s youngest polity.
No easy solution: In Tunisian President Ben Ali’s most recent speech in response to his country’s riots, he announced promises to create 300,000 new jobs by 2012. Algeria’s government has largely remained silent through all of this, but when it does act, proclamations are not enough. Everyone agrees that, like its neighbor, Algeria needs to create more jobs for recent graduates, but creative imagination hasn’t been its demise. Rather, the failure to follow through on government initiatives has been one of the main drivers for disillusionment and political apathy. A recent plan to allocate public housing has been riddled with corruption, alienating everyday citizens and distilling deep reservations about the state’s ability to deliver at all—ever.
It’s one thing to make promises; it’s another to make them happen. Algeria, a country blessed with such a wealth of natural resources, is running out of excuses for its own people.
Published Date: January 12, 2011