On the sixth anniversary of the popular movement, what has the “new Algeria” achieved for its citizens?
On this day six years ago, millions of Algerians took to the streets and squares across Algeria's cities and villages, rejecting the candidacy of the late President Abdelaziz Bouteflika for a fifth term—a man medically incapable of even caring for himself, let alone the interests of Algerians—as a slogan and a pretext for rejecting the military regime that had ruled them since independence and demanding its overthrow. The movement continued at full throttle for more than a year (officially ending in March 2020), before the COVID-19 crisis came as a mercy from heaven to Algeria's generals, helping them quell the movement. Although President Tebboune, appointed on December 19, 2019, decided to celebrate the anniversary of February 22 every year, this apparent celebration did little to conceal the generals' hostility to the movement, as evidenced by the continued detention of dozens of activists from the "celebrated" popular movement.
However, six years after this unprecedented event in Algerian history, and with all the desperate attempts by the pillars of the military regime to reinforce the impression that the movement has stopped because it “achieved its objectives,” and with the continued imprisonment of those they call “the gang,” which has practically been limited to the continued detention of Said Bouteflika and some of his close political and business associates, such as Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal (former prime ministers), and Ali Haddad, the most prominent businessman; in addition to more than forty generals associated with the late Chief of Staff, Ahmed Gaid Salah!! And with the regime’s media trumpeting the birth of a “new Algeria” that has transformed the country into a “striking force” on the African continent, it seems that the vast majority of Algerians are not convinced by this “merchandise” recycled between the Bouteflika/Gaid Salah and Tebboune/Chenegriha eras. This is clearly evident in countless events and signs that no discerning eye or living conscience can miss.
We begin with the most recent events, which carried messages that undermine all the propaganda of "modern Algeria." We mean what Algerians have been circulating about the long queues to obtain the new Fiat Doblo, with the majority of those waiting in line to register for the car. The situation even witnessed verbal and physical altercations and fights between those waiting! This scene negates any possibility of the ongoing six-year-old talk about Algeria becoming a car-manufacturing nation; it also dooms all policies adopted in this context to failure. The government has banned the import of all new car brands, restricting the ban to "manufacturing" companies in Algeria. This ban applies only to Fiat, which exclusively assembles the aforementioned model—not manufacturing it—and imports most of its components from Moroccan factories, further humiliating and failing. Thus, the citizens of "new Algeria," the oil-producing country with "no external debt" and the third-largest African economy, are unable to purchase a new car, as is the case in the poorest of the continent's 54 countries!
The recent sight of queues has become more common in the "New Republic" than it was in the "Old Republic," where Algerians are forced to stand in these lines to obtain most of their basic needs, from gas cylinders to sugar, milk, coffee, legumes, and other food items. Indeed, the latest scandal has involved the periodic discovery of workshops slaughtering and marketing donkeys, selling them to Algerians due to the high prices of various red meats.
As an additional irony in the "new military republic," early February, regulatory decrees were announced to implement President Tebboune's decision to increase the travel allowance for Algerians for the first time since 1997!! The allowance will rise from 100 euros to 750 euros!! For every Algerian traveler, it is disbursed once a year!! It is pointless to ask how an Algerian can travel with 100 euros, or even 750 euros, in his pocket? And how can this amount cover the costs of accommodation, transportation, food, and shopping?! On the other hand, it becomes clear that an Algerian cannot buy tickets online and pay with a bank card with this amount, because such cards are absent in the state of generals, especially for citizens. They are therefore forced to deal with their poor airlines, or travel agencies, which have ceased operation in most countries of the world!! For reference only, oil and gas-rich Algeria, which boasts that its central bank has over $65 billion in hard currency, will only save 19% less than what the “poor” Moroccan government and its central bank, which only has $35 billion in hard currency, will save by this decision, as it provides its citizens with the opportunity to travel with 4,000 euros, which they can use as paper money or as credit on their bank cards!! So what “new striking republic”, for God’s sake, are they talking about?!!
The third file that exposes the falsity of the slogans of the new republic relates to the continuation of forest fires annually, without the military regime, with all its billions, being able to purchase firefighting planes to protect its citizens from the tragedies of these fires that affect lives and property. This scandal is compounded by the concentration of these fires in the Kabylie region, which is demanding independence. This confirms the failure of the new republic to close this explosive file, by ending the manifestations of injustice and discrimination felt by the people of the region, which is most clearly manifested in the overwhelming collective boycott of all electoral consultations organized by the regime, whether local or parliamentary!! A miserable reality that adds to the suffering of Algerians from the absence of freedoms, which is manifested in the “prohibition and criminalization” of any kind of demonstration, even for Palestine, which the military regime claims to support “whether oppressor or oppressed”!! Not to mention the publishing laws that have led to dozens of journalists being thrown in prison, and the accountability of people for their posts on social media; Finally, the political parties law is intended to be passed despite the opposition of all Algerian parties, both pro-government and opposition (if there is an opposition!!).
The latest internal scandal in the new Algeria is the ongoing struggles among its generals over positions and spoils. Six years after General Said Chengriha assumed the reins of power, this man has monopolized the levers of state power, with a few exceptions related to President Tebboune, in exchange for his contribution to granting a second term to the president “in charge of propaganda in the new republic”!!
Moving to the external arena, to examine the achievements and failures of the “strike force” in Africa, we find that the reality is no different in its dismal state than what is happening internally. The generals of the new Algeria have severed all ties with their neighbor of blood and struggle, Morocco, under pretexts that would not even convince elementary school students. They have also succeeded in straining their relations with various neighboring countries, starting with Mauritania, passing through Mali and Niger, and ending with Libya and Tunisia. The latter, the generals argue, has succeeded in winning over its president, Kais Saied, even though they are certain to lose its parties, the rest of its citizens, and its vital forces! This diplomatic failure, which Tebboune’s three foreign ministers (Sabri Boukadoum, Ramtane Lamamra, and Ahmed Attaf) have failed to remedy, was also evident in the failure to join the BRICS group “due to Algeria’s lack of weight and prestige on the international stage,” in the words of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Another manifestation of failure is evident in the Algerian regime's first file since independence, which is its opposition to Morocco's territorial integrity and efforts to disrupt it by fabricating the conflict over the Sahara. The billions squandered by the generals, past and present, over five decades, did not help the "strike force" prevent many countries from withdrawing their recognition of the "Tindouf Republic" and its Polisario mercenaries. Meanwhile, Moroccan diplomacy succeeds, almost monthly, in winning over a new country to recognize Morocco's sovereignty over its Sahara. External defeats parallel the billions wasted by the failed Algerian regime, of which citizens only know "the billion from the BRICS Bank" and "the billion from the African Development Bank." This is due to the fact that the law in the "new republic" officially prohibits the nation's representatives from discussing or overseeing military affairs and foreign relations under the dome of parliament!!! This is a unique case on the global level, unparalleled even in the most tyrannical and backward "banana republics"!!!
In conclusion, the truest expression of the current situation in the “new Algeria”, in the absence of popular movement in the streets and squares, was clearly evident in the recent “virtual movement” on social media, which was represented by the hashtag “Manish Rada” (I am not satisfied), in which Algerians expressed with unparalleled courage dozens of reasons why they are not satisfied with their country’s authorities. This campaign was met by the “new” authorities with the same “old” repressive campaign, unconcerned with the shocking contradiction between their boasting of the slogans of the new Algeria and the reality of the old Algeria, which confirms that the “gang’s rule” has not ended, but rather the centers of power within it have only changed!!!
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