Rana Ga3 Malade Mental

In Bejaia, my home town, it was usual to hear in the morning that somebody had thrown himself off Place Gueydon. I have never seen it myself but it is said that people who go there very early in the morning can see the corpses…

The newspapers have also been reporting about suicides for many years now, either by strangulation or pills or a weapon (Algerian policemen happen to use their own weapons to commit suicide). Today, and since Tunisian El Bouazizi, more and more do set themselves on fire.

Milking the cow

Algeria seems to be back in the 80s, the period before the East Block collapsed. People cannot find milk anywhere and are queuing early in the morning to have a chance to buy one or two litres. This reminds me of when I was a kid and had to wake up at 5am to queue at the baker’s in order to buy some bread, or when we all queued to buy oil, sugar or coffee. The minister says we shouldn’t worry as there is no milk shortage at all (lovely 80s propaganda), that it’s just a matter of organisation which will be solved very soon (he didn’t add that fakhamatouh Bouteflika would be the solver).

Milk is not the only thing missing in Algeria nowadays.