On Missed Opportunities… Again

Two years ago, I wrote a post about the 8 May 1945 massacres perpetrated by the French in Algeria. Unlike the traditional trend in Algeria, my post wasn’t just about the past and a way to say how ugly the coloniser was and how brave we were. My post intended to look into the past in order to improve our present and create a better future.

My previous post needs an update.

The so-called “Arab Spring” was (I use the past tense already) yet another missed opportunity. Riots and protests in Algeria started way before the uprising in Tunisia and they are still occurring very regularly. There were already many suicides among Algerian youths and, since Bouazizi, more and more of these youths do set themselves on fire. But so far the Algerian people hasn’t decided to revolt for real.

And this fact should have pushed the Algerian rulers to consider the situation seriously and

Are you mute (or dumb)? Worry not, I’ll speak for you!

The riots which are taking place in Algeria give the opportunity for many people to speak. These people are taking advantage of the non-organisation of the rioters, their young age, their ignorance and of the looting and criminal acts which go with them to speak on their behalf and give the reasons and explanations meeting their own agenda.

Unlike the Tunisians, the Algerian rioters do not represent all the socioprofessional categories. Most of them are unemployed young men, many are teenagers who should be in school, and some are there just to steal and destroy. They have no clear message and they don’t hold placards to tell the world what they want. I am not even sure they would agree on a common message, if they have one that is. We see therefore men and women on the ENTV, the foreign TV channels and on the internet who attempt to explain the rioters’ actions, and of course to link them with their own desires.