Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s announcements from Thursday, February 18 are they hopeful or is it a smokescreen?
The ads are pretty spectacular. I think one of the first goals is to calm the dissent as the anniversary of the Hirak approaches. However, this attempt by the regime will not prevent Algerians from taking to the streets. No one is fooled.
In the contemporary history of Algeria, reform of political liberalization is not equivalent to democratization. These are measures that act as a safety valve to try to lower the pressure and maintain the speed.
Does the same apply to constitutional reform, despite the promise to strengthen the powers of Parliament?
The political regime is seeking some sort of popular assent. However, the reform of the Constitution was passed with a very low turnout, around 23%. In addition, sometimes certain points of a Constitution are not implemented or are modified afterwards. Algeria has already had the limitation of two presidential terms. That did not prevent Bouteflika from making four. As such, it is not a guarantee of democracy.
Have we witnessed an increase in repression since the start of the pandemic?
There have been prisoners of conscience since the beginning of the movement. But since the end of the demonstrations for health reasons, the repression is done much more easily.
Conversely, at the time of the outbreak of Hirak, the lack of repression surprised. Apart from Algiers, there were very few police officers in the street. This is explained by the surprise effect of the massive nature of the mobilization.
Now, we have a regime that seeks to legitimize itself. When you have women, children, the elderly and a cry of the Hirak that was Silmiya (peaceful in Arabic), it defuses the possibility of repression. It would have been very unpopular to make massive use of violence.
The repression escalated from the resignation of Bouteflika, until December 2019, then the day after the election of Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Isn’t structuring essential to the survival of the Hirak?
I also ask myself the question. But when is the right time? Many people criticize the Hirak for not being structured, but there are reasons for this. In a country where there has been so much capture of legitimacy, it is not easy to trust political leaders. As for the possibility of presenting candidates, this would, for some activists, give credibility to the process when the election is already half lost.
For now, the regime has adapted to this reality of popular and massive protest. Many strategies are implemented to regain control. Yesterday’s speech is one of them. Nevertheless, an undeniable achievement of this Hirak is a recovery of public space and the ability to mobilize. In parallel, demonstrations, in many Algerian cities, public debates were organized. At the time of the popular uprisings that hit the region in 2011, we heard that Algerians were politically apathetic. The Hirak denied it.
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