Algeria: The Pot Boils As Geberation Z Protestors Prepare To Ignite

The Pot Boils: As Gen Z Protests Ignite Around the World, Some Say Repressive Algeria Is Next Algeria Youth-led protest movements using social media to organize against poor government services, elite corruption, and other grievances are springing up around the globe. The list is long – and it’s growing: Nepal, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Mongolia, and Indonesia in Asia, Madagascar, Morocco, and Kenya in Africa, Peru and Paraguay in South America, and Serbia in Europe. While the triggers vary, what unites these spontaneous and often decentralized movements are the age of their leaders – mostly calling themselves Gen Z after the generation born between 1997 and 2012 – and their use of symbols such as pirate flags inspired by the Japanese manga comic, One Piece, to define themselves as they take over city streets and squares. They have been having some successes, too: In Nepal and now Madagascar, they have toppled governments within weeks or even days. Now, some wonder, is it Algeria’s turn? “Algeria appears to be the next flashpoint,” wrote the Africa Report. Algeria, some believe, is an unlikely country to host such a movement: Its shadowy “junta” government led by an elected president in elections many say were fraudulent is among the most repressive in the world. However, for the past few months, calls to demonstrate have been circulating on Algerian social media. The movement calls itself #Gen Z 213 – an echo of Morocco’s protest movement and a reference to Algeria’s international dialing code – and is demanding via TikTok and Facebook better public services, a crackdown on elite corruption, political pluralism, the lifting of restrictions on civil liberties such as free expression, and the release of political prisoners. “Freedom for Algeria,” “social justice now,” and “free our homeland from the gang,” read some of these posts. Some depicted Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune as a witch, while others displayed images of individuals jailed by the government for their posts or protesting. But unlike in most countries where the protests have erupted, the Algerian government doesn’t even attempt to pretend it tries to serve its public, analysts say. Instead, it manages a highly repressive regime that has for years restricted free expression and muzzled its media. It has escalated its ongoing crackdown on expression this year. Still, the burgeoning online protest movement has the authorities spooked, wrote French-language newspaper Jeune Afrique. “Without waiting to gauge the movement’s power, the authorities flexed their muscles and put security forces on a war footing, while blaming an ‘international conspiracy’ by Morocco…to export Moroccan problems (such as protests) to Algeria,” it said. The pro-government Algeria Press Service also spoke about a “desperate manipulation” and interference by Morocco – Algeria and Morocco have long been at odds – adding that such “manipulation” won’t be effective because Algeria remains a “solid social state” offering its youth “broad prospects for the future.” “Far from being a superficial model, the Algerian welfare state constitutes a concrete bulwark against marginalization and poverty, and a guarantee of national cohesion,” the state agency wrote. However, commentators say that Algeria faces severe economic challenges: unemployment among those under 24 exceeds 30 percent, while inflation and rising living costs have eroded purchasing power over the past few years. As a result, young Algerians attempt to migrate to Europe by the thousands. And this migration has been rising: European border-control agency Frontex recorded a 22 percent year-on-year increase in attempted migrations by Algerians via the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year. Algerians are now the leading nationality to emigrate to Spain by sea, seven times more numerous than Moroccans, usually the top country in recent years. “Relying on a declining oil and gas income, the regime has left the younger generation, often described as ‘sacrificed,’ increasingly determined to take up the mantle of protest,” wrote the Agence de Presse Africaine. Still, what is underlying Algerian authorities’ nervousness is the memory of the Hirak movement, which staged huge protests for months starting in 2019 and ousted the country’s longtime dictator, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, before being stamped out by government crackdowns and also the Covid-19 pandemic. Also, the government saw the ouster of President Bashar Assad in Syria in December as a warning, say analysts. Meanwhile, there have been power struggles within the Algerian government, which burst into view this fall after the escape of Maj. Gen. Abdelkader Haddad: Known as “the devil,” the feared former head of the General Directorate of Internal Security allegedly fled to Spain after he fell from grace and was arrested for undisclosed reasons. That escape has set off purges within the military, wrote French-language publication Sahel Intelligence. As a result, the government has stepped up its arrests of individuals for posting comments on social media complaining about the country’s leadership, and it has refused permits for protests such as those organized in August by political parties in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Algeria has long been a leading supporter of Palestinians. “Since the Hirak protest movement…the Algerian authorities have weaponized the criminal justice system to clamp down on peaceful dissent, arbitrarily arresting and prosecuting hundreds of activists, human rights defenders, protesters, and journalists for exercising their rights to peaceful assembly, association and expression, notably on social media, leading to a steady erosion of human rights in the country,” wrote Amnesty International recently, detailing cases of those imprisoned for social media posts this year. Even so, the escalating crackdown is evidence of worry, and of things to come, say commentators. “All the ingredients are there for things to get going again – in fact, the hashtag #Manich radi (I am not satisfied) has been trending on social media in recent weeks (with) Algerians denouncing repression, economic and social problems…They are demanding peaceful change,” said Adel Boucherguine of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, which was dissolved by the government in 2022, but resurrected in exile in France, in an interview with France’s L’Express newspaper. “…the desire to turn the page on authoritarianism and inaction is shared by a large proportion of Algerians,” he added. “The disenchantment between the governed and those who govern has never been greater, and the anger is there, silent and unpredictable.”