The Moor Next Door: More On Riots, Protests In North Africa (Why They Are Historically Important)

[Turborama]

Algeria and Tunisia have seen wide scale youth rioting in the last three weeks. Algeria’s picked up particularly in the last three days as consumer prices have skyrocketed, especially for foods like sugar, cooking oil, flour and related items. Previous riots had erupted over the well known housing shortage east of the capital. This post consists of a series of random thoughts on the Algerian and Tunisian riots. That they have occurred so close to each other is probably more circumstantial — the Algerian riots are the result of poor policies and market troubles that happened to occur at the same time the Tunisian uprising has. But there is some inter-textuality between them in that Algerians have made appeals of solidarity with the Tunisians even if the bulk of what is happening in Algeria seems idiosyncratic. Furthermore, the regime response seems to bear the Tunisian upheaval in mind by trying to block news about them; additionally, that news on satellite television has covered the Tunisian event probably has had some impact in emboldening determined rioters. Newspapers in Algeria have focused on local events, though, rather than those in Jordan, Egypt or Tunisia especially in the last week, though they initially gave some prominent coverage to the Sidi Bouzid events.

Note that: 1) this post uses riots and protests somewhat interchangeably, which is likely inappropriate but is probably sufficient for now and; 2) while it is not comprehensive or totally coherent it is long and made up of various notes taken down over the last two weeks. Point one is about Tunisia; 2-3 about the background on which youth rioting takes place in Algeria; 4-5 look at a few Anglophone assessments of the Sidi Bouzid events and the aftermath in terms of both Tunisia and Algeria.

1. The riots and protests in Tunisia are out of the ordinary. The Tunisian protests, which began in the last two weeks of December have led to an uptick in conversation on the stability of Tunisia itself as well the broader Arab region. Like its two land neighbors, Algeria and Libya, Tunisia is on the cusp of a political transition. Egypt faces well known succession questions as well. Tunisia (and perhaps Libya) stands out in that cluster of countries for not having a well known tendency for public protest. The old adage goes that Tunisians, like Egyptians, are generally passive townspeople not drawn to ruckus. While they may protest over specific indignities, they are generally content to be managed from the top down and their history until recently was one of an easy-going population ruled by outsiders: Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Turks and Frenchmen. And yet the Tunisians struggled to remove the French and now, many of them hope, they are on their way to removing Zine el-Abdine Ben Ali after 22 years of his grace.This stereotype is being challenged by the events of the last three weeks and the various limited protests taking place in the last few years. It remains unclear whether the uprisings inspired by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazzi at Sidi Bouzid represent something larger than buckshot anger among unemployed youth. In either case the Tunisian riots are important because they break a long-standing trend away from public protest in Tunisia, where security services have succeeded in demoralizing, repressing and controlling dissent.

2. Protests are common in Algeria. Young men take to the streets in rural and semi-rural communities so frequently that these occurrences have become banal for the major newspapers. In the city slums they occur at a larger scale and in the last two years have become more and more focused on particular social grievances such as the housing shortage (and the quality of public housing), police brutality, unemployment, police brutality and the cost of living.

Much more (a long and very insightful read which also includes some video clips): http://themoornextdoor.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/more-on-riots-protests-in-north-africa-notes/

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