In the biginning, the promess of a terrible fire…

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It has been a year since the end of the world was approaching. Everywhere I would go, I would hear it. Algeria is undergoing a political deadlock, and it would not last until things exploded. In public television, official propaganda of algerian president Bouteflika started broadcasting documentaries telling horrors of Algerian civil war in the 90’s. A way of warning against any sort of opposition or rebellion that would supposedly degenerate into violence. From people’s side, it is more a “syrian scenario” that Algerians fear. They, who have known an early “spring” (Algerian civil war in the 90’s and Black Spring in 2001). So, next time fire ?

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It has been then a year since I was preparing myself. So, at that day, when I saw these huge crowds in the streets, chanting slogans, that we, before, dreamed of saying outloud, I thought to myself: “here we are, the “prophecy” is happening.” But instead of the chaos we were promised, I only saw joy and determination. Protests in fact, turned out to be very peaceful. However, the apprehension I had, didn’t leave me. The devastating fire, the ultimate threat that I’ve been waiting for could occur at any moment. What if it goes worse ?

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Months later, the protests, alternatively tolerated or repressed, turned to a revolution and established in a long term. But tension persists, and even the most “joyful” revolution (2019 Algerian protests have been called “Smile Revolution”) is never that serene. Not far from us, Sudanese Revolution, that started almost at the same time, sinked into chaos. So, how to carry on? For me, there might be only one way. It is to remember that risk in uprising is always a fatality. But we can always continue to build, and just have a strong belief that next time…there will be no fire!

 

*Fire next time is the title of an essay of James Baldwin in 1963, it is inspired by a slave spiritual that tells the story of God warning Moses that there could be a worse punishment for humans than the floods, namely fire. The phrase has become significant for an “undeniable threat”.

 

Algerian uprising in 2019

Massively rejected by a popular uprising since Februray, 22th, Algerian ex-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika was pushed to resignation. He leaves a country devastated by corruption, and a fragmented opposition. Since then, the army has been taking control over state institutions and multiplying random arrests and detention. Meanwhile, Algerians keep the mobilization every Friday for a radical change of the “system”.