Algeria Tests Path Toward Democracy in an Era of Authoritarianism

Having spent many years working in Algeria in the 70s and 80s i really wish them all good luck. My best friend, Ali a beriber, an exquisite mind with delicate subtle humor is 58 yo. He has seen 34 famiIy members killed or simply vanished in 44 years while still living on his land. Now he feels 'safer' in my hometown. Unfortunatly, i doubt Algerians will succeed at this other emancipation test. The country is plagued with the rotten idea instilled by decades of colonialism, followed by a tvery efficient kleptocracy and clan/tribal polarisation :''No you can't.''

Nobody can say where things will end up in Algeria, but it's important to recognize how fervently peaceful and civic-minded these demonstrations have been. All social classes, all ages, men and women, women in jeans next to women in hijabs, people chanting in Arabic, others holding signs in French, yet all feeling Algerian. Protesters yell nice things out to the police and give them sweets. Volunteers have cleaned up the streets after the crowds leave. On March 8, International Women's Day, Algerian men pushed baby strollers so their wives could participate fully in the march. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs in the streets for weeks on end yet barely a peep in the US news. When there's no ransacking, no rogue assaults on women, nobody dead, it's hard to get attention about the good news that's happened instead. Bottom line: The protesters are beyond reproach. Algerians are united. If the old revolutionary guard doesn't listen, it will be the first time since independence they so blatantly disregard the express will of the entire nation. I don't believe they have the stomach to repress harshly. But they'll slow down the process and drive everyone mad inching their way to some kind of change. Insiders will have time to regroup and consolidate advantages. Still, the country has moved beyond the terrible divisions of the 1990s. The youth are spreading enlightened ideas. Progress is happening before our eyes.

In this country, some on the right like to point out that we aren't a democracy, and shouldn't want to be. (They seem to mean, we are a republic, and to them, that is something other than a democracy. Specifically, they like the Electoral College, because to them, one person/one vote is a bad idea.) Over the years we have moved towards a stronger democracy, as previously disenfranchised groups have gained the right to vote, and as the population becomes more educated and interconnected. But there is significant push-back, as methods of voter suppression are put into practice, as the core values of democracy are questioned, and as old-fashioned demagoguery is amplified by modern technology. And other comments here show us that warnings of "threats to democracy" come from all across the political spectrum. The autocratic leader is seen as "defending democracy"...

One wonders if our great nation, the USA, isn't also slipping into the clutches of unelected authoritarians. In the last presidential election, the winning candidate promised a less interventionist foreign policy, recognizing that our recent and neverending efforts were a colossal waste of blood and treasure, and improved relations with our geopolitical foes, namely Russia. Since this very same candidate took office, however, an unelected "Deep State" has succeeded in deepening and prolonging our involvement in foreign quagmires, and ramping up hostilities with our geopolitcal foes to levels not seen since the Cold War.

Islam doesn't have much of a history of luck with Democracy. The last two quasi Democracies in the Muslim world, Turkey and Indonesia, have pretty much gone astray. Turkey is becoming an Islamic religious republic with Erdogan's blessing, and Indonesia is actively promoting discrimination. The only other one is Kazakhstan, with a President for life an remote resemblance to a democracy. So good luck to Algeria. If the Arab Spring has proven anything, it is that Islam has finish the Civil War it started many centuries ago.