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Three weeks after the start of the mbad political demonstrations, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika gave in, withdrawing his bid for a fifth term. The announcement did not come from Bouteflika himself, the 82-year-old has barely been seen in public since he suffered a stroke six years ago and left him in a Wheelchair.
For now, the invisible leader of Algeria is still in office and his indefinite postponement of the elections next month suggests that he may not be visiting soon. Algerian social media has been occupied by protesters, who lead the street movement and cover it by themselves.
Citizens have learned not to rely on mainstream media, especially broadcasters. They have long been controlled by the state and critics with regard to the sick leader were rare.
But things change. Dissenting voices, long banned from the airwaves, are heard again. Government-backed media reporters have criticized the journalism of their own channels.
When the demonstrations began for the first time, the public news channels Cbad Algerie and ENTV dug their heads in the sand, ignoring them. Four days after protests began in the capital on February 26, reporters stood up to one of their own for not obeying orders, preventing them from doing their job.
"It was an important moment in this day of ordinary journalists, saying in essence: it is not acceptable, and we have been able to act accordingly," said James McDougall, author of A History of Algeria.
"Whereas previously this step may not have been achieved, and the extent to which civil society actually mobilized to support the movement surprised the regime." And that answer, by trying just ignore the news, just would not fly. "
Every war is a casualty and the battle for truth in Algeria has produced some.
Merouane Lounnas spent 12 years running a show on the public radio channel RAI. His show was canceled last week because he did not choose his words with enough care. And Lounnas did not even speak directly about demonstrations or politics. His crime was to speak philosophically and allegorically.
"Some people in the public media do not understand the ongoing transformation in Algerian society and always behave with a control mentality, an outdated mentality.The demonstrations conducted by people have proved that this mentality belonged to the past," said Lounnas.
Having already experienced such an uprising, having then seen their neighbors do the same, Algerians have less illusions than most. They know that what has not changed is that President Bouteflika is always present. The "power", or powers in place, that have so long supported the president are still there. Algerians also know that their media, which show signs of life, could return to old habits at any time.
Source: Al Jazeera
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