by Shelagh Smith During 2020 and the start of the coronavirus pandemic, repression of Hirak activists, human rights activists and especially journalists has increased. Over 90 people are currently in prison in Algeria for acts related to the Hirak. On 15 September an appeal court in Algiers sentenced journalist Khaled Drareni to a two-year prison…
The Algerian regime hoped that a referendum on constitutional changes would draw a line under two years of mass mobilisations from below, writes Shelagh Smith, but the low turnout and continuing strikes tells a different story. November 1 is the celebration of the start of the Algerian war for independence from the French in 1954.…
By Shelagh Smith The strike of the workers of Numilog in Bejaia, Kabylia, is playing an important role in building confidence and solidarity in the Algerian workers movement. Their conflict with the transport and logistics firm, part of the huge Cevital group, began in July when three workers were sacked for setting up a trade…
By Shelagh Smith On 15 September an appeal court in Algiers sentenced journalist Khaled Drareni to a two-year prison sentence over his coverage of the Hirak protest movement. Two activists, Samir Benlarbi and Slimane Hamitouche, were each sentenced to a year in prison, eight months of which were suspended, in the same sham trial. The…
By Shelagh Smith An Algerian court on August 10 sentenced journalist Khaled Drareni to three years in jail. Drareni was charged with “inciting an unarmed gathering” and “endangering national unity” based on his Facebook posts. He had been detained since March awaiting trial. This harsh verdict is being widely condemned by Algerian and international human…
by Shelagh Smith This is an article from the current issue of Middle East Solidarity magazine – help us continue our work by donating £2 for a digital copy online Seventeen months after the protest movement, or Hirak, exploded onto the streets of Algeria in February 2019, there has been no fundamental change to the…
For the past year, a massive popular movement has repeatedly shaken Algeria. Shelagh Smith draws up a balance sheet. This is an article from the current issue of Middle East Solidarity magazine – help us continue our work by donating £2 for a digital copy online On 12 December 2019 a new president was declared…
In the Algerian province of Béjaia , grassroots democracy reached new heights in the four-day general strike in the run-up to the presidential election on 12 December. Middle East Solidarity spoke to university lecturer Kamel Aissat, an activist with the socialist PST party, about how organisation from below delivered an almost total shutdown of the…
On 12 December Algerians went to the polls to elect a new president – or did they? Millions boycotted the election, which they saw as illegitimate. Since February 2019, a huge protest movement has developed against the corrupt regime. Weekly demonstrations involving millions across the country keep demanding system change, a state based on the…
By Sheila Amrouche From Middle East Solidarity magazine, issue 12. Order a print copy or download as a pdf here The rising repression in Algeria has sparked an international campaign in defence of political prisoners. Trade unionists, MPs and activists in Spain, France, Portugal, Peru, Brazil, South Africa and Germany gathered outside Algerian embassies in…
