Intifada in Algeria?

[freepalestine]

fpQkHcIJpFg

[FreeFocus]

Is there any potential for leftist radicals to build alternatives? There seems to be a lot of anger, and the protesters are already pretty militant it appears.

[freepalestine]

Algerian riots resume over food prices

Police deployed around mosques and football matches suspended amid protests over food prices and unemployment





Reuters
guardian.co.uk (http://www.guardian.co.uk/), Friday 7 January 2011 19.07 GMT
Article history (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/07/algeria-riots-food-prices#history-link-box)


http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/1/7/1294426801354/Algeria-food-riots-007.jpg
Protesters throw stones in the Belcour district of Algiers. Photograph: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images

Fresh rioting broke out in Algiers today as police were deployed around mosques and football matches were suspended after protests over food prices and unemployment.
Riot police armed with teargas and batons maintained a strong presence around the Algerian capital's main mosques. In the popular Belcourt district, rioting resumed after Friday prayers. Young protesters pelted police with stones and blocked access to the area.
The official APS news agency said protesters ransacked government buildings, bank branches and post offices in several eastern cities overnight, including Constantine, Jijel, Setif and Bouira. In Ras el Oued this morning, buildings belonging to the state-run gas utility Sonelgaz, the council and the tax authority were seriously damaged along with several schools, APS reported.
Earlier this week hundreds of youths clashed with police in several cities and ransacked stores in the capital. Police used teargas to disperse youths in the Algiers neighbourhood of Bab el-Oued, where the most violent protests occurred.
The Algerian Football Federation said today's league fixtures would be postponed to prevent the organisation of rallies, which the country has banned under an emergency law in force since 1992.
The cost of flour and salad oil has doubled in recent months, reaching record highs. A kilogram of sugar, which a few months ago cost 70 dinars, is now 150 dinars (£1.28). Unemployment stands at about 10% percent, the government says; independent organisations put it closer to 25%. Official data put inflation at 4.2% in November.
With oil prices soaring, Algeria (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/algeria) can afford to spend more on more on subsidies to placate the rioters. Shortly after the first riots broke out on Wednesday, the trade minister, Mustapha Benbada, said prices of sugar and edible oil would be reduced "in the coming days".http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/07/algeria-riots-food-prices

[Kléber]

Is there any potential for leftist radicals to build alternatives? There seems to be a lot of anger, and the protesters are already pretty militant it appears.
Definitely. The Workers' Party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_Hanoune) led by Louisa Hanoune (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisa_Hanoune) has been growing steadily over the years. It is the strongest revolutionary socialist organization in Algeria and perhaps the largest non-Pabloite Trotskyist party in the world.

[Blackscare]

Interesting stuff going on in Algeria as of late, I just got off work and need to take a nap before I do some serious discussion here regarding this, but I'd just like to say one thing.


Is it really necessary to call this an intifada? I mean, I know it essentially just means uprising, but there's a pretty clear connection with this word and 'the' Intifadas in Palestine.

"The" Intifadas in Palestine are not purely economic in nature (although largely) and are facets of what is generally a pretty special set of circumstances. I think that there are better, more politically descriptive words to be using for this situation, considering this is out-and-out economic riot/rebellion of a people against it's own government, not a racist occupying force (well, there's Imperialism, of course, but you catch my drift).



Really this is just nitpicking at it's worst, I know, but I just figured I'd say that. Sorry :D

[Blackscare]

I realize that the word itself is not specific, but aside from technical meaning there are of course certain connotations that words have, which need to be properly understood so as to most effectively communicate the message of the struggle with average people.


Anyways, back to the actual story. I'd be interested to hear more news stories regarding this as it unfolds, lets use this thread to aggregate these stories together, I'll try to find some stuff regarding Algeria later and share it here. Depending on how it all unfolds, maybe I'll make a sticky for the duration of the upheaval if it seems prudent.

[freepalestine]

Algeria unrest turns deadly

AlJazeera.net


http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=8algeria20111815204618833_20.jpg (http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=8algeria20111815204618833_20.jpg)
Two people confirmed killed and hundreds injured as ministers meet to discuss ways of halting crisis.

January 8, 2011

Two people have been killed and hundreds injured in continuing protests in Algeria, as the government meets to discuss ways of halting the rising food costs and unemployment that have sparked the unrest.
At least 300 of the 400 people injured in the riots were police officers, Dahou Oul Kablia , Algeria's interior minister, said on national radio on Saturday.
One of the two men killed was named as 18-year-old Azzedine Lebza. He was shot dead in Ain Lahdjel in the M'Sila region, 300km from Algiers, the capital.

"He died in an attempt to break into a police station," Kablia said, confirming the incident reported earlier by the Arab-language daily El Khabar.
A second demonstrator was killed on Friday in Bou Smail, a small town 50km west of Algiers, he said.
"He was picked up in the street, wounded. A pathologist said he had died from wounds to the head, but the cause of death has not yet been established."
A medical official said earlier that the man, identified in media reports as 32-year-old Akriche Abdelfattah, had been hit in the face by a tear gas canister.

Growing unrest
Algeria has seen three days of unrest over the rising costs of living and unemployment, which government figures show standing at about 10 per cent, but which independent organisations put closer to 25 per cent.
Algiers, which has seen protests in recent days, was calmer on Saturday, but witnesses reported fresh protests in the Kabylie region.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reports
on the violence in Algeria
Ministers were due to meet to discuss measures to limit the profit margins traders can charge for staple foods.
Mustapha Benbada, Algeria's trade minister, has said urgent measures will be taken to alleviate pressure on the population.
"From the start of next week, the situation will get better," Benbada was quoted as saying by state radio.
The government is expected to impose fixed profit margins on widely-consumed goods including edible oil and sugar.
But Dalila Hanache, an Algerian journalist with the news website Echorouk, said that the protests went beyond just rising prices.
"I hear young people in the neighbourhood who say these clashes and protests are not the result of high food prices only, they think there are lots of problems in this country - educational, problems in the health sectors, in all sectors of government," she told Al Jazeera.
Mohamed Ben Madani, editor of The Maghreb Review, said the situation was "out of control" and that the protests could continue for weeks.
"The government simply ignored the people since they were elected to office and basically now they [the people] have come out into the streets asking the authorities to give them jobs and to share the wealth of the nation," he told Al Jazeera, from London.
"I'm afraid the authorities will more [likely] crack down on those who are protesting against them rather than giving them what they are asking for. The minister this afternoon labelled them as 'criminals'."
'Probably a revolution'
Mohamed Zitout, a former Algerian diplomat, told Al Jazeera: "It is a revolt, and probably a revolution, of an oppressed people who have, for 50 years, been waiting for housing, employment, and a proper and decent life in a very rich country.
"But unfortunately it is ruled by a very rich elite that does not care about what is happening in the country - because they did not give people what they want, even though the government has the means to do so, the people are now revolting."
Young people clashed with police in Algiers and several other towns across the country on Friday despite appeals for calm from imams.
In Annaba, 600km west of the capital, rioting broke out after Friday prayers in a poor neighbourhood of the city and continued late into the night. A local government office was ransacked, according to witnesses.
Protesters also cut down electricity poles during the night, cutting off power to the working class suburb of Auzas.
In Tizi Ouzou, the capital of the eastern Kabylie region, residents said rioting had spread from the city centre to the outskirts, and demonstrators burning tyres blocked the main road to Algiers.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria's president, who is serving his third term, has not made any public comment on the protests.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/201118135821794812.html)



:: Article nr. 73707 sent on 08-jan-2011 18:52 ECT


www.uruknet.info?p=73707 (http://www.uruknet.info?p=73707)

[Devrim]

Is it really necessary to call this an intifada? I mean, I know it essentially just means uprising, but there's a pretty clear connection with this word and 'the' Intifadas in Palestine.

"The" Intifadas in Palestine are not purely economic in nature (although largely) and are facets of what is generally a pretty special set of circumstances. I think that there are better, more politically descriptive words to be using for this situation, considering this is out-and-out economic riot/rebellion of a people against it's own government, not a racist occupying force (well, there's Imperialism, of course, but you catch my drift).

Really this is just nitpicking at it's worst, I know, but I just figured I'd say that. Sorry :D


I realize that the word itself is not specific, but aside from technical meaning there are of course certain connotations that words have, which need to be properly understood so as to most effectively communicate the message of the struggle with average people.

The word has been used about struggles in various countries throughout the Arab world and beyond before. I remember reading an article in a Lebanese paper years after the events talking about the 'Poll Tax Intifada' about England. It might have a specific meaning to you, but to Arabic speakers, it doesn't.

Devrim

[Tifosi]

Is there any solidarity actions going on in France? I'm thinking about Marseille here, seeing that the city has a large North African population.

Thanks:)

[Blackscare]

The word has been used about struggles in various countries throughout the Arab world and beyond before. I remember reading an article in a Lebanese paper years after the events talking about the 'Poll Tax Intifada' about England. It might have a specific meaning to you, but to Arabic speakers, it doesn't.

Devrim


Fair enough, admittedly I'm looking at things from a western perspective.

[freepalestine]

Algeria cuts food costs amid unrest Duties on sugar and cooking oil lowered in attempt to end violent protests that have left at least three people dead.

Last Modified: 08 Jan 2011 21:24 GMT



http://www.revleft.com/mritems/Images/2011/1/8/20111820359848811_20.jpgAnalysts say the unrest of also linked to a general disconent with the government in Algiers [AFP]The Algerian government has said it will cut taxes and import duties on some staple foods, amid a series of deadly riots that have killed at least three people.

According to state media, a meeting of ministers in the capital Algiers agreed on Saturday to measures which would reduce the price of sugar and cooking oil by 41 per cent.

"Nothing can cast doubt on the resolute will of the state, under the direction of the president of the republic, to intervene whenever necessary to preserve the purchasing power of citizens in the face of any price increase," a government statement said.

Algeria has seen three days of unrest over the rising costs of living and unemployment, which government figures show standing at about 10 per cent, but which independent organisations put closer to 25 per cent

Hundreds were also injured, and at least 300 of the 400 people injured in the riots were police officers, Dahou Oul Kablia, Algeria's interior minister, said on national radio on Saturday.
Protesters killed

One of the three people killed was named as 18-year-old Azzedine Lebza. He was shot dead in Ain Lahdjel in the M'Sila region, 300km from Algiers, the capital.

"He died in an attempt to break into a police station," Kablia said.
A second demonstrator was killed on Friday in Bou Smail, a small town 50km west of Algiers, he said.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reports
on the violence in Algeria
"He was picked up in the street, wounded. A pathologist said he had died from wounds to the head, but the cause of death has not yet been established."

A medical official said earlier that the man, identified in media reports as 32-year-old Akriche Abdelfattah, had been hit in the face by a tear gas canister.
The third body was found in a hotel burned down by rioters, the interior minister said.

Algiers, which has seen protests in recent days, was calmer on Saturday, but witnesses reported fresh protests in the Kabylie region.
Mustapha Benbada, Algeria's trade minister, has said urgent measures will be taken to alleviate pressure on the population.
"From the start of next week, the situation will get better," Benbada was quoted as saying by state radio.
But Dalila Hanache, an Algerian journalist with the news website Echorouk, said that the protests went beyond just rising prices.
"I hear young people in the neighbourhood who say these clashes and protests are not the result of high food prices only, they think there are lots of problems in this country - educational, problems in the health sectors, in all sectors of government," she told Al Jazeera.

'Out of control'
Mohamed Ben Madani, editor of The Maghreb Review, said the situation was "out of control" and that the protests could continue for weeks.
"The government simply ignored the people since they were elected to office and basically now they [the people] have come out into the streets asking the authorities to give them jobs and to share the wealth of the nation," he told Al Jazeera, from London.
"I'm afraid the authorities will more [likely] crack down on those who are protesting against them rather than giving them what they are asking for. The minister this afternoon labelled them as 'criminals'."
Mohamed Zitout, a former Algerian diplomat, told Al Jazeera: "It is a revolt, and probably a revolution, of an oppressed people who have, for 50 years, been waiting for housing, employment, and a proper and decent life in a very rich country.
"But unfortunately it is ruled by a very rich elite that does not care about what is happening in the country - because they did not give people what they want, even though the government has the means to do so, the people are now revolting."
Young people clashed with police in Algiers and several other towns across the country on Friday despite appeals for calm from imams.
In Annaba, 600km west of the capital, rioting broke out after Friday prayers in a poor neighbourhood of the city and continued late into the night. A local government office was ransacked, according to witnesses.
Protesters also cut down electricity poles during the night, cutting off power to the working class suburb of Auzas.
In Tizi Ouzou, the capital of the eastern Kabylie region, residents said rioting had spread from the city centre to the outskirts, and demonstrators burning tyres blocked the main road to Algiers.
Algeria cuts food costs amid unrest Duties on sugar and cooking oil lowered in attempt to end violent protests that have left at least three people dead.

Last Modified: 08 Jan 2011 21:24 GMT

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http://www.revleft.com/mritems/Images/2011/1/8/20111820359848811_20.jpgAnalysts say the unrest of also linked to a general disconent with the government in Algiers [AFP]The Algerian government has said it will cut taxes and import duties on some staple foods, amid a series of deadly riots that have killed at least three people.

According to state media, a meeting of ministers in the capital Algiers agreed on Saturday to measures which would reduce the price of sugar and cooking oil by 41 per cent.

"Nothing can cast doubt on the resolute will of the state, under the direction of the president of the republic, to intervene whenever necessary to preserve the purchasing power of citizens in the face of any price increase," a government statement said.

Algeria has seen three days of unrest over the rising costs of living and unemployment, which government figures show standing at about 10 per cent, but which independent organisations put closer to 25 per cent

Hundreds were also injured, and at least 300 of the 400 people injured in the riots were police officers, Dahou Oul Kablia, Algeria's interior minister, said on national radio on Saturday.
Protesters killed

One of the three people killed was named as 18-year-old Azzedine Lebza. He was shot dead in Ain Lahdjel in the M'Sila region, 300km from Algiers, the capital.

"He died in an attempt to break into a police station," Kablia said.
A second demonstrator was killed on Friday in Bou Smail, a small town 50km west of Algiers, he said.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reports
on the violence in Algeria
"He was picked up in the street, wounded. A pathologist said he had died from wounds to the head, but the cause of death has not yet been established."

A medical official said earlier that the man, identified in media reports as 32-year-old Akriche Abdelfattah, had been hit in the face by a tear gas canister.
The third body was found in a hotel burned down by rioters, the interior minister said.

Algiers, which has seen protests in recent days, was calmer on Saturday, but witnesses reported fresh protests in the Kabylie region.
Mustapha Benbada, Algeria's trade minister, has said urgent measures will be taken to alleviate pressure on the population.
"From the start of next week, the situation will get better," Benbada was quoted as saying by state radio.
But Dalila Hanache, an Algerian journalist with the news website Echorouk, said that the protests went beyond just rising prices.
"I hear young people in the neighbourhood who say these clashes and protests are not the result of high food prices only, they think there are lots of problems in this country - educational, problems in the health sectors, in all sectors of government," she told Al Jazeera.

'Out of control'
Mohamed Ben Madani, editor of The Maghreb Review, said the situation was "out of control" and that the protests could continue for weeks.
"The government simply ignored the people since they were elected to office and basically now they [the people] have come out into the streets asking the authorities to give them jobs and to share the wealth of the nation," he told Al Jazeera, from London.
"I'm afraid the authorities will more [likely] crack down on those who are protesting against them rather than giving them what they are asking for. The minister this afternoon labelled them as 'criminals'."
Mohamed Zitout, a former Algerian diplomat, told Al Jazeera: "It is a revolt, and probably a revolution, of an oppressed people who have, for 50 years, been waiting for housing, employment, and a proper and decent life in a very rich country.
"But unfortunately it is ruled by a very rich elite that does not care about what is happening in the country - because they did not give people what they want, even though the government has the means to do so, the people are now revolting."
Young people clashed with police in Algiers and several other towns across the country on Friday despite appeals for calm from imams.
In Annaba, 600km west of the capital, rioting broke out after Friday prayers in a poor neighbourhood of the city and continued late into the night. A local government office was ransacked, according to witnesses.
Protesters also cut down electricity poles during the night, cutting off power to the working class suburb of Auzas.
In Tizi Ouzou, the capital of the eastern Kabylie region, residents said rioting had spread from the city centre to the outskirts, and demonstrators burning tyres blocked the main road to Algiers.
fpQkHcIJpFg


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/20111820132025240.html

[Kléber]

Algeria -- Urgent Communiqué by the Workers Party (PT)
Written by The Organizer
Monday, 10 January 2011

January 6, 2011

The Secretariat of the Political Bureau of the Workers Party (PT) met today and put aside all other matters to discuss the extension of the riots of outraged youth against the soaring prices that particularly have hit sugar and oil as well as the products based on these commodities.

The secretariat of the Political Bureau is scandalized by the plans of the Cevital Co. -- which has a virtual-monopoly on sugar and fats -- to add fuel to the fire by announcing further increases, pending the decisions of the Government Council.

We strongly denounce the criminal speculation on prices, which constitutes a real political and social provocation. We call on the government to take urgent measures to address this situation.

http://www2.socialistorganizer.org/images/stories/algeria.jpg

The Workers Party believes that this dangerous situation is the direct result of the closing of the EPE [State-run] agri-food sector, due to the Structural Adjustment Plans and privatizations as well as the disengagement of the State from domestic and foreign trade. The solutions to stop the speculation consist of the following:

1. An immediate price cap on the concerned products, namely oil and sugar.
2. The restoration of a provisional State monopoly on foreign trade so that external and internal price controls can be effective.
3. The reopening of large public State-run agricultural enterprises dedicated to producing subsidized products.

These, realistic and achievable measures address the problems at the root, while strengthening the recent governmental improvements introduced in the economic sphere. These measures would also create jobs and protect national production.

At the same time, these measures would put a halt to the zealous servants of the multinational corporations, who dump their products in our country in the context of the Association of Agreement with the European Union -- a free-agreement with the EU. These measures would also put a halt to the concessions granted to the WTO, which are contrary to the 2009 and 2010 federal laws on commerce and to the government's own decision to review its decrees that have dismantled the tariffs that protected national industries.

The measures would also put a brake on all who seek to ride the wave of legitimate anger provoked among the Algerian citizens -- who are worn out having endured constant increases in the prices of basic commodities -- to direct this anger toward nefarious political ends.

Because the situation is serious and because the interests of the nation must come first, the secretariat of the Political Bureau considers that the anger of young people raises the urgent need for real solutions to the unemployment problem by creating good full-time jobs, in order to combat the despair that is generated by social precariousness.

-- The Secretariat of the Political Bureau of the Workers Party (PT)
Algiers, Algeria

http://www2.socialistorganizer.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=420&Itemid=1

[the last donut of the night]

Kleber, since you seem pretty well-informed on this, could you tell me if the riots have been accompanied with strikes, workers' action, or political demands as well? Is this situation now anything like France's a while back, where strikes were accompanied by riots by youth in the banlieus (spelling)? Or is it nothing like that situation? Thanks, trying to get the most out of this info.

[Red Commissar]

Has the government begun to censor internet and other communication means? I'd imagine that's one thing they're doing...

Though it is interesting to see how western media covers unrest like this, and how they would say, cover a similar action in Iran (not saying that I support or defend Iranian government, but there is a double standard in this "unbiased" media).

[freepalestine]

Video: Riots in North Africa go unheeded

</U>AlJazeeraEnglish


</B>

</U></I></B></STRONG>January 10, 2011



GOtLPwj-Fzs

Violent clashes continue across countries in North Africa as fury mounts against inflation and living conditions.

At least four people were shot dead and six others seriously wounded late Saturday when security forces clashed with protesters in central Tunisia.

While in Algeria, three people were reported dead with over 400 injured.

The death toll is increasing and the governments are struggling to find ways to calm tensions. Armies have been sent to control the streets, and live ammunition have been used against protesters.

While the death toll in Algeria and Tunisia mount due to ongoing riots, why are the EU and US largely ignoring it?

[freepalestine]

nday, January 10, 2011
Riots in Algeria and Tunisia



A couple of poverty wrecked nations have seen riots (http://povertynewsblog.blogspot.com/search/label/riots) over the past week. Algeria and Tunisia have long seen oil revenues being sunk into corruption, a large gap between rich and poor, but what set the people over the edge was increased in food prices. The two Arab nations have long been applauded by the west for making economic improvements.

From the Inter Press Service, (http://ipsnews.net/) writer Emad Mekay details (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54067) what has sparked the rioting.


At least three Algerians have died and hundreds have been injured in four days of protests over housing shortages, rising food prices and failing economic policies that only three months ago won praise by the International Monetary Fund and other Western financial institutions.

The protests in Algeria come as similar demonstrations continue unabated in the neighbouring North African nation Tunisia, also hailed previously as an economic success story by Western banks and investors.

At least four Tunisians have died during the ongoing protests against the poor economic performance of Western-backed autocratic ruler President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.

The protests in both Arab countries were initially ignored by the Western media and Western governments but as the protests escalated Washington began to take note.

A Middle East advisor to former U.S. president George W. Bush and leading neo-conservative Elliott Abrams said on his blog at the Council on Foreign Relations that Tunisia was an "unimportant" country, but expressed concern that the fallout from the demonstrations could be dangerous for other Arab nations.

The spillover from Tunisia was quick to come in neighbouring Algeria, a country that provides Europe with 20 percent of its gas needs and is the world’s sixth largest natural gas producer after Russia, the United States, Canada, Iran, and Norway.
...

More specifically, the trigger for this week’s riots in Algeria came at the beginning of the month when staple food prices such as flour, cooking oil, milk and sugar averaged a 30 percent increase in the four days prior to the break-out of the protests.

Algerians, who had admiringly watched Tunisians shrug off their decades- long image of meekness during weeks of protests, also took to the streets venting their frustration at several government offices, mail offices and some banks.

Algerian Trade Minister Mustafa Benbada was forced Saturday to act to bring down rising food prices. He announced that the government will cut food prices by 14 percent, the official Algerian News Agency said. http://povertynewsblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/riots-in-algeria-and-tunisia.html

[Geiseric]

I know an american who toured Algeria and helped organize the students there, under the banner of my organization, Socialist Organizer. This is very exciting, hopefully this will spread throughout africa.

[freepalestine]

Sunday, 16 January 2011






Algerian dies in self-immolation, echoing Tunisia


A revolution in Tunisia ending in the toppling of its autocratic ruler has become a model for the populace in neigbouring Algiers



Reuters, Sunday 16 Jan 2011




http://english.ahram.org.eg/Media/News/2011/1/16/2011-634307874511325064-132.jpg


Youth chase a police officer, left, during clashes in the El Harrache district of Algiers, Thursday 6 January 2011. (AP)







A man has died after setting himself on fire at a government building in Algeria, state radio reported on Sunday, echoing the self-immolation that triggered the protests that toppled the leader of neighbouring Tunisia.
Mohsen Bouterfif doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire on Thursday after a meeting with the mayor of the small city of Boukhadra who was unable to provide him a job and a house, the daily El Khabar newspaper said. He died on Saturday of his burns.


About 100 young men protested over Mohsen's death in the town, in Tebessa province, 700 km east of Algiers. The governor of the province sacked the mayor, El Khabar said.

Several Algerian towns, including the capital Algiers, have experienced riots in recent weeks over unemployment and a sharp rise in the prices of food staples.
Official sources say two people have been killed and scores were injured during the unrest, which unfolded in parallel to street violence in Tunisia and demonstrations over high food prices in other North African and Middle Eastern countries.


To calm the protests, Algeria has cut the cost of sugar and cooking oil.
The fall of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali on Friday -- the first time in generations that an Arab leader has been toppled by public protests -- sent a sharp signal to the rest of the region, dominated by autocratic regimes.

The protests that brought down Ben Ali erupted after the self-immolation of 26-year-old vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself on fire on Dec. 17 because police had confiscated his vegetable cart. Bouazizi died weeks later of his burns, becoming a martyr to crowds of students and the unemployed protesting against poor living conditions





http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/4049/World/Region/Algerian-dies-in-selfimmolation,-echoing-Tunisia.aspx









Algerians protest soaring prices (http://www.revleft.com/NewsContent/2/0/3311/World/0/Algerians-protest-soaring-prices.aspx)



Algeria: Riots continue, football matches canceled, clerics call for calm (http://www.revleft.com/NewsContent/2/0/3385/World/0/Algeria-Riots-continue,-football-matches-canceled,.aspx)



Three dead, 800 injured, 1,000 arrests in Algeria (http://www.revleft.com/NewsContent/2/0/3491/World/0/Three-dead,--injured,-,-arrests-in-Algeria.aspx)



Algeria vows punishment over deadly food riots (http://www.revleft.com/NewsContent/2/0/3544/World/0/Algeria-vows-punishment-over-deadly-food-riots.aspx)

[ckaihatsu]

Collective for a Revolutionary Tendency in the NPA
Solidarity with the workers and youth of the Maghreb!

By: CTR - Collective for a Revolutionary Tendency in the NPA
Saturday, January 15, 2011

SOLIDARITY WITH THE WORKERS AND YOUTH OF THE MAGHREB (NORTH AFRICA) IN STRUGGLE!

DOWN WITH THE DICTATORIAL AND REPRESSIVE REGIMES!

A UNITED FRONT AGAINST THE IMPERIALIST FRENCH STATE THAT IS BACKING THEM!

Already in 2008, the Maghreb (North Africa), a victim of massive destitution and unemployment, had known ennormous popular mobilizations, especially the strike by the miners of Gafsa-Redeyef, mobilizations that were brutally repressed. But this time, it is a real uprising.

Tunisia: The police assassinated more than 50 demonstrators with lead bullets in the streets of Kasserine, Thala, Reguab ...
Algeria: In five days, several people dead and 800 wounded.

After the attempted immolation on December 17, 2010, by a young college graduate, forced to work as a street vendor, whose goods the police confiscated, thousands of workers and young people demonstrated in several cities of Tunisia. The protest that began against the price hike turned into a directly political mobilization: "Ben Ali, get out!", "Down with the dictatorship!" were heard in all the demonstrations. The demonstrators attack police stations and the gendarmes, the places and symbols of the power that decreed the state of siege. As a sign of the enormous surfeit and growth of the anger of the workers and youth, numerous trade unionists appear, several from the structures of the UGTT, the only union headquarters, whose leaders are tied to the regime, participating in the front line of the uprising. On Wednesday, January 12, the regional UGTT of Sfax, the economic capital of the country, called the general strike. The powerful mobilization of Tunisian youth terrifies the regime to the point that it closed all the school establishments, from the primary schools to the universities. The rebellion now reached the capital, Tunis. Ben Ali tries to say something; he has just decided to dismiss the Minister of the Interior, to order the release of the people who had been arrested since the beginning of the rebellion and to open an inquiry about the corruption of some public officials. It is hardly likely that this will be enough to stop the turbulence. This is the biggest social crisis in a quarter century.

In Algeria, although the demonstrations and the explosions of recent days are still not comparable to those of 1988, Bouteflika's government remembers the great mobilizations that moved Cabilia in 2001, and from the beginning it avoids confrontations, in view of the growing anger. The mobilization began with the rejection of the uncontrolled rise in prices of essential products, and now the young people confront the forces of repression comprehensively, in opposition to unemployment, low wages and the destitution caused by capitalism. The national bourgeoisie divides up the enormous oil profits, and the government heavily taxes essential food products. Numerous actions of solidarity with the workers and young people of Tunisia have already taken place in France (Paris, Marseilles, etc.). Hundreds of participants shouted "Freedom in Tunisia," "Ben Ali, gangster, get out!" and also "Ben Ali, murderer! Sarkozy, accomplice!"

The organization of massive, united mobilizations in all countries against these reactionary and corrupt regimes is of the first importance, to help the workers and youth throw them out and replace them with governments of their own.

Ben Ali's ties, both with the French governments of the right and of the left are very well known, but those ties they keep with Bouteflika's regime are no less important.

These autocrats reign over the Maghreb (North Africa) as lord and master, by repression, as they rot in corruption, through frauds, crushing through terror and imprisoning as a way of making an example. They enjoy the docility of the French bourgeoisie, the silence of the communications media and the support of Sarkozy, still hoping to keep a part of his colonies in Africa. Such is the aim of the Union for the Mediterranean, the 2008 agreements in the field of nuclear energy and defense or the appointment of Raffarin "as coordinator of special" French-Algerian "collaboration." Despite the independence of its former colonies, French imperialism is the main plunderer and oppressor in the region.

To fight against these regimes is also to fight against our own bourgeoisie. We have everything to gain here, in France, from the development of this movement in the Maghreb. Every blow against one of these regimes also strikes Sarkozy and the big French bosses.

Now, both the Sarkozy-Juppé government and the European Union describe themselves as neutral as regards the parties, the Tunisian government and the demonstrators; they condemn "the acts of violence" and state that it is necessary to be "careful" in facing a situation that they pretend not to know very well! In reality, they are doing everything to save Ben Ali. They are the very ones who are impeding immigration; they are repressing and pursuing undocumented immigrants.

But the solidarity that the workers of France can offer the demonstrators of Tunisia and Algeria consists of:

· Popularizing and supporting their political struggles and the struggles for their demands;
· Participating massively in the solidarity demonstrations, actions and meetings organized in numerous cities;
· Demanding the legalization of all those without papers, the end of expulsions, the closing of the detention centers, the repeal of all the anti-immigrant laws.

For the CTR, the fight to support the Tunisian and Algerian demonstrators must be the axis of the public activity of the NPA, centrally fighting against the complicity of Sarkozy and the "Democrats" of the Socialist Party & Co. with Ben Ali. In addition to united calls for solidarity, it is a matter of really mobilizing the whole party, all the female and male militants, to assure the success of the meetings and to take initiatives. It is crucial that the party's leadership addresses the French, Algerian and Tunisian working-class and democratic organizations in France, to organize united mass mobilizations in all the large cities of the country.

UNCONDITIONAL SOLIDARITY WITH THE HEROIC STRUGGLE OF THE WORKERS AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE MAGHREB (North Africa)!

NO MORE REPRESSION! RELEASE OF ALL THE DEMONSTRATORS! BEN ALI, BOUTEFLIKA: MURDERERS! SARKOZY: ACCOMPLICE!

Paris, January 12, 2011

To contact us: [email protected]
CTR website: http://collectiftrnpa.wordpress.com/

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

Simple curiosité : qu’est-ce-qui va se passer le jour où un copain se voit confisquer sa marchandise,non plus à Tunis mais à Paris, sur le boulevard de la Villette?