Speech and Reality: National day of Brotherhood in Algeria

By decreeing February 22 as National Day, the government is trying to reclaim a landmark to empty it of its substance and its objectives.

The decision is all the more surprising that unexpected: the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, decreed “February 22”, the beginning of the unprecedented revolutionary movement whose anniversary was celebrated yesterday, national day, under the denomination of “National day of fraternity and cohesion between the people and their army for democracy”. Calling, again, this movement of “blessed”, Abdelmadjid Tebboune estimated that this one preserved the country of a total collapse.

“The national state almost collapsed completely, as was the case in some countries, today seeking mediation to resolve their problems,” he said during a meeting with officials. of media. According to him, this movement has been able to realize several of its claims. And for those who remain, they will intervene at the appropriate time, he suggests. 

Taking up a jargon developed by the late chief of staff Ahmed Gaïd Salah, Abdelmadjid Tebboune did not fail to warn against possible “infiltrations” of the movement. “Hirak is a beneficial phenomenon, and I have nothing to blame it for. He spared the country a disaster. 

Without him, offices would be underway today to resolve the crisis in Algeria, as is the case in Libya, “he said, before launching an appeal to those who continue to demonstrate:” I call my children, who demonstrate on Friday, to be vigilant against the infiltration of their movement, because there are signs of infiltration both from the inside and from the outside.”

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That the authorities decide to make the date of “February 22” sacred, a day that will undoubtedly mark the country’s history for a long time, is not a bad thing in itself, but the question is whether this initiative does not spoil some ulterior motives.

Because, finally, beyond the ambiguity of the formulation, recalling to be mistaken, and all things considered, at the declaration of November 1, how to convince of the sincerity of the recognition of a movement to which all kinds of are the devices used to defuse it?

How to explain that on the eve of the celebration of this date all the accesses to the capital were closed? How to justify the persistence of the denial of the media including televisions and the public and para-public media? What do keep prisoners of conscience and continuing arrests mean? 

Why are demonstrations still prohibited on weekdays? Why obstruct partisan activity and the associative movement? The initiative can be questionable since the first parties to have applauded it are the very people who are at the origin of the “catastrophe” and whose movement is calling for its disappearance, in this case, the FLN and the RND. 

By making the day of “February 22nd” official, the power seems only to repeat a “mode of operation” experienced in the past: trying to reclaim a benchmark to empty it of its substance and its purpose, as was the case with the “Berber spring” or “national reconciliation”, an initiative of the opposition in 1995. 

By sacralizing the birth of a movement whose scope is historic, the government visibly seeks, combined with the bet on usury, only to prevent it from carrying out its main demand: the radical change of the system. “We did not go out to party, but for the departure of the system,” the protesters replied yesterday.