Algeria: the newest success story

By Christopher Beddow

Saturday night, reports out of Algeria described spontaneous protests and demonstrations inspired by the resignation of Hosni Mubarak as president of Egypt.

In Algiers, the Algerian capital, it was said that tens of thousands of state police had been deployed in the streets in anticipation of violent protest with hundreds of arrests being made subsequently.

However, claims on the ground, described the demonstrations as completely peaceful. State police arrested many protesters, including human rights activists and young people upset with the status quo.

Journalists have reported being aggressively pursued and barred from passing on information surrounding the events. The government is expecting violence following demonstrations last month that left a few dead and hundreds injured.

Algeria faced civil war from 1992 through 2002, with violence subsiding toward the end of that decade when elections were held and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was chosen by the military as the country's leader.

The president has been ruling under emergency powers as a result of terror attacks from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Free Salafist Group—organizations committed to bringing down the Algerian government and responsible for significant violence and kidnappings since 2002.

Such groups have arisen after Algeria banned the formation of political parties based on race, religion, language and other divisive factors.

Somewhat free elections have been held in Algeria for parliamentary and presidential positions, but in 2008 President Bouteflika amended the constitution to remove term limits.

Algerians today are calling for solutions to unemployment, government corruption, election fraud and high food prices. The uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia have inspired the formation of an Algerian coalition called the National Coordination for Change and Democracy.

President Bouteflika has promised to end his emergency powers and address the country's problems while expanding democracy. Already, he has brought increased safety in Algeria amidst violent pockets of opposition, as well as development of infrastructure as a result of substantial petroleum revenue in the OPEC nation.

However, Algeria may very well be the next success story in the pattern of civil reform in the Muslim world.

Its past struggles with radical Islam indicate that it could be inclined to develop a more free society than Egypt, which is vulnerable to the Muslim Brotherhood.

In general, there seem to be two categories of countries in the Middle East: those that are Western backed and experiencing reform and those that are in the solid grip of authoritarian rule.

Ahead of us is an interesting week: Egypt's future is to be decided while under military control; Tunisia is developing optimistically; Yemen's president has declined re-election and hopes to make political concessions; Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati will form a new cabinet and Iraq has come a step closer to forming a fresh cabinet under Nouri al-Maliki.

Indeed, the race for liberal democracy continues in the Middle East, and repressed voices are being heard—its anyone's guess what happens next.

Christopher Beddow is a senior political science major.