Many Algerians are concerned about the reason why the Hirak did not gain international traction, the extent of which can be gauged by the prevalence of Hirak and/or Algeria hashtags on Twitter. Persistent questions that still lurk beneath every unprofessional reporting target the absence of media from the Algerian scene, particularly media of the Anglosphere.
As a more effective and credible source and a sure way to get their voices to the world, Algerians became quick to fuel social media with reliable input, documenting the protests lest they sink into oblivion, reporting everything within earshot as they took it upon themselves to be a mass proxy to an unjustified absence of what would otherwise be a much-needed presence: the massive arsenal of English media.
As an effective agent in power dynamics, the people sought a role in reclaiming the agency as the hollowness that reigns in the media signals this latter’s way of abrogating its responsibility; however, what it truly demonstrates is an attempt to even the power asymmetry on two fronts: the political with its ramifications reified in activism, and mediatization, which is yet another form of activism, albeit a biased and soft one.
Though the unrecognition of the Algerian Hirak is multifactorial, the clamour to report is asymptomatic of a gaping hole, and it is mostly a linguistic one.
The proposed answers here will certainly be contested, but they surely escape a unidimensional reading which is reductionist in nature.
The plight of Francophonie and the global recognition of the Hirak
Part and parcel of the urgent answer to this question lie in not only the political sphere but also in the socio-cultural makeup of Algeria. Despite the rising uproar of the defacto supersession of English in the higher education realm, Algeria is still predominantly a francophone country par excellence, and it will likely remain as such according to the current cultural and socioeconomic status quo.
Algerians have felt earlier on that there is undeniably a correlation between the lingua franca and the dissemination of news. French channels did not skrimp on their reportage, relentless up-to-date analysis of the political and regional impasse that shroud the region. and even in its deliberate reductionist readings of the Hirak epitomized in its effort to defame and reduce the Hirak to mere
liberal slogans in the infamous “Algeria, My Love” documentary, aired on channel 5. If anything, the Algerian popular uprising attracted more eyeballs from France, a paradoxically traditional friend, and enemy to Algeria and Algerians alike, who follows every minutiae detail of Algeria’s every move and twitch.
Currently, there is an ongoing linguistic battle. In Algeria, language causes rifts and creates factions allowing each side to rally behind a banner preluded by the language it symbolically represents. Language is weaponized by Algerians as they migrate to virtual reality, setting it as their preferred battleground to gratuitously settle their disputes when the cultural institution withdrew itself from its incumbent mission.
The issue was intensified when the previous minister of higher education Dr Tayeb Bouzid pledged to dethrone French and to relegate it to history books and administrative dealings. With
no exit point looming on the horizon, the battle proved to be tiresome and the equation incalculable as Francophonie is deeply rooted in the country, despite an ostensible disillusionment of certain regions as well as the majority of the population with it that translates into a further chasm between the people and the so-called “elite” of the country.
Chaining the scope of the protests
Investigating the newsworthiness of the Hirak yields one answer: a resounding yes! The Algerian popular uprising has a prepackaged story that can immediately be sold to media and media viewers would readily show empathy with regards to demands of a complete overhaul, and it definitely englobes the components of what the West purports to advocate: pro-democracy and the downfall of dictatorship, though the rest of the story remains to be anticipated. The hirak narrates a story of collective resistance and willingness that could reconfigure the axes in the power equation. Yet even as such, democracy and self-determination, the two much sought-after
assets in the liberal discourse did not grant a ticket of coverage.
The Hirak protests are widely recognized as igniting new hope for the oppressed people of the region. Western media outlets, once deployed to watch over the Arab Spring in MENA have now shut the lid on what’s happening in Algeria. This poor performance is unparalleled when weighed against the ongoing report of the minutiae details of everyday occurrences in the idle East, which includes media coverage of isolated stories of female escapism into lands of unbridled freedom and which in turn trump that of people altering their country’s historical fate, and the consequent reverberation on world affairs.
Undoubtedly, the role of media is less pronounced in North Africa, with the exception of Libya. A dense track record of major events going unnoticed and unreported raises more eyebrows than new questions. Yet another question persists: does this spell the end of the game of power in the North Africa region?
The hallmarks of unsolidarity
The Algerian Hirak is probably not the last piece in the pro-democracy domino effect that was initiated in Tunisia in 2011, or the least echoing in its effects, so long as the systematic subjugation continues to ripple across the region. The media is dipped to its neck with bagatelle identity politics, advances its vision of what the region should look like, and chooses to turn a blind eye to events that irreversibly changed the course of history. This just does not seem to be on its radar, and so it was met by Algerians and analysts of the Algerian scene with accusations of complacency and suppression of the popular uprising in its cradle.
The nit-picking of the stories is far from being new. Conspiracy theories aside, the overwhelming bulk of research shows just how media representation veers towards US/Euro foreign policy and the stakes that are at play. This amplifies the day-to-day measurable anger and cynicism of a nation whose collective conscious views the foreigner as the accomplice in deepening the scars of the struggle.
For decades, western press and media have chaperoned U.S foreign policy be it the face of the superpower and the representative of the western block. Western media have a Machiavellian track record of expedient apparatuses, blatantly demonstrating affiliations, accusations, reduction, inflation, or suppression of whichever agendas advance their interests. The current signs we have is that, past championing human rights and the rights to self-determination, the spoils have already been divided, with France (whose approach in the Sahel area is overtly colonial) taking the lion’s share and nothing left for the major superpowers, it could be also that they are buying time to execute their plans in a piecemeal fashion.
The Arab revolution
Algeria came out of the Arab spring quasi-unscathed when sporadic demonstrations that erupted in 2011 were quickly contained by the security forces, it is how the flame of the parallel Arab revolution in Algeria was extinguished, a light version of the ‘Berber spring’ in Kabylia. Now Algerians are holding the torch of democracy and all eyes of the Arab world are scrutinizing them, yet even with such an expansive scope the news rarely features Algeria in its currents battle against the state and military rule.
Another reason for not receiving media coverage is that it withdrew from the race to democracy earlier on, and the growing dissatisfaction with movements of change which drowned the region
in cataclysmic terror, rendering it a zone of conflict and terrorism, and so the model of democracy in it yields reverse effects, and advances backwards, becoming the staple for a turbulent future.
Media crackdown
On March 5, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, said from Geneva that the UN is concerned about the deteriorating situation of human rights, arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of protesters. The UN security office has slammed the Algerian regime’s arbitrary draconian measures towards Hirak’s activists, journalists and the crackdown on the press which sought the closure of several media outlets.
Algeria is reported to be tailing the list of countries the least tolerant of freedom of expression. With freedom of expression hitting a near all-time low, invitations to uncle Sam to monitor the organic course of the Hirak seem to be a risky endeavor when encroachment on individual liberties is the standard norm. And this might be a deterrent to observers who wish to relocate the locus of control to the people by expressing themselves freely.
The few voices that challenged the orthodox disregard of the Grand Maghreb region amounts to little more than just a bird’s tweet in a noise pollution, moderated by media giants, curated by politically driven groups and key investors aimed at sealing their interests and silencing the few remaining daring voices that push for change.
This article was written by researcher and Soumia Bakezzi.