Algeria

Algeria is currently experiencing a multi-city outbreak of protests. Government buildings have been occupied or set alight. The reasons for this are ostensibly simple: high unemployment, housing shortages and a recent sharp increase in food prices. But Algeria's problems are much deeper than that, with many different layers of conflict going on simultaneously.


What's going on?
Algeria does not have to be a second-world nation. The country has large deposits of petroleum and natural gas which leads to budget surpluses that could be used to further develop the national infrastructure. But instead the government, with the military as the power broker, funnels large amounts of funds into foreign bank accounts. In addition, the military demands a large share of government revenue due to the constant threat of perceived internal enemies of the state. 

Self-fulfilling prophecy
The only reason that there are "threats to the state" is because the government has been dictatorially-minded during all 48 years of independence. Granted, the bitter war of independence, with an approximate million deaths in less than 7.5 years, would leave Algeria traumatized, but leader after leader has been autocratic to the point of being a dictator. The only non-dictatorial leaders have been puppets of the military. So here is a large country with a rapidly-growing and increasingly educated population with no freedom of the press, no right of dissent, no freedom of expression, and no opposition parties. Many were angry at the government, but they were equally as suspicious of the other groups that were in opposition to the government. Communists distrusted democracy advocates. Both, perhaps alarmed by the results of the Iranian Revolution, were deeply distrustful of the Islamists. And all were disdainful of the Berbers who had grown tired of having their distinctive culture overwhelmed by the majority Arab culture (e.g. no teaching of Berber in the schools). The pressure on Algeria's strongman government kept on growing.

Lead-up to the current situation
And so, by 1990, Algeria's government was up against two very strong but diametrically opposed factions: socialists and Islamists. Elections were finally held: the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) won the first round. Before the second round could occur, the military stepped in, dismissed the president and banned all political parties based on religion. This led to the Algerian Civil War. For a solid decade, both the military and their foes, the Groupe Islamique Armé (GIA) & the Islamic Armed Movement (MIA), played dirty hardball. Over 160,000 people died, many gruesomely. The tourism industry was decimated as tourists were specifically targeted by the rebels. Many average Algerians were caught in the middle; all they wanted was to make a living. Instead, they were being beheaded or set on fire in front of their families. Many just "disappeared". Both sides committed atrocities and blamed the other for doing them. Slowly, the insurrection lost its momentum, especially after a government amnesty program was enacted.
However, the problems that led to Algeria's violent past have not been corrected for the most part. On the positive side, Berbers have some more recognition as a separate culture nowadays, with  Tamazight a "national language" and students being educated in the tongue.
So much for the positives.

The problems
-Currently, many of Algeria's most powerful figures were important during the days of the early 90s coup and its aftermath. To the West, this is not a problem, as these men have proven that they're serious about combating the spread of fundamentalist Islam.
-The Islamic insurrection never did completely fade away. As Groupe Islamique Armé declined, it was replaced in importance by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), an organization that has allied itself with the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb. However, there are those who say that all of these ne'er-do-well groups are mostly just hype created by the Algerian government in order to maintain a good standing with our fervently anti-terrorist military-industrial-congressional complex.
-Normal Algerians have not been isolated from the world at large. They know that just across the Mediterranean are countries whose people can access the Internet, assemble in large groups, read uncensored news. Algeria however, has recently joined the ranks of Islamic countries that apply censorship to the Internet: the Algerian political website Rachad, founded by former members of FIS has become inaccessible to Algerians. This is in addition to a 2001 amendment to the penal code provisions relating to defamation and slander, widely seen as an effort to keep the press under control. This is infuriating to many of the people.


And so, here are a bunch of un- and underemployed Algerians watching their national infrastructure falling apart due to lack of investment even while many of their rulers are obviously making out like bandits. They are angry at having no ability to make ends meet nor even to find a decent place to live. And they can't even bitch about how life sucks without offending someone from the ruling class and perhaps putting themselves into a difficult, if not dangerous, situation. No wonder things are burning here. Although these revolts tend to blow over after a relatively short time, the United States needs to realize that by supporting despots, we will inevitably have to face another situation like late 70s Iran. All across the Middle East & North Africa, the West is seen as propping up bad guys. We must be careful.