There have been widespread calls recently in Algeria on social media, to resume the popular movement on its second anniversary on February 22, after an emergency stop for nearly a year due to the Corona pandemic.
The first spark of the push to activate the movement began last Monday, with a demonstration in the city of Kharata (200 kilometers east of the capital), then followed by other demonstrations on Friday in Khenchela governorate (400 kilometers east of the capital), as they were the cradle of the February 22, 2019 demonstrations.
According to observers, the economic and social repercussions of Corona are charging the street again, as it gives the opposition an opportunity to invest in the popular congestion, especially since President Abdel Majid Tebboune himself recently directed repeated criticisms of the performance of the government and conservatives, in addition to what the activists considered a setback from their demands for actual change towards democracy, in Indicators of the political status quo remained.
Encrypted messages
The authorities took calls to demonstrate this time seriously, and the leadership of the military establishment even warned Algerians not to go out into the streets.
In an attempt to preempt the date, President Tebboune announced a package of preventive decisions to appease the angry, by deciding to dissolve Parliament, reshuffle the government, and release dozens of prisoners of the movement's activists.
As for the Army magazine, it sent coded messages to the organizers of the demonstration, saying that "the pawns and mercenaries of the Euro are preparing this time to try to launch an incitement campaign calling on Algerians to demonstrate on the second anniversary of the movement."
Indeed, the military establishment denounced foreign parties without naming them, saying that foreign parties are making suspicious and desperate moves aimed at undermining the country and destabilizing it.
Last Wednesday, public television broadcast serious confessions attributed to Hassan Rizkan, known as "Abu Al-Dahdah," who was arrested a few months ago, about "plans to exploit the popular movement and divert it from its peacefulness, in collusion with opponents and fugitives abroad."
The news caused widespread condemnation among the blue astronauts, who considered it a fabrication to distort the movement and intimidate those wishing to participate in a demonstration next Monday.
Fill and split
Meanwhile, the virtual mobilization of the second anniversary of the movement continues, while parties from within it express their disappointment in the ideology of the protest and describe him as the hijacker, indicating a clear division about returning to the street.
Activists are circulating in this regard a statement signed by the "Forum of Free Algerians", stating that suspending the marches with the worsening of the Corona epidemic, starting from March 13, 2020, was a voluntary and responsible decision, taken by the movement to preserve the safety of Algerians.
The source emphasized that "peaceful popular movement remains the available means to achieve radical change and a final break with outdated practices and mentality of despotism and totalitarianism, to build a state of law, institutions, freedoms and true popular sovereignty."
For his part, the human rights activist, Abdul-Ghani Badi, considered that the call to exit again is very logical, reasonable and expected as well, because the regime is striving to abort the desired political transformation without thinking about the popular will, whose perceptions are clearly drawn.
In a statement to Al-Jazeera Net, he said that the regime rejected the popular will and resisted it through treason, the series of arrests, and restrictions on freedoms, in a scene worse than the situation during Bouteflika's era.
He stressed that these practices have created tremendous anger in the psyche of people who are preparing to return to the streets with force, "in order to make the political decision that everyone awaits."
However, Riad Howeili, the publishing director of Akhbar Al-Watan newspaper, appeared to have reservations about the way the protests were mobilized and their symbols, as he wrote: “In front of the calls of Facebook messengers and YouTube imams for a new movement, we wonder: Has a death certificate been signed (spontaneous) of the February 22 movement, and thus his soul was seized The pure ?!
Then he added the question, "Do the filter heroes (live broadcasts) want to desecrate the peaceful, clean and chaste movement through their anonymous calls ?!"
The army warns against the organizers of the demonstrations and accuses foreign parties of seeking chaos in the country (Al-Jazeera)
Different context
On the other hand, Noureddine Bekiss, professor of political sociology at the University of Algiers, said that the context has changed a lot compared to before the outbreak of the February 22, 2019 movement.
He explained that the two sides of the stampede have changed significantly, as the ruling elites today are trying to present a revised version of the previous system, at least in practice.
According to Bekiss, the opposition movement no longer enjoys the same virginity and spontaneity that contributed to the creation of the aesthetic of the previous scene, when it appeared in the form of absolute good in the face of absolute evil, and it revived the emotional slogan "The people want to overthrow the regime" in its Algerian version entitled "Step Down."
Therefore, Beckis expected in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net that the authority would closely monitor developments and cope with them according to the logic of assimilation, to pass these days that have become of emotional value to the majority of Algerians.
He concluded by stressing that the new context does not meet the conditions for resurrecting the movement due to absorbing an important part of the discontent that fueled the February 22, 2019 explosion.