Young members of the Verde Corazon ultra during a match of their club RCR, Relizane, Algeria, 2016.
“I remember February 22, 2019, with vivid clarity—the day the Hirak anti-government movement erupted in Algeria. There was a collective intuition among Algerians that something was brewing. It was a Friday, a day that naturally lends itself to protest across North Africa as people get together to carry out weekly prayers. More importantly, in the weeks leading up to that day, scattered protests began to pop up across the country. Tensions were high over the news that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika—then 81 years old and visibly debilitated by multiple strokes—intended to run for a fifth consecutive term. Describing the atmosphere in Algiers as ‘tense’ on that morning of February 22 is too simple. It doesn’t account for the accompanying tangible feelings of hope and fear in the air. In a country where formal political expression is tightly circumscribed, moments like these—when people reclaim public space en masse—become more than just protest. …”
Africa Is a Country