Ordinary Citizens vs. Experienced Activists in Algeria’s Post-2011 Protests

• In Event: New Perspectives on Protest: Ordinary Citizens in Extraordinary Movements

Abstract

Immediately following the inception of the Arab uprisings of 2011, Algerians discovered the “National Coordination for Change and Democracy”, a broad and heterogenous coalition of local political parties, autonomous unions, and human rights’ organizations. Early on, the first leaders of the CNCD took the decision to open the coalition to a broad membership with the hope to build new solidarities, pool the resources of the different organizations and shift the balance of power to their advantage. However, the CNCD’s calls for regime change did not seem to generate popular support and the protests organized by the coalition remained limited in size and scope. Whereas hundreds of thousands of protestors took to the streets in Cairo and Tunis, only a few hundred demonstrated in Algiers and Oran. Why is that the case?

The literature on social movements in the MENA region attempted to answer this puzzle by focusing on psychological explanations centering around the unwillingness of the population to engage in acts of political contention that could lead to another traumatizing civil conflict similar to the one that the country experienced in the 1990s. Given the rentier nature of the Algerian State, the literature also stressed the ability of the regime to pacify opposition groups and deter challengers by providing access to rent distribution channels in exchange for loyalty. These explanations often portrayed ordinary Algerians as being either apathetic or alienated by a hegemonic political system. In contrast with these psychological or economic explanations, the present essay will focus of the political dimension of the CNCD’s failure to mobilize ordinary citizens.

Building on fieldwork conducted between 2011 and 2016, including 42 interviews with members of the CNCD, content analysis of online forum discussion and deliberative assemblies, this essay argues that the CNCD rapidly became a club of high-profile figures, restricted to established political personalities and experienced activists. Despite the calls of the coalition to open its membership to a broader audience, informal barriers by local “Gate-keepers” prevented the recruitment of ordinary citizens and nourished the suspicion of the public towards the seemingly “professionalized” CNCD. Moreover, the presentation will show that ordinary citizens who joined the CNCD were quickly marginalized and prevented from taking initiatives. New members also doubted the motivations of the old-guard and suspected that their efforts may be diverted to generate political capital for established political parties and unions rather than create a free space for political deliberation and the imagination of a new democratic and inclusive political project.

At the empirical level, this essay will make a valuable contribution to the literature on social movements by shedding some light on the competition and power struggle between ordinary and experienced activists as well as the bureaucratic tensions within anti-regime organizations in Algeria. At the theoretical level, this contribution will also help shed some light on the complex relationship between ordinary citizens and their formal political representatives and will help clarify the specific mechanisms of legitimacy production during episodes of heightened political tension.

Author

• Islam Amine Derradji, Université de Montréal