Vengeful radicalism, verbal excess, self-satisfaction, smoke and mirrors… we would have liked to reset this triumphant speech given by Tebboune at the Palais des Nations.
It was supposed to set a new course, draw the lines of a new social contract, open a horizon of hope for millions of Algerians. By the abyss that he designates, he will rather have dampened expectations and thrown away fear.
To hear the tenant of El Mouradia ranting, spouting words worthy of gambling den discussions, we are entitled to wonder if there are any advisors left in the presidency. Or worse: is Tebboune even aware of the significance of what he declares in front of millions of Algerians?
In truth, the speech of December 29 will remain the incarnation of irresponsible and dangerous governance.
National populism
Like his Tunisian “friend”, Abdelmadjid Tebboune is immersed in a national populism from another time. His speech which ends a chaotic year is full of formulas oozing misplaced confidence.
As if levitating in front of an audience of laudators, who came to drink in the slightest of his words, he put together a series of promises of change which are more slogans with no future than some key ideas of a national project serious.
With Abdelmadjid Tebboune we are constantly in the “real simulacrum”. When Tebboune speaks of national pride, Algerians only see it as a downgrade. He constantly seeks to build narrative sovereignty over the past and present to give himself composure. The man can hardly believe it.
The construction of the State, in his opinion, cannot be done outside of the leader that he is. Everything is personified. We are in “me I”. So much so that we went from Fakhamatouhou under Bouteflika to the formula “the president of the republic has ordered”. Are we in a barracks? To believe yes. But who is the boss? Civilian or military?
The year ends in mourning
While Tebboune was in flames at the Palace of Nations, 28 Algerians, including children and a pregnant woman, went to sea. The first were fished out, others disappeared in the Mediterranean. The Head of State will neither declare national mourning nor offer any condolences to the bereaved families. It’s not his habit.
Why do Algerians put their lives at risk to leave the country? This is the question that the authorities should ask themselves if they had an ounce of responsibility. The answer is in no way to be found in these external enemies invented by Tebboune and his spokesmen. She is known to citizens.
Desperate for this paralyzed Algeria, without hope, with its authoritarian bells and whistles, the Algerians are throwing their last energy at sea to reach Europe, this continent of “disbelievers”, as the Islamists call it.
France, this reinvented “enemy”
No words of compassion are spoken for these families, nor the long strike of medical students. For four months they have been upwind and skipping classes in vain. The Head of State preferred to summon once again the ghosts of colonialism, to reprimand France and remind it of its past.
This past that he nevertheless wanted to soothe for a moment. We thought we had finished with this story in fact. But the one who once called French President Emmanuel Macron a friend is a repeat offender.
Basically, why does Tebboune’s Algeria hold a grudge against France? Did France attack Algeria directly? No, a priori. Tebboune criticizes France for having taken a position in favor of the Moroccan plan for Western Sahara.
Isn’t France sovereign in its diplomatic choices? And doesn’t Algeria claim non-interference in the affairs of third countries? However, everything suggests that Tebboune wants to dictate France’s foreign policy.
But let’s go further. France is therefore guilty of supporting the Moroccan plan; is this not the position of the United States, Germany and Spain? What is Tebboune waiting for to recall our ambassadors to these countries and go to war against them? But undoubtedly, there is another reason than the Sahrawi question for this animosity.
After this last speech by the Head of State for the year 2024, it is almost illusory to believe in a possible relaxation or notable change. We are always exposed to the real untruths.
Thus, the announced dialogue will be a huge failure, the promised economic exploits, a chimera. Appeasement takes a repressive turn.
Isolated internationally, devilishly unpopular at home, the Tebboune system is heading towards the precipice with its sword drawn!
At the outset of this new year, however, let us express the hope that Algeria will be spared and a return to reason which will reconcile its children, all its children.
Hamid Arab
