Algeria: when latent racism surfaces

For a few days now, Algeria has been trying to get back to normal. The country has not been seriously affected by COVID-19, but the economic repercussions are still being felt. After several months of curfew, confinement and a chaotic political year that ended with the departure of President Bouteflika, the country is trying to recover.  

Shops are reopening and commercial activities are resuming. The streets of Algiers are part of this recovery, but so are sub-Saharan beggars. Sitting on the ground or huddled in front of traffic lights, they beg for coins from passers-by and motorists. Men, women and children find the street and its share of misery again. 

But since the pandemic, fear has taken hold of us. People no longer dare to approach them, give them money or offer them a meal as some used to do every Friday. They are considered de facto sick and potentially dangerous. The best thing is to close your eyes and walk away from them. 

But this distance is not only due to the virus that has recently appeared in our lives.  While COVID-19 has exacerbated fears, state propaganda has also been used to increase this concern, accusing these migrants of belonging to terrorist groups and warning those who give them money. 

This smear campaign began some years ago. In 2017, the former presidential chief of staff, Ahmed Ouyahia (currently in prison), said that "these African migrants entered Algeria illegally. Algerian law does not allow foreigners to work. And this illegal immigration is a source of crime, drugs and other scourges. We are not asking the state to throw them into the sea or abandon them in the desert, but the stay in Algeria must be in accordance with the law and the Algerian people must not be allowed to suffer from anarchy".  

The Algerian authorities' harsh repatriation methods have often been criticized by Human Rights Watch. Moreover, contrary to what Ouyahia said, the men and women had been abandoned in the desert.  This statement, which came from the highest level of the State, was seen as a green light to justify the mistreatment of migrants and ended up being repeated by some. 

On another occasion he added fuel to the fire. A circular from the transport department of the governorate of Mostaganem (a port town in north-western Algeria) had warned bus and taxi drivers to refuse migrants any form of transport. There was an outcry and the circular was finally withdrawn. 

That same year, an anti-immigrant campaign known as the hashtag: "No Africans in Algeria" made Algerians forget that they themselves were Africans. If the hateful words of this campaign were widely shared, they were also criticized.  

The situation of migrants in Algeria is extremely critical. Today they are facing a latent but very present racism.

Algeria, which had signed an agreement with Niger in 2014, continued to drive all sub-Saharans from its territory to the border with that country. The country expelled en masse by land or air not only Nigerians but also nationals of other African countries without distinction. They are accused of all evils: drugs, AIDS, terrorism... 

Stigma always wins out in the end and national television often plays a big role in this sad affair. 

Algeria is closely following what is happening in the United States today and the movement of black living matter. But we are always caught up in our own history and often forget to sweep up in front of our own door. 

When racism is carried by the state itself, it gains legitimacy and it often takes a lot of courage and intelligence to fight it.  

Last March, the authorities announced the dismantling of a network "involved in organizing operations to transfer illegal sub-Saharan migrants from the south to the north of the country. This is strangely reminiscent of the 2017 Mostaganem circular banning the transport of migrants.

The APS (Algerian Press Service) report on the facts further specifies that no information has been provided on the whereabouts of the illegal migrants.

Before the pandemic, the rate of arrival of the latter in Algerian territories was estimated at 500 per day. In recent months, their entry into the country has been hampered by confinement. Today, they are more present than ever and the State takes no initiative to regularize their situation, condemning them to clandestinity and illegal work. People migrating to the north often find themselves in cities overlooking the sea such as Algiers, Oran, Annaba... and they hold out this last hope of crossing the Mediterranean.  At the moment they are trapped in Algeria and their situation is very precarious.