Health emergency and political repression, the new tandem

To stay healthy, do we have to gradually give up our freedoms? That is the question we must all ask ourselves today, no matter what country we live in. All over the world, from the most democratic states to the most authoritarian ones, the dramatic decline of individual freedoms has been observed. The COVID-19 crisis revealed to everyone that surveillance systems can be very effective in dealing with the epidemic, but also very dangerous. 

The pandemic we are experiencing has not only health aspects but also economic and political ones. Taken by surprise, we have focused exclusively on physical health issues (mental health has been relegated to the background). We have also overlooked the repression that has been imposed in some countries and the liberticidal laws in others. Surveillance is required at this stage because if quarantine is seen as a cessation of activity, the repression machinery does not go on holiday and today, more than ever before, we must keep our eyes open. Intellectuals like Noam Chomsky and Yuval Noah Harari repeat it over and over again: we are in the process of taking a new step forward in our civilization and it would be very difficult to go back to what we had achieved before. 

Is health really more important than freedom? The equation is difficult to solve because we must not choose between these two imperatives. 
Some argue that surveillance is the only solution. China is often cited as an example. If the country has been able to break out of its confinement it is because it has adopted strict rules that have been imposed by mass surveillance technology: facial recognition, traceability through smart phones, social credit based on a rating system, etc. 

Is the Chinese model spreading? Is it becoming the norm? It seems increasingly plausible. Artificial intelligence dedicated to surveillance has become accessible and many countries are providing the means to acquire it. The 21st century version of the Big Brother is a market that today weighs 40 billion dollars. Reading this figure, one realizes that the evil is already there and the COVID-19 has done nothing but reveal it in broad daylight and above all justify it. 

At a time when the planet is full of thousands of dead, we are asked to keep silent and follow orders. This is not the time for controversy, we have been warned. But no matter how many times we step aside and remain silent, we are besieged by states of emergency that become a matter of passing the buck. The machinery is at work and promises to crush our freedoms. 

In Algeria and before COVID-19, the Hirak protest movement, which led to the ousting of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, was strong and its mobilisation powerful. But confinement prevented the protesters from continuing their actions, even if their political demands remained valid. To everyone's surprise, the Algerian authorities took advantage of the cessation of the demonstrations to imprison their opponents. Journalists such as Khaled Derarni and Sofiane Merakchi, to name but a few, were arrested. At a time when the WHO is urging heads of state to empty prisons and reduce sentences, the Algerian authorities are condemning and imprisoning. 

A few days later, the news websites Radio M and Maghreb Emergence were censored. The decision shocked both the public and professionals in the sector. "Our two online news websites maghrebergent.info and radiom.info were blocked to the public in Algeria by the Algerian authorities on Thursday 8 April at 5 p.m. The usual host checks and local tests are converging: This is political censorship." The sentence was handed down insidiously, in silence, with no trial and no appeal. And it is far from the first time. In Algeria, the TSA (Tout Sur l'Algérie) site has already been the victim of such acts in 2017 and 2019. Reporting has become a political act in Algeria. Censored journalists are rising up: "Maghreb Emergent, launched in 2010, is the leader on economic news in Algeria. The Radio M news website has a link to the country's first web radio, launched in 2013. They are two broadcasters with reputable professionalism. No defamation complaint has been filed in 17 years of cumulative existence. Their blockade is today the worst repression of press freedom in Algeria since the murders of journalists in the 1990s," they said indignantly. 

After the high price the Algerian press paid in the years of terrorism, it is once again muzzled in total illegality. New technologies have helped facilitate censorship. All it takes is to push buttons to ban a newspaper, to cut it off from its readers and this is only the beginning of the nightmare. 

Today, states are increasingly equipped to monitor, punish and censor. But why shouldn't citizens have the same tools to control those they have chosen? You could say that the forms of the algorithms are impenetrable!