Протесты в Северной Африке: Что происходит?

The protests in North Africa: What's happening?

The protests against the high cost of living, unemployment and corruption have been growing since the end of the year throughout North Africa, spreading through both Tunisia and Algeria in more and more cities and involving more social sectors, to the extent that the situation in both countries has become extremely unstable - much to the concern of the United States and the European Union, the top two international guarantors of the oligarchic political systems that are perpetuated in the Maghreb, posing as "buffer states" against the advance of Islamic fundamentalism in the region.

Bouteflika in Algeria and Tunisia's Ben Ali (not to mention Mohammed VI in Morocco) are presented to the outside world as "strong men" who need a strong hand to subdue and keep out the enemy within, at the cost of plunging their populations into poverty and keeping them disciplined with an iron fist, crushing or hindering as much as possible any attempt by the people to organize themselves or seek political change, crushing ethnic minorities and working - through the apparatus of the State - to ensure the continuity of the system by supporting compliant social, labour and political agencies and organizations. All this with the support or complicity of the "international community", which values - over and above any respect for human rights - the existence of stable allies, both in order to carry on the "war on terror" and as good trading partners.

The self-immolation of a fruit vendor in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid to protest the injustices of the regime and the lack of any prospects in life was the spark that set off a protest movement which began in that town and its surroundings and has since spread all over Tunisia, with people demanding greater democracy and a reversal of anti-popular economic policies dictated by the international financial organizations. Shanty-dwellers near coalfields, lawyers, journalists, young people from poor neighborhoods... these are the most active and visible elements behind the protests. The television channel Al Jazeera and internet sites and blogs - despite all the attempts to control and silence them - have become two major sources of information and contact for coordinating and expanding a movement that the official media agencies - the only legally-permitted ones - are trying to hide and minimize.