April 2011 - Centre for Civil Society - University of KwaZulu-Natal

proportion of graduated young people are filling the ranks of the
unemployed once their studies end. The future for young Algerians is often
seen as a choice between prison and exile, and suicides rate among this
category of the population reaches sky-high proportions. The building of
“fortress Europe” and the increasing repressive measures being taken
against the numerous candidates for emigration to Europe mean that in
practice, there is no other way out for these young people than to take the
road of struggle and collective action.
Although generalised, the present movement mainly involves those
deprived youths from poor neighbourhoods, and has not yet gathered
around it the active mobilisation of the mass of the population. The
entering into action of the working class will be necessary to give this
movement a more organised and mass character, and avoid it being
transformed into futile and disorganised acts of despair that could be more
easily crushed by the state forces.
While in Tunisia, the trade union federation, the UGTT (General Union of
Tunisian Workers) has expressed its solidarity with the youth and assisted
their struggle through calling for action, the Algerian workers can hardly
rely on such initiatives from the UGTA (General Union of Algerian
Workers), which has reached an incredible level of corruption, betrayal
and subservience to the Bouteflika regime. The only public statement
made by the UGTA leadership until now has disgustingly defended the
government’s version of the situation. Over the last few years, this
submission to the government has cut it off from entire sectors of trade
unionists, who left the UGTA to join more combative, independent trade
unions. The battle to vitalise, unify and democratise these independent
trade unions are some of the important tasks facing the working class at
the present.
The setting up of local committees of resistance in the neighbourhoods and
in the workplaces could be a very useful tool in order to assist the struggle
of the youth, to involve the rest of the population in mass actions, and to
coordinate, along with independent trade unions, work stoppages on a
national level. Already, some sectors, such as the dockers of Algiers’ port
or workers from the healthcare sector, are talking about engaging in strike
action. This is of a huge importance. Generalising such steps could
transform the situation. An appeal for a national strike in support of the
youth rebellion would enjoy a mass response and would contribute to
transform the huge anger and frustration that exists into a much more
powerful movement, that could potentially bring this rotten regime down,
and open the way for really democratic, and socialist change.
www.socialistworld.net
Climate capitalism’ won at Cancun - everyone else loses