June 6, 2007: Security forces killed 17
Islamic terrorists last month, but about 30 people have died from terrorist
related violence in that period. The courts are currently trying 35 people for
various terrorist related offences. There are still several dozen small
groups (a dozen or more men each) of terrorists in operation. Many are in the
mountain forests east of the capital. A few are far to the south, in the
desert. The terrorists still have some support among the people, but many other
Algerians are quick to turn in any Islamic terrorist they come across.
May 24, 2007: Less than a third of the
eligible voters turned out for recent elections, because most Algerians have no
faith in the military dictatorship that has run the country for nearly two
decades, or any voting that is allowed. Since the 1960s, the leaders of the
revolution against France monopolized power, "in the name of the people."
Most of the people are screwed, and they know it. Algeria is yet another Arab
tyranny, where the few live it up at the expense of the many, and any attempts
at change are bought off or beaten down. The official unemployment rate of 16
percent hides a lot of underemployment and low paid jobs with no future.
Migration, legal or otherwise, is the goal of most of the under 30s (70 percent
of the population.) It's mainly men who are trying to get out. The only
positive sign is a falling birthrate, as more women take jobs men are unwilling
to do, or are unqualified for (60 percent of college students are women). The
men ran the country into the ground, and the women are making the best of
it.
