العربية
English
Répression de la mobilité
Contrôle de la migration, précarité fabriquée et régimes frontaliers racialisés dans l’Algérie post-Hirak : au nom de la souveraineté, au service de l’accumulation de rentes
« Aujourd’hui, nous pouvons tout faire, à condition de ne pas imiter l’Europe, à condition de ne pas être obsédés par le désir de rattraper l’Europe. L’Europe vit aujourd’hui à un rythme si fou, si imprudent, qu’elle a perdu tout repère, toute raison, et qu’elle court à toute vitesse vers l’abîme ; nous ferions bien de l’éviter à toute vitesse. »
— Frantz Fanon, 1961
Ces dernières années, les autorités algériennes ont considérablement durci leurs politiques (anti-)migratoires. Les refoulements vers la Tunisie et les expulsions massives vers le Niger se sont multipliés, tandis que l’État expulse de plus en plus de personnes vers la Libye et le Maroc. L’image d’une « nouvelle Algérie » prospère, propagée par le régime post-Hirak, est toutefois largement contredite par le nombre croissant d’Algériens harraga qui préfèrent à nouveau risquer la migration clandestine plutôt que de rester dans le pays.
Dans le passé, l’Algérie, contrairement à ses voisins, était considérée comme extrêmement réticente à s’intégrer officiellement dans le régime frontalier européen, refusant presque systématiquement de participer aux projets de « gestion des frontières » financés par l’Europe. Sous la présidence d’Abdelmadjid Tebboune et du chef d’état-major Said Chengriha, l’État a cependant amorcé un revirement prudent, intensifiant sa coopération (anti-)migratoire avec l’Allemagne, l’Italie, l’OIM et la Ligue arabe, notamment en matière de formation policière et de collaboration en vue d’expulsions.
Les représailles de l’État contre les harraga, la précarité artificielle imposée à des milliers de personnes et le racisme systémique (re)produit par l’État et par une grande partie de la société contrastent fortement avec le passé anti-impérialiste de l’Algérie. Le régime continue d’entretenir une image politique nourrie par l’esprit de l’Algérie postcoloniale des années 1960 et 1970. Pourtant, dans les faits, il ne subsiste que des traces de cet alignement autrefois affirmé avec le Sud global. La solidarité internationale que l’État algérien exprime parfois apparaît aujourd’hui conditionnelle et sélective, motivée par les luttes internes au régime pour l’accès aux rentes des hydrocarbures et, au mieux, par des « stratégies anti-impérialistes » de politique étrangère.
Le contrôle des migrations est devenu un enjeu omniprésent dans les discours publics et les interventions gouvernementales à travers l’Afrique du Nord. Toutefois, la situation algérienne reste largement méconnue. Ce rapport vise donc à contribuer à combler cette lacune en dressant un état des lieux des mesures répressives prises par l’État à l’encontre des harraga algériens et non algériens, des infrastructures de rétention mises en place par les autorités, des pratiques d’expulsion des services de sécurité, ainsi que de l’engagement de l’Algérie auprès de gouvernements étrangers dans la répression des mobilités migratoires. À cet égard, la coopération de l’Algérie avec la Tunisie, la Libye, l’Italie, l’Allemagne, mais aussi avec l’OIM, le HCR, la Ligue arabe et son « organisme scientifique », l’Université arabe Naif pour les sciences de la sécurité (NAUSS) basée à Riyad, revêt une importance particulière.
Suppression of Movement
Migration Control, Manufactured Precarity and Racialised Border Regimes in Post-Hirak Algeria: In the Name of Sovereignty, at the Service of Rent Accumulation
“We today can do everything, so long as we do not imitate Europe, so long as we are not obsessed by the desire to catch up with Europe. Europe now lives at such a mad, reckless pace that she has shaken off all guidance and all reason, and she is running headlong into the abyss; we would do well to avoid it with all possible speed.”
Frantz Fanon, 1961
In recent years, Algerian authorities have substantially tightened their (anti-)migration policies. Pushbacks to Tunisia and mass expulsions to Niger were expanded while the state is deporting more and more people to Libya and to Morocco. The image of a prosperous ‘New Algeria’, propagated by the post-Hirak regime, is, meanwhile, strongly contradicted by the increasing number of Algerian harraga who are once again favoring the risks of a clandestine migration over remaining in the country.
In the past, Algeria, unlike neighboring countries, was considered extremely reluctant to formally integrate into the European border regime, near-consistently refusing to take part in Europe-funded ‘border management’ projects. Under President Abdelmajid Tebboune and army chief Said Chengriha, however, the state initiated a cautious turnaround and intensified its (anti-)migration cooperation with Germany, Italy, IOM and the Arab League, mostly in regards to police training and deportation cooperation.
The state’s reprisals against the harga, the manufactured precarity of thousands of people and the widespread racism (re-)produced by the state and large parts of society are, however, in stark contrast to Algeria’s anti-imperialist past. The state maintains a political imagery nurtured by the spirit of the post-colonial Algeria of the 1960s and 70s. Yet, de facto, only traces of this once staunch alignment with the Global South remain. The international solidarity occasionally vocalised by the Algerian state is today a conditional and selective one, driven by the regime’s internal tug-of-war over access to the hydrocarbon revenues and, at best, the “anti-imperialist strategies” of foreign policy.
Migration control has turned into an ever-present subject of public discourses and government interventions across northern Africa. Corresponding matters in Algeria, however, remain strongly unreported. Accordingly, this report aims at contributing to bridge this gap by providing a mapping of the state’s crackdowns against Algerian and non-Algerian harraga, the authorities’ retention infrastructure, the security services’ deportation practices, and Algeria’s engagement with foreign governments regarding the suppression of movement. In particular relevant in this regard are Algeria’s cooperation with Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Germany as well as with IOM, UNHCR and the Arab League and its ‘scientific body’, the Riyadh-based Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS).
Suppression of Movement
Migration Control, Manufactured Precarity and Racialised Border Regimes in Post-Hirak Algeria: In the Name of Sovereignty, at the Service of Rent Accumulation
“We today can do everything, so long as we do not imitate Europe, so long as we are not obsessed by the desire to catch up with Europe. Europe now lives at such a mad, reckless pace that she has shaken off all guidance and all reason, and she is running headlong into the abyss; we would do well to avoid it with all possible speed.”
Frantz Fanon, 1961
In recent years, Algerian authorities have substantially tightened their (anti-)migration policies. Pushbacks to Tunisia and mass expulsions to Niger were expanded while the state is deporting more and more people to Libya and to Morocco. The image of a prosperous ‘New Algeria’, propagated by the post-Hirak regime, is, meanwhile, strongly contradicted by the increasing number of Algerian harraga who are once again favoring the risks of a clandestine migration over remaining in the country.
In the past, Algeria, unlike neighboring countries, was considered extremely reluctant to formally integrate into the European border regime, near-consistently refusing to take part in Europe-funded ‘border management’ projects. Under President Abdelmajid Tebboune and army chief Said Chengriha, however, the state initiated a cautious turnaround and intensified its (anti-)migration cooperation with Germany, Italy, IOM and the Arab League, mostly in regards to police training and deportation cooperation.
The state’s reprisals against the harga, the manufactured precarity of thousands of people and the widespread racism (re-)produced by the state and large parts of society are, however, in stark contrast to Algeria’s anti-imperialist past. The state maintains a political imagery nurtured by the spirit of the post-colonial Algeria of the 1960s and 70s. Yet, de facto, only traces of this once staunch alignment with the Global South remain. The international solidarity occasionally vocalised by the Algerian state is today a conditional and selective one, driven by the regime’s internal tug-of-war over access to the hydrocarbon revenues and, at best, the “anti-imperialist strategies” of foreign policy.
Migration control has turned into an ever-present subject of public discourses and government interventions across northern Africa. Corresponding matters in Algeria, however, remain strongly unreported. Accordingly, this report aims at contributing to bridge this gap by providing a mapping of the state’s crackdowns against Algerian and non-Algerian harraga, the authorities’ retention infrastructure, the security services’ deportation practices, and Algeria’s engagement with foreign governments regarding the suppression of movement. In particular relevant in this regard are Algeria’s cooperation with Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Germany as well as with IOM, UNHCR and the Arab League and its ‘scientific body’, the Riyadh-based Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS).
Suppression of Movement
Migration Control, Manufactured Precarity and Racialised Border Regimes in Post-Hirak Algeria: In the Name of Sovereignty, at the Service of Rent Accumulation
“We today can do everything, so long as we do not imitate Europe, so long as we are not obsessed by the desire to catch up with Europe. Europe now lives at such a mad, reckless pace that she has shaken off all guidance and all reason, and she is running headlong into the abyss; we would do well to avoid it with all possible speed.”
Frantz Fanon, 1961
In recent years, Algerian authorities have substantially tightened their (anti-)migration policies. Pushbacks to Tunisia and mass expulsions to Niger were expanded while the state is deporting more and more people to Libya and to Morocco. The image of a prosperous ‘New Algeria’, propagated by the post-Hirak regime, is, meanwhile, strongly contradicted by the increasing number of Algerian harraga who are once again favoring the risks of a clandestine migration over remaining in the country.
In the past, Algeria, unlike neighboring countries, was considered extremely reluctant to formally integrate into the European border regime, near-consistently refusing to take part in Europe-funded ‘border management’ projects. Under President Abdelmajid Tebboune and army chief Said Chengriha, however, the state initiated a cautious turnaround and intensified its (anti-)migration cooperation with Germany, Italy, IOM and the Arab League, mostly in regards to police training and deportation cooperation.
The state’s reprisals against the harga, the manufactured precarity of thousands of people and the widespread racism (re-)produced by the state and large parts of society are, however, in stark contrast to Algeria’s anti-imperialist past. The state maintains a political imagery nurtured by the spirit of the post-colonial Algeria of the 1960s and 70s. Yet, de facto, only traces of this once staunch alignment with the Global South remain. The international solidarity occasionally vocalised by the Algerian state is today a conditional and selective one, driven by the regime’s internal tug-of-war over access to the hydrocarbon revenues and, at best, the “anti-imperialist strategies” of foreign policy.
Migration control has turned into an ever-present subject of public discourses and government interventions across northern Africa. Corresponding matters in Algeria, however, remain strongly unreported. Accordingly, this report aims at contributing to bridge this gap by providing a mapping of the state’s crackdowns against Algerian and non-Algerian harraga, the authorities’ retention infrastructure, the security services’ deportation practices, and Algeria’s engagement with foreign governments regarding the suppression of movement. In particular relevant in this regard are Algeria’s cooperation with Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Germany as well as with IOM, UNHCR and the Arab League and its ‘scientific body’, the Riyadh-based Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS).
Suppression of Movement
Migration Control, Manufactured Precarity and Racialised Border Regimes in Post-Hirak Algeria: In the Name of Sovereignty, at the Service of Rent Accumulation
“We today can do everything, so long as we do not imitate Europe, so long as we are not obsessed by the desire to catch up with Europe. Europe now lives at such a mad, reckless pace that she has shaken off all guidance and all reason, and she is running headlong into the abyss; we would do well to avoid it with all possible speed.”
Frantz Fanon, 1961
In recent years, Algerian authorities have substantially tightened their (anti-)migration policies. Pushbacks to Tunisia and mass expulsions to Niger were expanded while the state is deporting more and more people to Libya and to Morocco. The image of a prosperous ‘New Algeria’, propagated by the post-Hirak regime, is, meanwhile, strongly contradicted by the increasing number of Algerian harraga who are once again favoring the risks of a clandestine migration over remaining in the country.
In the past, Algeria, unlike neighboring countries, was considered extremely reluctant to formally integrate into the European border regime, near-consistently refusing to take part in Europe-funded ‘border management’ projects. Under President Abdelmajid Tebboune and army chief Said Chengriha, however, the state initiated a cautious turnaround and intensified its (anti-)migration cooperation with Germany, Italy, IOM and the Arab League, mostly in regards to police training and deportation cooperation.
The state’s reprisals against the harga, the manufactured precarity of thousands of people and the widespread racism (re-)produced by the state and large parts of society are, however, in stark contrast to Algeria’s anti-imperialist past. The state maintains a political imagery nurtured by the spirit of the post-colonial Algeria of the 1960s and 70s. Yet, de facto, only traces of this once staunch alignment with the Global South remain. The international solidarity occasionally vocalised by the Algerian state is today a conditional and selective one, driven by the regime’s internal tug-of-war over access to the hydrocarbon revenues and, at best, the “anti-imperialist strategies” of foreign policy.
Migration control has turned into an ever-present subject of public discourses and government interventions across northern Africa. Corresponding matters in Algeria, however, remain strongly unreported. Accordingly, this report aims at contributing to bridge this gap by providing a mapping of the state’s crackdowns against Algerian and non-Algerian harraga, the authorities’ retention infrastructure, the security services’ deportation practices, and Algeria’s engagement with foreign governments regarding the suppression of movement. In particular relevant in this regard are Algeria’s cooperation with Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Germany as well as with IOM, UNHCR and the Arab League and its ‘scientific body’, the Riyadh-based Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS).
Suppression of Movement
Migration Control, Manufactured Precarity and Racialised Border Regimes in Post-Hirak Algeria: In the Name of Sovereignty, at the Service of Rent Accumulation
“We today can do everything, so long as we do not imitate Europe, so long as we are not obsessed by the desire to catch up with Europe. Europe now lives at such a mad, reckless pace that she has shaken off all guidance and all reason, and she is running headlong into the abyss; we would do well to avoid it with all possible speed.”
Frantz Fanon, 1961
In recent years, Algerian authorities have substantially tightened their (anti-)migration policies. Pushbacks to Tunisia and mass expulsions to Niger were expanded while the state is deporting more and more people to Libya and to Morocco. The image of a prosperous ‘New Algeria’, propagated by the post-Hirak regime, is, meanwhile, strongly contradicted by the increasing number of Algerian harraga who are once again favoring the risks of a clandestine migration over remaining in the country.
In the past, Algeria, unlike neighboring countries, was considered extremely reluctant to formally integrate into the European border regime, near-consistently refusing to take part in Europe-funded ‘border management’ projects. Under President Abdelmajid Tebboune and army chief Said Chengriha, however, the state initiated a cautious turnaround and intensified its (anti-)migration cooperation with Germany, Italy, IOM and the Arab League, mostly in regards to police training and deportation cooperation.
The state’s reprisals against the harga, the manufactured precarity of thousands of people and the widespread racism (re-)produced by the state and large parts of society are, however, in stark contrast to Algeria’s anti-imperialist past. The state maintains a political imagery nurtured by the spirit of the post-colonial Algeria of the 1960s and 70s. Yet, de facto, only traces of this once staunch alignment with the Global South remain. The international solidarity occasionally vocalised by the Algerian state is today a conditional and selective one, driven by the regime’s internal tug-of-war over access to the hydrocarbon revenues and, at best, the “anti-imperialist strategies” of foreign policy.
Migration control has turned into an ever-present subject of public discourses and government interventions across northern Africa. Corresponding matters in Algeria, however, remain strongly unreported. Accordingly, this report aims at contributing to bridge this gap by providing a mapping of the state’s crackdowns against Algerian and non-Algerian harraga, the authorities’ retention infrastructure, the security services’ deportation practices, and Algeria’s engagement with foreign governments regarding the suppression of movement. In particular relevant in this regard are Algeria’s cooperation with Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Germany as well as with IOM, UNHCR and the Arab League and its ‘scientific body’, the Riyadh-based Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS).
Suppression of Movement
Migration Control, Manufactured Precarity and Racialised Border Regimes in Post-Hirak Algeria: In the Name of Sovereignty, at the Service of Rent Accumulation
“We today can do everything, so long as we do not imitate Europe, so long as we are not obsessed by the desire to catch up with Europe. Europe now lives at such a mad, reckless pace that she has shaken off all guidance and all reason, and she is running headlong into the abyss; we would do well to avoid it with all possible speed.”
Frantz Fanon, 1961
In recent years, Algerian authorities have substantially tightened their (anti-)migration policies. Pushbacks to Tunisia and mass expulsions to Niger were expanded while the state is deporting more and more people to Libya and to Morocco. The image of a prosperous ‘New Algeria’, propagated by the post-Hirak regime, is, meanwhile, strongly contradicted by the increasing number of Algerian harraga who are once again favoring the risks of a clandestine migration over remaining in the country.
In the past, Algeria, unlike neighboring countries, was considered extremely reluctant to formally integrate into the European border regime, near-consistently refusing to take part in Europe-funded ‘border management’ projects. Under President Abdelmajid Tebboune and army chief Said Chengriha, however, the state initiated a cautious turnaround and intensified its (anti-)migration cooperation with Germany, Italy, IOM and the Arab League, mostly in regards to police training and deportation cooperation.
The state’s reprisals against the harga, the manufactured precarity of thousands of people and the widespread racism (re-)produced by the state and large parts of society are, however, in stark contrast to Algeria’s anti-imperialist past. The state maintains a political imagery nurtured by the spirit of the post-colonial Algeria of the 1960s and 70s. Yet, de facto, only traces of this once staunch alignment with the Global South remain. The international solidarity occasionally vocalised by the Algerian state is today a conditional and selective one, driven by the regime’s internal tug-of-war over access to the hydrocarbon revenues and, at best, the “anti-imperialist strategies” of foreign policy.
Migration control has turned into an ever-present subject of public discourses and government interventions across northern Africa. Corresponding matters in Algeria, however, remain strongly unreported. Accordingly, this report aims at contributing to bridge this gap by providing a mapping of the state’s crackdowns against Algerian and non-Algerian harraga, the authorities’ retention infrastructure, the security services’ deportation practices, and Algeria’s engagement with foreign governments regarding the suppression of movement. In particular relevant in this regard are Algeria’s cooperation with Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Germany as well as with IOM, UNHCR and the Arab League and its ‘scientific body’, the Riyadh-based Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS).
Suppression of Movement
Migration Control, Manufactured Precarity and Racialised Border Regimes in Post-Hirak Algeria: In the Name of Sovereignty, at the Service of Rent Accumulation
“We today can do everything, so long as we do not imitate Europe, so long as we are not obsessed by the desire to catch up with Europe. Europe now lives at such a mad, reckless pace that she has shaken off all guidance and all reason, and she is running headlong into the abyss; we would do well to avoid it with all possible speed.”
Frantz Fanon, 1961
In recent years, Algerian authorities have substantially tightened their (anti-)migration policies. Pushbacks to Tunisia and mass expulsions to Niger were expanded while the state is deporting more and more people to Libya and to Morocco. The image of a prosperous ‘New Algeria’, propagated by the post-Hirak regime, is, meanwhile, strongly contradicted by the increasing number of Algerian harraga who are once again favoring the risks of a clandestine migration over remaining in the country.
In the past, Algeria, unlike neighboring countries, was considered extremely reluctant to formally integrate into the European border regime, near-consistently refusing to take part in Europe-funded ‘border management’ projects. Under President Abdelmajid Tebboune and army chief Said Chengriha, however, the state initiated a cautious turnaround and intensified its (anti-)migration cooperation with Germany, Italy, IOM and the Arab League, mostly in regards to police training and deportation cooperation.
The state’s reprisals against the harga, the manufactured precarity of thousands of people and the widespread racism (re-)produced by the state and large parts of society are, however, in stark contrast to Algeria’s anti-imperialist past. The state maintains a political imagery nurtured by the spirit of the post-colonial Algeria of the 1960s and 70s. Yet, de facto, only traces of this once staunch alignment with the Global South remain. The international solidarity occasionally vocalised by the Algerian state is today a conditional and selective one, driven by the regime’s internal tug-of-war over access to the hydrocarbon revenues and, at best, the “anti-imperialist strategies” of foreign policy.
Migration control has turned into an ever-present subject of public discourses and government interventions across northern Africa. Corresponding matters in Algeria, however, remain strongly unreported. Accordingly, this report aims at contributing to bridge this gap by providing a mapping of the state’s crackdowns against Algerian and non-Algerian harraga, the authorities’ retention infrastructure, the security services’ deportation practices, and Algeria’s engagement with foreign governments regarding the suppression of movement. In particular relevant in this regard are Algeria’s cooperation with Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Germany as well as with IOM, UNHCR and the Arab League and its ‘scientific body’, the Riyadh-based Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS).
Suppression of Movement
Migration Control, Manufactured Precarity and Racialised Border Regimes in Post-Hirak Algeria: In the Name of Sovereignty, at the Service of Rent Accumulation
“We today can do everything, so long as we do not imitate Europe, so long as we are not obsessed by the desire to catch up with Europe. Europe now lives at such a mad, reckless pace that she has shaken off all guidance and all reason, and she is running headlong into the abyss; we would do well to avoid it with all possible speed.”
Frantz Fanon, 1961
In recent years, Algerian authorities have substantially tightened their (anti-)migration policies. Pushbacks to Tunisia and mass expulsions to Niger were expanded while the state is deporting more and more people to Libya and to Morocco. The image of a prosperous ‘New Algeria’, propagated by the post-Hirak regime, is, meanwhile, strongly contradicted by the increasing number of Algerian harraga who are once again favoring the risks of a clandestine migration over remaining in the country.
In the past, Algeria, unlike neighboring countries, was considered extremely reluctant to formally integrate into the European border regime, near-consistently refusing to take part in Europe-funded ‘border management’ projects. Under President Abdelmajid Tebboune and army chief Said Chengriha, however, the state initiated a cautious turnaround and intensified its (anti-)migration cooperation with Germany, Italy, IOM and the Arab League, mostly in regards to police training and deportation cooperation.
The state’s reprisals against the harga, the manufactured precarity of thousands of people and the widespread racism (re-)produced by the state and large parts of society are, however, in stark contrast to Algeria’s anti-imperialist past. The state maintains a political imagery nurtured by the spirit of the post-colonial Algeria of the 1960s and 70s. Yet, de facto, only traces of this once staunch alignment with the Global South remain. The international solidarity occasionally vocalised by the Algerian state is today a conditional and selective one, driven by the regime’s internal tug-of-war over access to the hydrocarbon revenues and, at best, the “anti-imperialist strategies” of foreign policy.
Migration control has turned into an ever-present subject of public discourses and government interventions across northern Africa. Corresponding matters in Algeria, however, remain strongly unreported. Accordingly, this report aims at contributing to bridge this gap by providing a mapping of the state’s crackdowns against Algerian and non-Algerian harraga, the authorities’ retention infrastructure, the security services’ deportation practices, and Algeria’s engagement with foreign governments regarding the suppression of movement. In particular relevant in this regard are Algeria’s cooperation with Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Germany as well as with IOM, UNHCR and the Arab League and its ‘scientific body’, the Riyadh-based Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS).
Suppression of Movement
Migration Control, Manufactured Precarity and Racialised Border Regimes in Post-Hirak Algeria: In the Name of Sovereignty, at the Service of Rent Accumulation
“We today can do everything, so long as we do not imitate Europe, so long as we are not obsessed by the desire to catch up with Europe. Europe now lives at such a mad, reckless pace that she has shaken off all guidance and all reason, and she is running headlong into the abyss; we would do well to avoid it with all possible speed.”
Frantz Fanon, 1961
In recent years, Algerian authorities have substantially tightened their (anti-)migration policies. Pushbacks to Tunisia and mass expulsions to Niger were expanded while the state is deporting more and more people to Libya and to Morocco. The image of a prosperous ‘New Algeria’, propagated by the post-Hirak regime, is, meanwhile, strongly contradicted by the increasing number of Algerian harraga who are once again favoring the risks of a clandestine migration over remaining in the country.
In the past, Algeria, unlike neighboring countries, was considered extremely reluctant to formally integrate into the European border regime, near-consistently refusing to take part in Europe-funded ‘border management’ projects. Under President Abdelmajid Tebboune and army chief Said Chengriha, however, the state initiated a cautious turnaround and intensified its (anti-)migration cooperation with Germany, Italy, IOM and the Arab League, mostly in regards to police training and deportation cooperation.
The state’s reprisals against the harga, the manufactured precarity of thousands of people and the widespread racism (re-)produced by the state and large parts of society are, however, in stark contrast to Algeria’s anti-imperialist past. The state maintains a political imagery nurtured by the spirit of the post-colonial Algeria of the 1960s and 70s. Yet, de facto, only traces of this once staunch alignment with the Global South remain. The international solidarity occasionally vocalised by the Algerian state is today a conditional and selective one, driven by the regime’s internal tug-of-war over access to the hydrocarbon revenues and, at best, the “anti-imperialist strategies” of foreign policy.
Migration control has turned into an ever-present subject of public discourses and government interventions across northern Africa. Corresponding matters in Algeria, however, remain strongly unreported. Accordingly, this report aims at contributing to bridge this gap by providing a mapping of the state’s crackdowns against Algerian and non-Algerian harraga, the authorities’ retention infrastructure, the security services’ deportation practices, and Algeria’s engagement with foreign governments regarding the suppression of movement. In particular relevant in this regard are Algeria’s cooperation with Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Germany as well as with IOM, UNHCR and the Arab League and its ‘scientific body’, the Riyadh-based Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS).
Suppression of Movement
Migration Control, Manufactured Precarity and Racialised Border Regimes in Post-Hirak Algeria: In the Name of Sovereignty, at the Service of Rent Accumulation
“We today can do everything, so long as we do not imitate Europe, so long as we are not obsessed by the desire to catch up with Europe. Europe now lives at such a mad, reckless pace that she has shaken off all guidance and all reason, and she is running headlong into the abyss; we would do well to avoid it with all possible speed.”
Frantz Fanon, 1961
In recent years, Algerian authorities have substantially tightened their (anti-)migration policies. Pushbacks to Tunisia and mass expulsions to Niger were expanded while the state is deporting more and more people to Libya and to Morocco. The image of a prosperous ‘New Algeria’, propagated by the post-Hirak regime, is, meanwhile, strongly contradicted by the increasing number of Algerian harraga who are once again favoring the risks of a clandestine migration over remaining in the country.
In the past, Algeria, unlike neighboring countries, was considered extremely reluctant to formally integrate into the European border regime, near-consistently refusing to take part in Europe-funded ‘border management’ projects. Under President Abdelmajid Tebboune and army chief Said Chengriha, however, the state initiated a cautious turnaround and intensified its (anti-)migration cooperation with Germany, Italy, IOM and the Arab League, mostly in regards to police training and deportation cooperation.
The state’s reprisals against the harga, the manufactured precarity of thousands of people and the widespread racism (re-)produced by the state and large parts of society are, however, in stark contrast to Algeria’s anti-imperialist past. The state maintains a political imagery nurtured by the spirit of the post-colonial Algeria of the 1960s and 70s. Yet, de facto, only traces of this once staunch alignment with the Global South remain. The international solidarity occasionally vocalised by the Algerian state is today a conditional and selective one, driven by the regime’s internal tug-of-war over access to the hydrocarbon revenues and, at best, the “anti-imperialist strategies” of foreign policy.
Migration control has turned into an ever-present subject of public discourses and government interventions across northern Africa. Corresponding matters in Algeria, however, remain strongly unreported. Accordingly, this report aims at contributing to bridge this gap by providing a mapping of the state’s crackdowns against Algerian and non-Algerian harraga, the authorities’ retention infrastructure, the security services’ deportation practices, and Algeria’s engagement with foreign governments regarding the suppression of movement. In particular relevant in this regard are Algeria’s cooperation with Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Germany as well as with IOM, UNHCR and the Arab League and its ‘scientific body’, the Riyadh-based Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS).
Suppression of Movement
Migration Control, Manufactured Precarity and Racialised Border Regimes in Post-Hirak Algeria: In the Name of Sovereignty, at the Service of Rent Accumulation
“We today can do everything, so long as we do not imitate Europe, so long as we are not obsessed by the desire to catch up with Europe. Europe now lives at such a mad, reckless pace that she has shaken off all guidance and all reason, and she is running headlong into the abyss; we would do well to avoid it with all possible speed.”
Frantz Fanon, 1961
In recent years, Algerian authorities have substantially tightened their (anti-)migration policies. Pushbacks to Tunisia and mass expulsions to Niger were expanded while the state is deporting more and more people to Libya and to Morocco. The image of a prosperous ‘New Algeria’, propagated by the post-Hirak regime, is, meanwhile, strongly contradicted by the increasing number of Algerian harraga who are once again favoring the risks of a clandestine migration over remaining in the country.
In the past, Algeria, unlike neighboring countries, was considered extremely reluctant to formally integrate into the European border regime, near-consistently refusing to take part in Europe-funded ‘border management’ projects. Under President Abdelmajid Tebboune and army chief Said Chengriha, however, the state initiated a cautious turnaround and intensified its (anti-)migration cooperation with Germany, Italy, IOM and the Arab League, mostly in regards to police training and deportation cooperation.
The state’s reprisals against the harga, the manufactured precarity of thousands of people and the widespread racism (re-)produced by the state and large parts of society are, however, in stark contrast to Algeria’s anti-imperialist past. The state maintains a political imagery nurtured by the spirit of the post-colonial Algeria of the 1960s and 70s. Yet, de facto, only traces of this once staunch alignment with the Global South remain. The international solidarity occasionally vocalised by the Algerian state is today a conditional and selective one, driven by the regime’s internal tug-of-war over access to the hydrocarbon revenues and, at best, the “anti-imperialist strategies” of foreign policy.
Migration control has turned into an ever-present subject of public discourses and government interventions across northern Africa. Corresponding matters in Algeria, however, remain strongly unreported. Accordingly, this report aims at contributing to bridge this gap by providing a mapping of the state’s crackdowns against Algerian and non-Algerian harraga, the authorities’ retention infrastructure, the security services’ deportation practices, and Algeria’s engagement with foreign governments regarding the suppression of movement. In particular relevant in this regard are Algeria’s cooperation with Tunisia, Libya, Italy, Germany as well as with IOM, UNHCR and the Arab League and its ‘scientific body’, the Riyadh-based Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (NAUSS).
