Maghreb Malaise

What has become known as the Arab Spring is still sending shockwaves through the Arab world. The coterie of despotic, kleptocratic rulers across the Middle East and Northern Africa have watched in disbelief as their leaders has been forced from power by a groundswell of popular protest that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Algeria is facing many of the same problems. Plagued by 50% unemployment among 18 to 30 year olds, lack of opportunity, corruption, and a growing population of young people who are at once educated and ambitious, suppressed and resentful. But on one point Algeria is different; the people still suffer from the traumatic legacy of a decade-long civil war in the 1990s. Meaning they don’t dare to riot just yet. I believe this has led the youth to drugs, committing crimes and cutting themselves with razorblades. They are desperate to leave.

For the 19-year-old Amine Tighri to feel that he is still alive and to remind himself of his biggest dream, to flee from Algeria, he has tattooed himself on his stomach with needle and mascara: I want to live - but where and with whom? (Je veux vivre ou avec qui?). He hasn’t done the question mark yet and he made a typo.

A group of friends hangs out every night in a park by the port of Algiers. They are together seven days a week, and as they say: "what else would we do?" The 18-23 year olds are all unemployed and live with their parents where they are not particularly welcome: "This is our family."

Unemployed Ahmed Belhadj and his pregnant wife Farisha have nowhere to live, so they live on the roof of his mother's building in central Algiers. They are so ashamed of their desperate situation, that only after sunset, they crawl onto the roof and wait until darkness has descended over the city before they roll out their blankets. Until then they often looks out at the sea, and dream about a future with jobs and a small home for their little girl who will be born in February.

31-year-old Norrdine Khelfaoui is unemployed and dream of leaving Algeria every day. He has completely lost faith in the future and has attempted suicide several times. He lives with his parents and nine siblings. Therefore he lives pretty much his whole life on the streets, especially at night because there is more room to sleep in the tiny apartment during the day when the rest of the family is not there.

A typical residential block in a suburb of Algiers. French colonials built the affordable housing complex in a hurry, at the time of Algerian independence in 1962. All apartments have their own satellite dish, to be able to follow what is happening outside Algeria and to watch the hugely popular European football matches especially from England and Spain.

24-year-old Abdel Harachi is a heavy drug addict and unemployed who earns a little money to keep an eye on cars in a street in the center of Algiers. The unauthorized traffic wardens is a widespread phenomenon in the capital, and at night you see these young men hanging out in the streets at night to receive a few coins in gratitude when the owner of a car picks it up in the morning. He has been in and out of prison numerous times and tried to smuggle him self aboard ships in the harbor more than fifteen times – failing every time and ending up in jail.

Boys and young men play a football computer game at an arcade in Algiers. The small, damp room is plastered with football stars and other idols. The oldest of the group displays his cuts, which he inflicts on himself to feel that he lives.

The unemployed teenager Amine Tighri has plans to flee from Algeria as soon as he has saved up enough money for a spot in one of the many small fishing boats that daily tries to reach the Spanish coast and the promised EU.

Saturday afternoon at the Port of the Algiers suburb of Rais Hamidou. Most young men in Algeria have lost their religion, but this group of young men holds on to Islam and pray every day that God has not forgotten about them.

Groups of young men hangs in the streets everywhere in Algiers. These men are drinking alcohol, smoking hash and sniffing glue in a shadowy part of Algiers.

Families of victims of enforced disappearance in Algeria holds peaceful protests once a week in the Algerian capital Algiers. They have been demanding for years that the authorities reveal the fate and whereabouts of their relatives, who vanished after being taken away by security forces during the violent 1990s civil war. During the conflict, thousands of individuals disappeared at the hands of the Algerian security forces. No proper investigations have been carried out by the Algerian authorities into these disappearances and the perpetrators are yet to be brought to justice.

Young men hangs in the streets everywhere in Algiers at night. This man has been in and out of jail for ten years, and never had a real job. He watches out for the parked cars in a street in downtown Algiers, earning a few bucks a night while drinking alcohol and smoking hash.

A group of friends plays and talks every night in the streets of Algiers. They are together seven days a week, and as they say: "what else would we do?" The are all unemployed and live with their parents where they are not particularly welcome: "This is our family."

Groups of young men hangs in the streets everywhere in Algiers.

A group of youngsters passing time playing soccer on a dirt track behind the military port of Algiers. During breaks they sit in the twilight and dream of a life in the West. First stop would be to get aboard one of the many cargo ships at anchor in the Bay of Algiers.