Independent
Anyone still searching for the idealistic spirit of the Arab Spring can find it in abundance in Algeria. The largest country in Africa is imbued with democratic intent, and ongoing protests aimed at trying to ensure a more just society remain peaceful.
The millions massing on the streets of major cities such as Algiers and Oran, and indeed in towns and villages, won a hugely impressive victory on 2 April this year, when president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the personification of the country’s old order, finally resigned after two decades in power.
It marked an initial high point in the so-called Revolution of Smiles – an attempt to emulate 2011, when new technology, and especially the internet, was used.
