Algeria

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/21/world/africa/21iht-algeria.html?scp=36&sq=algeria%20FIS&st=cse

This article in the NY Times by Katrin Bennhold describes the current situation in Algeria. In Algeria, journalists and other citizens that speak out against the government are being charged with defamation. In addition, some journalists are receiving death threats from Al Qaeda for being "non-believers". The author quotes a newspaper editor in Algeria by the name of Ali Bahmane when he says "Fear and anxiety are again taking root in this country with the return of mass killings." This quote states that a link exists between today's occurrences and the period between 1988 and 1992 when the FIS (Islamic Salvation Front) first ran in the elections for the national government. The article states that the path that the modern Algeria is on right now is similar to the path that led to a civil war in the early 1990's. This is something that is described in Meriem Vergas journal article entitled "Genesis of a Mobilization: The Young Activists of Algeria's Islamic Salvation Front".

Vergas' article describes the period where the FIS went from a local influence to a national party that was gaining much popularity. When the party that had been in party for the past 40 years, the FLN, folded to public pressure and held popular elections, the FIS reportedly won the majority of the seats after the first round of elections. In order to ensure that they would continue to have power within the government, the FLN used the military to take power and declare the elections void. This move ensured they would remain in power and took the government out of the FIS' hands and declared them a threat to society. This led to a civil war that ravaged the country.

A link can be seen between the events going on now and the events back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Right now the journalists in Algeria are being subjugated to an intense censorship and oppression that is very similar to the oppression felt by the FIS when they starting winning seats in the early 1990's. This could mean that as the journalists and other people become more and more oppressed by the current government, they could have the same reaction that the FIS had which was to turn around and fight. This could lead to a very bloody situation with in the country.