Algeria is the largest country in Africa in area, and the tenth largest in the world. Its importance in the Arab and Mediterranean world is mismatched with the little coverage it receives in the media. After independence from France in 1962 and the violent internal conflict unleashed in 1992, the country has not benefited from an environment favorable to political transition. Now is a good time to analyze the country’s status and society, taking a look at the social new role-players in a fragmented political scene. The following are a few potential topics: the movement of the unemployed in the Algerian Sahara, the art scene in Algiers, businesspeople, caricature in the field of journalism and civil society organizations…

The conference will include talks by Naoual Belakhdar, of the Freie Universität Berlin; Hakim Addad, former Secretary General of the Raj Movement, Selma Hellal, of the Barzakh publishing firm, and y Smaïl Goumeziane, a scholar who was formerly Algeria’s Minister of Trade. Moderated by: The event will be moderated by Karim Hauser, Casa Árabe’s International Politics Coordinator.
 
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Hakim Addad is an independent activist in Algeria’s social movements and a former Secretary General of the RAJ youth movement (Rassemblement Actions Jeunesse).
 
Naoual Belakhdar is an associate researcher, conference speaker and PhD candidate at the Center for Middle East and North Africa Politics at the Freie Universität Berlin.
 
Smaïl Goumeziane is a scholar and specialist on the Mediterranean. With a PhD in Economics and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology, he was Algeria’s Minister of Trade from 1989 to 1991.

Selma Hellal studied Political Science at the IEP in Paris, as well as having been a journalist (on radio and in the written press). In the year 2000, she founded the Barzakh Publishing Firm, which works mainly with literature.