Dictature 4.0: `La Prison à plein air’

by Miguel Oliveros Mediavilla

This manuscript introduces the reader to the unique case study of Algeria. Since 2019 the country has been undergoing a social and political revolution, similar to the Arab Springs of2011, which seeks to overthrow a long lasting “fachade democracy” and authoritarian military currently in power via a coup d’etat. This military elite which, to the eyes of the Western powers is trying to establish a constitutional democracy, is in fact attempting to perpetuate itself in power via the control of: the web 2.0, 3.0, cellular networked technologies such as 3G and 4G,social media such as Facebook or Instagram, You Tube, Vimeo, the press and the mass media;imprisoning and in some cases murdering activists, lawyers and intellectuals which use these mediums as means to denounce basic violations of human rights.Through a number of video and audio interviews carried out in Algeria and the autonomous region of the Kabyle with key players of the revolution during the Ramadan of 2019, this manuscript will herald the hypothesis that Algeria is in fact a “Dictature 4.0”, a “plen air” prison supporting radical islamism, human rights violations to minorities such as the: Amazigh or the Mozabites Berber and their cultural heritage. A regime exercising an absolute control over networked technologies, which in fact and paradoxically are playing a vital role in connecting and informing those which resist this fundamental authoritarianism.