“As militants, citizens, and part of the LGBTQIA community, we became part of this movement to make a difference, to take part to the reconstruction of a constitutional state in which everyone can feel safe from all forms of discrimination, including those based on gender identity and sexual orientation.”

By now, it’s extremely clear that, for news to spread, it must be presented in the form of “infotainment”. We like witnessing chaos and seeing people being dragged under during a stampede. We like observing explosive rage, broken shop windows, tear gas being used, arrests being made, armed riots. News must be entertaining, otherwise, it seems bland and uninteresting, which is exactly what’s been happening in Algeria. After over 9 months and 39 weekly protests during which, every Friday, tens of millions of Algerians took to the streets, to the sidewalks, to the bridges, to the underpasses and even to the rooftops like a docile tidal wave, we can’t help but ask ourselves: is the complete lack of news coverage due to the peaceful nature of the protests?

The Algerian people’s exasperation blew up on February 22nd, 2019, initially against the fifth term candidacy of now former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Soon, however, the protests organized by the Hirak (movement) started targeting El-Issaba (the old regime) to get rid of all its collaborators, thus endangering the third try to proceed with the presidential election due on December 12th of this year. What’s the position of the LGBTQIA community in this innocuous chaos? What expectations do they have from the candidates and the local society? We thought it would be interesting to interview the Algerian organization Alouen (which means “Colors”) to learn more about it. Read more via il grande colibri