“Vendredire”, neologism combining the French words vendredi (Friday) and dire (to say) meaning “We will not stop, every Friday we will go out to say what we have to say”. Say... Every Friday, starting on February 22, 2019, until March 13, 2020 (paused due to the Covid-19 pandemic), hundreds of thousands of Algerians marched in the streets of the capital, millions throughout the country. February 2021, Hirak is back in the street. All expressing the same demand: a rule of law, a modern and democratic society. They are demanding civil status, asking that the military leave the political landscape. And that the helicopters turn back around. Here we see a peaceful struggle taking place, a long march towards democracy. Photo documentary conducted on the streets of Algiers in May and October 2019, published in Orient XXI.

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“Democracy, much like the oak tree, born from a fine and fragile sap,

grows slowly, lives for centuries and provides shade to those who dare look into the face of the Sun.”

Aboubakr Belkaïd, assassinated on September 28, 1995 in Algiers

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