Some time ago I found on youtube, or picked up from a retweet on Twitter I can't remember, a video called 'Typical Habesha' parents. Watching it made me travel back to at least 20 years ago when my dad used to call as if he were stuck in a crashed car about to burst in flames: 'where is my coffee spoon' .... a dancing and ritual interlude to 'bring me my coffee spoon'. That darn spoon was always staring at him from a safe 5 centimeters' distance, waiting for me. If my eyes would so much as begin to roll he'd start a dramatic speech addressed to phantom witnesses about the disgrace of old age and the disgrace of fiendishly uncaring 10 year-old children. It was a tug-of-love between us and I remember this fondly. He's not habesha, nor am I, it's just that this video echoed well creased memories of many a spoon thrown at time and space! I've been hearing (very funny for me but perhaps not so much for those under peer pressure) stories of shared family traditions from friends who come from the Horn, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, and I bumped into an old page listing 'You Know You're Habesha When', although it's staged in the US, how does it match with you I wonder? My favourite in there is 'Your parents' favourite TV show is the news'. You know I'm talking to you :-). I should attempt a list about 'You Know You're Algerian When' but then it would only have one entry 'When you're angry you throw things and break stuff'....
(photo credit: Yacine Bouaziz ) Every Friday, for the past 38 weeks*, men and women with their children have been peacefully demonstrating in Algeria, reclaiming public space and demanding a complete overhaul of the political landscape. In the country, these demonstrations are described as part of a larger whole: the " hirak " (less often harak ), 'the movement'. It was of course only a matter of time before the hirak became the main subject in books. So far, non-fiction leads with analyses and commentaries of this nationwide movement, written in Arabic and French, by single authors or collectives, published as early on as May 2019 (demonstrations began on 16 February 2019). The hirak has also crossed into poetry and fiction. Khaled Ben Salah's poetry collection " diary of an African man who wears a floral shirt and smokes L&M's in the time of the revolution " was published by El Mutawassit editions in October (see an excerpt...
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