Algeria: The revoolution that never was

The 'Arab Spring' of 2011 brought down autocratic governments across North Africa and the Middle East. But, despite widespread street protests that initially threatened to spark a Tunisian or Egyptian style revolt, an expected uprising in Algeria failed to materialise. People & Power wanted to find out, but getting into Algeria is difficult - not least because Al Jazeera has been denied official access to the country since 2004. Nevertheless, when our requests for journalist visas were ignored, our filmmakers managed to get in unofficially and were able to work discreetly. But when we began meeting human rights activists, we got a much better sense of what ordinary Algerians are up against and what they really think. To start with, the military and intelligence people, the DRS, are omnipresent, so meetings had to be arranged surreptitiously. On one occasion, for example, a contact identified himself at a street corner by using pre-arranged code words.

In the summer of 1988 Algeria held its first free and fair election since gaining independence from France 28 years earlier. Following the first round of voting it became clear that the Islamic Front of Salvation (FIS) had won a clear majority The National Liberation Front (FLN) which had held power since 1962 nullified the election setting off more than a decade of internal conflict leaving several hundred thousand people dead.