Hadj-Moussa 269cities and neighborhoods are composed of individuals with differing class
belonging, the spirited debates over the installation of satellite dishes, not
to mention the choice of which stations to view, in a sense refigure the
diversity of social ties. This is what Djamel, a 51-year-old male respondent
who traveled throughout Algeria in the 1990s and now lives in downtown
Algiers, tried to convey when he told me:
In the beginning it was very difficult because there were peo-
ple for and against. In the city we are experienced, we know
Europe, we have traveled. I regularly visit a friend who is a
teacher living in the small town of El Kolea. There the prob-
lem is very serious. It is a town where bureaucrats, teach-
ers, workers and farmers live side by side. When they came
together to elect six representatives of which one was the trea-
surer—these are informal neighborhood associations—some
of them were in opposition. They held that there were depic-
tions that should not be viewed in a family setting. Later, the
representatives of various buildings came together to discuss
the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the subscribers... Those
that had been opposed came around to asking to be hooked
up. One of the organizers, an ex-mujahid, rather excitedly told
them a few home truths: “When we asked you to participate,
you refused saying that it was h.arām [forbidden], not to be
done, that we would be viewing obscene depictions. And now,
like us you want to hook up but you want it before any other
building! You’re not even men! You are pushed by your wives.
Your wives have seen what is happening elsewhere and they
pushed you to hook up... ” Where I live, in the city, it is not
the same. We are better organized. There are more intellectu-
ally minded people, more people with jobs.n other words, even if everyone has access to satellite television, I
that access is organized along different lines. Viewing practices depend
on social position and they serve to distinguish members of the televi-
sion audience from one another. When viewers intent on increasing their
choices—and intent on entertainment (I will return to this theme)—bring
their organizing efforts to bear on the acquisition and management of