276 Mediated Publics
A section of the FIS had already threatened us. We had to
remove the dishes. Personally, I hid mine. I moved it from the
top terrace and placed it on the bottom terrace. They are treach-
erous. They wait to kill you until you are leaving work or they
surprise you right at work. You have to play the game. They can-
not impose the prohibition unless this country adopts a totali-
tarian regime like that of Iran. And even then, there are ways.or those that collectively own and manage a dish, the tactics vary. F
Bakir, a young unemployed man who observed the “waves” brought by
satellite television, explains:
Let me tell you about what happened in neighborhood X.^27
The residents had set up a satellite dish. The FIS came and
took it away. For a period of eight months, they had no dish.
Can you imagine?! As you know, satellite dishes have become
necessary in Algeria. The residents of that town were afraid
but at the end of a few months they were disgusted [dégoutés],
so they reinstalled the dish. Each person took up a piece. One
picked up the receiving head, another the scoop [laughter]. I
swear, I’m not exaggerating. What that meant was, we are all
linked to the installation. Just think, if I install a satellite dish
they will come directly [direct (Fr.)] to beat me or kill me. But
with 100 or 300 people each holding some part? If they come
back and ask who installed the dish, we can say that half or
even the whole neighborhood [cités] had a hand in it. Those
gentlemen will not kill us all.an one call such actions practices of resistance? Yes, if we adopt C
the point of view of the actors. According to them, if satellite television
were to be regulated by the authorities, or simply prohibited either by
the authorities or by the Islamists, the actors would “one way or another”
react together, collectively. Furthermore, it is not only the young who are
ready to defend this communications option. The not-so-young are also
adamant. They too declare that they will fight and demonstrate. According
to Réda, if such a situation is “possible” it cannot come about without
struggle: “We would have to be already dead, because I for one would
not let them remove the dish and subject me to their will [me mettre à la