ABSTRACT
On the morning of 21 July 2001, commuters waiting in Place Audin – home to one of Algiers’ busiest bus stations – found themselves in front of a more exotic choice of destinations than usual. During the previous night, the names of Algiers’s districts appearing on the departures boards had been defaced and the routes renamed. Audin-El Mouradia now read Audin-Los Angeles; Audin-Le Golf had turned into Audin-Nice; while Audin-Hydra was now Audin-Las Vegas. An example among many of Algerians’ pervasive irony, this episode also shows one other trait of their outlook – the widespread aspiration, particularly among youth, to leave the homeland.140
