From poster child for colonial struggles in the nineteen fifties and sixties, Algeria has transitioned to a country that is still struggling to perfect its own democratic system fifty years later, trying to attain the long-promised emancipation that so many had died for.

Today, the streets of Algiers and other major cities are filled with passionate and enthusiastic crowds, men and women, made up of mostly people under thirty, demanding their rights to choose their own government and control their own destinies.

After three weeks of huge popular demonstrations by the Algerian people, ailing president Abdelaziz Bouteflika agreed Monday to not run for a fifth straight term, which was the most prominent and urgent demand by the protestors. Today we speak with Professor Thomas Serres of UC Santa Cruz about the current situation and how it echoes the Arab Spring that preceded it as well as the 1988 youth rebellion of Algiers.