HIBAPRESS – Abdelatif Baraka
An Algerian banknote of the 2000 dinar denomination sparked a wave of ridicule and criticism on social media platforms, after the circulation of an image of a female face said to belong to a French Olympic champion. This opened the door to scathing questions about the criteria for selecting the symbols placed on the national currency.
Between those who treated the matter with humor and those who read in it an indication of a "symbolic crisis", sarcastic comments began in every direction, mocking Algerian officials, after they left behind historical landmarks that are deeply rooted in the past, that they "import" a female face from outside their borders to print it on one of the highest denominations? Activists did not miss the opportunity, as some considered that the banknote had turned into a "tourist identity card" instead of being a mirror of national identity, while others went to question whether Algeria had exhausted its stock of historical symbols, or whether there was a "defect in the compass of choice" that made it wander between the past and the present. In the midst of this controversy, sarcastic comparisons appeared with the currencies of other countries that are keen to highlight their cultural and historical symbols, from kings and leaders to eternal landmarks, while the Algerian note, in the eyes of critics, seemed as if it came out of an "international beauty contest" more than from a central bank that is supposed to embody sovereignty and collective memory.
