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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/world/africa/14tunisia.html?_r=1HAMMAMET, Tunisia — The police on Thursday all but abandoned this exclusive Mediterranean beach town — haven to the capital’s rich and powerful — as rioters calling for the ouster of Tunisia’s authoritarian president swarmed the streets, torched bank offices and ransacked a mansion belonging to one of his relatives.
Tunisia's long-standing president has left the country amid violent protests and the prime minister has taken over control of the government from him.
"Since the president [Zine El Abidine Ben Ali] is temporarily unable to exercise his duties, it has been decided that the prime minister will exercise temporarily the [presidential] duties," Mohammed Ghannouchi, the Tunisian prime minister, said on state television.
Ghannouchi is now the interim president.
He has vowed to respect the constitution and restore stability, and has called on citizens to "maintain patriotic spirit ... in order to brave through these difficult moments".
He also vowed to carry out inflation and unemployment redressal policies "exactly" as they had recently been announced by President Ben Ali.
It was less than 24 hours ago that Tunisia's President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali appeared on national televison in response to weeks of protests in the country.
The president announced that he would not be standing for re-election in 2014 in a bid to appease those angry at the apparent lack of political freedom in the country as well as high unemployment levels.
But today the capital once again saw confrontation between the police and demonstrators calling for the president to go.
There have now been further dramatic developments. BBC's Adam Mynott reports from Tunis.
BBC World Service - Africa - State of emergency declared in Tunisia
Woohoo. Go Tunisia's people. But please don't turn into a military dictatorship which may happen
This is good news. I've been to Tunis, beautiful city.
Here's the problem though, revolutions sometimes falter, in the way that, sure they could over throw the government, but who's to say whatever government takes their place isn't just as repressive. Especially since you'll be turning many years of status quo on its head over night, which sometimes leads to repression even after a revolution has occured.
The issue also will be how will a new government be formed, should the rioters win? Will it take the form of an Islamic Republic. If so, would that not take a repressive nature as well?
Anyway. This is all wild speculation and theory.
VIVA LA REVOLUTION!
Good for Tunisia, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali's clock is ticking.
Moderator's Warning: |
The dreaded 'instability' may yield some good intermediate and Long term results throughout Arab North Africa and Middle East.TUNIS, Tunisia – After 23 years of iron-fisted rule, the president of Tunisia was driven from power Friday by violent protests over soaring unemployment and corruption. Virtually unprecedented in modern Arab history, the populist uprising sent an ominous message to authoritarian governments that dominate the region.
The office of Saudi King Abdullah confirmed early Saturday that ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family had landed in Saudi Arabia, after several hours of mystery over his whereabouts. "As a result of the Saudi kingdom's respect for the exceptional circumstances the Tunisian people are going through, and with its wish for peace and security to return to the people of Tunisia, we have welcomed" him, the statement said.
[....]
Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled the country on Friday amid a wave of deadly social protests in a dramatic end to his 23 years in power that is unprecedented for a leader in the Arab world.
Ben Ali signed a decree handing interim presidential powers to Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi and flew out of Tunis bound for an unknown destination after failing to quell growing public anger against his iron-fisted regime.
Publication of WikiLeaks sourced private US comments on the corruption and nepotism of a hated "sclerotic" regime is said to have helped create Tunisia's protest, and generated talk by US commentators of a "Wikileaks revolution".
I wouldn't be surprised if the exile will be in France... popular destination for former dictators from former French colonies...
Moderator's Warning: |
So there is the possibility that the catalyst for this was Wikileaks, hopefully the same can happen in other repressive regimes.
Tunisia has one of the most censored media/internet presences in the world. I doubt that very many Tunisians have even heard of Wikileaks, much less that it was the catalyst for this.
Tunisia has one of the most censored media/internet presences in the world. I doubt that very many Tunisians have even heard of Wikileaks, much less that it was the catalyst for this.
So why revolt now and not a decade ago? The media coverage of the last month has emphasized frustrations over unemployment and prices. However, it is easy to forget that for most of Ben Ali's rule, Tunisia's economy grew at a respectable rate. Tunisia has a larger middle class and a higher standard of living than any of its neighbors. As long as you stayed out of politics, Ben Ali's government left you alone and allowed you to make some money, buy a nice house or apartment, and live a better life than your parents lived.
More recently, however, the Europe-dependent Tunisian economy was experiencing global-recession-related contraction -- which hit university degree-holders of the sort that took to the streets against Ben Ali particularly hard.
Then there is social media. When the definitive history of this era gets written, Facebook will get its own chapter. Activists used Facebook to organize on the one space that the regime couldn't control -- cyberspace.
Not long ago, police firing on protesters or funeral marchers in out-of-the-way towns like Tala or Kasserine would have remained a bit of local lore, something to whisper about. Not now. Facebook brought the events in Tala to Tunis and helped build coalitions that the government could not break.
I read somewhere, I'll try and find it in a minute, that some of the protestors were citing wikileaks.
Tunisia has blocked the website of a Lebanese newspaper that published US cables released by WikiLeaks describing high-level corruption, a sclerotic regime, and deep hatred of President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali's wife and her family.
Here's the scary part of this.
Much of this is simply a food riot. People are hungry, unemployed, and going stir crazy.
A third consecutive poor global food harvest is expected this year. Prices will go up.
Oil is breaching $100 per barrel. Food is more expensive to transport, so prices will go up further.
The global economy is already hurting many people, who can doubly not afford for prices to go up.
Too many things are coming together the wrong way. Expect food riots to increase across the globe, possibly even in America.
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