Could Tunisia be a trigger?

Hi all,

I'm totally hypothesising here to encourage debate, so don't shoot me down if you think my suggestion is ill thought out.

With the recent ousting of the Tunisian government (and subsequent 'new' government consisting of much of the old) brought on by civil unrest and protests, do you think this could trigger similar high profile events across the world? More uprisings against governments - inspired by the people of Tunisia to show that collectives of we the people, can actually make some degree of difference, and that it is corrupt governments that should fear us, not vice versa. Rather than splintered, fragmented approaches (different groups protesting different issues at different times) - could we actually see bigger collectives coming together and marching upon government? Particularly in the West?

I realise the Tunisian issue is far from over and the Tunisians are still angry, but to their credit they forced a president into hiding, and brough about the formation of a new government - which looks likely to be protested against also.

reply to post by ALadInsane


I strongly doubt it could cause a trigger however when Wikileaks start releasing alot more documents of those US banks and the Swiss banking affair I think there are alot more politicians yet to go down.

reply to post by bluemirage5


One more thing.....re the Tunisian affair, Wikileaks had a whole lot to do with that too.

Well the students nearly stormed in on parliament a few weeks ago, if a wider range of the population was to become disgruntled enough then i think we could throw this government over in no time.

I'm ready now, anyone in?

Originally posted by bluemirage5
reply to post by bluemirage5

 

One more thing.....re the Tunisian affair, Wikileaks had a whole lot to do with that too.

I don't think so... I think they are just being used as a scapegoat..Which the ultimate goal would be censorship of the Internet.

I'm sure there was alot of unrest there anyway.. As there is all over the planet currently..

I have yet to hear any details as to how wikileaks had aught to do with the Tunis revolution.
Unless you have links or other corroboration?
The credit for the Tunis rev, must go to the one man who startyed it off....(and of course all the years of inhuman treatment which the goverment meted out to the people....)
On the OP i figure we have a hope that arab countries who also suffer such vile goverment will yake heart and make their move for change too.
I have supreme hopes this may even cross the ocean but little confidence that we would or could follow suit.

Originally posted by Iam'___'
Well the students nearly stormed in on parliament a few weeks ago, if a wider range of the population was to become disgruntled enough then i think we could throw this government over in no time.

I'm ready now, anyone in?

That was kind of what I was implying. That was one (large) group of students who wreaked havoc - twice. I just get the feeling if the government continues to hit large groups such as student unions, NHS etc etc with their cuts and tax increases, you could see coalitions forming to protest the coalition

It'd be interesting to see how well the police would control crowds like this, particularly if they was to be hit with huge cuts.

Originally posted by bluemirage5
reply to post by bluemirage5

 

One more thing.....re the Tunisian affair, Wikileaks had a whole lot to do with that too.

It was posted earlier that the US Gov't believes that WikiLeaks information had little or nothing to do with it.

US denies WikiLeaks spurred revolt in Tunisia

Not only was your post a rumor ... it was also trumped up claiming that it 'had a whole lot to do with it'.

I posted a great article about Tunisia that I found on Drudge. Greed of the Tunisian president's wife (and corruption) causes revolution!

Of course it wasn't the leaders wife that CAUSED the revolution.

It was claimed that a fruit and vegetable vendor selling merchandise had been closed down and subsequently set himself on fire to protest and later died. THAT sparked the revolution, as it's claimed.

reply to post by DrMattMaddix


The US Govt would say anything from this point on.....and the majority of Americans, like the sheep they are, will continue to believe it.

Wake Up

reply to post by DrMattMaddix


What also helped spark the revolution was actually in fact the increase in food prices......and it's about to happen in the good ol USA! You just watch!

The situation over there is a powder keg.

We have our own way of doing things. It's the voting booth.

Professor Jaun Cole from juancole.com writes:

New Tunisian Government Declares Total Liberty of Information, as the Opposition Demands more Change

Highlights from Article:

The Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) managed to remain in control of Tunisia on Monday, with Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi announcing a national unity government in which his party retained the most powerful posts. He did bring some 9 opposition party members into the cabinet. The not-altogether-new government was greeted with disbelief, dismay and extreme suspicion by most activists, and provoked new (though small) demonstrations.

Playing to the Twitter and Facebook crowd, Ghannouchi abolished the Ministry of Information (i.e. censorship, a la Orwell) and announced “the complete liberty of information.”

He promised that political prisoners would be released and said all political parties would be “immediately” legalized.

He announced that all Non-Governmental Organizations were now free to, well, organize.

The new government pursued the arrest or exile of the Ben Ali and Trebelsi clans, family mafias of the former president and his first lady.

According to a US embassy cable from 2006 released by the Aftenposten, 50% of Tunisia’s economic elite were related in one way or another to Zine and Leila Ben Ali. If this elite is now being arrested, exiled, and expropriated, then what has happened would meet the definition of a social revolution proposed by Theda Skocpol (5% or more of national wealth changing hands).

It is the end for now of a kleptocracy. Madame Ben Ali alone was accused of spiriting 1.5 tons of gold out of the country last month.

Tunisian economists are talking about the need to completely reconstruct the economy and the banking system now that the Trabelsi mafia is on the run.

As either a state secretary of Youth and Sports (or possibly deputy minister (it is not clear yet), the government brought in Pirate Party activist Slim Amamou, whom Ben Ali had imprisoned. He had been an prolific blogger and internet activist in the movement to bring down the president. Amamou, who was in jail last week, is now part of the government. His platform? He is “against censorship, against the intellectual property rights, for net neutrality…”

The continuation of the RCD government was too much for some protesters. About 2000 gathered in downtown Tunis to demand that Ghannouchi go, to be met with tear gas and water cannons. The prime minister said that he had been unaware of any corruption, and people on Twitter asked what country he had been prime minister of. It was alleged that he had called Ben Ali to update him on developments, which angered the protest movement no end.

Elections have been put off for six months.

It seems to me unwise of the RCD elite to have kept on Ben Ali’s prime minister, and to have attempted to continue to dominate the government for so long after this public explosion.

They should have moved more quickly to distance themselves from the old regime, and to mollify the inflamed public with early elections (admittedly hard to organize on short notice).

As it is, they are risking another run-in with the public, especially since they are now allowing people freely to communicate and organize.

On the other hand, if they can convince people that a free and fair election season has opened, they might be able to channel public energies into that.

www.juancole.com...


Its not over

Fantastic Transcript (below) with a real live Tunisian!

YES A REAL TUNISIAN!

Not not some reporter or blog or commentary from someone who writes for corporate media who isnt even inside Tunisia

Transcript of a conversation I had last night with a Tunisian who goes by the name @sans_url on Twitter.
I am sharing this with their permission.

The Tunisian is S
The Reporter is K


The conversation

I had posted a link to Evgeny Morozov's article First thoughts on Tunisia and the role of the Internet on Twitter. S contacted me and expressed his disagreement:

S: I can explain the role of the Internet in the revolution we are undergoing in Tunisia. I find Morozov's article superficial.

K: What is the role of the Internet, then? I would be very interested in hearing your explanation. I am not saying that the Internet has not played a role, but I am concerned that people will forget that it was first and foremost a revolution in the street and not in virtual space.

S: Sorry, kyrah. Without the Internet there would be no flow of information, neither within the country nor to the outside world. You are too far away to understand. It's a revolution for everyone here, we have overthrown the president, the street has won!

K: It's true that I am far away. That's exactly why I'm trying to better understand. I get that it would have been a lot harder for people to organise themselves without the Internet... but don't you think that the revolution would have happened even without this means of communication?

S: No, without the Internet it would be possible for the massacre to happen in silence for us and for the outside world. Ben Ali has censured all the media and especially the Internet (everything except for Al-Jazeera TV).

K: If Ben Ali has censored the Internet, how did you manage to circumvent the blocking? (What technology did you use?)

S: Proxys. Twitter wasn't inaccessible, nor was Facebook. (But the regime has attacked email accounts and Facebook accounts.)

K: I see. Thank you for taking the time to explain. So you are saying that the Internet has in effect been essential in what has been happening?

S: For the media dissemination of the uprising, yes, the Internet has replaced the media. The Tunisians have become the reporters on the social networks. Five years ago, without Facebook and Twitter, the same uprising would have been smothered.

The demands of the people: down with Internet censorship, freedom of expression... down with the corrupt regime.

Ben Ali has always severely punished influential bloggers, he even kidnapped some of them in the start of the revolution. It is said that the regime employs 600 cybercops to censor/block the Internet, like in China and North Korea.

A good summary: La génération Facebook plus forte que Ben Ali.

K: Thanks so much for all this, it's amazing to hear the real story from someone who is there and not have to depend on the reports of traditional media (of which there aren't many, and what there is isn't necessarily of great quality).

S: We are living it. We are the witnesses.

Thank you again, @sans_url, for sharing your perspective.

I realise that one conversation with one person is a very subjective thing. But if social networks can help us better understand the complexities of our changing world, it is precisely in making it possible to directly interact with individuals who are involved in creating these changes, rather than having to rely on second-hand information. And this is why I wanted to share this conversation with you all.

So did the Internet matter?

I would say yes.

Of course this was a revolution of the people, fought first and foremost in the real world. Not Twitter, Not WikiLeaks: A Human Revolution. Nonetheless, it would be a mistake to discount the impact that the Internet has had.

For those of you who read French, here is an excellent summary of Tunisian cyber activism: Histoire de cyberactivisme tunisien.

To the people of Tunisia, who stood up against oppression, fought for their freedom, and won: You are an inspiration to the whole world.

kyrah.net...