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Tunisia - working class revolt

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butchersapron

Bring back hanging
Tunisia - working class revolt?

Come on - where's the analysis, the news

Important protests are taking place in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia (as well as the surrounding areas). An unemployed 26-year old man committed suicide sparking mass demonstrations by young people and other residents over unemployment and their quality of life. Police have attempted to block media coverage of the riots (and that the rioting is isolated and being exaggerated by the opposition), but bloggers and activists have posted pictures and video of the disturbances on the Internet. A mathematics teacher died (shot by police) today and others have been severely beaten and tortured. Lina Ben M’henni summarizes the background of Mohamed Bouazizi
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Demonstrators-clash-with--007.jpg


Despite the lack of online muscle, the hashtag #sidibouzid which has now become the symbol of Tunisia’s uprising is picking up steam on Twitter. Some tweets have even made it to Top Tweets. Tunisians have shot stills and video and uploaded them to Facebook. But, we also know that the President is set to “punish” the “rioters” and what that means we might never know. So, information from inside Tunisia is scarce and might get even scarcer.

So, yes, #sidibouzid does look like #IranElection in a way. The question is, will this story have enough steam to pick up supporters who can turn the steam into a Must-Report story for mainstream media on the last days of 2010? Judging by previous years, this is a time for one huge news story such as the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004, the Benazir Bhutto assassination in 2007, and Israel’s Gaza incursion in 2008. Can Tunisia become the story of December 2010?

Whether it will become the media focus or not, the Tunisian spontaneous uprising has already served as a wake-up call to many in the Arab world. Lessons that leaders as well as ordinary citizens can and will learn from.
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Moor (ha ha)
 
Tunisian Unrest Stirs Arab World

On Thursday, human rights activist and blogger Lina Ben Mhenni reported a third death and said that police was conducting house-to-house raids to chase activists (http://twitter.com/benmhennilina). The report has not been independently verified.

The Tunisian Journalists’ Syndicate issued a statement last week decrying official attempts "to hinder media coverage and stop reporters from doing their job."

The communications minister has banned the showing of Al-Jazeera channel in Tunisian coffee shops or any public viewing, according to another web post by an unidentified Tunisian man.

A blogger wrote: "They are clamping down on the Internet too, blocking some sites and Facebook accounts. I might not be able to post any longer. If I disappear suddenly, please pray for me."
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Tunisia and the Media

"If it was happening in Iran instead of Tunisia, it would be on the front pages of all the newspapers." Complaints of this kind about coverage of the Tunisian uprising keep appearing on the internet – many of them suggesting that editors around the world are protecting Ben Ali's regime from criticism for political reasons.
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ben_ali.jpg
 
ITUC issue worthless plea

Brussels, 31 December 2010 (ITUC OnLine): The ITUC has called on the Tunisian authorities to cease the violent repression against demonstrators demanding action on employment, and initiate serious dialogue with the national trade union centre UGTT to tackle the growing social crisis facing the country
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The Tunisian Intifada…

tunisian-demonstrations.jpg


1. They Just Don’t Stop Protesting…

Not even torture, which is rampant or live bullets which the Tunisian authorities are using with greater frequency stop them..

It is more than two weeks since a distraught and unemployed young university graduate, Mohammed Bouazizi, sat down in front of the town hall in the central Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, poured gasoline on himself and lit a match. Bouazizi’s act of self-immolation and protest against Tunisia’s high unemployment, rampant corruption and decades of repression by the government of Zine Ben Ali triggered a protest movement, first in the country’s center and south, but now virtually everywhere, including the capital, Tunis.
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Previously, the National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) denounced the "media blockade" that accompanied the early events of Sidi Bouzid. "The executive SNJT expresses its deep outrage at the media blockade that accompanied the early events Sidi Bouzid, which paved the way for interpretations and rumors in the absence of precise information, "he said in a statement sent to AFP.

But the union also condemned the use of some foreign media, especially Al-Jazeera, to "amplification and distortion of facts in their coverage of social events legitimate and peaceful". The union has called on all journalists and media outlets "to comply with the principles of professional ethics."
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.
 
This is Iranian style accusations of foreign meddling - a good sign that other media than the state ran stuff, stuff that they can't control, is getting the upper hand.
 
More happening yesterday by the sounds of it

Clashes Monday demonstrators and officers of law enforcement at Thala, 250 km west-central Tunisia, said on Monday a union source. About 250 demonstrators, mostly students, participated in a peaceful march to express their support for the protests against unemployment and the high cost of living in the region of Sidi Bouzid (West Central), told the AFP a union source, who requested anonymity.

This peaceful march turned violent when police tried to contain the protesters by firing tear gas canisters, one of which fell into a mosque, told the witness. Enraged, the protesters set fire to tires and the local ruling party, the Democratic Constitutional Rally, the source said. No information on these incidents were not immediately available from official sources.

In addition, students were able to demonstrate without a problem in the town of Sidi Bouzid, 265 km from Tunis in troubled social background of unemployment and high cost of living, from December 17 to the result of attempted suicide of a young peddler of fruits and vegetables. These events coincided on Monday with high school classes resume after the holiday season.
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http://translate.googleusercontent....&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhjIyRfobsX8ecNNI6lrLMNZCK_OKA
 
i think one of the reasons there's been no mention of this (apart from the obvious: no al quada, limited bloodshed, not part of media narrative) is that most international press located in north africa will have been sent off to Ivory Coast (and many others to Egypt now too)
 
There will be lots of stuff appearing pretty soon suggesting that this is islamist inspired. I don't know if it is. Is doesn't look that way to me. I'm sure the islamists are there and doing what they can though.
 
butchersapron said:
There will be lots of stuff appearing pretty soon suggesting that this is islamist inspired. I don't know if it is. Is doesn't look that way to me. I'm sure the islamists are there and doing what they can though.
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this was interesting, but again, not sure about the source:

Over the last five years, however, the fabric of Ben Ali's authoritarianism has frayed. Once it became clear that the Islamists no longer posed a serious threat, many Tunisians became less willing to accept the government's heavy-handedness. The regime also lost some of its earlier deftness. Its methods became less creative and more transparently brutal. The government seemed less willing to at least play at any dialogue with critics or opposition parties. Arbitrary arrests, control of the print media and Internet access, and physical attacks on journalists and human rights and opposition-party activists became more common. So, too, did stories of corruption -- not the usual kickbacks and favoritism that one might expect, but truly mafia-grade criminality that lined the pockets of Ben Ali's wife and her family. The growth of Facebook, Twitter, and a Tunisian blogosphere -- much of it based outside the country -- made it increasingly easy for Tunisians to learn about the latest arrest, beating, or illicit business deal involving the president's family.
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http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/po...e_it_comes_from_and_what_it_means_for_ben_ali
 
Ta, there's vids on youtube of automatic fire and single rounds being fired earlier today - or at least they were uploaded early today. I don't know who the uploader is what they stand for.
 
more on anonymous attack on Tunisian state websites:
“This is a warning to the Tunisian government: attacks at the freedom of speech and information of its citizens will not be tolerated,” a statement from Anonymous on AnonNews read.

“It's on the hands of the Tunisian government to stop this situation. Free the net, and attacks will cease, keep on that attitude and this will just be the beginning.”
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http://www.itpro.co.uk/629731/anonymous-takes-on-tunisian-government
 
butchersapron said:
Ta, have they an organisation, or paper or club, anything really - do you know?
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No prob - am checking - I'll most likely be photographing at the next one - so, if so, I'll see what I can find out ....
Am asking around now as well & if I find anything I'll post it on here :)
 
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