Tunisia - working class revolt

[dennisr]

This. And the links on how to access the web anonymously are definitely useful. All are valid tools in this war.

recent report from eyewitness empthasies the use of the internet to organise here: Tunisia: “We don’t want this government! It has no legitimacy!”
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/4797

"“Bloggers and journalists are pouring out their views. The regime is powerless to stop the use of the internet. It appears to be used much more widely than during the Iranian opposition mass movement in 2009.

“Demonstration are being organised via the internet – no organisation behind them. They just get agreement on time and place and hundreds of people turn up."

....

and a bit more:

"“Protesters used to say ‘We want bread and water; we don’t want Ben Ali!’ and now some say, ‘We want bread and water; we don’t want Ettajdid!’, referring to the ex-communist party – Ettajdid, which already joined the government (minister of higher education)."

more articles: http://www.socialistworld.net/view/151

 

[pk]

Demonstration are being organised via the internet; no organisation behind them.

This is what I see too. No organisation can possibly hope to claim credit for starting the uprising. Though of course they will try.

 

[butchersapron]

The really important stuff, the crucial stuff has been developing pretty rapidly for the last few days:

Masses create people's power bodies in neighbourhoods and workplaces

The most advanced example of these emerging elements of dual power that we know of is in the town of Sidi Bou Ali, in Sousse, with a population of just over 10,000 people. There, on January 16, the masses gathered in the town square and after deliberating about the “new” national unity government, decided to take power into their own hands. This is the statement that was passed which we reproduce in full:

We have now received a report that a similar development has taken place in the city of Siliana, in the northwest where “the citizens have set up a local council for the protection of the revolution and the management of public affairs”. Their founding statement says that “faced with the vacuum of power created by the flight of officials linked to the RCD”, they have decided to create a local and a regional council “to protect the revolution and to manage the running of the city and the governorate”.

Similar movements developed at the oil distribution company SNDP, where the CEO Rafaa Dkhul was also kicked out by the workers, who criticised his close links with the Trabelsi family. Dkhul had given the Trabelsi clan concessions of a number of petrol stations worth millions of euro. At the Banque de Tunisie, its general director Alia Abdallah and all high-ranking officers have been barred by the workers, organised by the UGTT, from entering their offices, in order to prevent the destruction of potentially incriminating documents. The workers have seized all sensitive documents and computers.

Also expelled from their positions by the action of the workers and their trade unions are Moncef Bouden, from the tax office, Moncef Dakhli, CEO of the National Agricultural Bank and Montassar Ouaïli, CEO of Tunisie Telecom. The outgoing minister of sport, Abdelhamid Slama was prevented by the workers from entering his old ministry to pick up his things. The list of companies where the workers have taken action is very long. Today, the workers of the Tunis public transport went on strike also demanding the dismissal of the CEO of their company.

Further info on all and others in the collection in the link above.

 

[audiotech]

From the vid posted by pk. According to the UN a 100 deaths on the streets.

'The majority of protesters were unemployed youth under the age of 25.'

 

[dylans]

Soviets

 

[dylans]

The coalition Government is "untenable"

A sense of crisis is building again in Tunisia where the interim government, as it's now constituted, looks increasingly untenable. The issue is the presence of key allies of the autocratic former President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali who hold key posts in the cabinet including the defence and interior ministries. These are the people – along with interim Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi – who the protesters still taking to the streets want out.
Overnight the already strong sense of a government that is untenable has become ever more evident. There's been reports of negotiations going on late into the night last night that would see either an imminent major cabinet reshuffle or the appointment of a "council of wise man' - including unions, the bar council and representatives from the long banned Ennahda Islamist movement - to over see the government until elections. Perhaps both.
The sense of the alarm growing in Tunisia's old guard was supplied yesterday by army chief Rachid Ammar who addressed the demonstrators who have been camped out on the prime minister's doorstep at The Casbah in Tunis. While he said the army "would protect the revolution" he also warned that a "power vacuum could lead to dictatorship".
And you can read that two ways. Either he's saying that the army won't let the old regime loyalists undermine the Jasmine revolution, or that the army won't allow a situation where Tunisia is without a government. In any case it is confirmation of how important a role the army has played behind the scenes in Tunisia's recent upheaval. And is playing
still.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/blog/2011/jan/25/middleeast-tunisia

 

[butchersapron]

The freedom riders thing is now being backed up by people walking from the rural areas - that means days and days of people on the streets are ensured...

 

[ymu]

It's awe-inspiring stuff. C'mon Tunisia!

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Tunisian police join protesters - http://theglobalawakening.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/tunisian-police-join-protesters/

 

[dennisr]

Tunisian police join protesters - http://theglobalawakening.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/tunisian-police-join-protesters/

Its all dead interesting and rapidly developing - CWI have some long feedback from witnesses.

’Caravans’ of the revolution converge on Tunis
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/4803

More on the police, the freedom riders and the self-organsed movement at a street level of ordinary folk.

"The process has really hit all fields of society. Underground rappers are beginning to emerge publicly with their incisive lyrics against the dictatorship, and people are abundantly expressing their views after decades of restriction and censorship. “Sous les pavés, les jasmins” (“Under the pavements, the jasmine flowers”) read a banner in French on a demonstration last Saturday in the capital Tunis – an allusion to the famous slogan of France’s revolutionary May, 1968: “Sous les pavés, la plage” (“Under the pavements, the beach”). The term “Jasmine revolution” is used by some poorly inspired commentators to describe the Tunisian revolution.

Anti-RCD pictures have flourished by the thousands on facebook’s profiles. The use of internet in publicising and organising protests has been so widespread during the movement, especially among young people, that the “new” interim government set up after Ben Ali’s downfall, in one of its countless attempts at appearing more “acceptable”, decided to release Slim Amamou, a famous blogger activist jailed a week earlier, to get him to have his hair shaved off and to bring him into the new cabinet as the country’s ‘Secretary of state for youth and sports’!"

.......

"Not expecting any initiative from above to get the RCD out, workers have initiated by themselves a process of “cleaning up” their workplaces from those hated figures. On Wednesday, during their strike, employees of the public insurance company STAR removed their boss, accused of corruption and complicity with Ben Ali’s regime. The same happened at the Banque Nationale Agricole (National Agricultural Bank), at the National Company of Oil Distribution – SNDP, at the airline company Tunisair. Committees of trade unionists have taken control of the news at the radio and television offices. “We are now deciding the editorial line,” explained Fawzia Mezzi, a journalist of ‘La Presse’, a daily newspaper which used to operate under the orders of Ben Ali’s entourage. Even blind people have demonstrated to overthrow the president of their association, sold to Ben Ali! "

 

[pk]

More is also coming out about the role of the hacker group Anonymous in this struggle.

It seems that they have been much more involved than just shutting down Tunisian government websites and cheering from the sidelines.

Over a third of Tunisian have Internet access and Anonymous has many Tunisian participates, the Tunisian government was using web exploits to track and jail bloggers, it was Anonymous that found the exploit, 'alerted the media', and produced the cure, both in terms of a guide to safe Internet practices [in English, French & Arabic] and a software fix that was downloaded over 2000 times.

Through it's Operation Tunisia, Anonymous has been establishing and circulating lists of proxies and anonymous services that kept the Internet open for Tunisian activists even while they were shutting it down for the government with DDOS attacks. Anonymous targeted 7 major sites in Tunisia, including the stock exchange and government sites.

In the case of the Prime Minister's site, they replaced the home page with their own "Open Letter to the Tunisian Government".

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2011/1/20/937534/-Anonymous-plans-Op-Swift-Assist-in-Tunisia

 

[pk]

Arrest warrant issued for Zine El Abedine Ben Ali:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12286650

(love how those who dismiss Anonymous' contributions to this largely internet driven struggle have now just turned to Egypt! Two days since any posts on this!)

Interesting take on US hypocrisy - Wikileaks are BAD - (unless they help oust foreign leaders!!)

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/01/25/whispering_at_autocrats?page=0,0

 

[butchersapron]

I suspect that's because a) you've pretty clearly decided to piggyback on the extremely serious and momentous events taking place to foist your brand of comic-book super-hero glossy Hollywood adaptation style politics lite on real life events in order to wind up a few people who've made you look like a tit over the years and who you want to somehow get your own back at no matter what the cost - and you're now doing this shit on thread after thread .

A young man didn't cover himself in petrol and then set himself alight because wikileaks leaked something confirming what everyone in Tunisia knew for decades - he did it because the police confiscated his merchandise and demanded a bribe to get them back, a bribe he couldn't pay. The UGGT didn't call a general strike because two govt websites were shut down, they called a general strike because of the ever encroaching and ever more damaging neo-liberal measures being imposed that attacked the conditions of the majority of the population - allied with the daily attacks on their dignity by the regimes security forces. Grow up.

and b) because the focus of attention has shifted to Egypt for now.

If anyone wants to talk actual politics here, the interim Tunisian govt now has only one (ex) RCD member in the newly announced govt - the President. They were forced very late last night to remove all other RCD members - largely by the constant pressure applied by the UGTT union who have issued a manifesto that says they will not stop protesting until all RCD members are gone.

Pk, please don't bother with your usual apolitical shit in reply, i won't be responding - got no interest.

 

[Kaka Tim]

Arrest warrant issued for Zine El Abedine Ben Ali:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12286650

(love how those who dismiss Anonymous' contributions to this largely internet driven struggle have now just turned to Egypt! Two days since any posts on this!)

ffs- your like a kid with a new toy.

"largely internet driven struggle" oh please...

Theres a big difference between sitting safe and smug behind a keyboard titting about with DOS attacks and risking your life, livelihood and liberty by physically confronting a violent, oppresive state in the streets.

No matter the level of digital/virtual activism - it cant bring down governments. It can facilitate revolution - but not drive it.
Its like saying the french revolution was brought about by the explosion of political pamflets that apperared at the time - but these were phenomona brought about by the situation, they may have helped shape the nature of the arguments and events, but in no way were they the main cause.

What do you think will worry a tyrant more? A million people on the streets and a gerneral strike or the government websties being down?

Do you think that the chief of the secret police will be more concnerned that thousands of angry demonstrators have just burnt his haed quarters - or that he cant access his e-mail?

 

[Random]

Can that be the end of the talking to PK now? We can all put him on ignore and carry on having a proper thread about actual events in Tunisia?

 

[treelover]

'Even blind people have demonstrated to overthrow the president of their association, sold to Ben Ali! '


wish they would do that here, the big disability charities are very compromised, wanting the big contracts that are available

 

[dennisr]

Great images and tribute to murdered Tunisian photojournalist - Lucas Mebrouk Dolega, 32 - here in the New York Times:

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/parting-glance-lucas-mebrouk-dolega-32/

 

[audiotech]

Very moving.

 

[pk]

I suspect that's because a) you've pretty clearly decided to piggyback ...

Oh, it's my fault!

The UGGT didn't call a general strike because two govt websites were shut down, they called a general strike because of the ever encroaching and ever more damaging neo-liberal measures being imposed that attacked the conditions of the majority of the population - allied with the daily attacks on their dignity by the regimes security forces. Grow up.

That'll be the same UGTT that had six of its offices attacked by protestors, the same UGTT that is regarded by many of the protestors as a tool of the state to maintain social order, and the same UGTT whos leadership has been criticised for years for being closely connected with the corrupt Ben Ali regime, yes?

The trade unions and the workers took strike action outside the authority of the UGTT, what they have to say now isn't of any consequence - the whole rotten system has to go, including your UGTT.

If anyone wants to talk actual politics here, the interim Tunisian govt now has only one (ex) RCD member in the newly announced govt - the President. They were forced very late last night to remove all other RCD members - largely by the constant pressure applied by the UGTT union who have issued a manifesto that says they will not stop protesting until all RCD members are gone.

This is crap. The UGTT initially condemned the protests.
The UGTT leader Abdessalem Jerad held a meeting with Ben Ali - kissing his arse as the shooting of protesters could be heard outside.
The UGTT has always backed Ben Ali, three of their top boys were in the RCD cabinet.
The even said Ben Ali would guarantee “an atmosphere of freedom and stability.” not long ago.

Looks like you backed the wrong horse, butchersapron.

The people want to take it out the back and shoot it dead.

Pk, please don't bother with your usual apolitical shit in reply, i won't be responding - got no interest.

Yeah funny that...

 

[pk]

ffs- your like a kid with a new toy.

"largely internet driven struggle" oh please...

Theres a big difference between sitting safe and smug behind a keyboard titting about with DOS attacks

This has fuck all to do with DDOS attacks. The "internet driven struggle" I refer to is the leaking of the cables proving to everyone the depth of the corruption and US complicity, magnified by hourly bulletins on Al Jazeera into every TV set in the land.
There's your pressure right there.

No matter the level of digital/virtual activism - it cant bring down governments. It can facilitate revolution - but not drive it.
Its like saying the french revolution was brought about by the explosion of political pamflets that apperared at the time - but these were phenomona brought about by the situation, they may have helped shape the nature of the arguments and events, but in no way were they the main cause.

It may not directly bring down governments, but coupled with live TV news and bloggers it can certainly prevent a repeat of the 1978 massacres the last time Tunisians tried to fuck the corrupt government out. Nobody wants to shoot unarmed protesters if they're being beamed live into the world's news channels doing so.

What do you think will worry a tyrant more? A million people on the streets and a gerneral strike or the government websties being down?

Do you think that the chief of the secret police will be more concnerned that thousands of angry demonstrators have just burnt his haed quarters - or that he cant access his e-mail?

[/quote]

By shutting down large chunks of the regime's internet, and by facilitating access to uncensored unmonitored outlets, the flow of information becomes the democracy itself. Those who seek to control it or restrict it seek to warp democracy.

 

[butchersapron]

Embarrassingly wrong.

First off you simply don't understand the relation between the workers, the UGTT and the state in Tunisia.

Secondly the UGTT called the demos and strikes that finally brought Ben Ali down, it was forced to split from the regime by the logic of the situation.

Thirdly, you can't even tell the difference between the post-ben ali interim government in which the UGTT took 3 positions for a few minutes before withdrawing and condemning the govt as a continuation of the regime and the Ben Ali government.

Fourthly it is the UGTT which has organised the continuous protests that has now forced all the remaining RCD members out of the govt.

Fifthly, the UGTT did not condemn the protests - that's a complete lie - one easily sourced back to distorting the Trotskyist article you lazily used as your source of info

As i said, embarrassing - the dangers of google evident for all to see.

 

[pk]

Embarrassingly wrong.

First off you simply don't understand the relation between the workers, the UGTT and the state in Tunisia.

Quite right. I've not been remotely aware of any of the Tunisian situation in the past at all, and just like you, I only began to take notice what was going on in the last couple of weeks.

I could be wrong of course - perhaps it could be that Tunisian trade unions and the history thereof has been a specialist topic of yours for years. I think not though.

Secondly the UGTT called the demos and strikes that finally brought Ben Ali down, it was forced to split from the regime by the logic of the situation.

UGTT didn't call the strike until Jan 14th - long after the grass roots protests had been raging. They had no choice but to do that, IMO, they knew the game was up and had to maintain the illusion of being totally in control and to prepare to take advantage of a power vacuum. IMO.

Thirdly, you can't even tell the difference between the post-ben ali interim government in which the UGTT took 3 positions for a few minutes before withdrawing and condemning the govt as a continuation of the regime and the Ben Ali government.

Which doesn't change the fact that they seemingly endorsed the coalition, perhaps until it was clear the people wanted a complete change, not partial.

Fourthly it is the UGTT which has organised the continuous protests that has now forced all the remaining RCD members out of the govt.

The UGTT is seeking to gain control of the opposition movement in order to contain it and subordinate it politically to the Tunisian bourgeoisie and US and European imperialism.
Having long supported Ben Ali, the UGTT initially backed the interim government and sent representatives to serve as ministers.

Only in the face of popular opposition did the union withdraw its representatives and adopt a stance of opposition to the present government.
It seeks, however, to limit the popular movement to demands for purging the government of former Ben Ali cronies, while leaving basically intact the social and political status quo.

Meanwhile, the interim government is enforcing a nighttime curfew and the army is being deployed in force in all major cities.
If the ruling elite, with the aid of the UGTT, succeeds in suppressing the mass movement, talk of democratic reform will quickly give way to massive repression and a new dictatorship

http://www.yemen-forum.org/vb/showthread.php?p=8783227

Fifthly, the UGTT did not condemn the protests - that's a complete lie - one easily sourced back to distorting the Trotskyist article you lazily used as your source of info

Wrong - I read that here - http://uruknet.com/?p=m73895&hd=&size=1&l=e

Same initial source, but hello! - the quote appears on the website of the UGTT itself !!!

Our decision to support the candidature of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali for a new presidential term stems from an objective assessment of reality and from the experience accumulated over many years.

We voted for President Ben Ali in 2004 because his program was consistent with the program adopted by the Congress of the Union in 2002. At the time, some people accused us of conditioned support. We did not really care about this opinion, we were proud that our union has its own programs as a contribution to the building of the future of the country. We were proud of the convergence between our program and the programs and goals set by President Ben Ali and we did not hesitate to support him because, in the Union, we do not pledge allegiance to people, but we support programs and reforms.

http://www.ugtt.org.tn/en/actualitees-details.php?id=378

If it is indeed a lie, then like a man in orthopedic shoes - I stand corrected. But it looks to me as though clearly, the UGTT have been in bed with Ben Ali for a loooong time.

The UGTT was and is a real workers' organisation, but a conservative and cautious one, with a long record of collaboration with both Bourguiba and Ben Ali.

"The UGTT newspaper, al-Sha'b, which had been highly critical of government policies before the events, was brought under control when its editor Hassan Hamoudia was arrested; numerous reporters quit in protest and the paper was put under close supervision by the new union leadership." (Nigel Disney, "The Working Class Revolt in Tunisia", MERIP reports May 1978).

The general strike escalated, like the movement the previous October, into a more general revolt. It was savagely repressed.
According to non-governmental sources, 200 people were killed (some of them children), 1,000 wounded; over 300 were given jail sentences of up to seven years.
The repression became known as "Black Thursday".
In the early eighties, the UGTT and the regime became reconciled.
The UGTT signed a deal which traded a wage increase for a promise to refrain from future wage demands and strikes.
Leftist militants opposed the deal. Then, "in 1984-85, Prime Minister Mzali waged a fierce campaign that split the union, jailed its leaders, and took over its headquarters. This crackdown ended the UGTT's reign as 'the sole political mediator between the government and the nation'."

Clive Bradley
http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2011/01/22/tunisia-background-and-prospects

As i said, embarrassing - the dangers of google evident for all to see.

Conversely - the dangers of not Googling enough perhaps?

 

[butchersapron]

Quite right. I've not been remotely aware of any of the Tunisian situation in the past at all, and just like you, I only began to take notice what was going on in the last couple of weeks.

I could be wrong of course - perhaps it could be that Tunisian trade unions and the history thereof has been a specialist topic of yours for years. I think not though.



UGTT didn't call the strike until Jan 14th - long after the grass roots protests had been raging. They had no choice but to do that, IMO, they knew the game was up and had to maintain the illusion of being totally in control and to prepare to take advantage of a power vacuum. IMO.



Which doesn't change the fact that they seemingly endorsed the coalition, perhaps until it was clear the people wanted a complete change, not partial.





http://www.yemen-forum.org/vb/showthread.php?p=8783227



Wrong - I read that here - http://uruknet.com/?p=m73895&hd=&size=1&l=e

Same initial source, but hello! - the quote appears on the website of the UGTT itself !!!





http://www.ugtt.org.tn/en/actualitees-details.php?id=378

If it is indeed a lie, then like a man in orthopedic shoes - I stand corrected. But it looks to me as though clearly, the UGTT have been in bed with Ben Ali for a loooong time.



Clive Bradley
http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2011/01/22/tunisia-background-and-prospects



Conversely - the dangers of not Googling enough perhaps?

Just about every single single thing wrong once more:

The UGTT called official strikes from the 28th of December onwards. Over two weeks before your claim.

So you take back your incorrect claim that the UGTT had three members of Ben Ali's governement then?

I don't know what you imagine that you're arguing as regards your next false claim about the UGTT condemning the protests. You say that "the quote appears on the website of the UGTT itself !!!" -what quote? You didn't provide a quote from the UGTT condemning the protests, you provided a quote from them endorsing the presidential candidacy of Ben Ali in 2009. Can you tell me how your quote shows them condemning the protests in 2010-11 please?

You then attempt back up this false claim with yet another trotskyist article that says precisely nothing of the sort either. Btw, it's handy to know the perspective of the groups whose articles you're relying on - the WSWS is rabidly anti-union and has been caught out lying as regards unions and strikes before - most recently over the lindsey wildcat strikes.

Edit: and what's this from Al-Jazeera's account of the movement?

The protests that erupted in Sidi Bouzid were indeed spontaneous, yet they were marked by a level of organisation and sophistication that appears grounded in the sheer determination of those who participated in them.

The Sidi Bouzid branch of the UGTT was engaged in the uprising from day one.

While the national leadership of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) is generally viewed as lacking political independence from the ruling class, its regional representatives have a reputation for gutsy engagement.

"The major driving force behind these protesters is the Sidi Bouzid union, which is very strong," said Affi Fethi, who teaches physics at a local high school.

 

[pk]

Just about every single single thing wrong once more:

The UGTT called official strikes from the 28th of December onwards. Over two weeks before your claim.

So you take back your incorrect claim that the UGTT had three members of Ben Ali's governement then?

I don't know what you imagine that you're arguing as regards your next false claim about the UGTT condemning the protests. You say that "the quote appears on the website of the UGTT itself !!!" -what quote? You didn't provide a quote from the UGTT condemning the protests, you provided a quote from them endorsing the presidential candidacy of Ben Ali in 2009. Can you tell me how your quote shows them condemning the protests in 2010-11 please?

You then attempt back up this false claim with yet another trotskyist article that says precisely nothing of the sort either. Btw, it's handy to know the perspective of the groups whose articles you're relying on - the WSWS is rabidly anti-union and has been caught out lying as regards unions and strikes before - most recently over the lindsey wildcat strikes.

The point being the union has been kissing Ben Ali's arse for years...

http://www.ugtt.org.tn/en/actualitees-details.php?id=329

the WSWS is rabidly anti-union and has been caught out lying as regards unions and strikes before - most recently over the lindsey wildcat strikes

I'll take your word for that. If it is a lie it's a contemptable one.

Doesn't change the fact that all of a sudden after years of kissing Ben Ali's arse - they now turn around and say "see, we told you all Ben Ali was corrupt!" when the people have had enough.

Seems to me the UGTT is as two faced and as corrupt as the Ben Ali government it is ostensibly trying to replace.

And depending on who has been attacking its headquarters - six of them apparently - it could be that the people are wanting them fucked off too.

That's my take on it anyway. We shall see what happens.

 

[laptop]

Only had time for a quick skim on the Tube between jobs... but Le Monde is reporting it all getting very messy in Tunisia this week.

Bugger, can't find story on www.lemonde.fr - headline "En Tunisie, les excations des groupes armés entretiennent un climat de tension".

 

[dennisr]

Only had time for a quick skim on the Tube between jobs... but Le Monde is reporting it all getting very messy in Tunisia this week.

Yep - report from CWI members in Tunisia:
Revolution at a crossroads
http://www.socialistworld.net/doc/4822

"The real face of the present ‘democracy’

The RCD is still occupying leading positions everywhere in the state apparatus. The basic demand of the masses for the dissolution of this party has not been met. The government has been decided from above by people of the old regime in behind-the-scenes agreements with US and European advisers. There are still numerous political prisoners.

The present government has shown its colours in the violent evacuation of the hundreds of people camped outside the government buildings in the Kasbah. After having used all sorts of attempts to isolate and break it up (preventing people from giving food to the occupiers, attempting to buy them with money, alcohol and drugs, etc.), police and anti-riot units brutally evacuated the square, destroying the occupiers’ camp. They chased protesters through the streets, firing tear gas and injuring at least 15 people in the process.

Obviously, this repression is not comparable to the savage killing of demonstrators that were happening before Ben Ali fled. Opting for similar bloody repression now would just inflame the whole country once again. A rash move on the part of Ghannouchi’s government, could still provoke a resurgence of the movement and lead to its downfall.

This government is still covering up the actions of the militias of the old regime. In the past week, several local trade union headquarters - in Monastir, Gafsa, Béja and Sousse - have been physically attacked. On Sunday morning, in Le Kef, a group of “unknown people” tried to set on fire the local building of the UGTT.

Attacks against individual union or left activists have also been reported. A member of the ‘Patriotic and Democratic Labour Party of Tunisia’, who was distributing leaflets on Avenue Bourguiba in Tunis on 26 January, was arrested by the police, taken to the police station and severely beaten. On Saturday (28 January), a 300-strong demonstration for women’s rights was attacked by groups of thugs armed with batons."

 

[Mr.Bishie]

TUNIS Feb 5 (Reuters) - At least two people were killed and 17 others were wounded in northern Tunisia on Saturday

http://af.reuters.com/article/egypt.../AfricaEgyptNews+(News+/+Africa+/+Egypt+News)

 

[Riklet]

The arrest of the local police chief and the burning of the cop shop is pretty impressive though. Not really heard much about Tunisia recently, is it a temporary government then... they actually doing much housecleaning?

 

[butchersapron]

Well, the Minister of Interior has suspended the RCD, Ben Ali's Party - expected to be completely dissolved. Panicky state reaction to the ongoing refusal to allow the old regime to rebuild under a new name.

 

[bolshiebhoy]

Good news.