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People power goes techie, ousts Tunisian dictator
Seeds of protest
TUNIS, Tunisia—After 23 years of iron-fisted rule, the president of Tunisia was driven from power on Friday (Saturday in Manila) 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 anti government protests began a month ago when a college-educated street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi in the small town of Sidi Bouzid burned himself to death in despair at the frustration and joblessness confronting many educated young people here. But the protests he inspired quickly evolved from bread-and-butter issues to demands for an assault on the perceived corruption and self-enrichment of the ruling family.
The protesters, led at first by unemployed college graduates like Bouazizi and later joined by workers and young professionals, found grist for the complaints in leaked cables from the US Embassy in Tunisia, released by WikiLeaks, which detailed the self-dealing and excess of the president’s family.
And the protesters relied heavily on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter to circulate videos of each demonstration and issue calls for the next one.
By midday Friday, hours before news of the president’s departure, demonstrators had gathered outside the Interior Ministry and were already celebrating their anticipated victory and debating its significance.
Facebook battlecry
Yet by late Friday, Tunisian Facebook pages previously emblazoned with the revolt’s slogan, “Ben Ali, Out,” had made way for the name of the interim president. “Ghannouchi Out,” they declared.
Reports from AP and The New York Times News Service.
.
Seeds of protest
TUNIS, Tunisia—After 23 years of iron-fisted rule, the president of Tunisia was driven from power on Friday (Saturday in Manila) 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 anti government protests began a month ago when a college-educated street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi in the small town of Sidi Bouzid burned himself to death in despair at the frustration and joblessness confronting many educated young people here. But the protests he inspired quickly evolved from bread-and-butter issues to demands for an assault on the perceived corruption and self-enrichment of the ruling family.
The protesters, led at first by unemployed college graduates like Bouazizi and later joined by workers and young professionals, found grist for the complaints in leaked cables from the US Embassy in Tunisia, released by WikiLeaks, which detailed the self-dealing and excess of the president’s family.
And the protesters relied heavily on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter to circulate videos of each demonstration and issue calls for the next one.
By midday Friday, hours before news of the president’s departure, demonstrators had gathered outside the Interior Ministry and were already celebrating their anticipated victory and debating its significance.
Facebook battlecry
Yet by late Friday, Tunisian Facebook pages previously emblazoned with the revolt’s slogan, “Ben Ali, Out,” had made way for the name of the interim president. “Ghannouchi Out,” they declared.
Reports from AP and The New York Times News Service.
.
