By Erik Churchill – The success of the spread of democracy in the Middle East and North Africa will depend largely on the underlying demographics, economics, and geopolitical importance of each post-revolutionary country. In this regard, Tunisia, the first country to throw its leader out, is the most likely candidate to succeed. Here’s why.
By The local To start, I’m a declared revolutionary since the 14th of January and that date is not a […]
It is when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says about Nessma TV “they were not Ben Ali’s favorite TV station” that one realizes it does not take much to manipulate the US diplomacy
By Salem Romdhan – As we are slowly sobering up from the political binge that followed the Tunisian uprising, one could start to discern the outlines of the new scene we are presented with.
For a month and a half since the famous popular uprisings that led to the Arab World’s first democratic revolution, Tunisia had been struggling to identify and implement the necessary structural and ideological changes that are essential for the budding democratic system. Tunisians all over the country had been patiently waiting to see what the interim government and the opposition leaders would bring to the table, and for a month and a half they got little more than flowery rhetoric praising the revolution and those who gave their lives for a democratic Tunisia.
25 January 2011 was the day when people of Egypt went to the streets in several cities to demonstrate against […]
The transitional government of Tunisia should make it an urgent priority to investigate the killings of demonstrators by Tunisian security forces in early January 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. Security forces used excessive force in suppressing demonstrations in the central western cities of Kasserine and Tala, Human Rights Watch said, killing at least 21 people with live ammunition in these two cities alone between January 8 and 12, Human Rights Watch found.
Ben Ali is gone, but the regime is still there. This interim government must be purged of the old regime’s […]
It was extremely calm, almost serene in Tunis this morning. It was hard to believe that only yesterday, thousands marched […]
It’s semi official. Zine Ben Ali, Tunisia and his corrupt, oppressive regime are now history. There are numerous reports, including one from Le Monde that Ben Ali is gone and turned the governing of the country over to the Tunisian army. He did this after several press conferences these past days spoken in a language I am told he has not used for 23 years – the Tunisian Arabic dialect – offering the people of his country much of what it is that he has taken away these past decades: economic opportunity and democracy. Too little too late, his concessions were laughed at and did nothing to dampen the opposition.
Activist and blogger Slim Amamou was arrested today, January 6, around 1pm. At this time, his friends and colleagues have […]
The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed by your government’s attempt to censor coverage of recent protests against unemployment and corruption in Tunisia. We are specifically alarmed by the confiscation of two opposition weeklies, the government’s denunciation of Al-Jazeera, the systematic obstruction of reporting and broadcasting […]
January traditionally has been Tunisia’s month for political drama — a general strike in January 1978; a Libyan-supported insurrection in […]
Cet article se concentre sur le cyber-activisme de base dans le monde arabe et les risques encourus d’une collision inévitable avec la politique étrangère et les intérêts US. Il résume l’essentiel des discussions que j’ai eues, ces deux dernières années, avec de multiples acteurs engagés dans la défense de la liberté d’expression sur Internet et dans l’utilisation de la technologie pour le changement social et politique. Bien que le sujet principal demeure l’activisme numérique arabe, j’y ai inclus les problématiques et inquiétudes similaires soulevées par des activistes et défenseurs de la liberté d’expression sur Internet issus d’autres parties du monde comme la Chine, la Thaïlande et l’Iran.
“If it was happening in Iran instead of Tunisia, it would be on the front pages of all the newspapers.” […]
Ben Ali and Leila Tabelsi, that they are emptying out what is left in Tunisia’s coffers, that an airbus is fueled, ready and waiting to take off, as are the private jets of members of their two extended families… just in case the protests rocking the country cannot be crushed.
In order to have an “American” perspective on the Tunileaks affair, Nawaat invited Rob Prince to share his thoughts on the leaked diplomatic cables from the US embassy in Tunisia. Rob Prince is a Lecture of International Studies at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver. Rob served as a Peace Corps Volunteer and Staff Member in Tunis and Sousse. For more insight into Rob Prince thoughts on Tunisia, please listen to his interview with the KGNU Radio – Hemispheres about the human rights situation in our country. In this interview, we asked professor Rob about his first impression after reading the diplomatic cables; the state of the “institutionalized corruption” in the country and the consequence of these leaks on the US-Tunisia relationship; and how the Tunisian civil society, the opposition and the Tunisian online citizen media initiatives can use the leaks in their favor and push for a real change.
New York, December 10, 2010– The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns harassment of the Lebanese news website Al-Akhbar after it […]
