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Tunisia crisis: live updates As the Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali flees his country, we are bringing our live coverage to an end. Our correspondent in Tunis, Angelique Chrisafis, has just filed this excellent piece after spending a day on the streets. And here's our latest news story. Here's a summary of the day's events. • Tunisia's president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, has fled the country after days of street riots forced him out. zunguzungu Weasel Words from Secretary Clinton on Tunisia On Tunisia: SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we are worried, in general, about the unrest and the instability, and what seems to be the underlying concerns of the people who are protesting — it seems to be a combination of economic and political demonstrations — and the government’s reaction, which has been, unfortunately, leading to the deaths of some of the protestors. So we are not taking sides in it, we just hope there can be a peaceful resolution of it…we have got a lot of very positive aspects of our relationship with Tunisia. And what the Ambassador and what the State Department back in Washington did was just express concern that this is a protest that has, unfortunately, provoked such a reaction from the government, leading to the deaths of mostly young people who were protesting.
Ethan Zuckerman What if Tunisia had a revolution, but nobody watched? On December 17, a 26 year old Tunisian man named Mohamed Bouazizi reached the end of his rope. An unemployed university graduate, Bouazizi had become a seller of fruits and vegetables in the southern Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid. When authorities confiscated his wares to punish him for selling without a license, Bouazizi set himself on fire. He died in hospital on January 4, 2011. Video of protests in Sidi Bouzid on YouTube Bouazizi’s suicide struck a chord with other frustrated Tunisians. The First Twitter Revolution? - By Ethan Zuckerman Friday evening, Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali boarded a jet for Malta, leaving his prime minister to face streets filled with protesters demanding a change of government in the North African country. The protests began weeks earlier in the central city of Sidi Bouzid, sparked by the suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi, an unemployed university graduate whose informal vegetable stall was shuttered by the police. His despair exemplified the frustration that many Tunisians felt with their contracting economy, high levels of unemployment and inequality, censored media and Internet, and widespread corruption. Protests spread from city to city, with trade unions, lawyers, and countless unemployed Tunisian youth demanding a change to an economic system that appeared to benefit a small number of families close to power and leave ordinary citizens behind. As the protests intensified, Ben Ali offered concessions to his people: 23 years into his reign, he agreed to step down in 2014.
Tunisia invades, censors Facebook, other accounts - Internet Tunisian authorities have tried to censor photos just like this one, which shows civil unrest in Tunis. (AFP/Fethi Belaid) The Tunisian government has been a notorious censor for many years, for journalists online and off. Tunisia, Twitter, Aristotle, Social Media and Final and Efficient Causes A debate has been raging on the role social media—especially Facebook and Twitter— played in the apparently successful uprising in Tunisia. Most of the discussion seems to be centered around the use of the term “Twitter Revolution.” Ethan Zuckerman responds that “the Internet can take some credit for toppling Tunisia’s government, but not all of it.” When you read Ethan Zuckerman’s great piece –and he is, along with Jillian C. York—among the few people participating in this debate who were in touch with Tunisian dissidents on the ground not just through this crisis but over the years, it becomes clear that being able to disseminate information using social media was key in multiple respects: “[In spite of lack of attention compared to the Iranian protests] … the irony is that social media likely played a significant role in the events … Ben Ali’s government tightly controlled all forms of media, on and offline.
Tunisia: Can We Please Stop Talking About ?Twitter Revolutions? - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty ? 2011 While the tear gas was still hanging in the streets of Tunis, many pundits were quick to christen Tunisia’s revolution. Andrew Sullivan has asked (again) whether it’s a Twitter Revolution. Elizabeth Dickinson, among others, speculated in “Foreign Policy” that it might be a “WikiLeaks revolution.” Anonymous, the online activists who recently attacked targets perceived to be against WikiLeaks, claimed it as their own after their DDOS attacks on various government targets.
Tunisia and the New Arab Media Space An interesting discussion has already broken out over whether Tunisia should be considered a "Twitter Revolution" -- a far more interesting and relevant discussion than whether it was a "WikiLeaks Revolution" (it wasn't). I've seen some great points already by Ethan Zuckerman, Evgeny Morozov, Luke Allnut, Jillian York, and others. I'm looking forward to being one of the social scientists digging into the data, where I suspect that both enthusiasts and skeptics will find support for their arguments. For now, I would just argue that it would be more productive to focus more broadly on the evolution of the Arab media over the last decade, in which new media such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, forums and blogs work together with satellite television stations such as Al Jazeera to collectively transform the Arab information environment and shatter the ability of authoritarian regimes to control the flow of information, images, ideas and opinions.
Tunisia 'to respond' to protests - Africa The Tunisian government has said it will listen to protesters, after weeks of unrest over high unemployment and the cost of living left dozens of people dead and raised the tensions. Samir al-Obaidy, the country's communications minister, told Al Jazeera that the government was responding to the unrest. "The message has been received by the government and all political channels," he said. "With the backing of the president, we have already put in place urgent measures and allocated $5bn for the development of various areas." Government officials reported that 14 people were killed since Saturday in clashes between the security forces and protesters in the towns of Thala, Kasserine and Regueb.
Tunisian protests turn into cyberwar between government and hacker group Violent protests in Tunisia have turned into a cyberwar between government forces and the Anonymous hacker group, after Gmail, Facebook, Yahoo and Hotmail accounts of perceived dissidents were censored. On Dec. 18, a group of youths gathered in Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia, protesting against unemployment and poor living conditions. The government cracked down, forcing discussion to move online through social networking forums. "The authorities appear to have turned to even more repressive tactics to silence reporting.
Reporters Sans Frontières - Wave of arrests of bloggers and activists Reporters Without Borders condemned the arrests and disappearances yesterday of bloggers and online activists across a number of Tunisian cities. The worldwide press freedom organization has monitored at least five such cases but the list could well be longer. Police arrested the bloggers to question them about hacking into government websites by the militant group Anonymous, several sources told the organisation. Reporters Without Borders urged the authorities to release them as soon as possible. “These arrests, intended to intimidate Tunisian Internet-users and their international backers, are likely to prove counter-productive, by stoking up tension. Arresting several bloggers is not the way to get images of demonstrations deleted from the web or for cyber-attacks to be halted”, Reporters Without Borders said.