We must pay attention to Tunisia

By Thomas Engle

In a story largely ignored by the American media, a long-standing and corrupt foreign leader was overthrown by the people of his country.

While military-initiated coups are nothing new for Africa, the recent protests in Tunisia are a definite sign of the times, with Facebook, WikiLeaks and YouTube all playing pivotal roles in a country dominated by young people.

The protests started last month, on Dec. 17, 2010, when Mohamed Bouazizi lit himself on fire in protest over authorities confiscating his only means of support, a fruit and vegetable cart.

According to the Toronto Star, Bouazizi was forced to become a street vender when his family's farm was shut down due to eminent domain purchases by the government.

While Bouazizi later succumbed to his wounds in a hospital on Jan. 4, his desperation served as a galvanizing icon for a Tunisian population suffering from deteriorating living standards and high unemployment among the youth.

A broad range of Tunisians from every walk of life, from trade unionists and lawyers to musicians, journalists and religious leaders, had come together to call for the ousting of the long-standing and corrupt President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Serving as president for 23 years, Ben Ali was deemed "authoritarian" and "undemocratic" by Amnesty International and Freedom House and routinely exiled his political opponents.

By Jan. 14, the protests had reached such a fevered peak that Ben Ali fled the country to seek sanctuary in Saudi Arabia, taking with him 1.5 tons of gold from the Central Bank of Tunisia.

Though the corrupt leader is gone, Tunisia is not out of the woods yet.

Since Ben Ali had effectively created a one-party state, there is now no opposition party to take over the government.

At first, power of the state was relinquished to Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi.

He was forced to resign within 24 hours because of improper succession claims by Tunisia's Constitutional Court, and replaced with parliamentary speaker Fouad Mebazaa on Jan. 15.

Despite being unable to predict how these events will end, citizens in other Arab countries are already pining for their own version .

In Egypt, a country still reeling in the aftermath of the Christmas bombing of a Coptic Christian church, there have been protests expressing solidarity with the Tunisians.

Many Egyptians see similarities between Ben Ali's thinly veiled dictatorship and their own under Hosni Mubarak, who has been president since 1981.

What makes this current political event relevant to American youth, though, is the role technology has played.

Chris Kennedy, writing on the degree to which the Tunisian government took control the flow of information said, "With complete control of the comings and goings of Internet traffic in the country, the government was able to totally shut down the secure http's protocol, forcing all Tunisian users to use the less secure http protocol in order to log in to their accounts.

"Utilizing this vulnerability, the government hacked and phished its way into the accounts of popular anti-government activists, shutting them out without their consent or knowledge."

To cancel this out, hacktivist group "Anonymous," famous for its denial of service attacks on entities not supportive of WikiLeaks, declared "Operation Tunisia" on Jan. 2, announcing that, "The Tunisian government wants to control the present with falsehoods and misinformation in order to impose the future by keeping the truth hidden from its citizens. We will not remain silent while this happens."

It continues, "Anonymous has heard the claim for freedom of the Tunisian people. Anonymous is willing to help the Tunisian people in this fight against oppression."

Within 24 hours, the national stock exchange, several government ministries and the Palace website were all hacked into unavailability.

As the situation unfolds, the world's college-educated youth should pay attention to how the frustrated, unemployed youth of this relatively well-developed and educated nation handle themselves in this chaos.

Even with the abstention of violence from protestors and the refusal (early on) of troops to fire at protestors, estimates of civilian deaths number around 78, and theft is rampant.

Though as American college students we may appear to be far from this scenario and other student-related protests around the world, keep in mind that, upon graduation, we share the same economic outlook as the Tunisian youth: Lower pay and higher prices for everyday goods.

We need to learn from their mistakes and commit ourselves in the trying times ahead to abhor violence and keep a cool head, as even the best-intended situations can spiral out of control.

Article Courtesy of UWire.