Saturday, January 15th, 2011
By Mona Eltahawy
Washington Post, Saturday, January 15, 2011
For 23 years, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali presided over the most tightly run ship in the Arab world. So perfect a police state was his Tunisia, with its ubiquitous informers and portraits of the president, that no one predicted Ben Ali’s ship could capsize.
But capsize it did Friday, after a 29-day popular uprising against unemployment, police brutality and the regime’s corruption. It was the worst unrest since Ben Ali took over.
Not once in my 43 years have I thought that I’d see an Arab leader toppled by his people. It is nothing short of poetic justice that it was neither Islamists nor invasion-in-the-name-of-democracy that sent the waters rushing onto Ben Ali’s ship but, rather, the youth of his country.
Their rage at political and economic disenfranchisement spilled over last month with the desperate act of an unemployed man. Mohammed Bouazizi, 26, distraught when police confiscated his unlicensed produce stand, set himself on fire on Dec. 17 and died on Jan. 3. Soon, several other unemployed youth tried to commit suicide, and at least one of them did. Is there a more poignant portrayal of what ails the Arab world than images of its young people killing themselves as their leaders get older and richer?
Human rights groups say more than 60 people have died in clashes with Ben Ali’s security forces since Dec. 17, but Bouazizi’s self-immolation has come to symbolize what many are calling the Jasmine Revolution.
Tunisia is a typical Middle East country in that its population is composed largely of young people. Half the population is under 25 years of age and so have known no leader other than Ben Ali, who was only Tunisia’s second president since it gained independence from France in 1956.
For decades, a host of Arab dictators have justified their endless terms in office by pointing to Islamists waiting in the wings. Having both inflated the egos and power of Islamists and scared Western allies into accepting stability over democracy, those leaders were left to comfortably sweep "elections." Ben Ali was elected to a fifth term with 89.62 percent of the vote in 2009.
All around him is a depressingly familiar pattern. Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi (68 years old) has been in power since 1969; Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh (64) has ruled since 1978 and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (82) since 1981. Algeria’s Abdelaziz Bouteflika (73) is a relative newcomer, having been in power only since 1999. Not so much fathers as grandfathers of their nations, these autocrats cling to office – and are increasingly out of touch with their young populaces.
No doubt, every Arab leader has watched Tunisia’s revolt in fear while citizens across the Arab world watch in solidarity, elated at that rarity: open revolution.
"Goosebumps all over. I can’t believe I lived through an Arab revolution!! Thank you, Tunisia!" tweeted Gigi Ibrahim, a young Egyptian woman whose handle is Gsquare86. "The power of the masses is capable of toppling any dictatorship. Today was Tunisia. Tomorrow is Egypt, Jordan. LONG LIVE REVOLUTION!"
Social media, where young Arabs organize and speak out against their respective regimes, have given the world a clear view of the thoughts, hopes and videos of Tunisians. For days, I have been glued to Twitter, on which events in Tunisia are discussed much faster than mainstream media could report them.
"Tunis now: the chants continue ‘No to Ben Ali even if we die,’ " tweeted a Tunisian who joined the 6,000 to 7,000 protesting outside the Interior Ministry hours before Ben Ali fled.
Tunisia is not a major U.S. ally. On Jan. 7, the State Department said it was concerned about the regime’s online and real-life crackdown. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Jan. 12 that Washington would not take sides, infuriating those who saw a double standard in the vocal U.S. position on Iran.
But others saw encouragement from Washington’s reticence. U.S. leaders are "supporting us with their silence," a Tunisian told me on Twitter. "If they say anything, we will lose."
As Arabs everywhere marvel, those in Tunis still seem grounded. Even as Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannoushi announced on state television Friday that he had taken over, people noted online that the acting president was part of Ben Ali’s despised inner circle. Surely Ghannoushi is aware that Tunisians who have faced down live ammunition, curfews and tanks on the street the past month have little appetite for more of the same leadership.
Indeed, one Tunisian tweeted me: "What is unfolding is another dictatorship, we must continue the battle!"
Tunisians were fed up with not just Ben Ali but the "quasi mafia" surrounding him, as the family and cronies were described in a WikiLeaks cable, because of their "organized corruption." President Obama issued a statement on Friday in support of the Tunisian people and calling for free and fair elections.
Ben Ali imprisoned or chased into exile viable alternatives to his rule, so what comes next politically is not clear. But the world is watching this small Arab country and wondering if this is the first step in ridding the region of its granddaddies.
Comments (10)
salman said:
the tunisians on the street are calling for Islam and Khilafah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD3Rd-3kCbg
You can lock up Islamic political activists but you can not remove Islam from the people’s hearts. It may be unemployment that sparks people into action but they will not tolerate secularism and the expulsion of Islam from politics
January 15th, 2011, 4:57 pm
Offendedbyimmorality said:
Mona,
I believe that the first fear our Tunisian sisters and brothers concurred was the fear of the aftermath. This is what totalitarians throughout the Arab world have been threatening us with. Most telling of how concerned all of them are about Arab Masses concurring this fear was the pathetic speech of next door tyrant in Libya.
A characteristic of all fossilized regimes, from Sanaa in the south to Damascus in the north and Rabat in the west is the outright theft of their countries’ wealth by their close circle of immediate and extended families.
When I was a young man, there was a few rather wealthy individuals at the global scene who were called, Mr. 5% indicating their ubiquitous financial presence. The sad thing is that in every Arab capitol nowadays there are Messers 10%,15%,20%, and perhaps 50% and they are all members of the Mafia families ruling these countries and extorting businesses by forcing themselves as partners on every single business daring to grow beyond some arbitrary limit. No wonder investment in the Arab world is stagnant and jobs are not being created for the well educated youth.
The Islamists will try to steal this revolution as they did in Iran more than 30 years ago and the liberals and secularist would have to be very vigilant in ensuring that everyone has a voice not only the Islamists.
January 16th, 2011, 6:01 am
Świat arabski: Kto następny po Tunezji? · Global Voices said:
[...] która bacznie przyglądała się Twitterosferze w okresie powstania w Tunezji napisała dziś rano poczytny artykuł [ang.] zatytułowany „Więcej Tunezji, poroszę”, w którym zauważyła, że świat arabski [...]
January 16th, 2011, 5:50 pm
Monde arabe : Après la Tunisie, à qui le tour ? | JusticeAvenue said:
[...] a suivi de près la Twittersphere pendant tout le soulèvement tunisien, a rédigé ce matin un éditorial très lu, sous le titre ”Il faudrait encore des Tunisie” où elle note que le monde arabe suspend son [...]
January 17th, 2011, 7:55 am
Dale said:
ON January 12th, after reading Mona’s latest rant, I absently asked the Italian woman who shares my household where exactly Tunisia was located. She told me and my mind placed it in history as where ancient Carthage was located. After this I pretty much dismissed it from my mind as I had More Important Things to worry about.
These “more important things” were (in order of importance) how the Green Bay Packers would do in the playoffs, where I would scrounge a used hard drive to rebuild my broken Linux box, and which desktop background to use. The Packers won, I found an old 20 GB drive in the garage, and I downloaded a Laetitia Casta background that was mostly dark except for Laetitia’s classically beautiful form.
So much for my typically Western priorities. After reading Mona’s latest, I went to the Drudge Report and read three articles on the current happenings in Tunisia. Local television had exactly thirty seconds on Tunisa, and thirty minutes of the Golden Globe Awards, which was dominated by what silly rich women were wearing.
I guess, looking at the news, I am not alone being blindsided by the match burning in the midst of the Middle Eastern powder keg, Perhaps I shall have to investigate this new fad of Twittering.
It is too early to tell exactly what this will mean for the rest of the region… and the world for that matter. For the Tunisians, its gonna be more than a little hardship. They could end up, if the mobs can be quelled sufficiently, with a relatively benign government. They could also end up as another Somalia.
It seems to me surprising that the infrastructure is still limping along. Often revolutions are left with no power, no water, and no food… which brings more rebellions. So far, the mobs seem to have settled for vandalizing their former despot’s property. Organized militias have taken the task of paying for freedom with their own blood.
You hope for more Tunisias Mona? Be careful what you wish for. Blood flowing in the streets is not always just a metaphor. But then again, there is that famous quotation about blood, patriots, and tyrants.
Liberty is expensive… but ALWAYS worth the price.
January 17th, 2011, 10:02 am
Mandragon » Świat arabski: Kto następny po Tunezji? said:
[...] która bacznie przyglądała się Twitterosferze w okresie powstania w Tunezji napisała dziś rano poczytny artykuł [ang.] zatytułowany „Więcej Tunezji, proszę”, w którym zauważyła, że świat arabski [...]
January 25th, 2011, 6:00 am
jay kactz said:
This will not be an “Eastern Europe 1989″ type of thing. Instead, think Iran 1979. These protesters may want democracy but they will get sharia, islam and repression.
Islam is not compatible with the concepts of freedom, equality and human rights. Just look at the Muslim world if you have doubts.
These young men may even aspire to these high ideals, but they will not, can not stand up to the Islamists. All the radicals have to do is say “That is against Islam” and the liberals will put their tail between their legs and curl up. End of discussion.
The Islamist will not ‘steal’ the revolution. The people will give it to them. They will continue to suffer but they will have nonody to blame except themselves.
I despise the vile, corrupt Arab elites, and to see them hanging from a lightpost would not bother me at all, but don’t think it will be better for the people. It wont.
January 27th, 2011, 4:22 pm
Jordan said:
Interesting to think of Mohammed Bouazizi as a sort of non-terrorist “suicide bomber” that set of the powder keg of Tunisia’s discontent.
January 28th, 2011, 1:55 am
aniss said:
Egyptian leaders have always been traitors and cowards (except Abdelnasser) The Egyptian people has always accept living in slavery, hopefully today it will release, but with the arrival in power of Soulimane I think this will be the same as under Mubarak and son …
January 29th, 2011, 8:44 pm
Mona Eltahawy on Arab dictators « virtues of the absurd said:
[...] [Full article here.] [...]
February 2nd, 2011, 8:58 pm
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