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The Tunisian Revolution is already being compared to the fall of the Berlin Wall:
Andoni, Lamis. To the tyrants of the Arab world …. Al Jazeera. 2011 Jan 16. Available from: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/01/2011115135046129936.html.
The head of the Arab League has warned Arab heads of state that they might be next if they don’t clean up their acts:
Arab leaders warned of ‘revolution’: head of Arab League warns regional leaders that recent political upheaval is linked to deteriorating economic situation. Al Jazeera. 2011 Jan 19. Available from: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/2011119165427303423.html.
Nor is this entirely speculation. Not only have there been recent violent confrontations in Albania, Algeria, and Yemen (so far!), but in Albania, even prime minister Sali Berisha has made the comparison with Tunisia:
Four shot dead in Albania clashes: four people killed and dozens injured in extensive anti-government clashes with police outside PM’s office in Tirana. Al Jazeera. 2011 Jan 22. Available from: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/01/201112119754408514.html.
Although, in an unintentionally comic twist, Berisha has compared the socialist leadership of the protests to the ousted Tunisian dictator:
Berisha called the protests an opposition attempt to foment a Tunisia-style uprising. “The bastard children of Albania’s own Ben Alis conceived Tunisian scenarios … for you citizens of Albania,” he said, comparing his Socialist political opponents with the ousted Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
In Yemen, demonstrators are calling for the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh; their chant of protest is “Oh, Ali, join your friend Ben Ali”:
Yemen protests urge leader’s exit: thousands of students, activists and opposition groups stage anti-president protest at Sanaa University. Al Jazeera. 2011 Jan 23. Available from: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201112314714887766.html.
In Algeria, demonstrations are being held in the face of martial law, which has been in place since 1992:
Algerian democracy rally broken up: several injured as police disperse 300 people who defied a ban and attempted to demonstrate in capital, Algiers. Al Jazeera. 2011 Jan 22. Available from: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/2011122105819527114.html.
In Tunisia itself, the Revolution is not over. There are continuing protests against the interim government, which still contains many faces familiar from the ex-president’s sham government, and which remains so unpopular that even some of the police are now putting down their batons, and joining in the protests:
Police join protests in Tunisia: PM’s pledge to quit politics after elections fails to pacify demonstrators demanding dissolution of interim government. Al Jazeera. 2011 Jan 22. Available from: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/2011122133816146515.html.
Since the Tunisian Revolution is worldwide news, we should keep our eyes on simultaneous protests against autocratic rule even in places where the influence of the Tunisian example is not yet evident, such as Belarus:
Belarus police arrest protesters: as Alexander Lukashenko is sworn in, many opposition supporters stage protests. Al Jazeera. 2011 Jan 22. Available from: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/01/2011122215316266586.html.
Welcome to the world of 2011. The following post from late last year is already starting to look quite prescient, although in retrospect its phrasing is a bit too Eurocentric:
Rusty1776. All is not silent in the Halls of the Dead. Firedoglake. 2010 Dec 13. Available from: http://my.firedoglake.com/rusty1776/2010/12/13/all-is-not-silent-in-the-halls-of-the-dead/.
There is no guarantee yet that any of these incipient revolutions will succeed; that includes the Tunisian Revolution itself, since the interim government may yet find a way to maintain its privileges and forestall the establishment of true democracy in Tunisia. But the historical significance of the European revolutions of 1848 did not depend on their long-term success, either. There is no excuse for continuing to pretend that the Tunisian Revolution is merely a minor incident in a single small country. It should be obvious to everyone at this point that its significance is not just national or even regional, but worldwide and pervasive.
Cross-posted at Mosquito Cloud.
34 Comments
Gosh Hilary has a problem all those tyrants that we have supported with cash are surprise surprise unpopular and with the world economy in chaos lets not forget Dubai almost defaulted on its debt another financial shock could cause the arab world’s finance center to collapse thus compounding the problem.
Next imagine all those foreign workers in Saudi, Dubai etc drilling for oil, building cities, working as maids and cooks not getting paid?
London) – In Saudi Arabia foreign workers—who comprise one-third of the kingdom’s population—face torture, forced confessions and unfair trials when they are accused of crimes,
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2004/07/14/saudi-arabia-foreign-workers-abused
Officially, some 80 percent of Dubai’s population is foreign, with around 18 percent being from the UAE. With a population of around 1.5 million people, well over one million hailed from locations in East Asia. Human Rights Watch estimates that in Dubai alone, there are well over 500 thousand construction workers from Asia.
http://www.menassat.com/?q=en/news-articles/3877-sleeping-giant-foreign-workers-dubai
These workers are abused and looked down upon but if they don’t get paid? The possibility for violence goes up huge remember they are foreign workers the Arabs will have less reason not to shoot them as unlike Tunisia they are not citizens.
That can make the possibility of violence and bloodshed much more likely.
Also given Saudi abuse of workers any bets that no reports of any public disturbance in Saudi Arabia yet is because it hasn’t happened yet or that the Saudi Press controlled by the government won’t report it?
You’re right; economics has everything to do with it. That’s a major reason why secular leftists, not Islamists, are taking the lead this time around. The article on Yemen mentions that that country may well run out of oil in ten years!
Thanks so much for drawing our attention to the foreign-workers issue, and for the links to the articles about it! This further strengthens the picture of an Arab world ripe for revolution.
I haven’t seen any reports of actual uprisings from Saudi Arabia yet. I doubt they could actually prevent news of uprisings from getting out, although they might possibly be able to delay it. If you do see reports of any kind of protests in Saudi Arabia itself, please post them!
I respectfully disagree many of these protests are public suicides from what I read so the police can make them disappear and the Saudi MSM can just not report it.
But public protests your right they can’t hide that and after Tunisia my guess is all the Arab states have their secret police working overtime to prevent public protests.
Reports were confirmed, don’t quote me, that Tunisia’s First Lady, removed 1.5 tonnes of gold from the treasury, whereupon the plane alighted in Jeddah. Our Saudi friends are not looking so hot. First Idi Amin, now Ben Ali, wonder who may be next?
Foreign investors in America might be getting nervous notice that all the big companies listed on Wallstreet have made a profit this year? They did that by expanding into foreign markets mostly emerging markets not by creating jobs in America. Some companies did invest in the Arab states and I bet they are all kinds of nervous now.
Remember American companies invested in Iran lost everything when the Shah lost power.
Can a commercial plane fly with that much weight or did she leave on a cargo plane:)
Saudi Arabia is the safe haven for Muslim Tyrants when France won’t take them. But given that 1/3 of Saudi Arabia’s workers are foreigners I don’t think its that great a safe haven.
Also given the very high number of young people without jobs and the audi religious police being very effective at stopping the sexes from mixing much less dating.
Well no job means no marriage and that means no sex. I would not be surprised if the young citizens of Saudi Arabia revolt.
I’m wondering how long it will be before the good old USA tries to intervene to aid those companies’ efforts? CIA=CYA. So far I haven’t heard anything that sounds like an external attempt to subvert the Tunisian Revolution, but it would be the historical pattern. On the other hand, Obama’s liberal image – which is still the image he has in many minds (including mine, until very recently!) – will deteriorate further if he gets caught propping up kleptocratic dictators overseas.
This might be to big for the CIA the whole Middle East is a powder keg Obama will send in troops if he thinks the Fundy Muslims will take over ever read Persepolis great book there was a popular revolution in Iran then the Fundy Muslims took it over. If that happens in Tunisia Obama will have to send in troops. The other Arab states will demand it
http://www.amazon.com/Persepolis-Story-Childhood-Marjane-Satrapi/dp/0375422307
I came across a report somewhere that various democracy spreading NGO’s, are in the habit -por las deudas – spreading their bread on both sides. Nothing new, but that’s how we roll.
imagine….(shakes head)
http://mosquitocloud.net/democracy-smothered-by-us-policy-of-dictating-debate-with-dollars/
AlJazeera English has an article up about attempts to hijack the Tunisian revolution by “professional politicians.” Sorry, can’t do the link myself.
I asked a young nonArab African immigrant friend what he thought about the events in Tunisia. We didn’t have much time to discuss it, but he was quite elated. He definitely viewed it as a starting point to overthrow other authoritarian regimes throughout Africa, Arab and otherwise. He indicated this was the consensus of the youth (across many intraAfrican borders). He didn’t know the term “shock doctrine,” but he was familiar with the concept and didn’t attribute it to Tunisia. And further paraphrasing on my part at best, he thought that circumstances have been so bad in so many places, that it was worth throwing the Monopoly board off the table. He believes that if the next game isn’t any better than the old game, people will be more likely to revolt quickly against it, too.
The Tunisian revolution does have global significance. Now, it appears the latest is Albania. Thanks for the post.
thanks, great article.
the soon to be ousted Tunisian policitician’s statements in the al jazeera article about the police that you provided, are hilarious.
a very good movie about the power of the people….. in Venezuela, is
“The revolution will not be televised”
The camera crew was right in the room, when the would be coup makers ran like scared rabbits from the gathering crowds.
Holy Crap you may need to do a new Diary
“ADEN, Yemen — Drawing inspiration from the revolt in Tunisia, thousands of Yemenis fed up with their president’s 32-year rule demanded his ouster Saturday in a noisy demonstration that appeared to be the first large-scale public challenge to the strongman”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/23/yemen-demands-president-ousted_n_812687.html
“Clashes also broke out Saturday in Algeria, as opposition activists there tried to copy the tactics of their Tunisian neighbors”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/23/yemen-demands-president-ousted_n_812687.html
Foreign Investors beware
“Since the Tunisian turmoil, Saleh has ordered income taxes slashed in half and has instructed his government to control prices. He also ordered a heavy deployment of anti-riot police and soldiers to several key areas in the capital and its surroundings to prevent any riots.
Nearly half the population lives below the poverty line of $2 a day and doesn’t have access to proper sanitation. Less than a tenth of the roads are paved. Tens of thousands have been displaced from their homes by conflict, flooding the cities.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/23/yemen-demands-president-ousted_n_812687.html
Anyone else hear we cannot let Ossama establish a base in Yemen in the up coming State of the Union speech?
Never mind that even with US support and cooperation there is already a base in Yemen?
“”I am a prisoner in the party’s headquarters,” said Said Sadi, a former presidential candidate who leads the Rally for Culture and Democracy party, said through a megaphone from a balcony window.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/23/yemen-demands-president-ousted_n_812687.html
Never mind the Left seems to be leading this revolution:) It seems that economics the world wide economic slowdown is causing revolution and the Left is leading it!
you can throw climate change in there. and speculation by “investors” in food.
This is last spring:
“Demonstrations are taking place in Yemen over a 50 percent cut in food rations. More than 250,000 Yemenis, displaced by a conflict in the north between the government and rebels, depend on food aid for survival.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) was forced to reduce rations because of low funding from the international community. If new funding is not found, WFP programs may come to a total halt. WFP has also been forced to reduce or cut food aid programs in other parts of Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the entire world.
Gian Carlo Cirri, WFP’s Yemen Country Director, says, “Multiple internal and external challenges have left Yemen in a state of emergency. Growing poverty, hunger, and malnutrition in the country present a new front. If not addressed, this could prove to be the tipping point.””
Read more: http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/unrest-in-yemen-over-food-shortages/#ixzz1BsgUQmTM
You posted. Good.
Maybe Tunisia will now be able host this banned composer, oud master and performer?
“Passport” performed by Marcel Khalife
Bush and Obama could have saved this regime by not being so cheap with the food we pay farmers tons of cash but nooo! they wanted cash for the food.
Guns and military support yes food for poor people no. Great way to win hearts and minds Condi and Hilary.
marvel of marvels, it’s secular shit, not some Muslim Brotherhood ‘terrrrism’.
The Washington planners must really be freaking out, about now.
“Four and a half years ago, the US embassy was sanguine about the situation continuing, because it thought the Tunisian public mired in apathy:
“However, the lack of Tunisian political activism, or even awareness, seems to be a more serious impediment. While frustration with the First Family’s corruption may eventually lead to increased demands for political liberalisation, it does not yet appear to be heralding the end of the Ben Ali era.”" –Juan Cole
ooops.
Mohamed el Baradai warns of revolution in Egypt . . .
“If the Tunisians have done it, Egyptians should get there too,” the former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency said in an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel to be published on Monday. He said discontent in Egypt arises from “fundamental needs,” adding that an uprising led by the poor is probable.”
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/161481.html
Major protests planned for January 25 in Egypt . . .
“Opposition groups are planning a series of national protests next Tuesday, coinciding with a public holiday designed to celebrate the achievements of the police force – an institution that has galvanised popular anger against the state in recent months after high-profile police torture allegations and the deaths of several Egyptians in police custody.”
“We hope it will be big, very big” said Ahmed Salah, one of the organisers. “Whether it will provide the spark that brings down the regime we simply don’t know. But I think the most exciting thing about events in Tunisia is that we’ve seen that when people move, they move for democracy – not for religion, not for elite interests, not for private loyalties.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/18/mohamed-elbaradei-tunisia-egypt
Recc’d. Great post, Sebastos.
The article you’re referring to is a half-hour episode of Inside Story, made on location in Tunis:
It’s well worth watching. He shows a few minutes of actual scenes from the protests, then goes to an interview with three young women about their perspectives on the revolution.
I’m compiling a bibliography on the Tunisian Revolution to post as a diary – or rather, as multiple diaries, to be updated with new versions as I read more articles. So far it’s mostly Al Jazeera, with a few WikiLeaks cables thrown in. I want to read (or, in the case of videos, watch) everything I include, and there’s just so much about Tunisia on Al Jazeera. Their portal for Tunisia is:
Their timeline for the Tunisian Revolution is:
They even have an Algeria portal now [!]:
While the total number of WikiLeaks diplomatic cables is enormous, there appear to be only 10 cables originating from the U.S. Embassy at Tunis. They’re accessible from the following page:
They make quite enlightening reading. The USA knew very well what kind of people they were working with in Tunisia.
“But I think the most exciting thing about events in Tunisia is that we’ve seen that when people move, they move for democracy – not for religion, not for elite interests, not for private loyalties.”
If true, and I believe it is, the implication would suggest we chuck our important cultural differences, and hone in on the root of our current, involuntary, swan dive into the ‘oubliette’.
You caught Juan Cole making a mistake about Arab politics? Forget the CIA and State Dept they are Hacks but Juan isn’t a hack if he got this wrong then this wasn’t even on the Left’s radar. I think every Lefty Blog I know defers to Juan except Gorilla Guides when they talk about Iraq.
Never forget the Elite believe in divide and conquer and the Elite prefer Religious nuts get power rather than Commies who would help the poor. The CIA helped Pakistan’s secret police create Ossama.
Of course after 9/11 America can’t have Egypt fall neither can Israel. Egypt is to powerful Obama would send in troops to support the current government.
I expect the MSM to start talking nonstop about Muslim Fundy revolution never mind its the Left doing this. Lies have started almost more wars than religion.
the ooops was rather aimed at the notion that if we cast our noses about us now, there is not a waft of revolutionary fervor in the air, just as was the case in Tunisia when Juan wrote it.
So, to the naysayers, if it’s not in the air today, wait till tomorrow?
Cronyism and 14% unemployment was effectively all it took…
Thanks; I’ve logged the Guardian article for inclusion in my bibliography. I was also impressed by the next sentence quoted from Ahmed Salah, right after the one that you cite:
ElBaradei is clearly terrified of the Muslim Brotherhood, but now that revolution appears to be inevitable, he is not doing his side any favors by being cautious. Such caution will make it more likely, not less, that when the revolution does arrive, it will be dominated by the forces of Islamic theocratic fascism. As the activist Hossam El-Hamalawy is quoted as saying:
FDL would do well to heed this also. While I understand – and share – their reservations about any attempt to call for revolution against our government in the USA, the foreign dictatorships that the USA supports are another matter entirely. When we’re talking about the sham “governments” of Ben Ali or Mubarak, or any other clear-cut cases of oppressive dictatorship without popular support, the only morally and intellectually defensible attitude is emphatic and unequivocal support for their revolutionary overthrow. That does not mean that we have to support repressive fascistic movements like the Muslim Brotherhood; but the mere risk of a takeover by such elements does not justify tempering our support for revolution against existing dictatorship.
“Can a commercial plane fly with that much weight or did she leave on a cargo plane:)”
***Mod Note: Personal insults are discouraged. *** Adult humans are about 12 to the ton (about 8 to the ton in Chicago). Airliners carry several hundred of them. So, the meat payload alone is at least a couple dozen tonnes. Even a moderately large business jet could carry the loot and a few plutocrats.
Of course, you want to put all the goodies in many flat boxes. It would be easy to overload the floor structures with stuff that dense.