Live Updates From Tunisia
This is huge. Follow it here.
1749: Mr Ghannouchi vowed to respect the constitution and restore stability. It is unclear whether Mr Ben Ali has left the country, but al-Arabiya reports that he is flying to Malta under Libyan protection.1745: President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali has stepped down. Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi has taken over as interim president.1736: Two sources close to the government confirm to the AFP news agency that President Ben Ali has left Tunisia. Tunisian state television has said it is expecting the announcement of an "historic decision" which will satisfy the desires of the country's people.1735: Air France has temporarily suspended all flights to Tunis due to the state of emergency and the closure of air space.1733: Sources tell al-Jazeera TV that President Ben Ali has left the country and that the army is in control.
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Dec '10
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
Will the new political order that emerges in Tunisia look more like Western democratic capitalism, Iranian theocracy, Egyptian authoritarianism or Yemeni chaos?
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
I don't know, but the whole post-colonial order in the Arab world is shaking, and only now is the White House saying that it "believes the Tunisian people have the right to choose their leaders!"
Jun '10
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
Tunisia has a long history of religious pluralism, doesn't it? I vaguely recall reading something about 'international interfaith dialogue' festivals, or some such thing. Random thought, but I was just wondering.
Claire (or anyone else who can answer), pardon me if this seems like a naive question, but what countries are left in the Arab world that still operate within the post-colonial model? Post-colonial is mid-century to me, so we might be operating under different definitions of the phrase.
May '10
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
Tunisian politics have always been a black box and a mystery to the current day. Ask Livy. (I'm follwing, Claire, I'm following!)
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
Yes, in a trivial sense it's all post-colonial in the sense that it's after the colonial era. You're right, the phrase is too vague. And perhaps I should refrain from commenting about what this means right now, because it's happening too quickly and I may be getting swept up in the excitement. But this is very obviously huge. It seems possible to imagine right now that this will sweep the Arab world.
I'm going to step back now and watch before running off more at the mouth.
Is this getting big attention in the US right now? It seems like the whole world from here.
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
This is, indeed, a major event, and it may have repercussions in Egypt and elsewhere. Up to now, Tunisia has been a resolutely secular state -- much to the chagrin, let me add, of certain US State Department officials hired for Islamic outreach whom I have met.
As I noted in an earlier thread, Habib Bourghiba is the responsible figure -- both for good and bad. He backed France against the Nazis. After independence, he set up a secular state with a reasonable constitution that set term limits for the President. But when the time came for him to leave office, he ignored the Constitution. Eventually, he was ousted by the not so bright policeman whom he had made vice-president, and this was done on the grounds that he had become senile. His successor then ignored the Constitution when he was due to retire -- and now he has himself been ousted by the army in response to a popular uprising.
This could be very, very good news if it eventuates in free elections and a civilized, sensible government intent on building on the good that Bourghiba did. It could also open the door to the Islamists.
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
Now that's a disturbing throw-away line. Can you elaborate?
Nov '10
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Now that's a disturbing throw-away line. Can you elaborate?
Yes, I would love to hear a lot more about that angle.
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Now that's a disturbing throw-away line. Can you elaborate? · Jan 14 at 11:21am
Back in the Bush years, I was occasionally invited to small conferences focused on readings pertaining to the Muslim world. At one of them, I met a couple of people from the State Department who were involved in outreach to the Islamic countries. They were frustrated that the Tunisians were having none of it. Tunisia was, they insisted, culturally Muslim and politically secular, and at gatherings hosted by the State Department they stuck out like a sore thumb.
Let me add that when I visited Tunisia a few years back, it struck me as a prosperous, lower-middle-class sort of place. No great riches, no visible poverty, first-rate agriculture, everyone adequately educated. Not much different from, say, Hungary.
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
My sense -- for what it is worth -- is that we were falling all over ourselves in our enthusiasm for Islam, while the Tunisians were wary of it. A secular state must always be wary of a religion that is political at its very core.
Nov '10
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
That should be branded into the palms of everyone in the State Department (or the US government in general) in case they need a quick reality check whenever they deal with matters pertaining to Islam.
Jun '10
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
Is this getting big attention in the US right now? It seems like the whole world from here. · Jan 14 at 11:07am
In a word: no. I first learned about it via this post on TechCrunch of all places. Here's an extract:
My jarring entry point into today’s news was Salon columnist Alex Pareene’s tweet that “I am relying on someone live-tweeting al-Jazeera to keep up with Tunisia news. MSNBC reports that Martha Stewart’s dog split her lip open.”
After 4 weeks of protests, Paid Content founder Rafat Ali tells us he had not seen any “traditional” Tunisia coverage until yesterday and then “only [a] bit in NYT.” When asked to clarify his humorous tweet, Pareene said, “MSNBC has just mentioned Tunisia briefly a couple times, no video that I’ve seen.”
Analyst Evgeny Morozov thinks that unlike the Twitter revolutions in Moldova and Iran which got mainstream coverage, the novelty of “Social Media Changes Everything” stories has worn off just in time for Tunisia.
Dec '10
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
Yes, this is getting some national news play; my ears perked up when I heard it, as Claire sensitized me to it. However, I find it completely inscrutable. The jist I got from an ABC radio affiliate was that the President was resigning, in support of the demonstrations. There was no mention of a military takeover. That was a bit over an hour ago and the national news on TV will begin in about 1 hour.
Dec '10
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
If the Army is in charge at this moment, they might remain in charge for quite a while. As we've seen from Ghana to Fiji to Pakistan to Argentina, once the military assumes power, they can take their own sweet time in relinquishing it to civilian government. (Sometimes that is even a good thing.)
Dec '10
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
The UK Telegraph reports:
"The president has given orders to Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi to create a new government. Following acts of violence, it has been decided to introduce a state of emergency in the country to protect Tunisian citizens," state television said.
"This state of emergency means that any gathering of more than three people is forbidden, that arms will be used by security forces in cases where a suspect does not stop when asked to do so by the police and thirdly, a curfew (is imposed) from 5:00 this evening until 7:00 in the morning for an indefinite period."
Oct '10
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
Told ja!
Oct '10
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
I'm not familiar with Tunisian politics. is the overthrow good news or a bad news for secular democracy?
Jul '10
Re: Live Updates From Tunisia
As with so many of these, it depends on how things end up. The status quo was a strong man who overstayed his term.