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<font face="Arial">Hi David,<br>
I think this is probably true... but sometimes alternating power
is good just for the sake of change. The same leader for many
years (Zimbabwe, Tunisa, Cuba, Venezuela) causes politics to
become ingrained. Change helps populations hope (and work) for
further change.<br>
<br>
(I have lived in Venezuela for 3o+ years as a resident, and
anything I say that can be construed to be critical of the
government is grounds for me to be (legally) deported.)<br>
<br>
Best, Ginger<br>
</font><br>
On 1/20/2011 6:26 PM, David Goldstein wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:517727.71138.qm@web120506.mail.ne1.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
<style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style>
<div style="font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:
10pt;">Tunisia is not free, they will just be ruled by different
despots supported by the west as Robert Fisk outlined in the
Independent a week or so ago.<br>
<br>
Incremental changes maybe, significant change - you're
dreaming...<br>
<br>
David<br>
<div><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;"><br>
<div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif;
font-size: 12pt;"><font size="2" face="Tahoma">
<hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b>
Charity Gamboa <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:charityg@diplomacy.edu"><charityg@diplomacy.edu></a><br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:governance@lists.cpsr.org">governance@lists.cpsr.org</a>; Khaled KOUBAA
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:khaled.koubaa@gmail.com"><khaled.koubaa@gmail.com></a><br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Fri,
21 January, 2011 5:18:49 AM<br>
<b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b>
Re: [governance] From Free Tunisia<br>
</font><br>
<div>Hi Khaled,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. When I was
a kid, I have experienced the terror brought about by a
dictator toppled by the will and power of its people. I
have been in 3 revolutions in my lifetime in the
Philippines and I would always tell my students here in
the US how important freedom is until you do not have it
anymore. During those times, we did not have the Internet
to help us with our fight against social injustice. I
wonder sometimes what it would have been like if the
Internet was around and we were able to speak freely
without being condemned. People in other provinces were
not even aware of what was going on in Manila because TV
shows were censored. We had no medium to speak but
Filipinos were able to go out in the streets and prove
that freedom cannot be suppressed even by violent means.
That was 25 years ago. But more than 300 years of Spanish
colonialization and Spanish oppression, the Philippines
learned, too, that "<em>the pen is mightier than the sword</em>"
- or perhaps, if another dictator comes along, we can say
that the "Internet is mightier than an uzi." On the other
hand, people in their ivory towers also get "smarter" each
day and I am very much aware that they will also use the
Internet to suppress the very freedom we fought for. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Regards,</div>
<div>Charity</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 6:48 AM,
Khaled KOUBAA <span dir="ltr"><<a
moz-do-not-send="true" rel="nofollow"
ymailto="mailto:khaled.koubaa@gmail.com"
target="_blank" href="mailto:khaled.koubaa@gmail.com">khaled.koubaa@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204,
204); margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"
class="gmail_quote">All,<br>
For those who don't know Tunisia : Tunisia is a Small
country, great nation. First Arab country that abolished
slavery in 1848. First Arab country to establish a
constitution in 1861. First Arab country to abolish
polygamy in 1956. First Arab country to legalize
abortion in 1973. Tunisia is the first Arab country to
kick out its dictator and this without the help of any
foreign nation!<br>
Today Tunisia has reached a critical and important point
in its history after succeeding in its revolution.
President Ben Ali has left the country, and government
has collapsed leaving the country in an unpredictable
situation.<br>
A new “Coalition Government” has been announced bringing
old dissidents and Human Rights activists in team with a
main focus of preparing a democratic transition.<br>
Friday January 14th 2011, ( <a moz-do-not-send="true"
rel="nofollow" target="_blank"
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeLT2PEmnDI">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeLT2PEmnDI</a>
) I have been inside the huge protestants in front of
the ministry of Interior and I witnessed brave people
asking clearly their dictator to leave.<br>
Since then Tunisian retrieved their freedom lost many
years and began interesting politics.<br>
Young people went on the street asking for more n and
more social change without being politically coached.<br>
I have witnessed, and have been part, of the strength of
the "real" Tunisian Internet community to use Internet
and Web 2.0 ( Blogs, Video, Facebook, Twitter, … ) to
support the revolution and everyday’s riots showing to
the world what’s happening due to a lack of official
local media coverage.<br>
My life has been different during these days : my house
is in a hot spot; near El Aouina Army Casern and just
between the Airport and the US Embassy. So I took my
wife to her father house, and I stayed alone during 5
days. Everything was different each day; night riots
with fire shooting between protestants and police during
the first 2 days , near helicopter surveillance between
army and snipers belonging to Ben Ali Presidential
militia during the last 3days.<br>
I have never felt the importance of the security before
that. It was the same feeling that had the Tunisian
people which led them to go out and organize “Population
committees” in each city to protect each city from Ben
Ali militia.<br>
Tunisian Internet community is free today and will show
to the world what we are capable to accomplish.<br>
<br>
Vive Internet and thank you Vint and Internet pioneers
to gave us this wonderful tool that helped our
revolution.<br>
<br>
From the free Tunisia<br>
<br>
Khaled Koubaa<br>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><b><br>
</b></font><font color="#333333"><font face="Arial,
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(Virginia) Paque<br>
</b></font></font><font color="#333333"><font face="Arial,
sans-serif"><span style="font-weight: normal;">IGCBP
Online Coordinator<br>
DiploFoundation</span></font></font><font face="Arial,
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<a href="http://www.diplomacy.edu/ig">www.diplomacy.edu/ig</a>
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