[governance] From Free Tunisia

Thu Jan 20 08:21:43 EST 2011

Hi Ginger,

well another free Tunisian speaking :)
about morozov, I think that many of his points are valid. Like Khaled , I
witnessed the movement through Internet (e.g. facebook and twitter) and
participated as much as I can mostly in twitter (powerful for interaction),
it was and still important for bypassing the media blackout (especially of
local media) and let Tunisians and the rest of the world to be aware about
the situation in Sidi bouzid and other towns later. The international media
didn't start cover really at the beginning except Aljazeera and France24.
 What made this revolution successful is the spread of protests to other
regions and people keeping protesting in streets for almost 4 weeks. when
Tunisia revolution succeeded, another uprising in Belarus failed in the same
time.  Internet is powerful but revolutions are still done offline.
people used social media  more for communication, information dissemination
etc and rarely for organizing protests, the existence of
grassroots structure helped in organizing and maintaining the protests. that
mix between grassroots structures having experienced activists and internet
worked well.

Internet will be also critical for the next steps regarding the construction
of democracy, strengthening freedom of expression and other civil liberties
and empowering citizens participation.

Finally, I am optimistic that troubles will start soon (in fact they are
already decreasing) .

Regards

Rafik

2011/1/20 Ginger Paque <gpaque at gmail.com>

>  Thanks for this post! It is very interesting, particularly in
> juxtaposition to Evgeny Morozov's posts. See
>
> http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/12/st_essay_totalitarians/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
>
> First paragraph:
> The Internet advances the cause of freedom more effectively than ballistic
> missiles and Hellfire-equipped<http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Predator-surveillance-drone-equipped-Hellfire-missiles-US-missiles-have-killed/photo//101122/photos_wl_pc_afp/c90fce2dbd826f3ea6145570029d0a02//s:/afp/20101122/wl_asia_afp/pakistanunrestusmissile>drones; at least that’s the conventional wisdom among US diplomats and
> policymakers. “Information freedom supports the peace and security that
> provide a foundation for global progress” is how Secretary of State Hillary
> Clinton put it in a speech last January, her first on democracy and the
> Internet. George W. Bush’s “freedom agenda” is out; the Twitter agenda is
> in.* Unfortunately, this kind of technological romanticism relies on false
> historical analogies and sloppy thinking. Modern communications technologies
> are already being deployed as new forms of repression.*
>
> Best, Ginger
>
>
> On 1/20/2011 8:18 AM, Khaled KOUBAA wrote:
>
> All,
> 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!
> 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.
> 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.
> Friday January 14th 2011, ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeLT2PEmnDI ) 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.
> Since then Tunisian retrieved their freedom lost many years and began
> interesting politics.
> Young people went on the street asking for more n and more social change
> without being politically coached.
> 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.
> 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.
> 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.
> Tunisian Internet community is free today and will show to the world what
> we are capable to accomplish.
>
> Vive Internet and thank you Vint and Internet pioneers to gave us this
> wonderful tool that helped our revolution.
>
> From the free Tunisia
>
> Khaled Koubaa
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> --
>
> *
> **Ginger (Virginia) Paque
> *IGCBP Online Coordinator
> DiploFoundation
> www.diplomacy.edu/ig
>
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