As the country wakes up to a new political future after 23 years of single-party rule, Tunisians are emphasising their thirst for change, writes Mourad Teyeb in Tunis Whether it is called the Jasmine Uprising or the Tunisian Revolution, what happened in the 12- million-strong North African country last week was historic. It needed a month or so for the violent protests that had been taking place against the government to gain the whole country, with thousands of protesters taking to the streets to demand jobs and put an end to corruption. At the beginning of the protests in mid- December last year, the contestation was sparked by the suicide of a jobless graduate, Mohamed Bouazizi. A graduate in computer science who was unable to find a job, the 26-year-old illegally sold fruit and vegetables in the town of Sidi Bouzid in central Tunisia. He doused himself in petrol and set himself alight when police confiscated his produce, telling him he did not have the necessary permit. A few days later in the same town another young man electrocuted himself because, he said, he was "fed up with being unemployed." Last Friday, scuffles broke out again in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, between police and protesters angry at high levels of unemployment and desiring to show their solidarity with the victims of former Tunisian president Zein Al-Abidine bin Ali's police. Hundreds of protesters, mainly unemployed graduates, rallied outside the Interior Ministry in Tunis. Demonstrations followed across the country, and tensions were heightened when another young man was shot dead during violent clashes in the central Tunisian town of Menzel Bouzaiene. Events happened almost unbelievably quickly. Despite announcements by Bin Ali of political and economic reforms in two speeches, the rage and defiance of the Tunisian people had reached unprecedented levels. Late on Friday, Bin Ali and members of his family fled the country. Many of his wife's clan and relatives were chased out, with some of them being lynched and others arrested. Protests are rare and political dissent often repressed in Tunisia, which has been run by the Bin Ali regime for 23 years. The unprecedented wave of protests that hit the country over poor living conditions, unemployment and widespread corruption, eventually ousting Bin Ali and members of his regime, reflected the need for social changes. High food prices and unemployment have been key themes of the protests, but what happened in Tunisia over the last four weeks is also a sign of despair and a reaction to decades of oppression and humiliation. Massive corruption and nepotism have had drastic effects on the country's economic development, exacerbating social problems. "What happened surprised everybody in Tunisia and the rest of the world, including in Tunisia's immediate neighbourhood," said Tunisian blogger and political writer Khaled Haddad. "It can only be analysed as a statement by the Tunisian people that they no longer had anything to lose." But what is now being called the "Jasmine Revolution" has not surprised others in the country. Faycal Habib, a 55-year-old philosophy teacher and unionist, said that "change was more or less expected." "Nevertheless, the outcome of the revolt might be thought astonishing, as even the most optimistic Tunisians never expected Bin Ali to surrender so quickly. However, a lot of factors came together to lead the country into chaos and cause the upheaval." For Habib, a one-time dissident blogger and Internet activist, "the Tunisian Intifada is full of lessons. Most important of all, it showed the whole world that a people hungry for freedom no longer fear security-fuelled repression and despotism." For 23 years, repression, systematic corruption and favouritism have spread in Tunisia, while millions of Tunisians, mostly middle- and lower- class citizens, have endeavoured to survive. "People's patience is over," said Khaled Haddad, whose political news site Assyassia was constantly censored by Bin Ali's security services. In an article published earlier this week, the French daily Libération wrote that, "the current state of anarchy in Tunisia could lead to a new dictatorship." "If democracy comes about, the Islamists are likely to benefit most of all, since they are well- liked by the lower classes," the paper added. "This is not an unlikely scenario, as opposition politician Rachid Al-Ghanoushi [exiled in London for almost 20 years], could now return to his country and successfully promote his banned Ennahdha Party in the announced free elections." For Britain's Independent newspaper, Tunisia was "one of the smallest countries in the Maghreb in terms of area and population," but the spirit of revolt that had erupted there "has the potential to spread across North Africa and beyond." However, "things could get a great deal worse, in terms of violence, disorder, repression and military crackdowns, before they improve," the paper warned. For many years, many Western countries have considered secular Arab leaders like Tunisia's Bin Ali or Algeria's president Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika as "the lesser evil" when compared to the possibility of Islamist-led regimes, said the German daily Tageszeitung. Such regimes "were granted support so long as they promised to keep the Islamists at bay and keep African refugees away from Europe. It is high time that this attitude were dropped," the paper concluded.
