[Beirut]

Last Modified: 03 Jan 2011 13:10 GMT

Corruption, authoritarianism, repression. Not words that many would associate with the beautiful North African republic of Tunisia, a popular summer holiday destination for many Brits.

But the recent attempted suicide of a 24 year-old graduate, whose desperation at being mistreated by police led him to set himself on fire publicly outside the local police station, has sparked interest in this small, quiet country, long considered by the West to be a haven of stability and moderation and a rare "success story" in the region.

In nearly every field, Tunisia has been a model student of the West, embracing the hallmarks of modernity with zeal. Bourguiba, the country’s first president after its independence, sought to refashion Tunisian society along the French mould, from the aggressive secularisation of all public space and banning of the headscarf to introducing Enlightenment philosophy into high school curricula.

This modernisation process, it was assumed, would lead to a more advanced, prosperous and stable society freed of the chains of despotism and religion holding back the Arab world.

On the surface, the wave of protests that has swept Tunisia for the past two weeks were provoked by the dire situation of unemployed youth in the country, which has one of the highest literacy rates in the Arab world yet suffers from 30% youth unemployment. At least, this is how most international media have portrayed the situation.

Seething dissatisfaction

However, any discerning journalist who digs a little further can see that these protests are, like similar outbursts across the Arab world, the product of deep dissatisfaction at decades of sustained political repression, rampant corruption and routine silencing of all forms of political dissent.

Tunisia today exhibits all the symptoms of political decay that can be seen in surrounding Arab countries, with rising unemployment figures, widespread dissatisfaction and political unrest in the face of repeated extensions of so-called democratic mandates (President Ben Ali recently attempted to amend the Constitution to allow him a sixth term in office).

Any criticism of the President can lead to persecution and imprisonment, torture is routine and opposition parties are almost nonexistent. Not a single human rights monitoring group is allowed to operate legally and freely in the country.

Despite being a small country of just over 10 million, it has imprisoned more journalists than any other Arab country since 2000.

The plight of Tunisia demonstrates the fallacy of the US mantra of "stability over democracy". A guiding principle of US and European policies in the region, this equation has turned out to be a false choice and an extremely dangerous assumption.

US and European governments have consistently privileged one limb of the "stability-democracy" equation, on the grounds that the repression of entire populations in the Arab world is but a small price to pay for the stable conditions necessary for us to benefit from the vast economic opportunities in the region and the counter-terrorism assistance they can give us.

However, the frequent outbreaks of political turmoil across the region demonstrate that stability and democracy are not part of a zero-sum game but two sides of the same coin. The US government has itself come to this conclusion, noting on the White House website in 2007 that "on 9/11, we realized that years of pursuing stability to promote peace left us with neither… The pre-9/11 status quo was dangerous and unacceptable".

No will to apply pressure

Yet, despite full knowledge of the extent of despotism in the country (as revealed in the US cables from the US ambassador to the country), the US continues to ply the regime with financial, political and military support.

In seeking to maintain the corrosive status quo, America and Europe have contributed to creating unstable societies on the brink of implosion, leading to the disintegration of the equation altogether, while destroying any moral claims to be the legitimate expounders of human rights values in the process.

As Tunisia's number one trading partner, the EU has ample room for influencing Ben Ali's decision-making.

Under EU-Tunisia agreements, Tunisia promised to "strengthen democracy and political pluralism by the expansion of participation in political life and the embracing of all human rights and fundamental freedoms".

None of these commitments have been respected by the Tunisian government, which instead froze EU subsidies to human rights NGOs under the European Initiative for Human Rights and Democracy and amended the penal code so as to criminalise civil society activity.

The EU's own reports, such as the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument of 2007, recognize that "progress on political aspects such as freedom of expression or association has been very slow".

But far from speaking out, the EU is currently in negotiations to upgrade relations and grant Tunisia "advanced-partner status". This makes a mockery of the EU’s claims to be founded on respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law, which consistently bow down before the priorities of trade, liberalisation and open markets.

The role of media

International media outlets also have a vital role to play in exposing the political turmoil and human suffering taking place in Tunisia and nearby countries.

It is striking that while the BBC displayed remarkable zeal in its coverage of demonstrations in Iran last year, with the human rights angle being explicit throughout its coverage, next to no mention has been made of the political upheaval in Tunisia (or in Egypt following the recent elections).

This, despite the fact that while Iran had a disputed election, election results in Tunisia are an entirely foregone conclusion, with results consistently around the 90% mark. Indeed, the Economist’s Democracy Index places Tunisia on a par with Iran for "political participation" (and behind Zimbabwe and China) while Freedom House ranks Tunisia below China, Iran and Russia as one of the worst places on earth for internet freedom.

While size and geostrategic significance of a country is undoubtedly important in determining the relative proportion of airtime and journalistic scrutiny devoted to its developments, one cannot help but observe that many media outlets have an unhealthy habit of falling in love with particular countries or issues for which it is easy to construct a clear-cut and racy narrative (Iran - anti-Western extremism; Zimbabwe - post-colonial "reverse racism"; Tibet/Burma - peace-loving opposition figures) while eschewing situations where a clear line of analysis does not so easily spring to mind.

Tunisia is just such a situation - a country with a strong women's rights record yet no freedom of expression, a state with an avidly secularist, religiously pluralist, modern outlook but no toleration for dissent.

This makes it unattractive for many media outlets, who prefer soundbites that can capture the imagination of audiences, rather than real, in-depth analysis.

As the Tunisian government’s response to the protests show, autocratic regimes in the Arab world have only one stock solution to widespread political dissatisfaction - crackdown. This is often accompanied by promises of reform, which launch yet another futile cycle of half-hearted opening of political structures inevitably followed by another clampdown.

There is only so long this strategy will last in the face of growing demands for accountability, and a rising youth population clamouring for economic opportunities and political expression.

The familiar narratives of "stability vs democracy" and "progressive/secular/moderate vs anti-Western/extremist" no longer work. Western governments and international media would do well to pay closer attention and rethink their broken old clichés.

Intissar Khreeji has worked in the House of Lords, the United Nations in New York, and the European parliament in Brussels.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/op ... 51132.html

VViva la RRRRrrrrrrevolución !

Last Modified: 03 Jan 2011 17:06 GMT

Hackers hit Tunisian websites
Amid anti-government protests, attack blocks access to stock exchange and ministry of foreign relations.

Online activists have attacked and at least momentarily disabled several Tunisian government websites in the latest act of protest against the country's embattled leadership.

As of Monday afternoon, local time, at least eight websites had been affected, including those for the president, prime minister, ministry of industry, ministry of foreign affairs, and the stock exchange.

The attack, which began on Sunday night, coincided with a national strike, planned to take place on Monday, that organisers said would be the biggest popular event of its size since Zine El Abidine Ben Ali assumed the presidency.

The strike comes on the day that school students return from their holiday.

Ben Ali's administration has tightly restricted the flow of information out of Tunisia since widespread protests began on December 17, following 26-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi's suicide attempt. But reports of civil disobedience and police action filtered out on Twitter on Monday, with some users reporting the use of tear gas by security forces.

The loosely organised hacker group Anonymous claimed responsibility for the cyber attack, which it called "Operation Tunisia", an apparent arm of the group's broader effort - termed "Operation Payback" - aimed at taking retribution against governments and businesses viewed as hostile to the similarly amorphous document-leaking group WikiLeaks.

Operation Tunisia came just days after a similar attack on Zimbabwean government websites;in that case, Anonymous said that it had targeted Robert Mugabe's administration for actions taken by officials to suppress information about the thousands of secret US diplomatic cables that WikiLeaks has released.

But on Monday, Anonymous and its followers sought to tie their cyber attack to the ongoing protests and social unrest in Tunisia, not WikiLeaks. In a manifesto reportedly posted on the prime minister's website but later removed, the group said that it was "enraged" at the Tunisian government's behaviour, and that Ben Ali's administration had "unilaterally declared war on free speech, democracy, and even [its] own people".

"Anonymous is willing to help the Tunisian people in this fight against oppression," the statement said. "Cyber attacks will persist until the Tunisian government respects all Tunisian citizens' right to free speech and information and ceases the censoring of the internet".

Denial-of-service attack

Sami ben Gharbia, a Tunisian exile living in Europe who monitors online censorship in the country, told Al Jazeera that Monday's sabotage was the first time he had seen an international group like Anonymous target a Tunisian website.

Gharbia said he had witnessed the hackers planning the "denial-of-service" attack in a chat room arranged by Anonymous and that it appeared Tunisian users were among those participating.

The protests in Tunisia, which have led to three confirmed deaths, have garnered comparatively little attention in the Western media, which closely followed developments in 2009 in Iran when hundreds of thousands of citizens protested presidential election results.

Western governments have been similarly reticent about voicing criticism of Ben Ali's government, or its response to the protests. The country is a popular European tourist destination and has been praised by the World Bank for its financial policies.

But many within the country say the image of calm and success belies simmering resentments and unemployment rates that reach 25 per cent in certain areas.

High-level corruption

In private, the US has said that Tunisia's corruption - a contributor to the unemployment driving many to protest - is getting worse.

A 2008 diplomatic cable signed by Robert Godec, the US ambassador, and released by WikiLeaks in December describes both low- and high-level corruption in the country that scares away foreign and domestic investors.

"Whether it's cash, services, land, property, or yes, even your yacht, President Ben Ali's family is rumoured to covet it and reportedly gets what it wants," the cable states.

Gharbia said Monday's cyber attack probably will not affect protests "on the ground" but may serve as a "good story" to attract the mainstream media and embolden online activists in Tunisia.

"It might give a sense of solidarity to Tunisian bloggers who have been witnessing censorship for years now, to see such actions targeting the main body of the censorship," he said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/afric ... 92596.html