News Digest on Nonviolent Conflict
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News Digest on Nonviolent Conflict 01.02.2011 16:09 Find us on Facebook > What is Nonviolent Conflict? # 209 January 21, 2011 FEATURED ARTICLES EVENTS IN TUNISIA The "Jasmine Revolution" in Tunisia's democratic revolution Tunisia: Not just another color By: Stephan Zunes, Huffington Post, January 20, 2011 Whether the overthrow of the corrupt and autocratic Ben Ali regime in Protests erupt in Yemen, Tunisia in a mass civil insurrection will lead to a stable, just and president offers reform democratic order remains to be seen, but the dramatic events in that North African country underscore a critical point: Democracy in the Hu Jintao questioned by Barack Arab world will not come from foreign military intervention or Obama on China's human rights sanctimonious lecturing from Western capitals, but from Arab peoples record themselves. Read full article... CAMPAIGNS AND ACTIONS IN THE NEWS Police fire shots to disperse new Tunis protest By: Lin Noueihed and Christian Lowe, Reuters, January 20, 2011 Tunisian media throw off Tunisian police fired shots into the air on Thursday to try to disperse censor's shackles after decades hundreds of protesters demanding that ministers associated with the of fear and collaboration rule of ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali leave the government. The protesters, who gathered outside the Tunis Tunisia's revolution isn't a headquarters of the RCD, Tunisia's ruling party for several decades, product of Twitter or WikiLeaks, refused to move back when police fired shots from behind a metal but they do help fence. Read full article and watch video... Jordan protesters inspired by Tunisian ripple Tunisian media throw off censor's shackles after decades of fear and collaboration By: Kim Sengupta, The Independent, January 20, 2011 REGIONS As protesters battle police on the streets, the media in Tunisia are Events in Tunisia undergoing their own revolution, with journalists taking over from the management and breaking the shackles of censorship. The unfolding North America scenario, in the offices of the political parties and the streets, is being seen and heard by millions of Tunisians in newspapers and the Central America/Caribbean broadcast networks. South America Read full article... Europe Arab leaders meet, Tunisia on their minds Middle East/North Africa By: Jeffrey Fleishman and Amro Hassan, LA Times, January 20, 2011 The uprising in Tunisia and the toppling of President Zine al Abidine Central Asia ben Ali dominated the annual Arab Economic Summit, which opened Wednesday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheik amid fears that South Asia unrest could ripple across the Middle East. The tone throughout the Southeast Asia day was somber as leaders of the Arab League reflected on citizens' growing dissatisfaction with the region's deepening social and East Asia economic problems. Read full article... Oceania http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=6... 1 News Digest on Nonviolent Conflict 01.02.2011 16:09 Africa Tunisian jailed under Ben Ali plans presidential run By: Reuters, January 20, 2011 ARTICLES OF INTEREST A Tunisian dissident whose imprisonment made him a symbol of repression under former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali said on NOTICES Wednesday he will run for president to sweep the ex-leader's allies ANNOUNCEMENT from power. Taoufik Ben Brik, a journalist, spent six months in jail over assault charges which his supporters, including international rights groups, said were trumped up. ICNC WEBSITE Read full article... DIGEST ARCHIVES The thrill and consequences of Tunisia for the Arab region By: Rami G. Khouri, The Daily Star, January 19, 2011 Contribute items to the News Digest ! Two great questions loom after the overthrow of the regime of former Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali: How smoothly and how quickly will the Tunisian people transition to a more democratic form of government that can address their grievances and improve their SUBSCRIBE TO NEWS DIGEST life prospects? How much, and what kind of, impact will the Tunisian popular revolution have on other Arab countries? Both of these questions will require some time before we have clear answers, but several important dimensions already seem clear. Read full article... Tunisian student 'not afraid anymore' By: BBC News, January 19, 2011 Tunisian postgraduate student Asma Ghibri tells the BBC World Service that despite continuing political turmoil in her country, she is optimistic for the future. The 23-year-old, who is studying at Manouba University in Tunis, says at first she did not believe that the demonstrations could lead to the fall of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. "To be honest, at the beginning of the unrest I did not believe this change could happen." Read full article... The "Jasmine Revolution" in Tunisia: Not just another color By: Thomas Carothers, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, January 19, 2011 With the label of "Jasmine" now being attached to the political upheaval in Tunisia, some people may assume that the events are another "color revolution" like the ones that garnered so much attention earlier this decade. It is important to see, however, that the events unfolding in Tunisia are quite different from those that produced regime change in Serbia in 2000, Georgia in 2003, Ukraine in 2004, and Kyrgyzstan in 2005. Read full article... Tunisia's revolution isn't a product of Twitter or WikiLeaks, but they do help By: Timothy Garton Ash, The Guardian, January 19, 2011 If the struggle for internet freedom is too closely identified with US foreign policy, and in turn with US companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter, this can end up damaging the purpose it is meant to serve. Authoritarian regimes everywhere will redouble their efforts to censor and monitor those American platforms that, not accidentally, are among the best and most open we have. Instead, http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=6... 2 News Digest on Nonviolent Conflict 01.02.2011 16:09 these regimes will promote their own, more restricted native alternatives. Read full article... Revolution shows hollowness of Arab system in face of people power By: Amr Hamzawy, LA Times, January 19, 2011 Tunisian citizens have reminded Arabs of the main lesson of democratic transformations: Never underestimate the potential of peoples stifled under the yoke of authoritarianism. No matter how long the rule lasts or how tight its grip, citizens will instigate change through sudden revolutions and uprisings with the power to overcome corruption and bullets. Read full article... Tunisia yet another example of power of protest in the Middle East By: Amitabh Pal, The Progressive, January 19, 2011 The campaign in Tunisia succeeded in ousting for the first time a modern Arab dictator, the long-ruling Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. The campaign had mass support, and with its numbers, defied the security forces. While the success in Tunisia was historic, the tactic of mass - and for the most part, nonviolent - protest in the region was not. Read full article... Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution democratic prospects: Too early to say? By: Project on Middle East Democracy, January 19, 2011 Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution has captured the imagination and raised the hopes of democracy advocates across the Arab world and beyond. Given the region's profound malaise, the elation felt by Arab democrats, human rights activists and civil society groups is merited and understandable. But many democracy advocates remain cautious, recalling the painful lesson of the post-Soviet world's color revolutions. Read full article... Tunisia set to release political prisoners By: Peter Beaumont, The Guardian, January 19, 2011 Tunisia's new government appears on the brink of releasing political prisoners, including all members of the Islamist Ennahdha movement. At a demonstration in central Tunis today, Hamid Bin Zidane, a school teacher, said Tunisians were "happy to see the exiled leaders" such as Ghannouchi head home. "There must be an amnesty from the government," he said, adding that the west had fuelled false stereotypes of what Islamist politics in Tunisia represented. Read full article... Tunisia needs real freedom By: Intissar Kherigi, The Guardian, January 19, 2011 It seems that while the dictator has fallen, the dictatorship remains. Tunisians felt a dreaded sense of deja vu as they switched on their televisions to be greeted by the same familiar faces, engaged in a http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=6... 3 News Digest on Nonviolent Conflict 01.02.2011 16:09 sickening game of musical chairs. Mohamed Ghannouchi, their not-so-new prime minister, was Ben Ali's right-hand man. He was, in the words of a US official, "indispensable" to Ben Ali and, ever the loyalist, he recently revealed that he is still in touch with the deposed dictator. Read full article... Tunisia proves that American power is not crucial to the spread of democracy worldwide By: Peter Beinart, The Daily Beast, January 19, 2011 President Obama should do whatever he can to support Tunisia's "Jasmine Revolution," and his administration has been moving in that direction, but it probably won't matter. The critical thing to understand about the movements stirring against tyranny in Tunisia, and throughout the Arab world, is this: They aren't about us. And that might be a good thing. Read full article... Tunisia: Paris blocked riot equipment export as Ben Ali prepared to flee By: All Africa, January 19, 2011 The French government blocked the export of riot-control equipment to Tunisia just hours before the fall of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, reports say. The move marked a reversal of a policy which saw ministers offering help in tackling the protests which toppled the unpopular president. Read full article... Tunisian opposition pushes for coalition changes By: David D.