Inhabitants of Sidi Bouzid shout slogans
before hurling rocks at Tunisia's
President Moncef Marzouki and parliamentary speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar on December 17, 2012, in the central
town of Sidi Bouzid
Tunisian protesters in Sidi Bouzid, the epicenter of the country's Arab
Spring uprising, threw rocks at visiting President Moncef Marzouki and other
top leaders in a show of protest. Two years after the revolution, Tunisia
is still gripped by unrest.
In late 2010, a 26-year-old university graduate lit himself on fire in Sidi
Bouzid. Protests broke out across Tunisia
on December 17, 2010, and
were then repeated across North Africa and the Middle
East. Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali was the first
ruler to be ousted in the Arab Spring uprisings, following months of violent
unrest.
One week ago – nearly two years after Ben Ali was deposed by the popular
uprising – tens of thousands of protesters turned out in a mass strike planned
by the country’s most powerful labor union, aimed at the stagnant economy and
police brutality.
Two weeks earlier, another protest saw over 200 people wounded in clashes
between Tunisian security forces and thousands of protesters in the
impoverished town of Siliana.
Fighting there raged on for several days, according to local medics.
The unrest comes during a period of record unemployment in Tunisia.
In November, the World Bank approved a $500 million loan to alleviate the
country’s economic woes; another $700 million came from other donors. It was
the second loan approved by the World Bank since the Arab Spring swept Ben Ali
from power.
Most activists say that the Arab Spring brought about the exact opposite of
what the demonstrators intended.
“The situation is worse right now in comparison to years before the
revolution. Personally, I don’t feel safe anymore. When you see all the
violence of the police of the salafis. Even the police are attacked sometimes.
And there’s less freedom. I received so many messages from girls who say they
were harassed on the street, even by police, who didn’t tolerate the way they
dress,” Tunis-based activist and blogger Lina Ben Mhenni told SW.
The turmoil in Tunisia
mirrors similar structures across the region. Experts say that the policies the
newly elected leaders enact are not far from those of their predecessors.
In Egypt,
opposition groups are urging a mass protest on Tuesday over alleged vote
rigging during the national referendum on a controversial draft of the
constitution. On Sunday, the Muslim Brotherhood announced the first results,
prompting anger and accusations of electoral fraud. The next vote in the
referendum is scheduled for the coming weekend.
“Those who voted for the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt
did so because they wanted economic changes, not just getting rid of Mubarak
and letting Morsi in. And Morsi, even though he’s obviously a very different
political figure to Mubarak in terms of his ideology, has carried on much the
same policies in terms of economic policy,” journalist and broadcaster
Neil Clark told SW.
“I think it has to be a different type of a democratic system. The
democracy that the US would like to impose upon Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and
other countries throughout the region, even Libya, where war was waged last
year to topple the Qaddafi government, is not suitable to the people inside of
that region,” Detroit's Pan-African News Wire editor Abayomi Azikiwe said
to SW.
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