Tunisia Foreign Minister Kamel Morjane Resigns

[sabrina 1]

Source: BBC

His resignation comes after days of protests demanding a purge of members of the party of ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

Mr Morjane quit the RCD party last week, but that has not proved enough to appease protesters.

On Wednesday Tunisia issued an international arrest warrant for Mr Ben Ali, who is now in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Ben Ali - who fled the country on 14 January - is accused of illegally acquiring property and assets and transferring funds abroad during his presidency.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12302232?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

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Tunisians are determined to remove from government all those who were part of the former administration.



Protesters demand politicians from the old administration stand down

[davidinalameda]

1. why not demand that former regime members resign

seems right

[sabrina 1]

2. Yes, it looked like the old regime was going to try to hang on to

power, but I guess the people have had enough.

This yearning for a decent life is spreading across the region. It looks like it may be unstoppable. You cannot keep people in a constant state of oppression and not expect them to explode sooner or later.

Tunisia, Egypt, and today Yemen as well as Lebanon and small demonstrations by people even in Saudi Arabia and Lybia, encouraged by these uprisings against corrupt, greedy, oppressive regimes.

[davidinalameda]

5. I am going to withhold judgement

until I see how everything falls out

one could argue that the end result of the Iranian revolution wasn't much better than the Shah's regime

[sabrina 1]

6. Well, put it this way, things couldn't be much worse than they

are living under a corrupt dictatorship where people's despair for so long is so deep, that they would set themselves on fire rather than live there anymore.

At least now they have a shot, and the bad guys are being pursued legally to get back some of the money they stole from the people there.

I wish we could get some of the money stolen by Wall St. criminals here, instead we keep giving them more.

[pampango]

3. Labor union backs Tunisian government purge: source

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70J0IG20110127

The Tunisian government will ditch ministers from the former ruling party in a line-up backed by the country's powerful Labor union, political and union sources said on Thursday.

The endorsement by the Labor union could help quell protests which ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali on January 14, and then carried on to demand his loyalists be dismissed.

The Labor union, which has a large membership and played an important role in organizing the protests, will not join the new government itself but will approve the new lineup, a union source told Reuters.

Tunisia's uprising has electrified Arabs across the Middle East and North Africa, where many countries share the complaints of poor living standards and authoritarian rule.

[sabrina 1]

4. That's good news. Interesting too that the western media

initially tried to use the 'muslim extremists' are behind this and will take over and we'll all be killed by Al Queda routine.

In every country so far, the grievances are the same. Jobs, poverty, corruption in government and a huge gap between the haves and have nots.

Thanks for the link.

Yemen is now experiencing a similar revolt. The world is changing and I hope for the better.

[melody]

7. Shades of the Russian revolution

This is likely to be co-opted by violent extremists. They're more organized, better funded, and in place to do so. Young idealists are easily led astray.

The people hoping for this may be setting up their own demise. I wish I could be optimistic, but I remember 1978.