Mohamed Bouazizi, the man who toppled Tunisia

[Catherina]

Muhammad Bouazizi. Literally and figuratively on fire.

Muhammad Bouazizi: a street Tunisian vendor is now the most famous Arab. All Twitter and Facebook in Arabic is dedicated to you. You sparked a revolution. You shall not be forgotten, and you mother (if I can speak for her) shall forgive you (Bouazizi was concerned about his mother's reaction). link

The Story of Mohamed Bouazizi, the man who toppled Tunisia

January 14, 2011 3:12 PM EST

Mohamed Bouazizi was a 26-year-old Tunisian with a computer science degree.

...

To make ends meet, the unemployed Bouazizi sold fruits and vegetables from a cart in his rural town of Sidi Bouzid, located 160 miles from the country’s capital Tunis. He did not have a license to sell, but it was his sole source of income.

On December 17, authorities confiscated his produce and allegedly slapped his face.

Bouazizi became incensed.

He then drenched himself in gasoline and set himself on fire outside the governor’s office.

...

During Bouazizi’s funeral, Agence France Presse reported that marchers chanted “farewell, Mohamed, we will avenge you. We weep for you today, we will make those who caused your death weep.”

...


Mohammed Bouazizi (R) was visited by the president before his death

Mr Bouazizi died on Tuesday afternoon in a hospital outside the capital, Tunis.

A crowd estimated at around 5,000 took part on Wednesday in his funeral procession to a cemetery near Sidi Bouzid, union official Kamel Laabidi said.

...

A massive police presence prevented the crowd from reaching the governor's office, outside which Mr Bouazizi had set himself alight

...

Link

The Western accounts of Bouazizi (including in today's New York Times) miss an important fact: not only he was banned from the street: but he was humiliated and beaten up. Link

He wrote this on Facebook before he died: "": «مسافر يا أمي، سامحني، ما يفيد ملام، ضايع في طريق ما هو بإيديا، سامحني كان (إن كنت) عصيت كلام أمي. لومي على الزمان ما تلومي عليّ، رايح من غير رجوع. يزّي (كثيرا) ما بكيت وما سالت من عيني دموع، ما عاد يفيد ملام على زمان غدّار في بلاد الناس. أنا عييت ومشى من بالي كل اللي راح، مسافر ونسأل زعمة السفر باش (أن) ينسّي»."
(Traveling, o Mom. Forgive me. No blame is beneficial. Lost in a path that is out of your hands. Forgive me, if I disobeyed the word of my mother. Blame the time and not me. Leaving but not returning. For much I cried and tears streamed from my eyes. No blame can benefit in a time that is treacherous in the land of people. I am tired and all that passed left my mind. Traveling and asking what can make you forget .) Link

The following is from January 6.

Operation: Tunisia



TUNISIA – Tunisian rioters have taken to the streets demanding societal change in their country as a backlash against their government’s recent blockages of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Tunisia practices what critics view as a harsh form of online censorship, which involves ‘phishing’ operations they use to root out online dissidents. Major government hacking operations have taken hundreds of blogs run by Tunisian citizens offline in an effort to silence critics.

The fight for freedom has spilled not only onto the streets but in cyberspace as well. Anonymous has taken up the fight, providing Tunisians with practical advice for circumventing government censors. They have provided tools online that Tunisian school teachers have used to hand out USB drives storing TOR and other online anonymity programs for students to use. Anonymous has also taken scores of government website by way of DDOS attacks over the past week, and has additionally been targeting phishing servers being used by the Tunisian authorities.

The conflict between the government and its people escalated when an unemployed Tunisian man, Mohamed Bouazizi, immolated himself in a display of painful solidarity and protest with his countrymen. Bouazizi later died of his injuries and the funeral was posted to Facebook.


Anonymous issued a video press release to YouTube calling attention to the Tunisian uprising. The activist collective has also taken to petitioning shows such as Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show to cover the story, which has since been picked up in depth by Al Jazeera.



Anonymous issued a video press release to YouTube calling attention to the Tunisian uprising. The activist collective has also taken to petitioning shows such as Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show to cover the story, which has since been picked up in depth by Al Jazeera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFLaBRk9wY0

...

http://www.thewhisper.net/forum/blog.php/2011/01/06/operation-tunisia/

RIP MUHAMMAD BOUAZIZI YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.

[malaise]

1. There will be heroes across the globe like him

People will not lie down and watch this mass exploitation of humanity while the rich and the politicians loot the planet.

The President of Tunisia is history. he was very brave to visit Muhammad Bouazizi.

[DCKit]

2. "He was very brave to visit Muhammad Bouazizi."

No, THAT was a PR stunt.

[Catherina]

5. I don't think so either. The protests are far from over. These rulers are so clueless

they think that Mohammed Ghannouchi, the Tunisian prime minister and now interim President, is going to be tolerated by the protestors.

He already started making empty noises about reforms but they're demanding he step down. He was a close Ben Ali ally.

I wonder what was going through Muhammad Bouazizi's head when the President dared show up at his bedside.

[snagglepuss]

6. I don't think it was brave, I think it was another slap in the face. I see t he

visit as an assertion of dominance and contempt.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Catherina.

[leftstreet]

4. K&R