[Picture is from Tunisia, but you gotta love the Palestinian flag hanging from the balcony.]
Algeria: A man has died after setting himself on fire at a government building in Algeria, state media has reported, echoing the self-immolation that triggered the protests that toppled the leader of neighbouring Tunisia… Several Algerian towns, including the capital Algiers, have experienced riots in recent weeks over unemployment and a sharp rise in the prices of food staples. Official sources say two people have been killed and scores were injured during the unrest, which unfolded in parallel to street violence in Tunisia and demonstrations over high food prices in other North African and Middle Eastern countries. The fall of the Tunisian president on Friday is the first time in generations that an Arab leader has been toppled by public protests. The demonstrations that brought down Ben Ali erupted after the self-immolation of 26-year-old vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself on fire on December 17 because police had confiscated his vegetable cart. Bouazizi died weeks later of his burns, becoming a martyr to crowds of students and the unemployed protesting against poor living conditions.
Egypt: Video.
Jordan: “Queen Rania of Jordan became the butt of many ominious jokes over the weekend when she tweeted that she was ‘watching developments in Tunisia and praying for stability and calm for its people.’ She was met with a barrage of Twitter taunts, including ‘lol Jordan is next!’ and ‘start palace hunting in Jedda.’
Libya: Fearing that his people may learn from the Tunisians and rise up against his decades long dictatorship, Qadhafi had these pearls of wisdom to share: “You [Tunisians] have suffered a great loss … There is none better than Zine [El Abidine Ben Ali] to govern Tunisia… I do not only hope that he stays until 2014, but for life.”
There are two things missing before I feel comfortable writing about Tunisia. The first is that we haven’t seen how the situation will settle. The second is that I have not seen an ideologically based movement positioned to take power.
It takes an ideological reason for any leader or prospective leader to make any sacrifice. Communism will do. Any religion, including Islam will do. Tunisian nationalism will do. Anti-colonialism will do. Democracy will do if it is a specific vision rather than a vague aspiration. There has to be some goal that the leadership is willing to sacrifice for. That goal has to have some application to the many small decisions that must be made by many many people, especially upon a change of power.
A leadership or a prospective leadership without any ideology will do what is easiest. And the United States, France and Israel have substantial resources to convince Tunisia’s next leadership that the easiest course is to effectively replicate the policies of Ben Ali.
Which is to say I’m cautiously happy with Ali’s flight from the country. I don’t have much confidence, though I do have some hope, that he will be replaced with any substantially different leadership than the outgoing administration.
http://mideastreality.blogspot.com/2011/01/late-to-write-about-tunisia.html
http://politube.org/show/3133
http://persicus-maximus.blogspot.com/2011/01/war-party.html
‘No alliance with foreign puppets’
http://rehmat2.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/nasrallh-no-alliance-with-foreign-puppets/