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From day one, the people of Sidi Bouzid broke through the media blackout to spread word of their uprising. Yasmine Ryan Last Modified: 26 Jan 2011 14:39 GMT | |||
Sidi Bouazid, Tunisia - The people of Sidi Bouzid overcame heavy censorship and police repression to ensure that their uprising did not go unnoticed in silence. Protesters took to the streets with "a rock in one hand, a cell phone in the other," according to Rochdi Horchani - a relative of Mohamed Bouazizi - who helped break through the media blackout. Since the same day of the self-immolation of the 26-year-old street vendor that triggered riots causing the Tunisian leadership to flee the country, family members and friends used social media to share the news of what was happening in Sidi Bouzid with international media. Breaking through the media blackout Mohamed Bouazizi was not the first Tunisian to set himself alight in an act of public protest. Abdesslem Trimech, to name one of many cases occurred without any significant media attention, set himself ablaze in the town of Monastir on March 3 after facing bureaucratic hindrance in his own work as a street vendor. Neither was it evident that the protests that begin in Sidi Bouzid would spread to other towns. There had been similar clashes between police and protesters in the town of Ben Guerdane, near the border with Libya, in August. The key difference in Sidi Bouzid was that locals fought to get news of what was happening out, and succeeded. "We could protest for two years here, but without videos no one would take any notice of us," Horchani said. On December 17, he and Ali Bouazizi, a cousin of Mohamed Bouazizi, posted a video of a peaceful protest led by the young man's mother outside the municipality building. That evening, the video was aired on Al Jazeera's Mubasher channel. Al Jazeera's new media team, which trawls the web looking for video from across the Arab world, had picked up the footage via Facebook. Tunisian media, in contrast, ignored the growing uprising until Nessma TV broke the silence on December 29. And aside from a solid core of activists, most Tunisians did not dare repost the videos on Facebook or even to "like" them, until president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's final hours. Yet even if a muted majority did not actively share news of the protests online until mid-January, Tunisia's 3.6 million internet users - a third of the population, one of the highest penetration rates on the African continent, according to Internet World Stats - were able to follow news of the uprising on social media thanks to a solid core of activists. Throughout the uprising, Tunisian protesters relied on Facebook to communicate with each other. Facebook, unlike most video sharing sites, was not included in Tunisia's online censorship. Non-internet users kept abreast of the protests via satellite news channels including Al Jazeera, France 24 and, playing catch-up on its competitors, Al Arabiya. The hashtags on Twitter tell the tale of how the uprising went from being local to national in scope: #bouazizi became #sidibouzid, then #tunisia. Media wars get physical The Tunisian authorities in the region tried every means possible to thwart the flow of videos. There were internet and power outages in Sidi Bouzid and neighbouring towns. On January 3, a string of web activists were struck by a systematic, government-organised "phishing" operation aimed at wiping out their online dissent. Bloggers, web activists and a rapper who had published a song criticising the government on YouTube were arrested on January 7. In spite of the attempts to silence them, people went to extreme lengths to make sure their videos were posted on the web. Ali Bouazizi still has a black eye where police struck him in retaliation for his videos. From the courtroom to Facebook Dhafer Salhi, a local lawyer who witnessed Mohamed Bouazizi's act of self-immolation, said he asked the head of police to meet with the young man's family that day to try to defuse the anger on the street. "I told [the head of police] that if you don't get [the Bouazizi family] in, the country will be burned," Salhi said. "He refused, by arrogance and ignorance." Frustrated by the lack of accountability by officials, Salhi became an active participant in the protests. The lawyer used Facebook to organise protests, sending out invites to his friends. He was one of the web activists targeted by the Tunisian authorities in the phishing operation. They managed to hijack his Facebook account, but Salhi simply created a new account. Protesters get organised The protests that erupted in Sidi Bouzid were indeed spontaneous, yet they were marked by a level of organisation and sophistication that appears grounded in the sheer determination of those who participated in them. The Sidi Bouzid branch of the UGTT was engaged in the uprising from day one. While the national leadership of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) is generally viewed as lacking political independence from the ruling class, its regional representatives have a reputation for gutsy engagement. "The major driving force behind these protesters is the Sidi Bouzid union, which is very strong," said Affi Fethi, who teaches physics at a local high school. For Fethi, it was when police killed protesters in nearby towns including Menzel Bouziane and Regueb that the regional protests became a nationwide uprising. "The person who helped this revolt the most is Ben Ali himself," he said. "Why didn't he make [the police] use rubber bullets?" Everyone interviewed for this article agreed that no opposition party - to the extent that independent parties existed under Ben Ali's rule - was involved in co-ordinating the early protests, or even in offering moral support. Grassroots members of some opposition movements did, however, play an active role as individual activists (Ali Bouazizi, for instance, is a member of the Progressive Democratic Party). Watching the political theatre from afar Students, teachers, the unemployed and lawyers joined forces in Sidi Bouzid and neighbouring towns, braving torture and arrest. Nacer Beyaou, a student, said the uprising was about freedom and employment. The people of Sidi Bouzid feel their region is neglected, he said, and suffer from "abject destitution". Yet now that the political momentum has moved to the capital, many locals fear that their region is once again being sidelined. "They've forgotten about us completely. There's not a single minister from Sidi Bouzid," the student said. Summing up the combination of poverty and humiliation that many people in Sidi Bouzid say pushed them to rise up in protest, another man put it this way: "Every day I ask my father to give me one dinar [70 cents], and I'm thirty years old." A sign of the uncertainty that many are feeling here, the man was forthright in his political views, but said he preferred not to give his name "in case Ben Ali comes back". Now that the politicians in Tunis have taken over, he said it was like sitting back and watching the theatre. With the initial euphoria that came when Ben Ali fled the country fast fading, the question here is whether or not there will be any tangible political and economic gains for Sidi Bouzid in the "new" Tunisia. The conclusion of a two-part series. See also: "The tragic life of a street vendor," the story of Mohamed Bouazizi. Follow Yasmine Ryan on Twitter @yasmineryan.
22 January 2011 Last updated at 15:32 GMT Several injured in pro-democracy march in Algiers Click to play The BBC's Chloe Arnold: 'Many Algerians are feeling inspired by what happened in Tunisia' Algerian police have broken up an anti-government demonstration by about 300 people in the centre of the capital, Algiers, calling for greater freedoms. Several protesters were injured and a number are reported to have been arrested. Seven police officers were also hurt, according to state media.The leader of the opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) said those held included its parliamentary leader. The protest followed rioting in several cities set off by rising food prices. The government has noted the popular unrest in neighbouring Tunisia, which led to the ousting of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Protests in Algeria earlier this month left at least five people dead There have also been a number of public suicide attempts, echoing the self-immolation of a man in Tunisia that triggered the protests there. 'No permission' Demonstrations are banned in Algeria because of a state of emergency in place since 1992, and the government had warned people not to attend the demonstration called by the RCD in central Algiers. "Citizens are asked to show wisdom and vigilance and not respond to possible provocation aimed at disturbing their tranquillity, peace of mind and serenity," it said a statement published by state media. Hundreds of protesters - some draped in Tunisian flags - nevertheless gathered outside the party's headquarters to march to 1 May Square, chanting "A free and democratic Algeria" and "The authorities are assassins".At 1100 (1000 GMT) riot police surrounded the crowd and began breaking it up, because the organisers of the rally "had not received permission from the authorities", state-owned Algerian radio reported. RCD chairman Said Sadi told the Reuters news agency that 32 protesters were injured in the ensuing clashes, including a member of parliament. Several people were also arrested, including Othmane Amazouz, the head of the RCD's parliamentary group, Mr Sadi said. The AFP news agency said most of those detained were youths, and that some were beaten by police.  Demonstrations are banned in Algeria because of a state of emergency in place since 1992 The official added that the RCD "had asked the security services to help an RCD MP who was injured" and that he had received treatment. Mr Sadi said the authorities had "plunged the capital into a situation similar to the Battle of Algiers" in 1957, when the French colonial authorities brutally put down a revolt led by the National Liberation Front (FLN). "A government which seeks to oppress its people is not a government," he told the privately-owned newspaper InfoSoir. "It has to choose between changing peacefully and taking the country towards chaos," he added. "And this is what we want to avoid." Many Algerians are feeling inspired by what happened in Tunisia, and they believe now it is their turn to press for change, the BBC's Chloe Arnold in Algiers reports. Related Stories |
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