Jan 28th 2011, 19:10:51
Some crazy fluff going on. For those who don't know, I'll do a quick recap of what's happened in the past month.
Approximately a month ago, a young street vendor in Tunisia named Mohamed Bouazizi self-immolated in protest. The reason being, the police confiscated his cart because he didn't have a "permit". Keep in mind, this is in Sidi Bouzid, a southern area of Tunisia that is largely neglected compared to the lavish north, where all the money is spent. The cops basically stopped this guy from selling fruit on the street as a job because he couldn't get a "legal" job elsewhere (unemployment in Tunisia is high, especially in the impoverished south).
After he lit himself on fire, word spread and Tunisians began going into the streets and protesting, and these protests quickly spread mainly because of social media (phones, facebook, twitter...etc) and TV (news channels like Al Jazeera). The police tried to put down the riots, but were unsuccessful -- and when the government called in the military to help, the military refused and advised 'president' Ben Ali to leave the country.
So Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia (big surprise there), and protests in Tunisia are ongoing because they want all of Ben Ali's compatriots out of the government as well (and many of them recently resigned from the new cabinet).
What happened in Tunisia -- the first successful "people's" revolution in contemporary Arab history -- set off copycat demonstrations in other countries. Almost immediately they started demonstrating in Algeria, and following that was Yemen and Jordan.
This also set off the Egyptians, who demand a more democratic country and want the government to stop squandering funds and to help out the more impoverished people who the government generally doesn't give a damn about (like in most countries). So now, Egyptians are on the streets lighting fluffing everything on fire (like the "National Democratic" Party's headquarters (the same Party that got 95% of the "votes" in the last election).
The riots today, which started roughly after Friday prayers, wants "president" Mubarak to relinquish power and stfu. They have named this as the "day of wrath/anger."
That is basically what has been happening so far. If you guys are interested in seeing events unfold live, check on Al Jazeera English's livestream of the events unfolding:
http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/
So what do you guys think of what's going on over there?
Approximately a month ago, a young street vendor in Tunisia named Mohamed Bouazizi self-immolated in protest. The reason being, the police confiscated his cart because he didn't have a "permit". Keep in mind, this is in Sidi Bouzid, a southern area of Tunisia that is largely neglected compared to the lavish north, where all the money is spent. The cops basically stopped this guy from selling fruit on the street as a job because he couldn't get a "legal" job elsewhere (unemployment in Tunisia is high, especially in the impoverished south).
After he lit himself on fire, word spread and Tunisians began going into the streets and protesting, and these protests quickly spread mainly because of social media (phones, facebook, twitter...etc) and TV (news channels like Al Jazeera). The police tried to put down the riots, but were unsuccessful -- and when the government called in the military to help, the military refused and advised 'president' Ben Ali to leave the country.
So Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia (big surprise there), and protests in Tunisia are ongoing because they want all of Ben Ali's compatriots out of the government as well (and many of them recently resigned from the new cabinet).
What happened in Tunisia -- the first successful "people's" revolution in contemporary Arab history -- set off copycat demonstrations in other countries. Almost immediately they started demonstrating in Algeria, and following that was Yemen and Jordan.
This also set off the Egyptians, who demand a more democratic country and want the government to stop squandering funds and to help out the more impoverished people who the government generally doesn't give a damn about (like in most countries). So now, Egyptians are on the streets lighting fluffing everything on fire (like the "National Democratic" Party's headquarters (the same Party that got 95% of the "votes" in the last election).
The riots today, which started roughly after Friday prayers, wants "president" Mubarak to relinquish power and stfu. They have named this as the "day of wrath/anger."
That is basically what has been happening so far. If you guys are interested in seeing events unfold live, check on Al Jazeera English's livestream of the events unfolding:
http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/
So what do you guys think of what's going on over there?
FREEEEEDOM!!!