In Tunisia, People Power Succeeds Without Western Backing – Yahoo! News

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LUDU U SEIN WIN WAS RIGHT. HE SAID LONG TIME AGO, “DON’T JUST DEPEND ON UN” (OR THE WEST) (TO DO A REGIME CHANGE).

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(INDEED, THE UN BODY HAS NO OBLIGATION TO DO REGIME CHANGES. NOR IS THAT ITS DUTY. BTW, JUST BLAMING ON NEIGHBORS, DOESN’T ACHIEVE ANYTHING).

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DAW SUU SAID THAT IF YOU WANT CHANGE, YOU HAVE TO DO IT YOURSELF. VERY TRUE!

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(JUST WISHING FOR OTHERS TO DO IT, WON’T WORK).

IN FACT, A WESTERNER COMMENTED BLUNTLY ON AN IRRAWADDY.COM ARTICLE, “WHY SHOULD OTHERS DIE FOR YOU?…..”

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In Tunisia, People Power Succeeds Without Western Backing – Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/oneworld/20110114/wl_oneworld/world3697891295039592

CAIRO, Jan 14 (IPS) – These are scenes Western powers would have loved to see in Iran – thousands of young people braving live bullets and forcing an autocratic ruler out of the country. But it is in the North African nation Tunisia where an uprising forced the Western-backed autocratic President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country.

Western powers remain incredulous. France, the real power broker in the Franco North African nation, was giving Ben Ali tacit support until an hour before he fled Friday…..

Looking his confident self, Ben Ali initially refused almost all of the demands of the protesters in the town and its neighboring cities. But the protests continued unabated across most of Tunisia.

On Thursday night, Ben Ali stood shaken as he talked to his people through TV cameras. Appealing for “understanding” from the people he ruled for more than 23 years and asking for a new page, he promised to end orders to shoot at demonstrators.

It did not stop people. Thousands marched Friday afternoon to the interior ministry, the symbol of decades-long brutality.

“We want bread, and water and no Ben Ali”, hand-written signs said, as seen in videos leaked online by activists during the protests

Gunbattles, food shortages temper Tunisians’ joy – Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110116/ap_on_re_af/af_tunisia_riots

BBC News – Tunis gun battles erupt after Ben Ali aide arrested

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12202283

Tunisian revolution topples tyrant – and panics Arab rulers|15Jan11|Socialist Worker

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=23598

The British socialists’ version on Tunisian revolution.

(Learn how the powerful trade union switched sides. Given certain circumstances, the army can switch sides, too).

Tunisian authorities impose nationwide curfew

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-01/15/c_13691380.htm

BBC News – Live: Tunisia turmoil a day after fall of Ben Ali

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/9363034.stm

Security has been stepped up in centre of the Tunisian capital, a day after President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was forced from power by street protests. Four weeks of street protests over unemployment, rising prices and corruption culminated in Mr Ben Ali’s shock resignation, followed by his flight to Saudi Arabia.

BBC News – Tunisia revolt: Fear and rejoicing in Tunis

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12200493

Tunisia has had three presidents in the past 48 hours.

A legitimate one: Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, re-elected in 2009 with 89.4% of the vote; an illegitimate one: Mohammed Ghannouchi, who took on the job on Friday even though the decision to do so contravened the Tunisian constitution; and now an interim one: Foued Mebazza, who as Speaker of the Tunisian parliament should have been given the job as soon as Mr Ben Ali was removed from office.

Now the interim President, Fouad Mebazza is working hard to put together an acting government ahead of elections which are due to be called within three months.

These are very uncertain hours in Tunisia. The country has been thrown into turmoil by a series of cataclysmic events which unfolded in the space of a few hours. That uncertainty is very apparent on the streets of the capital, Tunis.

Power Again Changes Hands in Tunisia as Chaos Remains

Power in Tunisia Changes Hands 2 Times in 24 Hours – NYTimes.com

TUNIS — Police officers and gangs of newly deputized young men with guns held the streets of Tunis on Saturday night after a day of renewed clashes with protesters and the second change of political power in 24 hours. The continued instability raised new questions about what kind of government might emerge from the chaos engulfing Tunisia.

Tunisia revolt: Will revolt in Tunisia inspire others? – latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-tunisia-arab-world-20110116,0,6836461.story

Hours after riots forced Tunisian President Zine el Abidine ben Ali to flee his country, hundreds of Egyptians poured into the streets of Cairo with a warning to their own authoritarian president, Hosni Mubarak.

“Ben Ali, tell Mubarak a plane is waiting for him too,” they chanted late Friday night. “We are next. Listen to the Tunisians; it’s your turn, Egyptians.”

Amid Celebrations and Curfews, Tunisians Trust in the Army – TIME

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2042714,00.html?iid=tsmodule

One day after Tunisia’s president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled the country, abandoning his 23-year dictatorship, tanks rumbled through the streets of the capital, attempting to impose order after weeks of turmoil. Meanwhile, many Tunisians vented their fury at what they saw as examples of the ostentatious lifestyles of the country’s deposed leadership by smashing luxury cars and burning property belonging to the now exiled ruling family.

During a five-hour journey through Tunis and its suburbs, I saw dozens of smashed cars, as well as looted buildings and burned police stations. There were signs of food and gas shortages across the city, with shops shuttered by days of chaos. Containers are stacked up on the dock in Tunis’ port on the Mediterranean, the quaysides void of people. There are long lines of cars outside the few gas stations that have fuel to sell. And in the city’s biggest five-star hotel, there is not a drop of milk to drink.

There was loud celebratory honking through the suburbs after local radio stations announced at noon that Tunisia’s parliamentary speaker Fouad Mebazaa had been appointed interim president, under the country’s constitution, and that elections would be organized within 60 days. (Mebazaa replaced the unpopular “temporary” President Mohamed Ghannouchi, a technocrat economist who had served as Ben Ali’s Prime Minister and who had stepped in after the dictator fled.) “All we young Tunisians want is to be allowed to live and let live,” says Alexandre, 30, a drama student, in a cafe in El Masra, after hearing the news. “We want jobs. We want decent salaries,” he says. And what will happen if the interim president retains power for decades, as Ben Ali did? “Never!” says his friend, picking up a glass and gesturing to throw it. “We will revolt again.