A BURNING DESIRE FOR FREEDOM

A BURNING DESIRE FOR FREEDOM

TONIGHT WE ARE ALL TUNISIANS

By YVONNE RIDLEY

January 14, 2011

Over the last few days we have seen some of the bravest people facing down some of the worst.

Armed with nothing more than a revolutionary heart and hopes of a better future they gathered and protested as government forces aimed their weapons and fired live rounds in to the crowds.

But the ammunition and the underlying threats of arrest and torture meant absolutely nothing to the masses – for they had simply lost their fear.

It was the final testament to the brutality of a dictator who has had the support of European leaders and various presidents of the United States.
And that the Tunisian President Zine El-Abedine Ben Ali fled from his country like a rat up a drainpipe after 23 brutal years spoke volumes about the character of the man himself.

If he had one ounce of the courage his own people displayed, he too would have stayed but most of these tyrants are gutless with the moral fibre of a dung beetle. The demise of Ben Ali came when police prevented an unemployed 26-year-old graduate from selling fruit without a licence. Mohammad Bouazizi turned himself in to a human torch on December 17 and died of the horrific burns in Sidi Bouzid, in central Tunisia.

It was the final straw, a defining moment which ignited rallies, marches and demonstrations across Tunisia.

And revelations from Wikileaks cables exposing the corrupt and extravagant lifestyle of Ben Ali and his grasping wife fanned the flames of unbridled anger from a people who were also in the grip of poverty.
I knew it was coming. I saw the burning desire for freedom in the eyes of the courageous people of Ghafsa when the Viva Palestina Convoy entered the country in February 2009 on its way to Gaza.

Our convoy witnessed the menacing secret police intimidate the crowds to stop them from gathering to cheer us on.

This vast army of spies, thugs and enforcers even tried to stop us from praying in a local mosque.

That they stood their ground to cheer us on prompted me to leave my vehicle and hug all the women who had turned out. We exchanged cards and small gifts and then, to my horror, I discovered 24 hours later that every woman I had embraced in the streets of Gafsa had been taken away and questioned.

Human rights organizations have constantly condemened and exposed the brutality of the Ben Ali regime but that has not stopped America and European leaders from intervening or putting on pressure to stop the brutality.

Sadly, it serves western interests to have a people brutalized and subjugated.

Now Tunisia is minus one dictator but it is still in a state of emergency. The next few days and weeks are going to be crucial for the Tunisian people who deserve freedom and liberty. My God, they’ve paid for it with their own blood and we must always remember their martyrs.

None of the politicians, secret police or other odious government forces will emerge from this period with any honor and quite a few are already cowering in the shadows.

But perhaps the biggest show of cowardice in this whole sorry episode has come from The White House.

Not one word of condemnation, not one word of criticism, not one word urging restraint came from Barak Obama or Hillary Clinton as live ammunition was fired into crowds of unarmed men, women and children in recent weeks.

And news of the corrupt, mafia-like regime would not have come as a surprise to either of them. We know this thanks to the Wikileaks cables written by US Ambassador Robert Godec who revealed in one memo: “Corruption in the inner circle is growing.”

But, as the injustices and atrocities continued there was not one squeak from the most powerful nation on earth … until America’s dear friend, Ben Ali had scuttled from the country.

The reality is the US Administration likes dealing with tyrants and even encourages despotic behavior. Egypt is one of the biggest testaments to this with its prisons full of political opposition leaders. Hosni Mubarak is Uncle Sam's enforcer and biggest recipient of aid next to the Zionist State.

Pakistan's treatment of its own people is little better. Remember when US Ambassador Anne Patterson in Islamabad wrote in one Wikileak cable about the human rights abuses carried out by the Pakistan military? Patterson then went on to advise Washington to avoid comment on these incidents.

But now the US has made a comment on the situation in Tunisia ... but only when Ben Ali was 30,000 feet in the air did White House spokesman Mike Hammer issue a statement which read: “We condemn the ongoing violence against civilians in Tunisia, and call on the Tunisian authorities to fulfill the important commitments … including respect for basic human rights and a process of much-needed political reform.”

Unbelievable. Too little, too late, Mr President. Actually that statement could have been uttered any time during the last US presidencies since Ronald Reagan.

But as I say, America couldn't give a stuff about the human rights of the people of the Maghreb, Pakistan, Egypt and Palestine to name but a few.

When US condemnation finally came through the tyrant had fled leaving behind more than 60 civilian martyrs and countless more injured.

Tomorrow I will go to the Tunisian Embassy in London as I have done previously and stand shoulder to shoulder with my Tunisian brothers and sisters and their supporters. We will remember the dead, we will pay tribute to the brave and courageous many who are still in the process of seizing back their country and we will pray that no tyrant will sleep easy in his bed from this moment on.

Tonight we are all Tunisians.

Yvonne Ridley is a British journalist and also a patron of the London-based NGO Cageprisoners.



WHAT THE BBC MISSED

THE PEOPLE'S REVOLUTION IN TUNISIA

By YVONNE RIDLEY

January 17, 2011

The Western media has been somewhat caught out by the rapid demise of one of the most brutal dictators in the world.

But not to worry, the CIA famously missed the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 after working around the clock 24/7 for five decades warning us constantly of the dangers of ignoring the Red Peril. Still, we all have our off days.

However, when journalists did finally catch up with events in Tunisia it was the plight of the British holidaymakers that grabbed the headlines, not the scores of locals who had been gunned down by government forces.

So what harrowing tales emerged at the airports as the Brits piled off the planes to freedom?

BBC Five Live reported the trembling words of a Yorkshireman who said: "We can't believe it. They shut all the bars. Then when we got to the 'airport duty free were closed!"

Yes, the BBC went right to the heart of the matter showing once again it had its finger on the pulse of popular opinion.

That was on Friday and then more dramatic stories emerged the next two days as returning tourists talked about roaming street gangs looting and setting fire to property, and what a grand job the police were doing.

The so-called "roaming street gangs" were in fact highly organised thugs in the employ of the Tunisian Ministry of Interior on a black propaganda exercise designed to demonise the ordinary people who had finally snapped after being bludgeoned physically and mentally by President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his police.

Of course most of the Brits were probably unaware they were holidaying in a police state in the first place - it's not mentioned in the brochures ... funny that!

The reactions of the traumatised tourists prompted one leading Tunisian blogger to Tweet this rather blunt, if not personal piece of advice: "A revolution is ongoing, take your drunk ass somewhere else. Return after elections."

Now that the 'human interest' angle of the terrorised tourists has been virtually exhausted, the western media is trying to explain the ongoing demonstrations and the cause of the revolution. They even gave the movement a name ... the Jasmine Revolution after the country's national flower. How civilised.

As far as the media is concerned the revolution erupted thanks to Wikileaks, Twitter and Facebook. What nonsense and what an insult to Tunisians, young and old. The revolution was driven by ordinary people who finally snapped because of the soaring cost of food prices, rising unemployment and the brutality of the police state.

Many of the revolutionaries were also protesting the dictatorship and lack of real democracy and freedom of speech. Throw in the police brutality, corruption of the ruling families and censorship of the social networks (Youtube was blocked and Facebook accounts and bloggers were regularly hacked) and something was bound to snap.

We Westerners, hooked up to our Blackberries and iPhones were merely given front row electronic seats from where we could cheer on the real revolutionaries who physically took to the streets and faced down live ammunition, baton charges and tear gas.

Now we are told there will be elections in Tunisia in the next 40 days or so and when the people make their choice of government I hope the Western media, Western Governments and the United Nations set aside their usually prejudices and accept the outcome ... unlike what happened in Gaza.

Even today the population of Gaza is suffering from a collective punishment at the hands of the West for democratically choosing Hamas. But as Ben Ali has now just learned you can't impose your will on people because in the end they will rebel.

Without outside interference, I am confident the Tunisian people will make the right choices for them and whoever or whichever party they choose we should respect the outcome.

There is already excited chatter of trade unionists, former opposition parties and a few Islamists forming a coalition government.

Personally I don't care who takes power as long as those elected are the peoples' choice and they put the people first.

Yvonne Ridley is a British journalist and the European President of the International Muslim Women's Union.