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Linkspam, Tunisia Edition
So, the government of Tunisia collapsed today. As of right now, the former president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, is in an airplane en route to Malta Paris (I'm glad I checked before I hit post), and the Prime Minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, is assuming the presidency. Riots and demonstrations are ongoing, and it's not precisely clear whether Ben Ali's departure will be enough to calm the situation sufficiently. In any case, it's an exciting, scary, and fascinating moment for Arab politics. I collected some interesting links, ranging from good news sources to excellent editorials to a nod to Arabic linguistics, because I'm like that. Let me know if you see anything else good in your internetting today!
Sources To Follow About What's Up
Live: Tunisia Turmoil (BBC)
This is what I'm following for the play-by-play of what's going on. It's an auto-updating page, so I'm keeping it open and flipping back and forth as I get things done on the computer. There's something very powerful about watching a regime fall in real time. I may, possibly, have gotten something in my eye.
Spotlight on Tunisia (Al Jazeera English)
Al Jazeera's coverage is pretty in-depth; they also have cool things like an interactive map of protests over time.
Mr. Oui Oui Takes Charge (Blake Hounshell @ The Middle East Channel)
A basic update on the situation as of right now--with some details on Ghannouchi.
Global Voices - Tunisia page
Global Voices is a blog aggregator/translation project, that pulls blog posts from countries all over the world, translates them into other languages, and groups them together by theme. This will get you all of the Tunisia posts currently on the site, most of which are about the ongoing unrest. If you don't speak Arabic but want to know what's being said, this is a good source for that.
Good Editorials/Essays
Where are the democracy promoters on Tunisia? (Marc Lynch @ Foreign Policy)
Lynch has been on fire with the Tunisia posts this week. I picked this one because it points out a major problem in American foreign policy: that it's remarkably inconsistent, paying more attention to "famous cases" than to others that are structurally identical, but lack the name recognition.
The Limits of Silencing Tunisia (Bassam Bounenni @ the Middle East Channel)
Addresses the freedoms of speech and press issues with the Ben Ali regime, by a Tunisian journalist.
Activist Crackdown: Tunisia vs. Iran (Jillian C. York @ Al Jazeera English)
So, why did a "twitter revolution" in Iran end up the biggest piece of political news for a month, but the same actions in Tunisia get little to no coverage? Inquiring minds want to know.
Reporting With Background Info
Behind Tunisia Unrest, Rage Over Wealth of Ruling Family (New York Times)
An article on the rioting at Hammamet, a beach resort town; gives some insight into the class dynamics of the conflict.
Rumbles on the Arab Street (Middle East Channel)
Cool slideshow of images from the protests, with commentary.
Unrest in Tunisia, Fuel by Facebook (NY Times Video)
A quick video report; no transcript available that I saw. At 1:30, there are a group of students going in a circle around a bunch arranged in a pattern. The ones in the center are spelling out حرية, hurriyeh, freedom.
And For Awesomeness's Sake
Ben Ali speaks in Tunisian "for the first time" (Language Log)
Addressing the linguistic issues at play in Ben Ali's most recent speeches. Arabic diglossia is one of my favorite things about it, but also one of the biggest pains for a non-native speaker learning the language; all my education has been in fusha, which means I'm highly unequipped to handle most daily exchanges.
Sources To Follow About What's Up
Live: Tunisia Turmoil (BBC)
This is what I'm following for the play-by-play of what's going on. It's an auto-updating page, so I'm keeping it open and flipping back and forth as I get things done on the computer. There's something very powerful about watching a regime fall in real time. I may, possibly, have gotten something in my eye.
Spotlight on Tunisia (Al Jazeera English)
Al Jazeera's coverage is pretty in-depth; they also have cool things like an interactive map of protests over time.
Mr. Oui Oui Takes Charge (Blake Hounshell @ The Middle East Channel)
A basic update on the situation as of right now--with some details on Ghannouchi.
Global Voices - Tunisia page
Global Voices is a blog aggregator/translation project, that pulls blog posts from countries all over the world, translates them into other languages, and groups them together by theme. This will get you all of the Tunisia posts currently on the site, most of which are about the ongoing unrest. If you don't speak Arabic but want to know what's being said, this is a good source for that.
Good Editorials/Essays
Where are the democracy promoters on Tunisia? (Marc Lynch @ Foreign Policy)
Lynch has been on fire with the Tunisia posts this week. I picked this one because it points out a major problem in American foreign policy: that it's remarkably inconsistent, paying more attention to "famous cases" than to others that are structurally identical, but lack the name recognition.
The Limits of Silencing Tunisia (Bassam Bounenni @ the Middle East Channel)
Addresses the freedoms of speech and press issues with the Ben Ali regime, by a Tunisian journalist.
Activist Crackdown: Tunisia vs. Iran (Jillian C. York @ Al Jazeera English)
So, why did a "twitter revolution" in Iran end up the biggest piece of political news for a month, but the same actions in Tunisia get little to no coverage? Inquiring minds want to know.
Reporting With Background Info
Behind Tunisia Unrest, Rage Over Wealth of Ruling Family (New York Times)
An article on the rioting at Hammamet, a beach resort town; gives some insight into the class dynamics of the conflict.
Rumbles on the Arab Street (Middle East Channel)
Cool slideshow of images from the protests, with commentary.
Unrest in Tunisia, Fuel by Facebook (NY Times Video)
A quick video report; no transcript available that I saw. At 1:30, there are a group of students going in a circle around a bunch arranged in a pattern. The ones in the center are spelling out حرية, hurriyeh, freedom.
And For Awesomeness's Sake
Ben Ali speaks in Tunisian "for the first time" (Language Log)
Addressing the linguistic issues at play in Ben Ali's most recent speeches. Arabic diglossia is one of my favorite things about it, but also one of the biggest pains for a non-native speaker learning the language; all my education has been in fusha, which means I'm highly unequipped to handle most daily exchanges.
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Glad to see Global Voices included -- I think they are terrific. (Ditto Marc Lynch.)
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MARC LYNCH. Have you read his essays on what hip-hop beefs can teach us about international relations theory? How can I possibly make this man my BFF/new mentor?
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And re: Global Voices, one of their directors -- the head of their advocacy service -- is Tunisian, and the founders of the org were thrown out of Tunisia for running a controversial workshop a few years ago. I get the sense that covering this story in particular is pretty personal for them...
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thanks for the links
(Anonymous) 2011-01-18 02:16 am (UTC)(link)Anthea
http://www.senseworlds.com
wait and see
Robert Fisk had his usual harsh-your-buzz editorial about it, pointing out that US realpolitik may well prevent any real democratization, since we don't seem to like the results when Arabs vote freely. He may be right, although it pisses me off that Fisk worded this as a foregone conclusion. At least *hope* that we can amend our foreign policy, you know?
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http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/506/the-poetry-of-revolt
:-)