"It is on everybody's mind that the Arab spirit is broken. The Arab spirit is down by poverty, unemployment and the general decline in the real indicators of development." Amre Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League
WikiLeaks' role in governments is very critical. They might be doing espionage, call it whatever you like, but like their battle cry, WikiLeaks opens governments. WikiLeaks keeps everyone on tiptoes which is a good thing. We no longer are ignorant of what these governments are doing or planning to do. No more lies however white.
The on-going revolution in Tunisia was otherwise triggered by technology some claims. The younger generation did their revolts in cyberspace, opening the eyes of Tunisians on the evil cause of poverty and injustice in their nation. With that info comes WikiLeaks exposure. WkiLeaks released diplomatic cables from the US embassy in Tunis "confirming" the Mafia-style regime of President Ben Ali. That diplomatic cable unveiled what Tunisians have already known and they were just waiting for the right move.
Burning issues
The right move came when an unemployed man, a college graduate who was selling fruits because he was unemployed but authorities seized his goods for lack of permit, set himself on fire right at the government's sight. Ben Ali's visit to his hospital bed was not able to faze off the 30 percent unemployed Tunisians. It gave them the voice. A fiery voice, indeed.
Heated demands
Tunisia is now inspiring its neighboring nations albeit acrid burning human bodies is not a good start. Already reports from Cairo confirmed that there are unemployed men setting themselves on fire in public to demand jobs, bitterly exposing long standing corruption in that region. Egypt's Mubarak is on alert and so is Sudan's Bashir.
Will Tunisia set the standards for Africa and the Middle East?
Read on-
- What's going on in Tunisia?
- Tunisia revolt: Will it spread?
- Tunisia revolt puts heat on Sudan
- Excesses of Tunisia's "Imelda" fuel uprising
We didn't start the fire / It was always burning
Since the world's been turning / We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it / But we tried to fight it
~Billy Joel
Pic grabbed from CNN.com
2 comments:
The problem is that there are not many selfless politicians in this world... one corrupt regime is followed by another corrupt regime...
Even the so called democracies are stained...
in the Philippine context, poverty and corruption are still issues that needs to be addressed to.
PNoy's election to the presidency did not even help despite clamor from his voters for change.
are we not tired of revolutions?
(your constant Reader)
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