Arab Spring Redux: Tunisian Journalist Calls For 'Revolution' During Self-Immolation



"For our people who have no means of subsistence, today I start a revolution."

Thu, 12/27/2018 - 12:47
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As the repercussions of the 2011 Arab Spring continue to play out across the Middle East (where Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has now, thanks to the withdrawal of US troops, outlasted the last major threat to his rule), an uncanny echo of the movement's humble beginning played out in Tunisia this week when a journalist and activist died after setting himself on fire in a gesture of protest - echoing the self-immolation of a street vendor that effectively kicked off the movement back almost eight years ago.



The deadly act of defiance has triggered protests against unemployment and poverty that were vaguely reminiscent of the popular uprising that led to the ouster of former Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who became the first domino to fall as protests swiftly spread to Libya, Egypt, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere.

The journalist, Abderrazak Zorgui, delivered a moving denouncement of the government and the Tunisian economy - calling on the people to rise up and demand better living conditions - before self-immolating in the poverty-stricken town of Kasserine.

"For our people who have no means of subsistence, today I start a revolution."
This gesture is merely the latest sign that, after nearly eight years, Tunisia remains far from fulfilling the promise of the movement that led the uprising. Instead, the Tunisian people are venting their anger at the country's ineffectual government, which has failed to defeat unemployment and poverty. And while Washington unequivocally supported the Tunisian revolution and welcomed the country's relatively peaceful transition to Democracy, the pro-Western political forces that have risen to power during the intervening years risk sparking a backlash, according to RT.
"People have lost hope and probably some of them had high expectations after the uprisings of 2011," Edmund Ghareeb, a Lebanese-American scholar at the American University in Washington. "But the government has not been able to deliver on these high hopes and the economy has deteriorated, and unemployment has really gone sky high."
Despite the country's move toward democratization, poverty has persisted, which is why many Tunisians empathized with the journalist's decision to self-immolate.
"The reasons for this young man’s [Zorgui] suicide are poverty, isolation and the difficult situation journalists face in Tunisia," an old woman said. "This tragedy sums up the status of journalists in Tunisia… they work without contract and earn [low] wages."
So far, nine successive governments have failed to solve the country's economic woes, even after imposing an array of liberal reforms and numerous donations by the West.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...elf-immolation