Tunisia Celebrates its First Revolution Anniversary
On Saturday, Tunisians gathered in peaceful marches to celebrate the revolution which led to the step down of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who ruled the country for 23 years. Different political groups, religious movements and civil society organizations joined the march, from the Salafists to Dar Tounis (Home of Tunisia), a non-profit advocating for the homeless of Tunisia. In front of the Saudi Arabian Embassy, dozens of protesters demanded the extradition of Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi. Some Arab leaders joined the ceremony commemorating the anniversary including Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, head of Libya’s interim government Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who helped lead opposition to Muammar Gadhafi and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. During the ceremony, located in the Congress Palace in Tunis, the recently elected Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki declared, ”the early signs of rebirth emerged on that day in all areas” after “lost decades in the history of Tunisia under a dictatorial and corrupt regime.” Opposition movements have expressed their dissatisfaction at the way the celebrations were organized and the absence of high-profile representatives of the world’s leading democracies.
A statement issued by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon‘s spokesperson said that, ” one year ago, the world was inspired by the determination of the people of Tunisia to demand democracy, freedom and dignity.” Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg stated that the Tunisian uprising experience was more an “exception” than a “model.” He reminded that “revolts that have supposedly modeled themselves on its footsteps have been rather bloody, drawn-out affairs with no clear-cut outcomes in sight. This applies in varying degrees to Libya, Egypt, Syria and Yemen.”
Meanwhile, a two days symposium was organized ( in French) in Tunisia on the evolution of the media a year after the fall of the dictatorship. Many of the lecturers expressed their concerns about the little change of the media sector in a year. They stated that the political powers still have control over the state-owned media, whose heads were recently appointed by the Prime Minister on January 7th.
