Tunisians Thank Anonymous as North Africa Explodes

News @ 6:00pm pst
Tunisian government spokesmen says cabinet reshuffle is imminent.
Schools were closed today and many students joined the protests
Tunisian army chief says military will 'guarantee' the revolution.
{thanks, but no thanks is my opinion} I take that back, found out this is the general that refused Ben Ali's order to crack down and shoot people. He's being celebrated as a hero. All in all, it is much better to have the army on the people's side in a revolution. Tends to be less blood shed that way.

Tunisian TV station owner arrested for treason yesterday has been released.
Paris prosecutors have opened a case against Ben Ali and his property in France has been seized. (France is shocked, shocked, to find Ben Ali has ill got gains stowed away in France. But surprise, they knew just were to find them!)
Sarkozy says "The French people support the Tunisian people."
Sure we know that. What about you and the other French Imperialists?

Now I'm going to take a break from the North Africa story. I'm going to watch American network news at 6:30 were I'm likely to hear nothing about it for half an hour.
Back again. Katie Couric and CBS was a safe choice. Tunisia who? Oprah squeezed the story out.

Update: 4:08pm pst. France24 is now reporting that committee will replace Ghannouchi's interim government. France has seized Ben Ali's assets in France, said to be worth millions, and is investigating.

This Monday morning in Tunis, thousands of protesters joined hundreds that had violated the curfew and camped out overnight in front of the PM's Headquarters. They are demanding that Ghannouchi step down. There is reportedly a cabinet re-shuffling underway but there is also a demand that the current interim government be replaced by a council of elders.

But the there is more tension in the air of Tunis this morning because the police have set up barricades around the PM Headquarters and aren't letting people in or out thus cutting off the protesters behind barbed wire. Look for updates here latter as I get more info, you'll get more.

Protests also continued yesterday in Algeria, Libya, Jordan, and Yemen.

It remains to be seen what effect the latest leak of "the Palestinian Papers" will have on the uprising in Arab North Africa.

This morning France24 reported on the new uprisings in Algeria and the support Anonymous is giving this. I recorded this with my camcorder from the TV and put it on YouTube which accounts for the quality. You'll find the original of Elias's footage below in the Algeria update section, some of which was used in this France24 report. This illustrates how even the major media outlets that are covering this story are getting much of their matertial. It will also give you a clue as to how I can sometimes scoop them here on the DailyKos without ever leaving Los Angeles. It's a different world. BTW the best source of up to the minute coverage I found is the FRANCE24 live feed. They have people on the ground in North Africa and do regular updates.



The latest on Tunisia: This morning's France24 on the situation in Tunisia, also brought to you via the camorder - YouTube method.

Tunisians Thank Anonymous

Demonstration Freiheit für Tunesien in Köln am 15.01.2011
English translation

First - in the name of all Tunisian people - I want to thank Anonymous. Anonymous were the only ones to help us. Anonymous has blocked all governmental websites [of Tunisia] because they [the Tunisian government] have blocked? our internet access so we may not get information. Thank you Anonymous! We want to let you know that you have found new allies and that there are many more people living in oppression.

And that you have won us to aid you in this fight against all dictators that still remain in this world.

We will never forget. We will never forgive. We are Anonymous. We are legion.

More Unrest in Tunisia, Spreading to Other Arab Countries. James LaGiglia Reports

Anyone wanting to know more about Anonymous, OpTunisia or OpAlgeria should definitely checkout barrettbrown's diary.

Click here for more about Anonymous' Operation Swift Assist for Tunisia.

Jon Stewart covers Tunisian Revolution [Tunisia part starts about a minute in]

Current Events:

Tunisia Today

Protesters camp outside PM's office in new push for government to resign

AFP - Hundreds of Tunisians defied a night-time curfew and camped out in front of Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi's office Sunday in a bid to force the government to resign following president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's ouster.

Protesters said the revolt against Ben Ali has not gone far enough and should be followed up by the removal of all old-regime figures from the leadership and the abolition of Ben Ali's powerful RCD party.

The protest defied a night-time curfew and a state of emergency that bans any public assemblies but security forces did not intervene -- in stark contrast to the violent crackdown seen in the final days of Ben Ali's rule.

This is troubling - Tunis: Residents of Khadra district patrol neighborhood against pro Ben Ali thugs.

Algeria Today

"URGENT ALGERIA" VIDEO TAKEN AT THE SEAT OF RCD 22/01/11


France24 report on Sunday - Algeria: After Tunisia a rise of revolt in Algeria?

After riots in Tunisia neighbouring Algeria has also seen demonstrations break out. Some believe the departure of Zine El Abedine Ben Ali may give rise to a similar scenario in Algeria. After years of civil war, Algerian authorities are particularly watchful of events in neighbouring Tunisia. Here's more from our correspondent in Algeria.

Libya Today

Demonstrations in Al Bayda, Libya in 2011 - uploaded 23/01/11

Yemen Today

Yemen arrests protest leader

Thousands protest

Karman, who heads the Yemeni activist group Women Journalists Without Chains, had also called on Yemenis to support the Tunisian people.

Her arrest comes a day after thousands of Yemeni students, activists and opposition groups held protests at Sanaa University, demanding Saleh's ouster in what appeared to be the first large-scale challenge to the strongman.

Around 2,500 students, activists and opposition groups chanted slogans against the president, comparing him to Tunisia's ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, whose people were similarly enraged by economic woes and government corruption.

"Oh, Ali, join your friend Ben Ali," protesters chanted.

Police fired tear gas at the demonstrators, whose grievances include proposed constitutional changes that would allow the president to rule for a lifetime.

Since the Tunisian turmoil, Saleh has ordered income taxes slashed in half and has instructed his government to control prices. He also ordered a heavy deployment of anti-riot police and soldiers to several key areas in the capital and its surroundings to prevent any riots.

EFF which got pointed in this direction ten day ago with their bulletin and the Tunisian government's Internet tricks has published this: Early Lessons from the Tunisian Revolution

YouTube had been blocked in Tunisia since 2007, but that did not stop Tunisians from using the site to share videos of the riots and protests with the world. Tunisians shared details about the clashes between the unarmed protesters and police using live ammunition on Twitter. The first rumors of a coup on January 12th were also spread on the social networking site.

The Struggle Continues...

Here is a recap of my other DKos diaries on this subject:
Huffington Post Disses the Jasmine Revolution
Tunisia: A Single Tweet Can Start A Prairie Fire!
Anonymous plans Op Swift Assist in Tunisia
Arrested Pirate Party Member Becomes Tunisian Minister
Is Libya Next? Anonymous Debates New Operation
Tunis: This Photo was Taken 66 Minutes Ago
The WikiLeaks Revolution: Anonymous Strikes Tunisia
EMERGENCY: DKos Must Act Now to Protect Tunisian Bloggers!
Free Software & Internet Show Communism is Possible
BREAKING - Digital Sit-Ins: The Internet Strikes Back!
Cyber War Report: New Front Opens Against Internet Coup d'état
Operation PayBack: 1st Cyber War Begins over WikiLeaks
The Internet Takeover: Why Google is Next
BREAKING: Goodbye Internet Freedom as Wikileaks is Taken Down
BREAKING NEWS: Obama Admin Takes Control of Internet Domains!
Things Even Keith Olbermann Won't Cover - UPDATE: VICTORY!!!
Stop Internet Blacklist Bill Now!
Sweet Victory on Internet Censorship: Senate Backs Off!
Internet Engineers tell the Senate to Back Off!
Why is Net Neutrality advocate Free Press MIA?
Obama's Internet Coup d'état
Julian Assange on Threat to Internet Freedom

Huffington Post Disses the Jasmine Revolution

Sunday Tunisia Update: France24 reports Rural protesters reach Tunis, press government to quit.

AFP - Some 1,000 demonstrators from rural central Tunisia, calling for the resignation of the transitional government, reached the capital on Sunday.

The marchers, from a poor farming region where an uprising against authoritarian rule began last month, called for the resignation of a government put in place after the ouster of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
"The people have come to bring down the government," they chanted as they marched through the centre of Tunis.

The "Caravan of Liberation" set off on Saturday from the town of Menzel Bouzaiane, where the first victim of a bloody crackdown on protests against Ben Ali was killed last month.

"We have come... to bring down the rest of the dictatorship," said Mohammed Layani, an elderly man draped in a Tunisian flag

Update 23/01/11 12:00pm pst. France24 is reporting the arrest of a private TV station owner and his son in Tunisia for "high treason." They said they have been charged with broadcasting false reports of violence and plotting the return of Ben Ali. This is very early in this story but if it is true, I wonder if there is any connection to the false reports of violence I critique Marc Ginsberg for making in the Huffington Post below.

Also a reporter from Paris Match is saying that American Generals phoned the Tunisian Generals and told them that it would be okay with them if Ben Ali went. Nothing firm on this yet. The plot thickens!

The France24 piece comes with a good video of what is happening in the streets. This is today in Tunis.


I want to take on some of the bloggers that the Huffington Post has featured on this question because I think in may reveal why that website does less to advance humanity than it could - by a long shot. I mean whenever a so-called left-liberal blog is featuring the same talking head on a subject as Fox News...That's your first clue. But we'll get to [former] Amb. Marc Ginsburg in a minute. Now I wanted to make some preliminary remarks about why I feel what is going on here is so important.

First on the importance of the hacker group Anonymous.

I've been planning to make this the subject of a separate diary but here's the short story. I've been looking for a quote from Karl Marx that I want to reference. Maybe a fellow Kossack can help me out. Somewhere Marx talks about how in the advances of human civilization it's almost like a law that inventions that we once did perfectly well without, after they become integrated into our lives, become indispensable. I believe used examples like the railroad and telegraph from his era. Well, I still would like to find the quote, if someone can help me out, because I always find it interesting to see how Marx reasoned things out, but my main point here is I think that applies to the Internet today.

So that is my first point. In the short span of 25 years, the Internet has gone from non-existent to indispensable. That is to say, from this time going forward, no government and no large corporation can expect to function effectively in the modern world if denied access to the Internet. It is that important.

Enough hackers, working together, can effectively disrupt any target's Internet use, that is my second point. We have a saying in the free software movement "Given enough eyes, all bugs are shallow." Well I would like to offer a corollary "Given enough fingers on keyboards, any organization's Internet existence can be brought to a standstill."

These two observations, I believe, outline the incipient power of the hacker community, which is by and large a working class one, that Anonymous has discovered. It has also developed a style and presentation that is very attractive to young people in general and hackers in particular. While it is far too early to say what the specific role of 'Anonymous' will be in history, it is something entirely new and first efforts often fail, anyone who thinks that they can discount or ignore what is going on here is a fool.

I also like the way Anonymous seems to find the right answers to important theoretical questions in a very organic way. For example, it is an international organization with no national boundaries within the group and a world view of it's mission, but it just understands that certain struggles are going to have to play out along national lines, so instead of 'one size fixes all' we have OpTunisia, OpLibya, OpAlgeria. Each considered separately. Each tailored to the specific situation in countries they consider to be entering a revolutionary period. They also appear to be amazingly free of the BS that plagues so many others from the Tea Party to 911 Truthers. This is a trend worthy of careful consideration.

I mean even a few months ago, after Anonymous first emerged as a force opposing WikiLeaks censorship, who would have predicted that they would be playing a significant role in a new round of Arab revolts? And who would have predicted the 23 year old rule of Ben Ali was soon to end? Certainly none of these Huffington Post bloggers I am about to critique. We are living in very interesting times.

Then there is Tunisia. What most Americans know about Tunisia probably comes from the movie Patton. The first scene has the title "Kasserine Pass, Tunisia 1943" but even there, Tunisia was just a place in which western armies fought out their wars. None of the "Tunisians" had speaking roles, if indeed, any real Tunisians were casted in the movie. They just followed the Americans around trying to sell chickens and beg money. They and the buzzards had to be driven off with gun fire.

And none of these so-called foreign policy experts, the ones that are so busy assuring us today that the North African dominoes won't fall, none of them predicted the eminent downfall of Ben Ali.

But that is what happened. So now we have a revolution in Tunisia and revolt in North Africa, and North Africa is the bridge to both the rest of Africa and the rest of the Arab world, two very large populations very badly in need of radical change.

We have this volatile situation and combine it with this Anonymous force of a new type - well that is why I am focused on this like a laser beam - we are watching history being made. We can help to make it!

Now let's take a look at the take that the bloggers highlighted by the Huffington Post have had on this. I'll start with [former] Ambassador Marc Ginsberg. He was U.S. Ambassador to Morocco so we know that he has always been a friend of the people in the region. Frankly I was surprised to see him on the Huffington Post because I usually see him on Fox News. Is this a new 'bipartisanship' at the HuffPost? In his Is Al Jazeera Fueling "Tunisteria"? he accuses Al Jazeera of stirring up all the trouble by "challenging the Arab world's status quo, using events in Tunisia to fuel its favorite political pastime of disgorging its anti-authoritarian editorial bias across all of its media platforms." Oh! The Horror! I think another way of saying "anti-authoritarian" is "pro-democracy" and I thought we supported that. He takes Al Jazeera to task because

baton-swinging policeman clubbing Tunisian demonstrators literally took up the entire first ten minutes of one news broadcast as the emotional reporter cried into his microphone about the unjustness of Arab autocrats.

He prefers the American model were the first 10 minutes can be taken up by Linsey Lohan's latest bust. Note that nowhere in his piece does he discuss the U.S. Media's lack of coverage of events in North Africa. Huffington Post has itself provided little real news about North Africa and I have yet to see a Huffington Post blog that takes the U.S. Media to task for it's lack of coverage.

It sounds to me like Al Jazeera is one of the few news organizations around that still practice the journalist's ethic of "comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable." And this week we just lost one of the few American shows that does that.

Let me just say as an aside, with all this going on in North Africa, I haven't had time to do my own KO diary, so let me say something here. I have written a number of diaries critical of KO on Countdown only because I felt he was one of the few worth criticizing. One of the few who might listen. I mean with Fox News why bother? I watched Countdown almost every weekday night and it will be missed. I take KO's dismissal as another sign of big Media consolidation and another reason why defending the Internet is so important now. If you want to download KO's last Countdown, here's a link from MSNBC [213 MB ], normally it is up until they post the next show. In this case I don't know.

Now back to Marc Ginsberg at the HuffPost. He wants assure us that there is really nothing new to see here and even though "few Middle East observers would have bet their mortgage that despotic Tunisian ruler Zine el-Abdine Ben Ali would lose his iron grip on Tunisia in a little under a New York minute."

it is woefully premature to pop the champagne corks extolling the eventual certitude of democratic revolution in the Arab world as if Tunisia were a Hungary, a Poland or a Romania and setting the Arab world dominoes in motion. What happened in Tunisia most likely will stay in Tunisia; it was not a revolution as much as a palace coup.

That last makes me wonder if he knows anything about the Generals talk that Paris Match is claiming the scoop on. The rest reveals much more about what he hopes will happen than it does about what might happen. When he says

the real danger is that the military will step in and then rule by martial law until it is able to put a lid on the violence and thus determine the ultimate fate of Tunisia's revolt -- something akin to the role that Turkey's military played several decades ago.

By "danger" he means "hope." Otherwise why does he try to paint a picture of on going violence in Tunisia? Why does he say "As violence and demonstrations continue unabated"? This was on 20/01/11. In the weeks up to Ben Ali's departure 78 people were shot dead in the streets. Since his departure, zero. And now the police are even joining the demonstrator. How does this add up to "violence and demonstrations continue unabated" unless in his mind violence and demonstrations are really the same thing? [Or unless he is trying to promote the same story as the Tunisian TV station arrested for treason above.]

Marc Ginsburg closes out by saying that "I am just as eager as the next person to see the Arab world's transition to a more just and civil society." sure, just so long as the next guy also works at Fox News. Then he tells us what he really hopes for "Let's hope that Al Jazeera's penchant for regional anarchy is tempered by cooler heads." Does that mean "that the military will step in and then rule by martial law?"

Now it doesn't surprise me that Marc Ginsberg would say these things. I wouldn't bother writing this if we were saying it over at Fox News, but he is saying on the Huffington Post! What gives?

Next we will look at James Zogby's piece in yesterday's Huffington Post.

In Reflections on Tunisia yesterday in the Huffington Post, James Zogby, who is President of the Arab American Institute, places himself squarely outside of the struggle that is inviting the participation of all, including other Arabs. While he finds "Events unfolding there [Tunisia] have been both dramatic and inspiring," He has a lot of questions. "What is not clear is the outcome. Where it goes from here remains uncertain. Will the change be progressive and open to full participation, and will women benefit from this revolt? Answers to these and more questions will be coming in the months ahead when we see how this revolution plays out."

Yes, Mr. Zogby, you can watch and cheer from the sidelines, and encourage others to do the same, and "see how this revolution plays out" or you can get involved and do whatever you can to help the people see this thing through to a favorable conclusion. One thing about struggle in the Internet age, distance and even language are no longer a barriers. You and the other critics that take your stance may make light of the efforts of Anonymous all you like but at least they are getting involved in the struggle. And by the accounts of those who are in the struggle, as opposed to those on the sidelines, they are making a difference.

Perhaps it is just as well that Mr. Zogby watch from the sidelines because while those involved in this struggle are putting everything on the line in the hope that it will spread and succeed, he doesn't hold out much hope of that. "Notions of 'spontaneous combustion' -- or "what caught fire here will spread there" -- are, at best, apolitical, ahistorical, naïve fantasies." Can't happen. Not going to happen. Of course the phrase 'spontaneous combustion' is his. The people planning strategy, circulating videos, organizing marches and protests, and cracking websites are not waiting for spontaneous. They are taking action.

Mr. Zogby knows it's all for naught and he's here to tell you why. "Those who assume that this movement is automatically transferable to other countries, there is no doubt that it is a transformative moment that has inspired many Arabs. But those who force parallels with the fall of the "Iron Curtain" are mistaken. There is no Soviet Empire or occupation army here." Automatically is another of those words activists have little use for. No one is saying it will happen automatically. And yes, there are many difference between the situation in Europe in 1989 and that in North Africa today. We could write volumes about what is different. That's not important. What is important is what is the same and what is the same is that Europe was entering a revolutionary period in 1989 and North Africa is now. It is a time when enormous, dramatic change is possible if we people struggle for it. This is the lesson that the Tunisian people are teaching us now. We can either "Seize the Time" in the words of Bobby Seale, or we can sit on our hands, watch and do nothing as the Huffington Post would have use do.

Here is a recap of my other DKos diaries on this subject:
Tunisia: A Single Tweet Can Start A Prairie Fire!
Anonymous plans Op Swift Assist in Tunisia
Arrested Pirate Party Member Becomes Tunisian Minister
Is Libya Next? Anonymous Debates New Operation
Tunis: This Photo was Taken 66 Minutes Ago
The WikiLeaks Revolution: Anonymous Strikes Tunisia
EMERGENCY: DKos Must Act Now to Protect Tunisian Bloggers!
Free Software & Internet Show Communism is Possible
BREAKING - Digital Sit-Ins: The Internet Strikes Back!
Cyber War Report: New Front Opens Against Internet Coup d'état
Operation PayBack: 1st Cyber War Begins over WikiLeaks
The Internet Takeover: Why Google is Next
BREAKING: Goodbye Internet Freedom as Wikileaks is Taken Down
BREAKING NEWS: Obama Admin Takes Control of Internet Domains!
Things Even Keith Olbermann Won't Cover - UPDATE: VICTORY!!!
Stop Internet Blacklist Bill Now!
Sweet Victory on Internet Censorship: Senate Backs Off!
Internet Engineers tell the Senate to Back Off!
Why is Net Neutrality advocate Free Press MIA?
Obama's Internet Coup d'état
Julian Assange on Threat to Internet Freedom

BREAKING: Algerian Protesters Clash w Police as Anon starts OpAlgeria

This is happening right now in Algeria.
These are the headlines:

Protesters clash with police in the capital city of Algier. 42 protesters and 7 policemen are injured

Hacker group Anonymous launches co-ordinated Operation Algeria and brings down government websites.

UPDATE Notice - this is a diary that will grow into the evening and night as I have a lot to cover with in this area. I want to take on the 'coverage' the HuffPost has given this and there is a lot of news about Tunisia and the rest of North Africa, but I just got some photos and other stuff about the Algeria situation and this is BREAKING NEWS so I am putting this out now and will add to it later.

also see yesterday's diary Tunisia: A Single Tweet Can Start A Prairie Fire! for background

first this report from France24 pretty much covers the current situation:

Algiers police crack down as opposition defies protest ban

Police broke up an opposition march calling for democracy in the Algerian capital on Saturday, with troops out in force and streets barricaded to prevent protests in the wake of a popular revolt that toppled the president in neighbouring Tunisia.

Algeria’s capital awoke to a virtual state of siege on Saturday, with a heavy police presence and many streets blocked in order to prevent protesters from reaching the May 1 Square, where opposition groups planned to stage a pro-democracy march.

The opposition Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) planned to defy a 19-year-old ban against marches in Algiers, despite warnings from the authorities and in the wake of a popular revolt that overthrew neighbouring Tunisia's long-time president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali only a week ago.

Here are some pictures taken by David Davidson in Algier and posted 22/01/11 @ 21:08
I found them through the Anonymous OpAlgeria board. You can see the whole collection on his Facebook page here. I copied some to my flickr account so that I could post them here.



In co-ordination with these protests on the ground the hacker group Anonymous has launched Operation Algeria. They have been supporting the struggle on the ground my transmitting and translating materials from the struggle. They have also been getting pictures and video out on the net - I'll have more later.

Through OpAlgeria Anonymous has launched DDOS attacks against 'Attaque DoS contre le site Internet du ministère de l'Intérieur algérien' and other government websites. [French seems to be the language of choice for OpAlgeria so I'm a little bit handicaped, having only gotten a C- in high school French 48 years ago.] Apparently they have already been sucessful at shutting down some Algerian websites and cracked one. They put there own "Message Presse Anonymous" on an Algerian government website.
But the government corrected that situation before I could post the link here. Check it latter anyway, it probably won't stay up long.

Anonymous also issued this video Press Release on Operation Algeria:

transcript:

FREE-THINKING CITIZENS OF THE WORLD,

The Algerian government imposes, upon its own citizens, intolerable restrictions on their basic liberties. The Algerian government wants to enforce a future where injustices remain unchallenged and where existing exploitation of one man by another remains unpunished. The Algerian government hides the truth from its citizens and denies them free expression and access to information. Let's call for an end to censorship. Now is the time for freedom and transparency, a time for people to express themselves freely and to be heard from anywhere across the world. How else than through well informed citizens can a society prosper and flourish?

The Algerian government hereby declares itself an enemy of Anonymous and the people. Anonymous hears the cries for freedom from the Algerian people, and has decided to step up. We cannot, and will not, remain silent while this injustice is being done. Anonymous will help them in this struggle against oppression. We believe the Algerian attempts at censorship and oppression are doomed to fail if each one of us takes up our individual responsibilities: For only we, the people, decide to make it so.

To the Algerian government: Restrictions on the freedom of speech and denial of information to your citizens are in direct violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and cannot be tolerated. Anonymous challenges all those who are involved in censorship. Not only will Anonymous take action, Anonymous will also make sure that the international media sees the horrid reality you impose upon your people. It is in the hands of the Algerian government to end this; continue your repression and you will be subject to civil protest - lend an ear to the claim of freedom from your people and the hostilities will cease.

To the Algerian people: We stand together and united against this oppression. This struggle is not just for you alone, but for the whole of mankind. Citizens are no longer quiet, and can no longer be simply peddled and choked into submission. When forced to by the threat of oppression, we can be loud as hell - and when the people roar, it will send shivers down the spines of all those who want to stifle our freedom and take our precious liberties away.

Anonymous is your brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters, your parents and your friends, regardless of age, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, or place of birth. Anonymous is you. You will not be denied your right to free speech, free press, free association and your universal right to freely access information, both in real life and through the internet.

Join us in this battle for freedom of information worldwide! For as Edmund Burke once said: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

We are Anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us

.

And according to this video released by Leakspinner, they have even taken Algerian TV off line.

Tunisia update:

As Tunisia entered the second of an official three day mourning period for those killed in the uprising, protests continued on the streets with an interesting twist. Today, policeman, who were shooting demonstrators a little over a week ago, joined the protests! Demonstrators are not satisfied with the PM's pledge to quit politics after elections. They are demanding the dissolution of the interim government. According to Al Jazeera:

Thousands of demonstrators, including police officers, lawyers and students, have taken to the streets of Tunisia's capital, Tunis, in another day of unrest in the North African country.

At least 2,000 police officers participated in Saturday's demonstrations, according to the Associated Press news agency. They were joined by members of the national guard and fire departments.

Crowds gathered in front of the office of Mohamed Ghannouchi, the interim prime minister, and on Avenue Habib Bourguiba, the main street of Tunis.

Elections are now expected within six months. On Friday Taoukif Ben Brik, a dissident Tunisian journalist who had been jailed for criticizing Ben Ali became the second person to announce his candidacy for president. Opposition leader Moncef Marzouki was the first.

Also on Friday Tunisia's main trade union, UGTT, announce that they were calling on the government to stand down. They called for a "collegial national salvation government to be set up, in accordance with the demands of the street and political parties". On Tuesday, they had withdrawn from the interim administration of PM Mohammed Ghannouchi.

Here is an interest story that just broke on the NYTimes about 30 minutes ago [6:07 pm pst] about how people are tracking the new government on Twitter:
TUNISIA INSIDER REVEALS DETAILS OF NEW GOVERNMENT ON TWITTER

Related Al Jazeera YouTube Videos:
Tunisia police join anti-government protests [2:18]
Tunisian protesters target ruling party [2:16]
Tunisia's ex-president's homes [1:49]
Also I heard today that members of Ben Ali's family showed up in Canada looking for asylum and were turned away.
Tunisians in France eye rare visit [2:12]
Gregory White on the Tunisian economy [5:35}
Tunisia's Islamists allowed to participate [2:57]
Listening Post - Why the revolution was not televised in the West l25:06]
This is very well informed as far as the role of the Internet goes.

Libya Update:

Because Libya has 5.9 million cell phone users but less than 400,000 Internet users, Anonymous OpLibya is adopting strategies that focus more on spreading information via SMS.

Anonymous produced this video to explain the housing crisis in Libya:


Indymedia has this on Libya:

There are reports from Libya that YouTube has been blocked, largely because the videos of protests are being uploaded there. One twitter comment has said "Citizens of Bani Walid in #Libya said they will continue to take the streets until their demands are met". (Videos: Three clips of protest in Libya in Beida, the third-largest city in Libya. Reports of unrest in Zuwara, Zawiya, Tajoorah, Bayda, and Benghazi.

The Guardian printed this Friday:

We Libyans are just as hungry for a just and accountable government as our Tunisian brothers and sisters. The lack of resilient institutions will make our task more difficult. However, a worried Gaddafi was the first Arab leader to give an address on television about the events in Tunisia. He obviously disapproves, but also hopes to quell the protests that have started in some Libyan towns and cities.

This article is from last Sunday and so a little dated but it still has important and rare information about what has been happening in Libya recently:

Protests in several cities in Libya continued for a third day over the late completion of government subsided housing.

Last night hundreds of people broke into vacant houses and took over about 800 vacant units in Bani Walid city (180 kilometres south east from the capital, Tripoli).

Several activists on social network sites reported that over 600 units in similar projects in Benghazi were taken over yesterday by protesters that have been waiting for years to move in to their homes.

This L.A Times article from Thursday is good on political instability in Libya's ruling circles: LIBYA: Political power struggle amid rumors of Kadafi family feud

Recent developments in Libya suggest the political power struggle between moderates and the country's conservative old guard is back in full swing -- a spat some speculators trace to a rift in the inner circle of leader Moammar Kadafi's family.

Muammar Gaddafi regrets Ben Ali's fall [surprise, surprise] according to this article in Al Jazeera:

Gaddafi said the Tunisian people were the "victims of lies" broadcast on the internet which had played a large part in Ben Ali's ouster, adding that Tunisia was suffering bloodshed and lawlessness because its people were in too much of a rush to get rid of their president.

Foreign Policy has this article:
The Next Tunisias - Five Arab states that are ripe for revolution.
They list Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Jordan.

More,later ...

Here is a recap of my other DKos diaries on this subject:
Tunisia: A Single Tweet Can Start A Prairie Fire!
Anonymous plans Op Swift Assist in Tunisia
Arrested Pirate Party Member Becomes Tunisian Minister
Is Libya Next? Anonymous Debates New Operation
Tunis: This Photo was Taken 66 Minutes Ago
The WikiLeaks Revolution: Anonymous Strikes Tunisia
EMERGENCY: DKos Must Act Now to Protect Tunisian Bloggers!
Free Software & Internet Show Communism is Possible
BREAKING - Digital Sit-Ins: The Internet Strikes Back!
Cyber War Report: New Front Opens Against Internet Coup d'état
Operation PayBack: 1st Cyber War Begins over WikiLeaks
The Internet Takeover: Why Google is Next
BREAKING: Goodbye Internet Freedom as Wikileaks is Taken Down
BREAKING NEWS: Obama Admin Takes Control of Internet Domains!
Things Even Keith Olbermann Won't Cover - UPDATE: VICTORY!!!
Stop Internet Blacklist Bill Now!
Sweet Victory on Internet Censorship: Senate Backs Off!
Internet Engineers tell the Senate to Back Off!
Why is Net Neutrality advocate Free Press MIA?
Obama's Internet Coup d'état
Julian Assange on Threat to Internet Freedom

Tunisia: A Single Tweet Can Start A Prairie Fire!

From the Nayan Chanda in Times of India today:

Analysing the prospect of revolution by China's oppressed peasants, Chairman Mao once wrote that a single spark can start a prairie fire. The recent internet-assisted uprising in Tunisia that led its long-time ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country may now make other autocratic Arab rulers wonder if it is the time of a single tweet that will start a prairie fire in their lands. At the Arab League meeting this week, its secretary general warned that the tinder was dry. "The Arab soul," he said, "is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession...The Arab citizen has entered a stage of anger that is unprecedented."

It continues:

The protests were preceded by a cyber war fought between the government censors and Tunisian and foreign hacktivists. As the government had total control of the media, the ingenious opponents fought back with proxy servers, virtual private networks and encryption. Images of violent suppression uploaded via thousands of YouTube clips, often relayed on Al Jazeera, were watched by angry citizens who coordinated protests with tens of thousands of Twitter messages an hour. The power of the internet was recognised by the emerging new power when a 33-year-old dissident blogger, Slim Amamou, was selected as the minister of youth and sports in the new interim government. Only days earlier, Amamou was handcuffed to a chair in the ministry of interior, subjected to psychological torture for a week.

The airing of the leaked US cables that detailed the revulsion of foreign governments for the country's venal rulers may have added to the situation's combustibility. The regime's opponents set up a site TuniLeaks.org to aggregate and translate WikiLeaks cables about the Ben Ali regime's corruption and human rights violations - the cables that the regime sought to block. One cable summing up the venality of Ali and his family was headlined 'What's Yours Is Mine'. The US ambassador wrote, "Whether it's cash, services, land, property, or yes, even your yacht, President Ben Ali's family is rumored to covet it and reportedly gets what it wants."

When the regime sought to blunt the media campaign by hacking into Facebook accounts and deleting critical material, international supporters of Tunisian bloggers mobilised. The 'Anonymous' retaliated by their 'Operation Tunisia' - a massive denial of service attack on Tunisian government sites. But the real spark came when Mohamed Bouazizi, a university graduate, set himself on fire in protest after police confiscated his unlicensed fruit and vegetable cart. Despite, or perhaps because of the brutal repression that killed nearly a hundred people, the protests swelled. In the end, when the army chief refused to shoot on civilians, the game was over for the fifth-term president.

BTW Tunisian Army leader, Gen. Rachid Ammar who ordered his troops not to fire on their own people and then resisted the temptation to seize power for himself, gets my personal 'person of the week' award.

Ben Ali fled to France but France slammed the door in his face. Wouldn't let him land. Ben Ali had every right to be surprised, the French government of Nicolas Sarkozy had backed him to the hilt till this last minute. As Middle East Online reported:

France's ties with Ben Ali's Tunisia went far beyond "non-interference". In 2008, rights groups criticised Sarkozy for praising the regime "for opening up the democratic space."

And last week, when rights groups were already reporting police had shot dead dozens of protesters, Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie suggested France could train the force to better maintain order.

A private French supplier's shipment of new equipment for the Tunisian police, including tear gas grenades of the type that killed a French journalist, was halted at Paris airport only hours before Ben Ali fled.

Now they were singing another tune. "Non-interference and support for freedom and democracy are at the heart of our foreign policy," President Nicolas Sarkozy said through a spokesman as they sent Ben Ali scurrying off to Saudi Arabia where he finally found refuge. This caused one Tunisian to Tweet

“What an irony that a guy who banned veils should end up with the Wahhabis.”

The international financial network maintained it's support for Ben Ali till the last minute also. According to the WSJ "Moody's Investor Service Inc. downgraded Tunisia's sovereign rating by one notch Wednesday and changed the country's outlook to negative from stable, citing political instability caused by the toppling of the previous government." This will make it harder and more expensive for the new government to borrow money.

"So what?" some will say. It is the job of Moody's to look out for investors not cuddle new governments. But that is exactly my point. Civil and social instability do make for a negative investment environment, so why didn't Moody's lower Tunisia's bond rating when blood was flowing in the streets and the stock exchange was being denied the Internet by hackers? Why do they lower it only now, after the thorn has been removed and the wound is starting to heal?

History is full of irony and unintended consequents so I hope Ben Ali has a sense of humor because he is certainly the victim of one of his own making. Ben Ali planned to make big money off of the Internet in Tunisia. He built the most advanced fiber optic grids in North Africa, and he created one of the most Internet savvy populations in the region. 35% of all Tunisians use the Internet and 15% are on Facebook.

One observer considered the effect of the Internet on the Jasmine Revolution as follows:

Let’s take the Internet out of the equation. Groups of Tunisian protesters would not have been able to organise themselves so quickly; images of unrest in other towns and cities across the country would not have been there to galvanise the ranks of rioters by showing them their compatriots were taking the fight to the authorities; Ben Ali would have found it easier to kill the unrest in its infancy as state television would have spoon-fed viewers the official line while international channels would not have been able to broadcast mobile phone footage they retrieved from the web. Word would have spread more slowly, buying Ben Ali precious time.

Tunisian hackers started playing a visible role in Tunisia's freedom struggle as early as 2004 when Astrubal remixed Apple's 1984 ad with Ben Ali as Big Brother. The video went viral in Tunisia. He also made use of Internet plane-spotting groups to track the president's plane around the world and then published a Google map showing all the unreported places the President's plane was visiting. That went viral too.



There can now be little doubt that the hackers played a critical role in the Jasmine Revolution but Bernard Henry-Levy of the Huffington Post has got it all wrong when he says:

The motor of this revolution was, obviously, not the proletariat. [his emphases] Nor was it the new or the long-standing poor. It was not even exclusively these famous middle class citizens with diplomas to spare, who felt betrayed by Ben Ali. No. It was the internauts, the web surfers, users of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and others. They are the men and women who, armed with a smartphone, covered the streets of Tunis to film the repression, the insurrection. They are the Anonymous,

And just who are these hackers when they are not on their home computers? They are workers, mostly in computer or Internet related jobs. And who is the middle class, when they are not shop keepers and small business people? They are well paid workers, often in a high tech industry. And who are the poor, when they finally do land a job? They are workers. The proletariat are not greasy little men with French accents, they are workers. This revolution is one that seems to led by the proletariat in Tunisia. It has been greatly facilitated by a high tech international working class movement including many Tunisian hackers who have chosen to remain Anonymous.

The conditions that led to this revolt are not unique to Tunisia. High unemployment and rising food prices affect everyone in the region. Throughout North Africa people are being motivated by what has happened in Tunisia and are on the move. There have been widespread protests in Egypt, Algeria, Libya and even Jordan where the Jerusalem Post noted:

BARELY REPORTED by the local media, last Friday’s demonstrations did, however, force the government to implement some new economic measures, such as the introduction of competition laws to prohibit overpricing and tougher punishments for offenders, the promise of stiffer consumer protection and even some tax reductions on fuel and items such as rice and sugar.

The Palestinian Authority security forces were successful in scuttling a rally in support of Tunisia on the West Bank, assaulting a young demonstrator for waving a Tunisian flag, but other regional police agencies have not fared as well. In the last 10 days, nine Egyptian protesters have either set themselves on fire or attempted to. On Tuesday, Obama called Mubarak to tell him every thing's alright. This week hackers have been getting out and getting up video of a growing protest movement in Libya, Muammar Qaddafi hopes his people will fear change, telling them “Tunisia now lives in fear, families could be raided and slaughtered in their bedrooms and the citizens in the street killed as if it was the Bolshevik or the American revolution.” I think it is Qaddafi that is now living in fear.

As Anonymous starts unofficial recruiting for OpLibya and starting discussions of a possible OpAlgeria, every dictator in the region is worrying that the dominoes will start to fall. Even the Economist has to ask, "Ali Baba gone, but what about the 40 thieves?" and wonders if "it is not too far-fetched to conjure a sweeping wave of change, much as in Europe in 1989."


North African Dominos?

Here is a recap of my other DKos diaries on this subject:
Tunisia: A Single Tweet Can Start A Prairie Fire!
Anonymous plans Op Swift Assist in Tunisia
Arrested Pirate Party Member Becomes Tunisian Minister
Is Libya Next? Anonymous Debates New Operation
Tunis: This Photo was Taken 66 Minutes Ago
The WikiLeaks Revolution: Anonymous Strikes Tunisia
EMERGENCY: DKos Must Act Now to Protect Tunisian Bloggers!
Free Software & Internet Show Communism is Possible
BREAKING - Digital Sit-Ins: The Internet Strikes Back!
Cyber War Report: New Front Opens Against Internet Coup d'état
Operation PayBack: 1st Cyber War Begins over WikiLeaks
The Internet Takeover: Why Google is Next
BREAKING: Goodbye Internet Freedom as Wikileaks is Taken Down
BREAKING NEWS: Obama Admin Takes Control of Internet Domains!
Things Even Keith Olbermann Won't Cover - UPDATE: VICTORY!!!
Stop Internet Blacklist Bill Now!
Sweet Victory on Internet Censorship: Senate Backs Off!
Internet Engineers tell the Senate to Back Off!
Why is Net Neutrality advocate Free Press MIA?
Obama's Internet Coup d'état
Julian Assange on Threat to Internet Freedom

Anonymous plans Op Swift Assist in Tunisia

As changes in the Tunisian government and changes on the ground in Tunisian continue at a rapid fire rate. The Tunisia cabinet has decided to recognized all political parties and free all political prisoners. The government said that 1,800 political prisoners have been freed this week. As the country recognizes three days of morning for the people killed in the revolt, demonstrators in front of the RCD headquarters continue to demand that the former ruling party be disbanded and today pulled down part of the party's sign on the building. Al Jazeera writes today about it's broader potential:

The Facebook generation has taken to the streets and the "Jasmin Revolt" has become a revolution, at least as of the time of writing. And the flight of former President Ben Ali to Saudi Arabia is inspiring people across the Arab world to take to the streets and warn their own sclerotic and autocratic leaders that they could soon face a similar fate.

As the French paper Le Monde described it, scenes that were "unimaginable only days ago" are now occurring with dizzying speed. Already, in Egypt, Egyptians celebrate and show solidarity over Tunisia's collapse, chanting "Kefaya" and "We are next, we are next, Ben Ali tell Mubarak he is next." Protests in Algeria and Jordan could easily expand thanks to the inspiration of the tens of thousands of Tunisians, young and old, working and middle class, who toppled one of the world's most entrenched dictators. Arab bloggers are hailing what has happened in Tunisia as "the African revolution commencing... the global anti-capitalist revolution."

Juan Cole has a good piece in his blog today that summarizes the major developments.

More is also coming out about the role of the hacker group Anonymous in this struggle. It seems that they have been much more involved than just shutting down Tunisian government websites and cheering from the sidelines. Over a third of Tunisian have Internet access and Anonymous has many Tunisian participates. Last Friday, when I blogged about the a guide to safe Internet practices [in English, French & Arabic] and a software fix that was downloaded over 2000 times.

Through it's Operation Tunisia, Anonymous has been establishing and circulating lists of proxies and anonymous services that kept the Internet open for Tunisian activists even while they were shutting it down for the government with DDOS attacks. Anonymous targeted 7 major sites in Tunisia, including the stock exchange and government sites. In the case of the Prime Minister's site, they replaced the home page with their own "Open Letter to the Tunisian Government".


They have also stepped in where the MSM has feared to tread. They are working hard to see that news of what is happening in Tunisia get out, hacker style. For example this "Anon Care Package" is just one of many such news and video collections to be found on thepiratebay.org. The description says:

This archive contains videos and pictures uploaded from Tunisia on January 11th which were circulated on the Internet, and posted to Anonymous IRC by people of Tunisia.

The media has had little coverage, underestimated death tolls... This will show you the truth.

There are graphic images and videos, including the dead bodies of Tunisians. Keep in mind the reason for the cell phone cam's is media is prohibited in the country.

There is several videos depicting police opening fire on civilians, and images and video of the military taking the side of the people and protecting them.

The situation is only getting worse, another torrent of today's content(jan 12) will be uploaded tomorrow.

Information is power! SEED FOR FREEDOM!

irc.anonops.ru:6667 #OpTunisia : We're fighting for citizens of the world, come talk to us, see what you can do to fight for whats right.

They have also been doing a lot of translating, putting subtitles on videos and getting the Tunisians story out to the world. They have also supported the Tunisia Relief Movement through this website [Officially endorsed by Red Crescent of Tunisia]. If you want make a large contribution directly to the Red Crescent of Tunisia click here. You can use your name or you can make an 'anonymous' donation. Now Anonymous is discussing a new operation to provide technical and economic relief to the people of Tunisia. They are calling this Operation Swift Assist.

This operation is intent on helping to ensure that the current period of chaos in Tunisia ends in victory for those who favor liberty and transparency.
Broadly, this is to be accomplished by providing Tunisians at home and abroad with the tools that we take for granted; we also hope to develop new techniques that can be used in those similar situations which will arise as various other technology-driven revolutions arise around the globe. Operation Swift Assist is an Anonymous effort with assistance from Project PM as well as a number of Tunisian nationals both in-country and elsewhere and a few Tunisian bloggers and outlets, with other partners to be added gradually.

The experiences created through this Operation may find usage in similar situations...

In memory of Sean Carasov.

Contact Info
U.S. Barrett Brown - barriticus@gmail.com
Germany Netzblockierer - Netzblockierer@privatedemail.net

Some observers don't really expect anything new to come our of the Tunisian revolt. According to heathlander, that is the view of George Joffe. In this diary yesterday he says "it is unlikely to truly displace the regime in the short-term" and Joffe is "skeptical about the possibility of the Tunisian uprising sparking a wave of popular revolt across the region." He does think the regime will really be overthrown "primarily because there is no other body in Tunisia that has the capacity to administer the country."


Joffe doesn't credit Anonymous or even the Internet with playing an important role but he doesn't understand how the protests spread so quickly. "How did they spread so quickly and so effectively? The puzzle stems from the fact Tunisia has no active civil society. It has human rights groups, but no tradition of political organization outside the formal sphere. According to Joffe the precise mechanisms by which the unrest spread remain unclear."

So I guess he doesn't know everything.

More, later.

Here is a recap of my other DKos diaries on this subject:
Is Libya Next? Anonymous Debates New Operation
Tunis: This Photo was Taken 66 Minutes Ago
The WikiLeaks Revolution: Anonymous Strikes Tunisia
EMERGENCY: DKos Must Act Now to Protect Tunisian Bloggers!
Free Software & Internet Show Communism is Possible
BREAKING - Digital Sit-Ins: The Internet Strikes Back!
Cyber War Report: New Front Opens Against Internet Coup d'état
Operation PayBack: 1st Cyber War Begins over WikiLeaks
The Internet Takeover: Why Google is Next
BREAKING: Goodbye Internet Freedom as Wikileaks is Taken Down
BREAKING NEWS: Obama Admin Takes Control of Internet Domains!
Things Even Keith Olbermann Won't Cover - UPDATE: VICTORY!!!
Stop Internet Blacklist Bill Now!
Sweet Victory on Internet Censorship: Senate Backs Off!
Internet Engineers tell the Senate to Back Off!
Why is Net Neutrality advocate Free Press MIA?
Obama's Internet Coup d'état
Julian Assange on Threat to Internet Freedom