This is a guest column I wrote for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, published on February 5th, 2011. Read it at their website here.
I am a Rochesterian currently living in Tunis, Tunisia. I want to express the feelings of hope, as well as worry, that exist among the Tunisian people after their recent Jasmine Revolution led to the peaceful departure of their authoritarian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and hopefully the end of the corruption his regime fostered.
For most of the time I have lived here, Tunisia has been a stable, seemingly prosperous state, with the president and his family dominating both government and commerce. The ex-president ruled for 23 years, and his family demanded ownership stakes in many successful companies. But tourism was booming, agriculture and phosphates provided export goods, and a highly educated population attracted foreign investment from the U.S. and Europe. People were unhappy about the corruption and the lack of freedom of speech, but few would even dare to speak out in a private setting due to fears of the secret police.
On Dec. 17, a young, unemployed Tunisian university graduate, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire after police confiscated the vegetables he was trying to sell on the street in an attempt to earn a living. His death caused widespread protests that eventually spread to the capital, where thousands of people of all social classes took to the streets. They demanded democracy, an end to corruption and their freedom of speech.
Bouazizi may have committed his act of self-immolation out of frustration, but he could not have realized how much his feelings embodied those of a whole generation of unemployed and underemployed university graduates in Tunisia.
People are hopeful now because they are in the first Arab country to peacefully cause a dictator to resign, and now they are on the path toward elections in six months or less. However, people remain worried because there is not a tradition of democracy here. Also, there are economic concerns as foreign tourists are staying away due to the political instability, and for the same reason many foreign investors are staying on the sidelines.
I am optimistic that the country will move smoothly toward elections. My hope is that this democracy can flourish as an example to other countries in the region.
I am a Rochesterian currently living in Tunis, Tunisia. I want to express the feelings of hope, as well as worry, that exist among the Tunisian people after their recent Jasmine Revolution led to the peaceful departure of their authoritarian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and hopefully the end of the corruption his regime fostered.
For most of the time I have lived here, Tunisia has been a stable, seemingly prosperous state, with the president and his family dominating both government and commerce. The ex-president ruled for 23 years, and his family demanded ownership stakes in many successful companies. But tourism was booming, agriculture and phosphates provided export goods, and a highly educated population attracted foreign investment from the U.S. and Europe. People were unhappy about the corruption and the lack of freedom of speech, but few would even dare to speak out in a private setting due to fears of the secret police.
On Dec. 17, a young, unemployed Tunisian university graduate, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire after police confiscated the vegetables he was trying to sell on the street in an attempt to earn a living. His death caused widespread protests that eventually spread to the capital, where thousands of people of all social classes took to the streets. They demanded democracy, an end to corruption and their freedom of speech.
Bouazizi may have committed his act of self-immolation out of frustration, but he could not have realized how much his feelings embodied those of a whole generation of unemployed and underemployed university graduates in Tunisia.
People are hopeful now because they are in the first Arab country to peacefully cause a dictator to resign, and now they are on the path toward elections in six months or less. However, people remain worried because there is not a tradition of democracy here. Also, there are economic concerns as foreign tourists are staying away due to the political instability, and for the same reason many foreign investors are staying on the sidelines.
I am optimistic that the country will move smoothly toward elections. My hope is that this democracy can flourish as an example to other countries in the region.
