Libya Free From Qaddafi?

According to breaking news on CNN.com, Libya is now under rebel control.

They've arrested a couple of his sons.

Obama made an official announcement on Sunday signalling his belief that Qaddafi was truly done as ruler.

All signs point to him being done.

I have to admit this makes me really happy. I first posted about the revolution in Libya on March 31st. It kicked off on February 15th.

Finally, after much fighting, it seems to have reached a tipping point. I feared it would never end. Libya is no Egypt and there was no way this was going to end as smoothly. But now, hope has returned.

So now, I wait and I watch. I look forward to the day when Libya is building a new future for themselves that doesn't involve anyone with the last name Qaddafi.

Seriously, Murdoch? What The Hell?!

First off, shout out to Amazon & Kindle for being awesome! I pay for a monthly subscription to the New York Times newspaper and get it delivered on my Kindle.

When The New York Times started charging people to read their website, Kindle worked with them to get access for their subscribers. So now I can link to articles and you can read them too! It's so great. And now I'm done gushing and back to ranting.

If you haven't read about the scandal in Europe right now, pay more attention to the news. Read this article, and then read all the related articles it links to.

And shame on you for not being on top of this craziness.

So here's my beef: what is Murdoch's issue? After this thing keeps ballooning bigger and bigger, his response is still infuriating.

I feel like had he just distanced himself from the people and organizations involved, he might have emerged a bit better. A good old fashioned under-the-bus-throwing was very apropos is this situation.

But this keeps getting bigger and bigger. I think he thinks he's too big to fail. I think he thinks he's Al Pacino in Ocean's Thirteen.



Look at 1:25, 1:55, 2:45, but especially 2:52 to see what I mean. And with people like Tom Perkins having his back, Murdoch of course believes he'll be okay, no matter how long the earthquake shakes his giant twisted building.

I will be following this story to see what happens when he goes before the committee in Parliament that should be going on right about now.

Light Fare: Dakota Fanning's Possible New Haircut

I'm irritated with myself that I even care about this. But what can I say, I have a soft spot in my heart for child actors all grown up. Especially when they are finding their way into having careers as adults.

Okay, so maybe the movie Dakota is shooting right now is set in London and she's playing a 17 year old, but that counts, right?

Moving on. Here's the photo.


Read the Yahoo article about it

I swear, I come across more things on Yahoo.com that I read that I would never have known without that homepage. This is not a good thing. They suck me in with their oh-so-NOT-important entertainment news.

Since I have to look at this, so do you. What do you think of the hair? It's not the most flattering picture. So I don't know if I like it. She looks like she has a pixie face with longer hair, but then her face suddenly looks overly round with pixie hair.

An unintended side effect of this story is now I care about seeing this movie. Sigh.

I do love Dakota Fanning's acting though. I guess I should just accept it. I wonder how that wise-beyond-her-years thing will play with her portraying a 17 year old. I guess world-weary will work for a cancer patient.

Attack in Kabul Afghanistan, What's The Motivation?

Read the CNN article that explains the gist of this story if you haven't heard about it.

I just don't get it. I get that the Taliban felt like this was the perfect target for their attack. This hotel has lots of international guests staying there all the time. Also, it was where a news conference was scheduled to discuss the transition to Afghanistan's security forces taking over control of their own country. I get that.

But what I don't get is the timing and why. Why didn't they wait until the news conference was actually going on? I guess I just wish they had because I know security would have been more plentiful and their chances of success greatly reduced. Sigh,

But also, there are many other things going on around Afghanistan dealing with this transfer of security forces. Why now? Why this hotel?

I can't help but feel very sad for the loss of life. Both the innocents in the hotel and and the misguided Taliban members who think this barbaric response to things they don't like is the answer.

It's very sad. And it's very frustrating. And what exactly is the change they would like to see happen in the way things are run that would make them stop suicide bombing every damn thing?

Seriously, what do they want? I get the vague demands for the stopping of oppression. But I've yet to suss out what specifically could be changed that would actually be enough for them to lay down their arms.

Does anyone believe there's anything Obama or Karzai could do to make them not want to blow up themselves and dozens of others?

And if there is, after all the fighting is done, how will we peacefully co-exist? I just don't know, I just don't know.

Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series: Mauritania

The protests in Mauritania kicked off on February 25, 2011.
See the whole Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series.
Mauritania is honestly a country I've never heard of before I began researching these protests. I couldn't have told you what continent it was on, what language they probably spoke. I couldn't have even guess what drives their economy or if their women have anything close to equal rights. But I'm glad to finally learn more about the world around me and look further than just what I get from cnn.com.

Basic History
Mauritania's official name is the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Geographically, is it located north western Africa. Important bordering countries include: Algeria. The capital is Nouakchott. The population is estimated at 3.3 million people. The language is Arabic.

Mauritania's most recent leader is President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. This president has an interesting presidential history. He was part of the leaders of two coups in Mauritania. In 2005, he helped depose President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, and in 2008, he helped depose President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. He was President of the transitional government and stepped down from that post to run for President in 2009 election. President Aziz appointed the Prime Minister after the 2008 coup and he has served at the president's discretion since then. The Prime Minister is Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf.

In terms of  independence, Mauritania gained its independence from France in 1960. I haven't seen a lot of information about their independence process. There's more available about the failure of the first President. They have always held elections in Mauritania since they were an independent country, but the incumbent has no problem winning and thus far in history, the leaders has only changed through a military coup.

Mauritania deals with strong opposition within the country and around Africa. Within the country, the opposition party raise trouble for the president. Around Africa, he faced sanctions for his involvement in the coup and wasn't immediately recognized as the country's president. I'm sure this has affected the country's stability for the last two years.


The Protests
The main causes cited as the reasons for the protests include: policies of the president.

The protests started on February 25th in the capital city of Nouakchott. The people gathered in the hundreds. It was reported that the people gathered because they heard about the gathering on Facebook. This first protest was against the ruling policies of President Aziz. This came more than a month after the self-immolation of a man near the Presidential Palace.

There is an senatorial election scheduled for April 24. The Democratic Opposition Coordination (DOC) is a group of eight political parties and they are the ones who filed the formal request. The request comes because of the state of the country right now. They feel that there's no way the elections can be free and fair in this environment.

There really isn't a ton of information about Mauritania that I'm able to find. Most of their mentions come in relation to Libya and Qaddafi. Nouakchott is where the African Union (AU) met recently to discuss the situation of the uprisings. They reached a different conclusion than the Arab League. The Arab League supported and requested intervention in Libya from the United Nations. The AU did no such thing. They have supported Qaddafi as far as to allow plans to leave their countries headed towards his that have mercenaries. And they have openly condemned the enforcement of the no-fly zone and cease fire for Libya, directing their criticism to America and Obama, the UK, and the UN.

I will keep looking for information and if I get more about Mauritania specifically, I'll blog about it.

More information can be found at wikipedia.org, cnn.com, and africa-times-news.com.

Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series: Libya

The protests in Libya kicked off on February 15, 2011.
See the whole Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series.
I'm really glad I didn't get to Libya on the 16th like I planned. There has been so much in recent developments there that I'm glad it will be a part of the main post on the history of Libya's revolution. This country was one of the ones that early on America and the rest of the world had crappy reactions to. But They've improved and now it seems that the world is behind the correct people in this country's fight for its future.


Basic History
Libya's official name is Libya. Geographically, it is located in northern Africa. Important bordering countries include: Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia. The capital is Tripoli. The population is estimated at 6.4 million people. The official language is Arabic.

Libya's most recent leader is Colonel Mu'ammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (known as Muammar Qaddafi, which is how he'll be referred to in this post). He came to power in 1969 in a coup against the Libyan Kingdom. He's been in charge since. He doesn't even have a title of president or king or sultan. Just Coloenl. Most of the rest of the planet now recognizes the opposition rebels as the government of Libya making the current recognized leader the National Transitional Council. It was declared to be the voice of the Libyan revolution, making the changes necessary to bring the country to its new form of democracy and freedom. They are now referring to Libya as the Libyan Republic. This may become the country's official name. The chair of the National Transitional Council (aka the National Libyan Council) is Mustafa Abdul Jalil. The council is acting as an interim administrative body until Qaddafi is no longer a problem and proper elections can be held in the country.

In terms of  independence, Libya gained its independence from Italy in 1947, from the UK and France in 1951, from its kingdomhood in 1969, and from Qaddafi in 2011 (theoretically). I would go into detail about it, but you can look it up if you really care. I want to move on to the important stuff: the revolution!


The Protests
The main causes cited as the reasons for the protests include: lack of basic human rights, high unemployment, governmental favoritism, corruption, economic disparities, lack of freedom of press and speech, .

The protest actually began in January by families of detainees who were killed by Qaddafi in 1996. The government responded by blocking Internet access to videos that it deemed likely to foment unrest. Quaddafi also warned citizens, opposition leaders, and journalists against doing anything that could create conflict in Libya.

By February 15th, which is seen as the official start of the protests, people were coming out in larger numbers (in the hundreds) and for many more reasons than dead family members, but especially in direct protest of the regime. The police responded violently, setting the stage for what was to be one of the most violent protests in the modern uprisings across Africa and the Middle East. Through social media, the protests were quickly organized and grew in strength. February 17th marked the "Day of Revolt" for Libya.

Throughout February, things have arisen for the first time that represent a new ideal in Libya: free speech, and an army not under Qaddafi's rule. There are radio stations and a newspaper run by the opposition that are not being censored by Qaddafi's government. The army has been formed from men coming to join the fight as well as military units who have joined the rebellion. Their goal is to protect the opposition strongholds and to liberate Tripoli from Qaddadi.

Also in February, on the 27th, the "face of the opposition" was created. Their goal is to coordinate resistance efforts around the country. They are seen as a interim government, but are more concerned with the military coordination required to take away all of Qaddafi's power. They are also working to put in place the plans for a new constitution and a democratic election in the coming months.

By the end of February, it was clear that the opposition stronghold was Benghazi, and the pro-Qaddafi stronghold was Tripoli. People in the opposition of Libya as well as other countries around the world began to call for interference of outside countries to help with the cause in Libya.

Qaddafi began discussing genocide-like tactics to attack his own people in an attempt to hold onto power. He claimed he would die a martyr rather than flee his responsibilities as leader of the country. He also called in paramilitary forces to help battle the rebels. They came from Chad, Niger, and other nearby countries to fire live ammunition and bomb his people. He blamed all of this on the "radical Islamists" who he said were trying to take over his country and take if from the real Libyans.

As February came to a close, the death toll was rising as residents of Tripoli resumed protests in the face of the assault of the government. The formation of the Transitional Council and their call for foreign help gave the other countries interested in helping a chance to form a plan that would help the Libyans decide their own fate.

The rest of the world wanted to stop Qaddafi's slaughter of civilians in his country, but they didn't want to interfere in the country's revolution. They had done a good job of not getting involved in the protests and revolutions going on in other countries. Most agreed that keeping the uprisings homegrown and without foreign military involvement would legitimize the fight and make it likelier to succeed with democracy and freedom because they people involved saw it as a fight they had won for themselves by themselves. This concept worked in most countries, but it wouldn't work for Libya with the death toll rising. No one wanted a repeat of Rwanda from the 1990s.

While the United Nations and leaders from countries around the world were considering their options, a full fledged civil war was breaking out in Libya. The opposition, now organized under one umbrella and better able to coordinate attacks and weapons, fought to expand the territory under their control. Qaddafi's forces did the same. There were battles for Marsa Brega, Ghadames, Ajdabiya, Zawayia, Tripoli, and other cities. Overall, the rebels seemed to be doing a good job of holding onto their strongholds and increasing the areas under the Libyan Transitional Council umbrella.

After requests from Hugo Chavez to engage in talks with Qaddafi, the Libyan opposition solidified their stance that the only option was for him to leave. They expressed that there would be no talks with Qaddafi or negotiations with his government.

After this, Qaddafi stepped up his assault on the rebels. Airstrikes, tanks rolling in, snipers, and machine guns were used in an effort to topple the opposition in Zawiya. This continued for days into March. March 9th is seen as the day that some European and American countries began to recognize the National Council as the government of Libya.

March 12th marked a true turning point in the response of other countries to what was happening in Libya. The Arab League met and didn't allow representatives from Qaddafi's government to attend the meeting. They changed their stance and began calling for the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya. The most brutal of Qaddafi's attacks on the rebels were from the air, so this was called for to reduce the large number of civilian casualties. The Arab League encouraged the United Nations to support this proposal and begin to act to enforce it.

From March 13th on, there were lots of reports of progress on both sides. pro-Qaddafi forces reported taking cities and repressing rebels. The opposition movement reported repelling those attacks. Also during this time, there were several notable defections of pro-Qaddafi forces and also from more established figured within the Libyan army.

On the 17th of March, the US let the Libya Transitional Council setup an office in Washington, DC, further solidifying their support of the opposition government as the true internationally recognized government of the Libyan Republic. Also that day, the UN adopted a resolution to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. They spent the next couple of days coordinating how exactly that plan would be carried out.

Qaddafi announced a cease-fire on March 18th, but reports quickly came out saying that the same forces attributed to him in attacks before were still attacking. There were interesting developments throughout the day, such as Qaddafi's government accusing the rebels of breaking the cease fire. Also, they claimed that an interior minister who had defected to the opposition was back on Qaddafi's side. The reports about the rebels were not of them attacking Qaddafi forces. And the defected minister was still on the opposition's side.

At 4 pm Libyan time, French fighter jets entered Libyan airspace in the first attempt by the UN to impose a no-fly zone cease fire. [Side Note: I personally was pleasantly surprised to see the French going first. The French? I knew Sarkozy was a thug at heart] The rest of the United Nations coordinated how the rest of the attacks would go between the French, the British, the Americans, and the other countries from the Arab League.

The UN resolution calls for a stop of clashes between the rebels and pro-Qaddafi forces. It also calls for the pro-Qaddafi forces to stop interfering with allowing aid and help to civilians in the country who are cut off from important resources because of the fighting. Obama also specifically requested that the United States not take the lead of the military intervention in Libya. With our country already in two wars, someone else needed to be the leaders of this coordinated fight.

Since the airstrikes have begun by UN forces to enforce the cease fire, there have been a number of casualties, both armed forces and civilians. The pro-Qaddafi forces are still trying to advance in rebel-held cities and the casualties are mounting. The airstrikes have been effective to a point of destroying tanks and armored troop carriers.

This is definitely still an ongoing conflict, but the world in on the Libyan Council's side and I hope it will only be a matter of time before Qaddafi had no choice but to end the violence and let his his country rebuild itself without him at the helm.
More information can be found at wikipedia.org, aljazeera.net, and http://www.guardian.co.uk/.

Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series: Iraq

The protests in Iraq kicked off on February 12, 2011.
See the whole Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series.
Iraq is a country that has become really ingrained in American journalism. Even when the story isn't about Iraq, our recent history with Iraq is referenced as well. Our intervention in the country after 9/11 prompted the exact violence and civil war that people warn may happen in other countries as a result of these protests. But finally Iraqis seems to take their own future into their hands and began having their own homegrown protests. I've been looking forward to covering this country's protests because they aren't being orchestrated by Americans.


Basic History
Iraq's official name is the Republic of Iraq. Geographically, it is located in western Asia, and is considered a Middle East country. Important bordering countries include: Jordan, Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia. The capital is Baghdad. The population is estimated at 31.2 million people.. The official languages are Arabic and Kurdish.

Iraq's most recent leader is President Jalal Talabani. He's been in power since he was elected in December 2005. The government is setup as a federal parliamentary republic. They have a President and Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is Nouri al-Maliki. The Prime Minister is selected by the Presidency Council and then he chooses the rest of the members of the Council of Ministers. The Presidency Council includes the President and two members of the National Assembly of Iraq. The National Assembly of Iraq was chosen by election in 2005. Their current constitution has been in place since October 2005. Elections in Iraq have mostly come down along ethnic lines, splitting the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds.

In terms of  independence, Iraq has had several types of independence. The first was from the Ottoman Empire in 1919. The British invaded during World War I and Iraq was then under control of the United Kingdom until 1932. That year, they worked out a deal with the British so the British could maintain military bases in the country, but Iraq became a kingdom with Kings, passing down rule mainly from father to son. This lasted until 1958, when Iraq became a republic through a coup d'etat. By 1979, the country was under the rule of Saddam Hussein. He was in power until the American invasion in 2003. As I said in the previous paragraph, the current form of the Iraqi government was setup in 2005.


The Protests
The main causes cited as the reasons for the protests include: unemployment, government corruption, and access to public services.

Iraq's leadership suspected that the unrest in the Middle East and Africa might spread to their country. In an effort to avoid the protests, the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki announced that he would not run for re-election in 2014. The protests still happened, beginning February 12th in urban areas around Iraq, including the capital city of Baghdad.

As February wore on, there were protests across Iraq, mostly against local provincial governors, demanding their ouster. The government responded harshly and a number of protesters were injured and/or killed. The protesters were mostly upset about the lack of electricity and water. This makes sense as a legitimate concern because before the American invasion, electricity was free and widely available all throughout Iraq.

February 23rd was a big day because of a handful of top Iraqi military officials resigning and joining the protest movement. They made their resignations public and encouraged people to come out and join the protest scheduled for February 25th. That day came and the protests were all over Iraq. The protesters forced the resignation of several local officials. Also, some of them organized a prison break. The protests had the most violent clashes in the northern part of Iraq.

After the protest, hundreds were arrested. The protests seem to have diminished since then because of the deaths from the 25th. The unrest is still continuing, but no major changes have been made at the top. The Prime Minister has said that any ministers who are not fulfilling their duties will be removed and it has been proposed that provincial elections be brought forward by two years.

I don't know what will happen next for this country, but I hope they get settled down in a way that gives the citizens the things they demand. Giving them water and electricity shouldn't be something they have to protests by the thousands to accomplish.
More information can be found at reuters.com, http://www.youtube.com/, and wikipedia.org.

Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series: Syria

The protests in Syria kicked off January 26, 2011.
See the whole Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series.
 Syria is a country I've been looking forward to covering. From what I've heard about the Syrian protests, this country has a unique story to tell and a particularly strong base of angry protesters who aren't likely to go away until their demands are met. I'm hoping they have the intestinal fortitude to see their fight through to the end.

Basic History
Syria's official name is the Syrian Arab Republic. Geographically, it is located in western Asia, and it is considered a Middle East country. Important bordering countries include: Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel. The capital is Damascus. The population is estimated at 22.5 millions people. The language is Arabic.

Syria's most recent leader is President Bashar al-Assad. He has been in power since 2000. Syria is under one party rule under its President. It also has two Vice Presidents, a Prime Minister, and a Council of Ministers. The president is approved by referendum for a 7 year term. Of course, the leader of the Ba'ath Party is always the one chosen for President. The Prime Minister is Muhammad Naji al-Otari. He has been in office since 2003. I can't seem to find the information about how the Prime Minister of Syria is chosen, so if you know, let me know and I'll edit this post.

The country has been under Emergency Law since 1963 when the Ba'ath Party came to power. The president appoints ministers, declares war and states of emergency, issues laws, amends the constitution, and appoints civil servants and military personnel subject to the law. Decrees issued by the president must be approved by the People's Council to become law, except during a state of emergency (which has been in force since before the ratification of the constitution).

In terms of  independence, Syria got free of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 and from the French in 1946. After the First World War, the area that included Syria came under French control in 1918 through the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916. For decades, there were various battles and fights for independence, with the French winning most of the fights and suppressing the uprisings against them. Then, in 1936, there was Treaty of Independence for Syria and France, but it was never ratified by the French legislature.Syria proclaimed its independence in 1941, but it wasn't recognized until 1944. Amid pressure from the Syrians and British, the French troops finally withdrew in 1946. Since 1970, Syria has been under the majority rule of the Ba'ath Party.


The Protests
The main causes cited as the reasons for the protests include: poor human rights, lack of freedom, the permanent state of emergency.

On January 26th, Hasan Ali Akleh from Al-Hasakah, set himself on fire in protest against the government. This was the first self-immolation done in protest, and is seen as the genesis of the Syrian protests. Ironically, five days later, an interview with President al-Assad published in the Wall Street journal in which he referred to his country as immune from the kinds of mass protests taking place in Egypt.

As February began, Human Rights Watch, which has been doing a good job of keeping track of the true facts of the protests and the casualties, as well as civil rights violations, reported violence against people in the capital city of Damascus. They were holding a candle light vigil for for the Egyptian demonstrators. They were attacked by people in civilian clothing.

In early February, protests were scheduled for February 4th and 5th, outside the Syrian parliament in Damascus and for the Syrian embassies around the world. These were organized and highly publicized on Facebook and Twitter. The only protests were a few hundred people gathered in al-Hasakah. The protest was quickly squashed by Syrian authorities.

After the failure of attempts to a "day of rage," Al Jazeera called the country "a kingdom of silence" and identified key factors for stability within Syria as being strict security measures, the popularity of President Bashar al-Assad, and fears of potential sectarian violence in the aftermath of a government ouster (akin to neighbouring Iraq).

In middle to late February, spontaneous protests arose, but were quickly dispersed. Videos of the protests and their causes were uploaded onto YouTube. There were also protests outside the Libyan embassy in Damascus against Qaddifi. When security forces showed up, the protesters began chanting, "traitors are those that beat their people." The security forces did disperse the protest, but there was less violence.

March saw lots of interesting and unique protests happening. A number of young boys, all under the age of 15, were arrested for tagging walls with "the people want to overthrow the regime." Political prisoners started a hunger strike to protest "political detentions and oppression". The government responded by releasing people imprisoned for political crimes before March 8, 2011. And President al-Assad seeked a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council on March 9, 2011.

The Syrian leadership has been accused of sending troops to Libya to help Qaddafi slaughter his people. Also, they have celebrated Mubarak's fall in Egypt simply in the hope that the new government will not be so friendly to Israel. Also, they have encouraged the disappearance of activists in Lebanon.

There has been a new call for mass protests on March 15th. This situation is still unresolved and there's no telling how it will turn out since al-Assad seems to have no problem with arresting and torturing his people.

More information can be found at wikipedia.org, http://www.aolnews.com/, and http://www.alarabiya.n/.

Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series: Gabon

The protests in Gabon kicked off on January 26, 2011.
See the whole Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series.
Gabon is a country I hadn't really heard in the list of countries having popular protests during this time. The name arose, along with Cameroon, while I was researching protests in other African countries. I was actually very surprised that the protests started in January. To say the least, this country hasn't made front page news. But today is the day to learn about them.
Basic History
Gabon's official name is in French, République Gabonaise. This is Gabonese Republic in English. Geographically, it is located in West Central Africa. Important bordering countries include: Cameroon. The capital is Libreville. The population is estimated at 1.5 million people. The language is French, but there are also at least two local vernacular languages.

Gabon's most recent leader is President Ali Bongo Ondimba. Gabon is a republic with universal suffrage and a presidential form of government under the constitution. The president is elected for a 7-year term. A 2003 constitutional amendment removed presidential term limits and facilitated a presidency for life. The president can appoint and dismiss the prime minister, the cabinet, and judges of the independent Supreme Court. The president is the head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government. The Prime Minister is Paul Biyoghé Mba.

In terms of  independence, Gabon elected its first president in 1961. Before that it had been one of four territories of French Equatorial Africa. The French were instrumental in Gabonese elections and even to this day have troops in Gabon not far from the capital, but the government is run by nationalists.


The Protests
The main causes cited as the reasons for the protests include: dissatisfaction with the ruling party's constitutional changes, discontent over the results of the 2009 presidential elections.

On January 25th, Andre Mba Obame declared himself to be president of Gabon. He claimed this based on a documentary that said the results of the 2009 election showed Obame with 42% of the vote while President Ali Bongo received only 37%.  The documentary said the results that were published inverted these results. Also, President Ali Bongo changed the constitution so that term limits could be extended indefinitely in case of emergency.

This led to protests and clashes between the official and unofficial governments of Gabon that started on January 26th, with the formation of the unofficial government that included  his 'Prime Minister' Raphaël Bandega-Lendoye. Protests were organized and the government worked to get into place army units to suppress the protests.

The official government has mainly responded to the unofficial government with total denial. Pretending something doesn't exist is a tactic bound to fail. Throughout late January and early February, there were many protests and cases of civil unrest. It went largely unreported nationally because of the news in Egypt.

The unofficial government hid out in the local United Nations Development Programme office, while President Bongo shut down TV stations and allegedly kidnapped members of the opposition. After the initial protests, which mainly consisted of oppositionists loyal to Obame, the protests grew to a wider social conflict, with many students joining in the protest.

Something that is quite unbelievable is how difficult it is to find anything on Gabon later than mid-February. I guess there aren't enough journalists to go around to cover this story as well. But I finally found some information updated in the last couple of days. Obame and his cohorts had finally left the UNDP in the capital city of Libreville, Gabon on February 27th after negotiations with Bongo through the UN.

Some of the members of the unofficial government have already been summoned by Gabonese intelligence services for questioning. There have been public remarks about the people in the unofficial government being brought to "justice."

Some people in the country remain convinced that a revolution is on the way. There have also been accusations toward the French for supporting dictators. Dictator may (or may not) be a strong word for an elected president, but it stand nonetheless that Gabon's current president, Ali Bongo is being accused of misappropriating funds from before he was elected President.

As of now, there have been no resolutions to any of the problems causing the protests. I'm hoping there will be more coverage of these protests sooner rather than later.

More information can be found at english.aljazeera.net, reuters.com, globalvoicesonline.org.

Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series: Egypt

The protests in Egypt kicked off on January 25, 2011.
See the whole Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series.
Egypt has received a lot of American press about it's protests. Also, it's protests have had the strongest result of the protests. Egypt's protests have actually resulted in revolution making it, along with Tunisia, one of only two countries so far to have achieved its major goals.

Basic History
Egypt's official name is the Arab Republic of Egypt. Geographically, it is located mainly in north Africa, but it has a Sinai Peninsula that connects it with southwest Asia. Important bordering countries include: Libya and Israel. The capital is Cairo. The population is estimated at 79.1 millions people. The language is Arabic.

Egypt's most recent leader (before the revolution) was President Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak (surname Mubarak). He assume the presidency in 1981 after the assassination of Mohammed Anwar el-Sadat.  Egypt's government is run by a committee of military leaders (called a military junta), and for a long time, there was no Vice President of Egypt. By convention, the president controls foreign-affairs and defense-related issues of the state, while the prime minister manages the day-to-day affairs including the economy. The Prime Minister was Ahmed Nazif. The current Prime Minister is Essam Sharaf.

In terms of  independence, Egypt had a relatively long road from its first nationalist groupings in 1879 to the UK acknowledging the country's independence in 1922. At first, Egypt was run by a popular Prime Minister, Saad Zaghlul. But that only lasted until the 1950s, when the country elected a president. When he died in 1970, Anwar Sadat succeeded him. When he was assassinated in 1981, his Vice President, Hosni Mubarak, succeeded him. Mubarak chose not to pick at Vice President.

Egypt has been under Emergency Law since 1967, which allowed for extra security forces, a constant police presence, and unchecked power of the security forces to enforce laws of the leader.


The Protests
The main causes cited as the reasons for the protests include: police brutality, state of emergency laws, food price inflation, low minimum wages, and lack of free speech.

Egypt's history of protests against Mubarak goes back to 2003 with the formation of the Egyptian Movement for Change, which opposed Mubarak and wanted democratic reforms and changes to civil liberties. It peaked in 2005 with the presidential elections. There was unrest within the group because of internal dissent and frustration with its inability to affect real change. But the support for the group came from across the political spectrum, which probably went a long way in letting the Egyptian people know they could find common ground if they had a common enemy: Hosni Mubarak.

The protests in 2011 kicked off on January 25, 2011. Egypt's protests stood out as mainly peaceful, gaining it's strength from instances of civil disobedience in the form of ignoring curfews, bans on protesting, and common norms of separating people of different genders and economic classes. The only time the protests turned violent is when the anti-Mubarak protesters had to defend themselves against pro-Mubarak thugs who were overwhelmingly violent against Egyptian citizens and foreign journalists, aid workers, and human rights workers.

After what happened in Tunisia, there were several attempts at self-immolation in Egypt in front of the Egyptian Parliament. Even though Egypt was seen as full of people with little aspirations and little hope for toppling a government with the backing of a powerful military, these events convinced people that Egypt would be the next place to have an uprising.

On January 25th, which is National Police Day, the first major protests began. They were mostly led by young organizers. The most recognized opposition leaders, as well as international allies, were at first supportive of the current regime as it stood so far as to encourage reforms to take place within the current system of government. Some opposition groups did support the initial protest and were behind it 100%. The government's security forces made plans to deal with the protests strictly because they were illegal and expressly forbidden.

Thousands gathered in Cairo and all over the country to protest Hosni Mubarak. The protests were mostly peaceful, but there were still civilian and police casualties. On the following Friday, January 29th, there was a Day of Rage. This was the first of many that would occur throughout the Middle East. Protesters gathered together after their Friday prayers.

After four days of protests, Hosni Mubarak appeared on television and pledged to form a new government. I'm guess the increasing military and police presence probably convinced the protesters that he didn't really mean it. Also at this time, he appointed Omar Suleiman to fill the long-vacant position of Vice President. And he changed his Prime Minister to Ahmed Shafik from Ahmed Nazif.

The protesters spent the night out in the street in Tahrir Square in Cairo together, some vowing not to go home until Mubarak was no longer in charge. Also at this time, the first reports emerged of the military refusing to fire live ammunition on protesters. This was a hallmark difference of the protests in Egypt versus other countries mentioned thus far (chronologically).

Mubarak appeared on television again at the beginning of February to announce he would not run for re-election in September of 2011. He said there would be political reforms and he would stay in office to see those reforms through. The protesters basically called "bullshit" and began to call for his immediate ouster. At this time, there also began to be clashes between pro- and anti-Mubarak protesters.

The clashes between pro-and anti-Mubarak protesters quickly escalated, with the army serving to try and keep them separated. Still, there were hundreds of casualties during this time in early February. Also, foreign journalists were being attacked, and live footage of these attacks were seen on American networks such as the attack against CNN's Anderson Cooper.

On February 10th, Mubarak again addressed his people to dispel rumors of a military coup, but also to transfer some of his powers to his Vice President, Omar Suleiman. The protesters were under the impression Mubarak was about to resign and they would then setup a new government. His remarks were met with frustration and anger and after that, the protests increased in size and vigor.

Something that stood to out to me during this time was the way the Egyptian people came together. On Fridays, the Christians protected the Muslims during their prayers. And on Sundays, the Muslims protected the Christians during their Mass. The people in Tahrir Square setup roadblocks, sanitation crews, and they had well organized supplies, donations, and materials. They showed that they were able to govern themselves and they were not only able to survive under a President serving for life who intended to have his son replace him one day.

The day after Mubarak handed control to Suleiman, Suleiman announced that the Parliament of Egypt would be dissolved and in its place would be the  Armed Forces Supreme Council, of which he was a member. The constitution would be suspended for six months, during which time the council would develop a new constitution and prepare for free and fair elections. The Egyptian people love their Army and see it as instrumental to the success of their revolution. Many were satisfied with this solution, as long as the promised reforms were enacted.

The army promised not to run a candidate in the elections. There were still protests going on in Egypt to protest various problems with the revolution transition. A big example of this is they saw the Prime Minister, Ahmed Shafik, as a Mubarak guy and therefore not likely to help the process of the revolution along. There were major protests scheduled against him on March 4th, but he resigned on March 3rd.

The Egyptians have been working not just on the formation of their new government, but seeking out punishment for the biggest grievances of the former government. On March 6th, protesters acquired evidence of voter tampering from the latest presidential election.

The revolution was considered relatively peaceful until the interference of pro-Mubarak protesters. The death told is estimated at just under 400 people. The injury estimate is in the thousands. The things that stand out about the Egyptian protests include: the strong role of women and the call for the reforms to be both democratic and secular.

Also, America's response stood out to me. This was the first revolution that garnered enough attention to require publicly released responses by American government officials. It took them a while to get the response correct, but Egypt was the genesis of changing opinions of American officials on how to deal with the regime changes of these dictator whom we've supported for so long.
More information can be found at wikipedia.org, http://www.bbc.co.uk/, and The New York Times Online.

Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series: Saudi Arabia

The protests in Saudi Arabia kicked off on January 21, 2011.
See the whole Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series.
Saudi Arabia comes next in chronological order. This country has stood out to me in news reports because it's government is controlled by Sunnis, who are the overwhelming majority in Saudi Arabia. This is different from other countries that are controlled by a Sunni minority or controlled by a Shiite majority. These differences are part of the source of tension between Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries.


Basic History
Saudi Arabia's official name is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Geographically, Saudi Arabia is located on the Arab Peninsula. Important bordering countries include: Jordan, Oman, Iraq, and Yemen. The capital is Riyadh. The population is estimated at 27.1 million people. The language is Arabic, though English is also spoken there.

Saudi Arabia's most recent leader is King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz. The Saudi government is setup as an absolute monarchy, and the king must comply with Sharia law and the Qur'an. The king must be chose from among the sons and grandsons of the the first king, Abdul Aziz al Saud. The king is also the Prime Minister and presides over the Council of Ministers. The country is effectively ruled by the royal family, which includes at least 7000 members, some more prominent than others.

In terms of  independence, the modern state of Saudi Arabia was created in 1932. There is a colorful history that includes the al Saud house (the rulers of the country). The ultimate independence that resulted in the Saudi Arabia that exists today came from the Ottoman empire that had various versions of control over the years.

Saudi Arabia is seen as particularly corrupt because of the way their ministries are setup. The princes (especially the descendants of King Abdul Aziz) are the leaders of most the Ministries. They have a habit of their personal wealth commingling with the monies of their respective Ministries.

Saudi Arabia also is the home of the two holiest places in Islam, Mecca and Medina. They also hold the world's largest oil reserve. These two things have a huge affect on the country's culture, economy, and human rights issues. An especially large problem is the terrorism committed worldwide being the work of Saudi nationals.


The Protests
The main causes cited as the reasons for the protests include: poor infrastructure and prisoners being held without trial.

The Saudi protests kicked off on January 21st when a 65 year old man died after setting himself on fire. This is considered the kingdom's first self-immolation. Then there was a flood in the city of Jeddah, which highlighted the poor infrastructure. There were protests on January 29th for this reason.

On February 10th, the Umma Islamic Party was formed. The main purpose of this opposition party, the first Saudi political party since the 1990s, is to demand to end of the absolute monarchy. A week a later, all the founding members of the party were arrested.

Also during this time, there were protests held in a mainly Shi'a (that's the Shiite people) town because three political prisoners had been held since a protest in March of 2009. The three prisoners were released on February 20th. After this, there were more protests in other locations for the release of other political prisoners.

The protests have largely been about governmental reforms and inclusion of the Saudi people in dialogues and decisions for the country. In March, people protested against prisoners being held without trial. The number of protesters has been relatively small compared with the size of the protests in other countries. The protesters were arrested and responded to with force. Protesting is expressly banned in Saudi Arabia.

March 11th was organized as a Day of Rage for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Libya. By this point, the protests have expanded to include several hundred people. The cities that have seen protests so far include: Qatif, Hofuf, al-Amawiyah, Riyadh, and Jeddah. There has been increasingly heavy police presence in these areas.

The next big protest called for on the social media site Facebook is set for March 20th. Some of the protesters have grown to the point of calling for the ouster of the regime, but there is no telling how this particular story will end.

More information can be found at wikipedia.org, http://www.blogger.com/www.youtube.com/, and http://www.guardian.co.uk/.

Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami

I want to take a short break from discussing the protests in the Middle East and Africa for just another moment.


I hope you have heard about the earthquake and how devastating it was. But I also hope you have heard about how much more devastating it would have been if not for the preparedness of the Japanese people.


The death toll is constantly rising and they are still discovering more people missing. But there is good news too. Some communities, where all the people should have been affected by the waves, are safe in very large numbers. They followed the Japanese procedures of evacuation for earthquake and they got to places of safely very quickly and avoided being washed out to sea by the tsunami.


If the waves produced from that earthquake had reached North America's and Central America's west coasts, they wouldn't have been nearly as prepared. The waves did hit the coasts, but they were not tsunami waves, so thank God. But America doesn't have the investments in infrastructure that Japan does, so had those waves happened, we would have been screwed.


I'm glad there's been so much coverage of what's going on right now in Japan. They will be reeling from this for a while, but in these current times, it makes me happy that we have more than just a global economy, we have a global community.

CNN.com and The New York Times Online both have continuously updated information about what's happening in Japan as it happens.

Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series: Yemen

The protests in Yemen kicked off on January 18, 2011.
See the whole Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series.
Yemen comes next in the chronological order. You don't hear much about Yemen in American news. You may hear more if you go to the global news pages of websites, but this definitely one of those countries of which America is wholly uninformed about the people and places and culture that makes Yemen the country it is.


Basic History
Yemen's official name is the Republic of Yemen. Geographically, Yemen is located in southwest Asia, and it considered a Middle East country. Important bordering countries include: Saudia Arabia and Oman. The capital is Sana'a. Yemen is actually made up of a mainland and over 200 islands, the largest of which is called Socotra. The population estimated at 23.6 million people. The language is Arabic.

Yemen's most recent leader is President Ali Abdullah Saleh. He has been ruling Yemen for over 32 years. The President is the head of state, and they have a Prime Minister who is the head of government, over the two legislative Parliament bodies. The Prime Minister is Ali Mohammed Mujur. Their government is setup as a presidential democracy, though the upper body of Parliament's members are all appointed by the President.

In terms of  independence, Yemen gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1918. Yemen (and the entire region of southern Arabia) has a long history of being under the control of whoever the big controlling power was at the time, going all the way back to 12th century BC. The country was two separate entities ruled by a monarchy and the British. North and South Yemen each gained their republics in the 1960s and in 1990, they united at the Republic of Yemen.


The Protests
The main causes cited as the reasons for the protests include: unemployment, government corruption, the government's plans to modify Yemen's constitution, and poor living conditions.

The Yemeni protesters chose the color pink to signify their revolution attempts as a Jasmine Revolution, and to suggest their non-violent intentions.

The main problem outside of economic problems for the Yemeni people was President Saleh's plan to run again for President and then eventually pass the Presidency on to his son. The people saw this as outrageous since he'd already run again for the last election though he'd previously promised not to, and hand-selecting his son to run went against the ideals of a republic. The big problem with President Saleh's proposed changes to government is that he would be allowed to be President for life, no election needed.

The rising opposition to Saleh within his own government has been growing for years. The unrest amongst his people has been growing too, surging in recent history as food prices rose. The initial protests were in the capital city of Sana'a as well as southern Yemen cities. The protests is the south were considerably more aggressive. The protests were in the thousands and called for a stop to the constitutional reforms, and improvement of the Yemeni economy, and the ouster of President Saleh.

The Yemeni government responded to those first protests with suggested changes, but they were rejected by the opposition as not enough. They wanted to ensure that Saleh and his son would not be able to rule indefinitely.  The protests continued around Yemen, and there were reports of the protests not being "popular protests" like in Egypt and Tunisia, but being wholly organized by the opposition parties.

A particularly violent day in Yemen occurred when the protesters celebrated Hosni Mubarak's ouster from Egypt. They were attacked with sticks, knives, and assault rifles. This was February 11th. Pretty much after this point, there were commonplace reports of protesters being beaten by government anti-protest forces. The numbers of protesters grew too. A significant portion of the daily protesters were identified as college and university students.

As February wore on, the calls from the protesters were for the ouster of the regime. Saleh was trying to negotiate with opposition parties to prevent his ouster. There were also pro-government rallies being held around the country. As the number of protesters being killed and wounded and arrested rose, the protesters called for the violence to stop. Yemeni clerics declared the violence against the protesters a crime.

At the end of February, some members of the government resigned in protest of the violence being used against the protesters. As February turned into March, an opposition leader rejected Saleh's proposal of a unity government and called for his ouster. Also, the number of protesters swelled in various cities from tens of thousands to almost 200,000 people.

March has seen the opposition offer Saleh a proposal for him to remain in office but leave by the end of 2011. He rejected this proposal. It has also seen the Yemeni Air Force dropping bombs in locations where thousands of protesters have gathered. More members of the ruling party resigned from Parliament. Over a million people showed up for a protest in southern Yemen. Some members of The Army switched sides to protest against the government.

Saleh offered reforms to switch to a parliamentary system of government. It was rejected as "too little too late". He has blamed the United States and Israel, just like almost every other leader in countries with protests happening. What's going on in Yemen right now is still developing daily.

The most recent news I have of the protests is that March 11th was being called the "Friday of No Return". The protesters were hunkering down to let Saleh know the only resolution was for him to step down as President. March 12th marks the second day of harsh crackdowns on anti-government protesters. Security forces have opened fire on the protesters and have killed people. There's no telling to what height these clashes will escalate, or when the end will come in.
More information can be found at wikipedia.org, http://www.youtube.com/, and bbc.co.uk..

Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series: Oman

The protests in Oman kicked off on January 17, 2011.
See the whole Middle East/Aftican Revolution/Protest Series.
Oman is up next. don't remember hearing much about these protests except that American journalists didn't think much of the way the Omani government handled the protests.
Basic History
Oman's official name is the Sultanate of Oman. Geographically, Oman is located in southwest Asia, but it is considered a Middle East Country. Important bordering countries include: Saudia Arabia, and Yemen. The capital is Muscat. The population is estimated at 3.8 million people. The language is Arabic.

Oman's most recent leader is Sultan Qābūs ibn Saʻīd as-Saʻīd (surname Qābūs). His name in English is Qaboos bin Said Al Said (surname Qaboos). The Sultan of Oman runs Oman as an absolute monarchy. He is the head of state and also the head of government, and he appoints a cabinet to assist him. In the 1990s, he added an elected advisory council, but Omanis don't have suffrage for all their citizens, so the people still aren't all represented.
In terms of  independence, Oman has been mostly independent. It was never part of the British empire, and the Portuguese only held coastal ports for a short time period.


The Protests
The main causes cited as the reasons for the protests include: unemployment, lack of representation in government, low wages, unfair distribution of oil revenue, and high costs of living. It's interesting that the Omanis have specified throughout their protests that they are not challenging the rule of their sultan, they are simply asking for reforms.

The protests have included marches, riots, and sit-ins.

It started on January 17th in the capital city Muscat with 200 protesters marching for higher wages. The protests continued the next day. They demanded and end to corruption and had a list of demands. They also carried signs of support for the sultan.

At the end of February, the protests spread to other cities, specifically Sohar. The protests had been mostly peaceful, but as we entered March, the protests got more violent as the police clashed with them. At least one person has been killed and many injured by fights with police and rubber bullets. At one point, the set a market in Sohar on fire. It definitely went against the grain of most protests because they didn't remain peaceful, yet they maintained allegiance to their sultan.

The protests have spread outside of Muscat and Sohar as March has continued. One thing that is helping these protests not spread out of control, and to keep the confidence of the people is the fact that the sultan has responded very quickly by instituting some of the reforms requested. He removed specific people from the cabinet. He also decreed that students would be given a stipend from the government. Also, there has been an independent institution setup for consumer protection.

The Omani sultan would be upheld as an example of how to deal with these region-wide protests, except the violence against his people is unacceptable. Time will tell if more reforms are instituted and whether the Omani people remain faithful to their sultan.
More information can be found at wikipedia.org, http://www.reuters.com/, and http://www.bbc.co.uk/.

Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series: Lebanon

The protests in Lebanon kicked off on January 12, 2011.
See the whole Middle East/Aftican Revolution/Protest Series.
The next country is Lebanon. Theirs is the second protest that started in the new year. This particular country didn't receive front page coverage in the newspapers that I read frequently, so I particularly enjoyed doing research into what happened here. This country was the first one several I'll cover that have only been mentioned in passing in most American journalism.

Basic History
Lebanon's official name is the Republic of Lebanon. Geographically, it is located in Western Asia, but it is considered a Middle East country. The capital is Beirut. The population is 4.2 million people. The main language is Arabic.

Lebanon's most recent leader is Michel Suleiman. He became president first as a compromise between the polarized sides of Parliament, but he was elected to office in an official election by Parliament in 2008. Lebanon has a unique governmental organization. The President has to be Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister has to be a Sunni Muslim, and the Speaker of the Parliament has to be a Shi'a Muslim. All the major political parties in Lebanon are setup according to religion.

In terms of Lebanese independence, they've been independent from the French since the 1940s. They declared independence in 1941; it was recognized in 1943, French troops actually left Lebanese soil in 1946. Beirut was considered a very stable country until the Hezbollah war with Israel in 2006. Now, it's rebuilding it's infrastructure. But Beirut was able to avoid the financial recession that rocked most of the globe because of tightly regulated banks.


The Protests
 The main causes cited as the reason for the protests include: lack of secular politics, corruption, and a desire for reform of Lebanese confessionalism.

There was supposed to be a Special Tribunal for Lebanon convened. The goal for that meeting was to indict Hezbollah members for the assassination of a previous Prime Minister. The current Prime Minister refused to call an emergency cabinet session to discuss cooperation with the Tribunal.

On January 12, 2011, the government collapsed after Energy Minister Gebran Bassil announced that all ten opposition ministers had resigned following months of warnings by Hezbollah that it would not remain inactive should there be indictments against the group. On January 17, 2011, the indictments were issued.

The government had lost more than one third of its members and so President Suleiman announced (after accepting the resignations) that according to the Lebanese constitution, he would be responsible for forming a new government and the cabinet would run the government until the new one is complete.

The actual protests didn't begin until Sunday, February 27, 2011 with a rally in Beirut against Confessionalism. There was another protest on Sunday March 6, 2011 that spread to other cities and grew in size and intensity. Where these protests will go is still unknown, but at least they have a uniform claim for secular reform of the sectarian government.

More information about the Lebanese protests can be found at , wikipedia.org, NOWLebanon.com, and The Los Angeles Times.

Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series: Algeria

The protests in Algeria kicked off on December 28, 2010.
See the whole Middle East/Aftican Revolution/Protest Series.
I've decided to go in chronological order from when the protests started. I think this makes sense because the older protests have less new information to add and the newer ones are still developing, which will give more time before I blog about them. So, in order, Algeria comes next.

Basic History
Algeria's official name is the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria. These autocratic countries certainly do have a lot of democracy-sounding country names... but I digress. Geographically, it is in the Northwest of Africa. It's the second largest country on the African continent. Important (in terms of protests) bordering countries include: Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, and Mauritania. The capital is Algiers. The population is estimated at 35.7 million people. The main language is Arabic.

Algeria's most recent leader is President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The president is on a five year term that was limited to two terms, but that limitation was removed in 2008. I suspect that will be a cause for concern in the future. The President is the head of the Council of Ministers and of the High Security Council. He appoints the Prime Minister who is also the head of government. The Prime Minister is Ahmed Ouyahia.


In terms of Algerian independence, it was gained in 1962 from the French. The country voted for full independence from France back in the '50s, resulting in guerrilla warfare, French supporters fleeing in the millions, and violence until they elected what was their third official president, but their first after independence, Ahmed Ben Bella. Algeria's history is dotted with leaders that served only shortly and others who served years. The only consistency is the rising corruption and bureaucracy.


The Protests
Protests in Algeria are common occurrences, but in January 2011, the protests and riots became more simultaneous and organized.

The main causes cited as the reason for the protests include: unemployment, lack of housing, food-price inflation, corruption, lack of freedom of speech, and poor living conditions.

The first protests were against the rising food prices (stupid global warming). The government lowered food prices across the country. But then the self-immolations began. Just like in Tunisa, the families of those who set themselves on fire were enraged and gathered to protest. Most of these self-immolations took place outside government buildings.

On January 5th, riots broke out in several cities all at once. Organized groups began holding weekly protests against the government. This happened in spite of the state of emergency, the curfew, and the ban on protests. The anti-riot forces tried to quell the protests and send the people home.

The protests continued to grow in certain places like Algiers, even though the government extended which foodstuffs had their prices lowered. On January 11th, many people were victims of violence and even more were arrested. At least 3 protesters died.

The thing that is different about these protests is there doesn't seem to be a clear goal or unified demands made of the government. The government has made concessions to specific protest demands without doing anything to change the current system. Several of the organized parties and groups in Algeria have made calls for democracy, release of arrested protesters, and organized marches even though marches are banned.

In February, strikes began and the protests spread back around to other cities besides Algiers. After Hosni Mubarak left Egypt, the protests grew in strength again in celebration of Egypt's successful protests. By February 22nd, the government had announced the end of the state of emergency, keeping up with their trend of conceding one specific thing without making major changes.

So far in March, the protests have continued and now include the police. Protests are still banned even though the state of emergency is gone. The most recent protests have been violently suppressed, but they continue. There have been calls for the protests to be completely peaceful.

As of today, the protests in Algeria are unresolved. Their government is still intact and still running the country.

More information can be found at wikipedia.org, http://www.cbc.ca/, and reuters.com.

Middle East/African Revolution/Protest Series: Tunisia

The protests in Tunisia kicked off on December 18, 2010.
See the whole Middle East/Aftican Revolution/Protest Series.
It makes sense to start with Tunisia because this is where all the protests kicked off. Before I get to the story of Tunisian revolution, I do want to talk about the country because I'm sure a good number of Americans had never even heard of this country before the revolution made front-page news.


Basic History
Tunisia's official name is the Tunisian Republic. Geographically, it is the northernmost country in Africa. Libya and Algeria, two other countries with ongoing protests, border it. The capital city is Tunis. The population is 10.4 million+. 98% of the national population is Arab and the main language spoken is Tunisian Arabic.

Tunisia's most recent president was Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (Ben Ali is his surname) from 1987 to 2011. In terms of it's relation to American history, Tunisia is where the Allied Forces of World War II first worked together in an alliance to win a battle. That was in the 1940s.

In terms of Tunisian independence, France had invaded Tunisia back in 1869, and setup colonies. Between them and the Italians, there were lots of Europeans in Tunisia. A man name Habib Bourguiba is credited with leading the Independence Tunisia gained from France in 1957. He was president until 1987 when he was first declared unfit to rule by doctors then ousted by Ben Ali in a bloodless coup.

The Tunisia under Ben Ali was one where people routinely had to pay out bribes to start a business, own a home, even marry. For the culture of that country, peoples' aversion to humiliation was put at odds with doing what they had to in order to survive under an oppressive regime.


The Revolution
This revolution has been called the Jasmine Revolution, but it is also called the Sidi Bouzid revolution, named for where it began.

The main causes cited as the reason for the protests include: high unemployment, food inflation, corruption, lack of freedom of speech, lack of political freedom, and poor living conditions. But on to the history of the revolution.

On December 17, 2010 a young man named Tarek el-Tayyib Mohamed Ben Bouazizi (surname Bouazizi) killed himself. He was a young man, not yet 27, born just under a year after my older brother who turns 28 this month. The stories told of what happened are the stuff of legend. The version I know is that he was a fruit vendor, doing what he could to make enough money to feed his family.

In Tunisia, you couldn't just decide one day to be a vendor. You needed a permit. They had people with the job of going around and checking permits. Those without a permit were shut down. A police woman confiscated his cart and shut him down in the city of Sidi Bouzid on December 17th. He tried to complain to the authorities, but was not granted an audience. Within an hour, he was back at the local municipality headquarters, where he doused himself in flammable liquid and set himself on fire.

This sparked a protest by his family, to which the police responded not very peacefully. The next day, there were riots in Sidi Bouzid, which were unreported but were spread through Facebook and YouTube. The young man Bouazizi was in the hospital and died January 4, 2011.

Protests spread to other cities, mostly over unemployment. These early protests had violent clashes between police and protesters. By mid-January, the protests had spread across the country and economic lines. By the end of January, people were openly and regularly defying curfews. The protests grew from decrying mistreatment to calling for the ouster of the President, his family, and all associated government and parliament officials.

The President Ben Ali finally fled the country on January 14. 2011. His assets had been frozen and countries around the world spoke out about embracing the Tunisian peoples' right to freedom and formation of a government for and by the people. It has been a bumpy road so far, as expected in a new democracy. There have been protests against the interim leader, Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi because he is associated with the previous president, and part of the president's political party.

The government was reshuffled. Ghannouchi resigned after removing all party members from the coalition government setup to conduct government business and setup an election within 60 days. The new prime minister is Beji Caid el Sibsi. They left the president appointed by Ghannouchi in place to oversee the constitutional development. That man is Yadh Ben Achour.

As of right now, the plan is to hold elections for a Constitutional Assembly on July 24, 2011. That means those elected will be responsible for drafting/editing a new constitution for Tunisia under President Achour. National elections will presumably be held at some point after that. Also, INTERPOL is looking to locate Ben Ali and six of his relatives ad arrest them. The word is that he fled to Saudi Arabia, so hopefully they'll find him there.


Most of the information provided in this post can be found through wikipedia.org, cnn.com, and nytimes.com.

The Best Online Quiz Ever!

I wrote a post about an online quiz on my main blog. I haven't put the post up yet though. It'll be up in a few days. But in that post, I explain my love for online quizzes. I won't get into here again, but look out for that post on the main blog within the next week.


So, I've established (sort of) that I love online quizzes. I also love politics. I also love current events in the media. Imagine my joy when I came across this quiz in New York Magazine that combined all these things. It's called It's Time To Play "Sheen, Beck, or Qaddafi?" If you enjoy the craziness (and by enjoy I mean get a sick sense of observing cultures completely unlike your own) that comes from these three, try this quiz.


Why take this quiz? Have you been paying attention to the world in February? Glenn Beck is Fox News' latest talking head. Charlie Sheen tossed aside his career for a ride on the crazy bus. Muammar Qaddafi is standing in the way of Libyan revolution. He'd rather kill his people and go out in a blaze of glory.


Unless you spend all your hours surfing the web, reading Fox News, and constantly updating youtube, you will not be able to tell which guy actually said what for more than a handful of these. So I'm taking the quiz. Take it with me!


Statement #1: "I ask you to prepare because your world is about to change overnight."
Who I think said it: Glenn Beck
Who actually said it: Glenn Beck!

Statement #2: "They have awoken a sleeping giant. If I'm misunderstood after yesterday, then people are worse off than I thought."
Who I think said it: Charlie Sheen
Who actually said it: Charlie Sheen!

Statement #3: "I will plant my flag on this, and I will fall on my sword if I have to!"
Who I think said it: Glenn Beck
Who actually said it: Glenn Beck!

Statement #4: "I have no authority stemming from laws or decisions or anything else, I just have moral authority, I only have moral authority."
Who I think said it: Muammar Qaddafi
Who actually said it: Muammar Qaddafi!

Statement #5: "If you love with violence and you hate with violence, there's nothing that can be questioned."
Who I think said it: Glenn Beck
Who actually said it: Charlie Sheen

Statement #6: "I urge all my beautiful and loyal fans...to walk with me side-by-side as march up the steps of justice to right this unconscionable wrong."
Who I think said it: Muammar Qaddfi
Who actually said it: Charlie Sheen

Statement #7: "I'm a guy that's riddled with flaws and by taking my flaws out and putting it in the refiner's fire and letting the bellows of life heat it up, I get the opportunity to pound on my flaw and try to perfect it."
Who I think said it: Glenn Beck
Who actually said it: Glenn Beck!

Statement #8: "You want to call me crazy? Go to hell. Call me crazy all you want!"
Who I think said it: Charlie Sheen
Who actually said it: Glenn Beck

Statement #9: "They give them pills at night, they put hallucinatory pills in their drinks, their milk, their coffee, their Nescafe."
Who I think said it: Muammar Qaddafi
Who actually said it: Muammar Qaddafi!

Statement #10: "This march cannot be stopped by those agents, those rats who move in the dark."
Who I think said it: I didn't know. This one is hard. I'm gonna say... Muammar Qaddafi
Who actually said it: I was right! Muammar Qaddafi!

Statement #11: "I will destroy you in the air. I will deploy my ordinance to the ground."
Who I think said it: I want to say Muammary Qaddafi because it sounds like what he's actually been doing in Libya, but I bet it's not even him. But that's still my guess.
Who actually said it: It wasn't him! It was stupid crazy Charlie Sheen. I should have known. I wanted to guess his crazy ass, but it didn't seem reasonable. I should have known not to apply reason unless I was sure of the answer.

Statement #12: "You need to listen to your parents. I people disobey their parents, the end up destroying the country."
Who I think said it: Glenn Beck
Who actually said it: Muammar Qaddafi. Darn! It sounded so douchey. I wasn't thinking about these revolutions starting with the young people and moving up in age later. He probably said that earlier in February.

Statement #13: "The rain has begun to fall in the perfect storm. It has begun"
Who I think said it: Glenn Beck
Who actually said it: Glenn Beck! I'm glad I was right. That statement is douchey and doomsday-ish.

Statement #14: "There's a new sheriff in town. And he has an army of assassins."
Who I think said it: Charlie Sheen, this shit is just too straightforward-ly crazy.
Who actually said it: Charlie Sheen! I was right. Dictators use code words for "I will kill you all."

Statement #15: "Forget BMWs and iPads and jewelry. Do you want to know what the next luxury item is? Believe it or not, orange juice."
Who I think said it: This sounds douchey and doomsday-ish. I'm gonna say Glenn Beck.
Who actually said it: Yay! Glenn Beck! Crazy ass.


How did I do? I got out 10 of 15. How did you do? I feel like I got as many right as I did for two reasons. I understand the odd mix of narcissism and nationalism that comes from Muammar Qaddafi. I also understand the douchey-ness and lack of understanding of American idioms that comes from Glenn Beck. I have to admit that I haven't been as voracious when consuming Charlie Sheen news, so I don't feel bad about incorrectly identifying his quotes.


That was fun! I'd love to see a quiz comparing crazy shit from other comparably crazy people. Though I can't think of any examples right now...