Archive for Tunisia
Nessma TV: the Tunisians` “Danish cartoon crisis”
It seems that the Arab world finally finally got its “Danish cartoon crisis”. And it is coming from liberated Tunisia.
Some background: last Friday October 7th the Tunisian channel Nessma TV broadcasted “Persepolis”, a cartoon movie by well known French-Iranian illustrator Marjane Satrapi. The movie contains a scene where God is depicted, something that is largely rejected amongst Sunni Muslims (whereas in Shiia-majority Iran this would widely accepted, as Yves Gonzales-Quijano points out in his blog).
Nessma TV `s decision to broadcast a movie that was already supposed to be controversial on paper was questioned on Facebook days before the actual broadcast happened, as pointed out here:
“When Nessma’s plan to broadcast Persepolis became known, comments began to appear on Facebook denouncing Nessma and calling for protesters to march on the station’s headquarters on October 9. Police were at the building that morning. They prevented most of the protesters from reaching the building and made some arrests”.
Mehdi M’ribah -who was preparing an article for Nawaat.org discussing the Facebook polemics revolving around “Persepolis”- also remarks that the heated debate started on the social network before the actual broadcast of the movie. Had it not been dubbed into Tunisian dialect (classical Arabic or “fusha” is the official language of Tunisia but Tunisian “3ammiah” is the daily language and the one which goes directly to the hearth of the people) it wouldn`t probably have generated such a controversy. M`ribah stresses that the film had gone “unnoticed for the majority of Tunisians when it was released”, most probably because it was in fusha. The linguistic argument is also remarked by the above mentioned article of Yves Gonzales-Quijano.
So, the premises for an heated debate, probably turning into something even more complicated, were already there. Despite this, and despite the very delicate political moment (elections happening on October 23rd), Nessma TV broadcasted the movie October 7th.
In response to that, on October 9th a group of people that has widely been labelled as “islamists” or “salafists” by the international press -like the majority of French press and even the BBC- gathered in front of the TV station to protest.
“Three hundred people attacked our offices and tried to set fire to them,” Nessma TV chairman Nebil Karoui told AFP.
After this episode, Nessma TV has become the favorite topic of discussion amongst many international news outlets and, unfortunately, amongst many Tunisians,too, as Sophie-Alexandra Aiachi has noted in her article on Nawaat.
A group of people, which includes 131 lawyers, has been reported to have filed a complaint against Nessma TV and its director Nebil Karoui.
“The press code says in articles 44 and 48 that a person found guilty of inciting hatred among religions or insulting a religion can be sentenced to prison. Penal code article 226bissays that a person found guilty of undermining public morals by “intentionally disturbing other persons in a way that offends the sense of public decency” can be sentenced to prison”.
As a response, Human Rights Watch and many international media have raised up and asked Tunisia`s interim authorities to “respect free expression and approve pending amendments to abolish the “defaming of religion” law”.
The verbal fights continue whilst today other anti-Nessma protests were held in central Tunis. Blogger Malek Khadhraoui remarked on Twitter that “the demonstration has passed by my office, the non-veiled women and non-bearded men are by far more than the bearded and the veiled” (original tweet in French). Tunisia-Live also reports that, according to residents, the protesters were ordinary youth who felt that their religion had been offended whilst the police decided to react by throwing tear-gas and even rubber bullets against them.
While the Nessma TV affairs continues and the election day approaches, I feel that few remarks have to be made.
First of all, the Islamist party Ennahda -which is reported to be at pole position in the electoral competition- has officially condemned the use of violence against Nessma through the words of Noureddine El Bhiri, Head of the Political Office of Ennahda, interviewed by Tunisia Live.
“On the other hand, Mr. Bhiri stated clearly that Ennahda does not encourage violence against Nessma and considered the attack attempt against the channel “unacceptable.” “We are completely against the use of violence for any reason, and we don’t see violence as the solution for any sort any sort of issue,” commented Bhiri”.
At the same time, Bihri points out something that should be investigated further by international and Tunisian journalists. Apparently, there are electoral campaign rules set by the Inependent High Authority for the Elections (ISIE) that ban political advertisement. According to Bhri, broadcasting such a movie was a political move in an attempt to undermine Islamic religion and, consequently, the Ennhada party.
I am not enough aware of Tunisian laws to judge if Bihri`s statement is correct or not, but I think Tunisians should do this work and investigate more.
More generally, whether if what Nessma TV has done is formally against the law or not, this is not the core issue, because what the station has done is surely against the rules of respect and good taste. In such a delicate period for the country, why raising such a useless polemic? Why not focusing on real issues instead of using a movie -which is so far away from Tunisia and its situation- to hurt the religious feelings of Tunisians right now?
Why are we supposed to read such a gratuitous provocation as freedom of expression? Freedom of expression is not an abstract concept and does not exist in absolute terms. It should be framed in a context of ethics and respect. This is exactly what happened with the Danish cartoon crisis. Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten was claiming the right to publish whatever in the name of absolute freedom of expression but, in doing so, it was hurting the religious feelings of millions of Muslims.
It was a bad idea to broadcast that movie on that evening, in this historical moment. Provocation does not mean freedom.
We as European should note salute everything that comes in the name of “freedom of expression” as a good thing. W as European should not just judge “secularism” or “laicite`” as an absolute concept and absolutely beneficial for every society.
I invite everybody who reads French to have a look at this very interesting paper by one of the most active Tunisian blogger and lawyer, “Astrubal de Tunisie”.
His article ”L`Islam religion d`Etat, disposition constitutionnelle garante du processus seculariste de la democratie tunisienne” is enlightening.
Although, as he points out very well in the introduction, it becomes very difficult in another language rather than French to make the distinction between “laicite`” and “secularism”, I`ll try to translate a few sentences. Like the following, which refers to Western democracies like Greece, Denmark or Finland that have succeeded in achieving a secularization process without forcing any kind of “laicite`” a`la francaise.
“Furthermore, we are not talking about laic countries, in the French meaning of the term, but, without doubt, about nations that have achieved a high degree of secularization of their institutions. In other terms, recognizing a religious foundation of the State did not represent an obstacle to the separation of civic power from the influence of religion”.
In other terms: why four of the “most democratic countries” of the world (Democracy Index 2010) -Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden- declare officially to have State religion and can still be considered “democratic”, whereas the same cannot happen in the case of Tunisia, or any other Non-Western country?
Why should we provoke the anger of people by offending their religion and insinuating that the fact to be religious and respect religion can eventually lead to obscurantism?
And why should we do this only few days before the elections, just to show Western powers that the “Islamic threat” is there, still alive?
And why don`t you recall to your memory the protests that happened in the “civilized” Western world when “Passion” of Mel Gibson was out in theaters or, even before, when “The Last Temptation of Christ” was screened in a cinema in Paris -that very same France obsessed by “laicite”- and 13 people were injured?
I am a staunch secularist and I cannot believe that offending Christianity should be condemned whereas offending Islam can be ok if done in the name of “laicite”.
Plus, to be honest, Martin Scorsese is by far better than Marjane Satrapi.
Wrapping up the Third Arab Bloggers meeting
I`ve just returned after a long week of travels, the most exciting of them being the days spent in Tunis for the third Arab Bloggers meeting (#AB11).
I attended the second one in Beirut, 2009, and thought this was awesome. The atmosphere at the time was that of “something in the making”.
It was two years ago and that feeling has proved right. This crowd has been the protagonist, each of them in his/her own country, of this phenomenal 2011. Each of these people, together with the Arab youth of each country, had proven to be able to contribute, online and offline, to the shaping of a new future of the Arab region.
Two years ago I felt there was a kind of “cultural panarabism”, a feeling of unity pervading the meeting. This time it was even stronger.
When the Palestinian bloggers and activists were denied the entry visa by the Tunisian Ministry of Interior (without giving any acceptable reason), all the other Arab participants have raised in solidarity. We have made petitions,formal statements, press-releases, got all the mainstream media to talk about this (the evidence: when, few days ago, I walked into my Monaco hotel to join the jury of the Anna Lindht award, all the people there -a totally different crowd from the Arab bloggers- pointed out: it`s a real shame that the new Tunisia prevented the Palestinians to join the #AB11 meeting!). We have had a Skype call with them to let them join the sessions and put all their pictures on empty chairs in a symbolic protest for their unjustified absence.
picture by Ibtihel Zaatouri under CC BY license
I`ve attended so many conferences where officials make statements about Palestine and Palestians, and inter-Arab solidarity. This is the first time I`ve felt people being together, despite not being physically together.
There is something this Arab youth shares, beyond rhetoric. The Arab Springs have strengthened this feeling which has been in the making during the past years thanks to physical meet-ups but of course thanks to the Internet and the social networks.
Now there are best practices shared, together with pictures, videos, links, information.
This Arab youth is truly Pan-Arab. One`s revolution is everybody else`s revolution. One`s freedom is gonna be everybody else`s freedom.
The tools are there. Again, the #AB11 is a great mix of tech training (whether it is about learning cyber security or how to live video stream from the streets) and learning from others` experiences and direct participation. Sami Ben Gharbeia, Malek Khadhraoui and Astrubaal `s reflections on Tunisian revolution and the role played by their portal Nawaat have enlightened and inspired so many people in the #AB11 crowd. Bloggers from Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, have also contributed to the debate by bringing focusing on each of these countries and on their own direct experience in terms of citizens and activists. Pearls that you will never get on mainstream media.
But the novelty of this edition is how do we move to the next step, i.e. how do we empower people to do a better and citizen-media based cover for the upcoming elections in Tunisia and Egypt, and generally speaking how do we get people actively involved in the democratic process of rebuilding the institutions and the country itself. A very interesting panel, coordinated by Global Voices` Solana Saurus, has been held at the #AB11 on this very issue, with lots of insights coming from Tunisians, Egyptians, and Libyans,too.
For me one of the most interesting panel was the one which featured the Tunisian bloggers who are running for elections debating about their different visions of the constitutional assembly, the alliances among them or with other groups, their ideas towards mobilizing people, etc. Thanks to Jillian c.York we have great notes of the session.
The key question during the upcoming months is exactly this: how do we turn the regime change that was accomplished in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, into political and social change? and how do we turn the blogging and activism that was “in opposition” to dictatorships into a proactive force that reaches out to the ground and helps democracy to emerge?
#AB11 variety of panels and voices has given a great contribution to this debate. In two weeks Tunis will make the first move, by hosting the first democratic elections in the Region since long time. And the Tunisian bloggers and activists will play an important role in these elections which hopefully will later be a key role in the future of the country, too.
You can find a great coverage of the meeting on the Arab Bloggers official website, on Global Voices and on some blogs (like Jillian C. York`s).
Arab Bloggers site has also collected many interesting videos from Tunisia Live and hopefully will publish soon the sessions that have been filmed.
Ibtihel Zaatouri has a great Flickr stream of the meeting and there is also a Storify report about it.
Thanks to Sami and the Nawaat team, all the wonderful Global Voices people, Doreen and Hiba from Heinrich Boll for organizing this inspiring meeting.
The secret of Al Jazeera`s success: dealing with Arabs as people, not as numbers
picture by Evanchill
Yesterday Wadah Khanfar, general manager of Al Jazeera network, wrote an interesting piece: “At Al Jazeera, we saw the Arab revolutions coming. Why didn`t the West?”.
“Indeed, it should surprise no one that so many Western analysts, researchers, journalists and government experts failed to recognize the obvious signs of Arab youth movements that would soon erupt into revolutions capable of bringing down some of the most pro-Western regimes in the Middle East. That failure has exposed a profound lack of understanding in the West of Arab reality.
U.S. and European allies, supporters and business partners of the Arab regimes persistently preferred to deal with leaders who were entirely unrepresentative of the new generation. They were detached from the emerging reality and had no way to engage with the social forces that now matter. It is the growing periphery of the Arab world – the masses at its margins, not its feeble and decaying center – that is shaping the future of the region” Khanfar says.
I cannot but agree with him. Few days ago, in my post “Tripoli, una gita di mille anni fa” (in Italian), I was discussing the same issue, the blindness of the West, particularly Europe and my own country, Italy (which enjoyed in the past a great deal of soft power in the Region and a cultural proximity with Arabs that maybe only Spain and Greece have among EU countries). We had a great opportunity which was the Euro-Mediterreanean framework and we wasted it, doing partnerships with the wrong people, “supporters of the Arab regimes” as Wadah cleverly points out. We saw the rising influence of social networks and some of us, mostly academic researchers with no real influence on institutional policies, spent years and years trying to convince EU institutions that those were the right folks to discuss with, the young blood of the new Arab generation. But sine we are ourselves “too young” (at least for EU parameters) nobody paid too much attention to our words, taking us as “kids” playing with the latest technology tool.
The same happened much longer before with TV stations. I remember when I first visited Al Jazeera, back in 2000, and then started to write articles and a book about the channel. It took years and years of work and public talks to have the EU elites starting to take this station “seriously” and not being just scared by it.
Today, 10 years after 9/11, the situation has completely changed. Al Jazeera has been in touch with “the street” as Wadah points out, and was able to catch up with the changing going on in the Region. Al Jazeera is a young station. Khanfar himself is young and was able to build up a team of youngsters in the New Media Department that is super-professional. People like Mohamed Nanahbay and Mooed Ahmad, with their teams at Al Jazeera Arabic and English, have been working since 2006 to build what Al Jazeera achieves today.
We can criticize the channel`s editorial policy, disagree with some of its programmes, dislike its “incendiary” style, but we cannot deny the professional way the channel has been building relations with the people during the years. That`s it: Al Jazeera has not dealt with Arabs as audiences, but as its “people”. It has empowered them to express their opinions, send their messages, join online forum and chats, post videos, build the new brand identity of the channel all together.
People, mostly in the West, are surprised of the channel popular success during the last Egyptian uprising and now with Libya. There`s nothing to be surprised about pictures like the one Evanchill has published. People feel proximity with Al Jazeera, and new media has played a big role in this. And the way Al Jazeera has been using new media since 2006 is incredibly clever and professional. I wouldt be surprised at all: I would call this “investment”.
Al Jazeera has invested in new media since 2006 and this success is just the result of a professional work done during years and years. As much as 9/11 coverage in Afghanistan was the result of an investment done since the beginning of the channel, in 1996, by building a network of contacts and opening offices in crisis zones.
9/11 coverage didnt come out of the blue. It was just the result of an investment.
The idea of “investing” in something was once very close to Western mentality. It seems that now, mostly in the EU, this is gone. And none of the Arabic language stations that we have in Europe has ever thought of building a relation with its Arab audiences and dealing with them as people, not as numbers.
Al Jazeera did, and that`s the secret of its successful coverage of the Arab uprisings. It did it so well that this was helpful to reach out to Western audiences too.
There was -and there still is- a big campaign in the US, appeared also on Twitter and called #DemandAlJazeera. The channel New media team is organizing meet-ups all over America, and many articles are being published everywhere in the US to demand the availability of the channel via cable.
And this might be Al Jazeera`s latest success: few days ago it was publicly announced that the channel is in talks with Comcast, the largest US cable distributor.
La rete da sola non fa le rivoluzioni
Pubblico qui sotto il mio pezzo uscito ieri su Alias, supplemento de Il Manifesto, con qualche riflessione sulla “rivoluzione” in rete e in strada in Egitto..
La rete da sola non fa le rivoluzioni
L`intifada egiziana – “rivolta”, cosi come l`ha immediatamente battezzata Al Jazeera- si e` conclusa vittoriosa venerdi scorso con la cacciata del trentennale dittatore Hosni Mubarak. ..E gia` il cinguettio di Twitter si sposta su un altro hashtag # (la “marca” che permette di raggruppare gli argomenti discussi sul social network in un unico flusso), quello dell`Algeria, poi del Bahrain, prossimi obiettivi della nuova “onda” araba di proteste. Come Tunisi ha girato il testimone all`Egitto, adesso questo prova a passare la palla (messi da parte i dissapori calcistici) all`Algeria, in una corsa tumultuosa che ha coinvolto tutto il mondo arabo in questo inizio di nuovo decennio.
Di questa febbre “rivoluzionaria” scoppiata in Medio Oriente -e del ruolo che avrebbero avuto i social network, in particolare Twitter, nel fomentarla- si e` detto ormai tutto.
L`Occidente e` innamorato dell`idea che le sue infrastrutture tecnologiche, ormai diventate infrastrutture della vita grazie alla capacita di regalare comunicazione im-mediata, abbiano acceso la miccia rivoluzionaria nel mondo arabo in tempi lampo. In realta`, ne` la Tunisia ne ` l`Egitto sono state “Twitter revolutions”.
In Tunisia l`accesso ad Internet non e` mai stato cosa facile, e il paese ha sofferto blocchi e censure anche riguardo a basilari servizi di posta elettronica come hotmail. La blogosfera tunisina, come quella nordafricana in generale, e` francofona, percio` spesso poco in contatto con l`Egitto, il Levante e il Golfo dove e` l`arabo – se non l`inglese- a predominare.
In Egitto i movimenti di protesta guidati dai blogger (come quello cosidetto del “6 Aprile”) e le prime manifestazioni organizzate grazie alla capacita` aggregative dei social network -in particolare Facebook- erano attivi e agguerriti gia` dalla prima meta` del nuovo millennio. Sono anni in cui i blogger egiziani entrano ed escono dalle galere e dai tribunali, denunciano torture, mostrano i primi video di violenze della polizia contro gli attivisti, postati su YouTube da Wael Abbas e da Noha Atef sul sito tortureinegypt.net.
Le rivolte della fine 2010-inizio 2011 sono percio cosa maturata negli anni: non certo scoppiate grazie a Twitter e non certo in un battibaleno. I social network hanno pero negli anni lavorato indirettamente a far emergere una cultura che il giurista Larry Lessig, fondatore di Creative Commons, definisce “read and write culture” , cioe una cultura attiva, propositiva, che non si basa soltanto sul consumo (read) di contenuti altrove prodotti bensi sulla scrittura (write) e ri-scrittura (re-mix) di nuove storie. Twitter e gli altri social network sono gli “attrezzi” per riprendersi questa creativita ormai sparita negli ultimi decenni del secolo scorso, l`epoca del dominio dei media di massa come la TV e dell`inasprimento delle leggi sulla protezione intellettuale (nemica giurata del remix).
Produrre e non soltanto consumare: che si tratti di un video, di un blog post. Anche solo di un “cinguettio” di 140 caratteri, che intanto e` comunque allenamento costante, un esercizio che indirettamente combatte l`autorita suprema del “read only” (leggere solo) con l`ironia del “ri-scrivere”, “ri-twittare”, _ri-linkare”, “ri-postare”, “ri-mixare”.
Per molti anni osservo in Medio Oriente questi giovani, Alaa Abd el Fattah e Manal Hassan, Wael Abbas, Nora Younis, Noha Atef, Hossam el Hamalawy,Slim Amamou, Sami Ben Gharbia e tanti altri come loro, giovani fra i 20 e 30 anni, di tutto il mondo arabo, incontrarsi periodicamente nei barcamp, nei geekfest, nei pecha kucha, in tutti gli eventi “techie” nati principalmente in USA e diventati parte integrante delle culture autoctone mediorientali. C`e qualcosa, nella “garage culture” made in Silicon Valley-California, che e` passata oltreoceano e ha trovato un nuovo senso in mezzo ai deserti, agli slum, ai grattacieli delle metropoli arabe. Cosa mai avranno in comune, mi chiedo, una cultura per eccellenza votata all`iniziativa privata, al rischio, con questa tradizione mediterranea di accettazione–assorbimento all`interno dei gangli del potere, che si tratti di famiglia, lavoro o societa… Beh, qualcosa, a pensarci bene, ce l`hanno: quell`essere giovani sempre che, se negli USA e` una condizione quasi esistenziale, in Medio oriente e` una inconfutabile verita` anagrafica. Oltre il 65% della popolazione araba ha meno di 25 anni. Non tutti, certo, hanno accesso ad Internet, non tutti parlano inglese, non tutti twittano o hanno un blog. Ma quest`elite a un certo punto ha cominciato a incontrarsi con quella libanese e yemenita, in meeting e workshop tecnologici dove involontariamente si faceva un nuovo panarabismo, giovane, tecnologico e non ideologico.
Ricordo l`ultimo di una lunga serie di questi incontri: l`Arab bloggers meeting, nel dicembre 2009 a Beirut. Sapientemente orchestrato da Sami Ben Gharbia, attivista di Global Voices e cyber dissidente tunisino adottato dall`Olanda, il workshop aveva riunito tutte le facce che abbiamo visto in queste due intifade, dal blogger tunisino ora sottosegretario alla gioventu e allo sport Slim Amamou all`attivista egiziano del movimento open software Alaa Abd el Fattah, a sua moglie Manal Hassan, fondatrice dell`Arab techies women, un gruppo di donne arabe programmatrici di computer e appassionate di tecnologia. In quel dicembre 2009 a Beirut c`erano tutti i volti giovani di queste rivoluzioni, insieme a tanti altri giovani techies e attivisti di tutto il mondo arabo, forse protagonisti delle rivoluzioni che verranno. Ci si parlava, ognuno nel suo dialetto, si condividevano trucchi per bypassare censura e sorveglianza dei regimi, si studiavano progetti comuni.
I social network non fanno le rivoluzioni ma lavorano, lentamente ma inesorabilmente, sul cambiamento sociale. Lo fanno anche sviluppando la “read and write” culture, dando una possibilita vera alla creazione, oltre che al consumo. Poi mettono tutto in circolo in rete, cosi che ognuno guarda l`altro, ognuno e` costantemente in contatto con l`altro, e quando uno di questi nodi della rete viene a mancare e` tutta la rete che insorge e si mobilita (come e` successo a Wael Ghonim di Google, rilasciato dalle autorita egiziane dopo 12 giorni di martellante campagna mediatica seguita alla sua scomparsa) .
Questi nodi collegati fra loro -eppure senza un centro, senza una testa o un leader- sono “i piccoli pezzi liberamente connessi”, la metafora del web coniata anni fa da David Weinberger. Nessuno avrebbe mai immaginato di ritrovarli un giorno, attivi e pronti a far collassare il sistema proprio in Medio Oriente. Ma sul mondo “virtuale” di Twitter e Facebook si e` innestato quello, realissimo, della strada, della fame, della disoccupazione, dei sogni infranti di Sidibouzid.
La rete da sola non fa le rivoluzioni, ma il cambiamento sociale, a poco a poco, quello si. Le capitali arabe gremite di Internet cafe, connesse attraverso cavi di fortuna, piratati e riuniti in network “informali” , i wi-fi dispensati gratuitamente per aumentare il consumo nei ristoranti hanno construito negli anni una mappa geografica del cambiamento.
La tecnologia e` come un giocattolo: il padre che lo regala a suo figlio non sa mai come lo usera`, e sicuramente lo fara` in modo diverso rispetto a quanto lui si sarebbe augurato.
Non dimentichero mai la frase comparsa sui muri di Amman qualche anno fa. Diceva: “Internet e` vita”…
(mentre scrivo questo pezzo, su Twitter mi arriva la segnalazione di un utente di San Francisco che ha elaborato una mappa grafica che visualizza il grado di influenza esercitao da alcuni utenti su altri durante la rivolta egiziana http://www.kovasboguta.com/. Vedo il mio nome comparire fra quei puntini blu e mi chiedo: sara` mai vero che anch`io, con i miei tweet, ho giocato un ruolo in questa cosa? Poi guardo i piccoli pezzi liberamente connessi visualizzati in questa mappa. Solo di pochi e` possibile leggere il nome, e quello che veramente conta e` soltanto la rete di connessioni. Wael Ghoneim, l`unico che abbia una “faccia” -grazie pero` alle TV che ne hanno mandato in onda lunghe interviste dopo il rilascio- fa sapere, nello stesso instante, sempre su Twitter, che fara` un libro dal titolo “rivoluzione 2.0”. Che importa quanto il marketing si sia gia buttato a far fruttare questo glamour tecnologico di ultima generazione, mi dico..Quella e` la vecchia logica del consumo da televisione. L`unica cosa che invece veramente conta qui e` che tutti gli altri del nostro Twitter network, quelli senza “faccia”, abbiano gia` spostato l`attenzione della rete su altro, l`Algeria, il Bahrain.. sul prossimo hashtag.. forse sulla prossima rivoluzione..)
19/02/11
Al Jazeera adds Egyptian & Tunisian footage to the Creative Commons repository
Al Jazeera has just started updating the Creative Commons Al Jazeera repository which the channel created in early 2009 during the Gaza crisis. The Al Jazeera New Media team is working to update the repository with daily packages of footage coming from Egypt and Tunisia uprisings.
Having chosen the most “lenient” Creative Commons license, CC BY, Al Jazeera is allowing anybody to take, copy, share, translate, remix, and even re-broadcast the footage for free under the only condition of attributing the original source.
This is a key move towards the circulation of information particularly during crisis, like the one currently happening in Egypt. Wired has commented the move here.
Today the Egyptian Ministry of Information prevented both Al Jazeera Arabic and English from operating within the country but the live coverage of the Egypt uprising continued thanks to mobile phones live coverage.
Since the beginning of the demonstrations, Al Jazeera Arabic and English have been covering Egypt extensively both through traditional broadcast and with an impressive online coverage on all the major social networks.
End of the regime in Tunisia is also the end of Cactus Prod?
While Ben Ali`s regime is over, another family business seems to be collapsing, the media one. And it is not that of state-owned channel TV Tunis7 -which was always and very clearly the mouthpiece of the regime- but that which is the real money-maker, i.e Cactus Prod, the giant media production company founded in 2002 by Belhassen Trabelsi, the former first lady`s brother.
Blog portal Nawaat has dealt with the issue of the power that Cactus Prod used to have over the state-owned TV which used to commission all its prime time cash&audience-making shows to the Trabelsi`s company, turning it into the real monopolist of Tunisian media.
Now, as a consequence of the fall of Ben Ali and Leila Trabelsi`s regime, it seems that the company`s bank accounts have been frozen. Sami Fehri, a very famous TV presenter who co-owns the company at 50% with Trabelsi, is reported to have publicly declared that he was forced by Belhassen to enter in a business partnership with him.
The news has not been verified yet but, in any case, it is helpful to show us another very important side of the former “neo-liberal” regime, i.e. that every new business brought up to the country by the so called globalisation and neo-liberal era was at the benefit of a closed elite circle, pretty much that of the ruling family relatives and friends. Another evidence that the liberalization benefits were in the hands of few selected people while a mirage for the majority of the Tunisians, as well as for many other Arabs who in other countries of the Region do share the same situation.
