theatlantic: Refugee Aid in Tunisia is Supplying Libyan Rebels The rebels don’t like it when you call them rebels. That’s Qaddafi’s term, they say, and prefer Reagan’s: freedom fighters. This matters only for public relations purposes, because among themselves, members of anti-Qaddafi militias don’t speak English, but rather Arabic and Amazir — the Berber language — and call themselves thwar, which roughly means revolutionaries. Fair enough, it’s their war. In April, the thwar based in Libya’s desert interior attacked a border crossing 300 kilometers southwest of Tripoli; found it inexplicably lightly-defended; and seized it, opening an escape route to neighboring Tunisia. Over the next month, more than 60,000people drained from Libya into Tunisia, according to Kamel Derich of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, who runs that agency’s efforts near the crossing. Three refugee camps, one run by Derich’s UNHCR team, one by the government of the United Arab Emirates, and one by the kingdom of Qatar, housed fewer than 10,000 Libyans, he estimated. The majority found private shelter with families in Tataoine, a rural town on the edge of the Tunisian Sahara. “It is a Muslim obligation,” said Ehmansouva Naouifel, a clerk in Tataoine’s city Commerce Department, while shopping in a grocery store downtown. “We wish to help, but also, you must help.” Since March, Tataoine families have been hosting the 60,000 of more than 400,000 Libyans who came to Tunisia since February, often in spare rooms vacated by family working abroad in Europe. Read more at The Atlantic [Images: Libyan refugees cross the border into Tunisia / Reuters]

theatlantic:

Refugee Aid in Tunisia is Supplying Libyan Rebels

The rebels don’t like it when you call them rebels. That’s Qaddafi’s term, they say, and prefer Reagan’s: freedom fighters. This matters only for public relations purposes, because among themselves, members of anti-Qaddafi militias don’t speak English, but rather Arabic and Amazir — the Berber language — and call themselves thwar, which roughly means revolutionaries. Fair enough, it’s their war.

In April, the thwar based in Libya’s desert interior attacked a border crossing 300 kilometers southwest of Tripoli; found it inexplicably lightly-defended; and seized it, opening an escape route to neighboring Tunisia. Over the next month, more than 60,000people drained from Libya into Tunisia, according to Kamel Derich of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, who runs that agency’s efforts near the crossing. Three refugee camps, one run by Derich’s UNHCR team, one by the government of the United Arab Emirates, and one by the kingdom of Qatar, housed fewer than 10,000 Libyans, he estimated. The majority found private shelter with families in Tataoine, a rural town on the edge of the Tunisian Sahara.

“It is a Muslim obligation,” said Ehmansouva Naouifel, a clerk in Tataoine’s city Commerce Department, while shopping in a grocery store downtown. “We wish to help, but also, you must help.” Since March, Tataoine families have been hosting the 60,000 of more than 400,000 Libyans who came to Tunisia since February, often in spare rooms vacated by family working abroad in Europe.

Read more at The Atlantic

[Images: Libyan refugees cross the border into Tunisia / Reuters]

@1 year ago with 18 notes
#tunisia #libya #war 

"Yesterday night, a man followed me to the toilets. I pushed him, I ran away, and I screamed. Men jump over the wall and enter in our room. We are afraid at night; we cannot sleep. The police do not do anything."

Tunisian woman, 67, Lampedusa, Italy, April 2011

Women and children in Italian reception centers must be housed in areas where their safety and well-being is ensured. Many women traveling alone who were placed in reception centers told MSF that there was no effective separation from men, and they feared abuse despite the strong presence of police. Due to the lack of privacy and security, women reported being too afraid to sleep, change clothes, or even go to the toilet alone.

From North Africa to Italy: Seeking Refuge, Finding Suffering

(via doctorswithoutborders)

(via doctorswithoutborders)

@2 years ago with 38 notes
#tunisia 

ahmedtumbles:

In late December I saw some tweets emerging from Tunisia that warned of trouble to come. Since then, three Arab countries have witnessed a revolution - and to highlight the role of social media, Ben Connors and I created this video for Al Jazeera’s “Empire”.

Click here for the longer video as it ran on Empire.

(via soupsoup)

@2 years ago with 25 notes
#tunisia #revolution #twitter 

The Middle East feminist revolution. 

promotingpeace:

Women supporting women inevitably leads to women supporting revolution. In Tunisia and Tahrir Square, women were at the front and centre of organising and leading protests, demanding social change [GALLO/GETTY]

(via soupsoup)

@2 years ago with 110 notes
#feminism #tunisia #egypt #revolution 

"The successful revolt (in Tunisia) proves that the fortunes of Arab countries don’t depend on what Washington does."

The Week Bullpen columnist Daniel Larison, from his latest column, In Tunisia, a less in benign neglect (via theweekmagazine)

(via theweekmagazine)

@2 years ago with 7 notes
#tunisia #revolution #politics 
fuckyeahprotest: (via devils-trap)

fuckyeahprotest:

(via devils-trap)

@2 years ago with 851 notes
#revolution #politics #protest #tunisia #egypt #libya 

"Uh, they’re not the same in any fucking way, shape or form. At all. At all. ‘This is the same as people in the Middle East overthrowing years of dictatorship,’ or is that just the last thing you saw on the news?"

JON STEWART, reacting to the news media and pundits comparing the protests in Wisconsin to the anti-government protests in Egypt and Tunisia, on The Daily Show.

He is correct.

(via inothernews)

@2 years ago with 1000 notes
#jon stewart #politics #revolution #egypt #tunisia 

Liberty and Freedom: Is Libya the nightmare version of the dream that began in Tunis and Cairo? 

socialisimo:

The Gaddafi regime, facing a wave of unprecedented protests throughout the country now including the capital of Tripoli and a pattern of diplomatic and military defections, has unleashed the full force of the Libyan military and its mercenaries on significant segments of the population. Reports…

@2 years ago
#libya #egypt #tunisia #revolution #gaddafi #politics 

"The face of the Arab world for too long has been Osama bin Laden. No more. Now it’s the young people of Tunisia and Egypt."

Jon Stewart (via kileyrae)

(via soupsoup)

@2 years ago with 594 notes
#jon stewart #osama bin laden #egypt #tunisia #revolution #politics 
pantslessprogressive: Tunisian court closes Mohamed Bouazizi case at centre of Arab protests A Tunisian court has dropped charges against a policewoman whose dispute with a fruit vendor sparked a chain of events that unleashed uprisings around the Arab world. The state news agency TAP said the case against Fedia Hamdi was closed after the vendor’s family withdrew its original complaint. The family says it acted in a gesture of tolerance and an effort to heal wounds suffered in Tunisia’s upheaval of recent months. The case was at the heart of what has become a season of protests against autocratic leaders stretching across Arab countries from Yemen to Morocco. Hamdi was accused of slapping vendor Mohamed Bouazizi in December in the provincial town of Sidi Bouzid. Bouazizi’s wares were confiscated on the grounds that he did not have a permit. [read more] Above: Former Tunisian President Ben Ali (left) visits Mohamed Bouazizi (right) in the hospital. Bouaziz set himself on fire to protest the confiscation of his vendor stand. He died on January 4, 2011. Credit: AFP

pantslessprogressive:

Tunisian court closes Mohamed Bouazizi case at centre of Arab protests

A Tunisian court has dropped charges against a policewoman whose dispute with a fruit vendor sparked a chain of events that unleashed uprisings around the Arab world.

The state news agency TAP said the case against Fedia Hamdi was closed after the vendor’s family withdrew its original complaint. The family says it acted in a gesture of tolerance and an effort to heal wounds suffered in Tunisia’s upheaval of recent months.

The case was at the heart of what has become a season of protests against autocratic leaders stretching across Arab countries from Yemen to Morocco.

Hamdi was accused of slapping vendor Mohamed Bouazizi in December in the provincial town of Sidi Bouzid. Bouazizi’s wares were confiscated on the grounds that he did not have a permit. [read more]

Above: Former Tunisian President Ben Ali (left) visits Mohamed Bouazizi (right) in the hospital. Bouaziz set himself on fire to protest the confiscation of his vendor stand. He died on January 4, 2011. Credit: AFP

(via soupsoup)

@2 years ago with 26 notes
#tunisia #revolution 
pantslessprogressive: A Syrian woman reacts as she sits next to her son who was seriously wounded during a violence between security forces and armed groups in Latakia, northwest of Damascus, Syria, on March 27. [Photo: Hussein Malla/AP] Bahrain, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen News Roundup: March 28. Bahrain: Bahrain opposition says 250 detained, 44 missing | Reuters Bahrain shuns Kuwait’s mediation offer | AJE World ignoring Bahrain struggle | Toronto Star Ivory Coast: Battle Erupts For Key Ivory Coast Town | VOA Ivory Coast Refinery Running Out of Crude, May Shut in April | BusinessWeek EU weighs new sanctions on Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo | Reuters Britain announces emergency aid for Ivory Coast refugees | Guardian The Urgent Situation in Cote d’Ivoire | David Paltiel, Yale School of Medicine Jordan: Jordan PM defends freedom of speech after unrest | AFP Jordan: Set Independent Inquiry in Attacks on Protesters | HRW Syria: Syrian protesters come under fire from security forces | Guardian Syrian president wavers between crackdown or compromise as southern protests continues | AP Assad to replace emergency law with worse: dissident | Reuters What is at stake if Syria’s regime falls | CS Monitor A bloody mess | The Economist As Obama talks Libya, neocons move on to Syria | MinnPost Pawlenty: Obama administration ‘naive’ on Syria | CNN Pawlenty blasts Clinton on Assad: ‘ignorant or frighteningly misguided’ | POLITICO Opinion Brief: Should the U.S. intervene in Syria? | The Week Argument: The Syrian Time Bomb | Foreign Policy Peter Goodspeed: Syrian violence raises the stakes on Arab upheaval | National Post Reader writes the problems of Syria are larger than any individual | CNN Tunisia: Tunisia’s interim president sacks interior minister without explanation, report says | AP The Casbah Coalition | The New Yorker News Desk Yemen: Blast at Yemen explosives factory kills 110 | AP Yemen fighting worsening already dire humanitarian situation, warns UN official | UN News Centre Activists urge UN rights council to meet on Yemen | Reuters The Unfolding Situation in Yemen | Steven Heydemann, United States Institute of Peace

pantslessprogressive:

A Syrian woman reacts as she sits next to her son who was seriously wounded during a violence between security forces and armed groups in Latakia, northwest of Damascus, Syria, on March 27. [Photo: Hussein Malla/AP]

Bahrain, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen News Roundup: March 28.

Bahrain:

Bahrain opposition says 250 detained, 44 missing | Reuters

Bahrain shuns Kuwait’s mediation offer | AJE

World ignoring Bahrain struggle | Toronto Star

Ivory Coast:

Battle Erupts For Key Ivory Coast Town | VOA

Ivory Coast Refinery Running Out of Crude, May Shut in April | BusinessWeek

EU weighs new sanctions on Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo | Reuters

Britain announces emergency aid for Ivory Coast refugees | Guardian

The Urgent Situation in Cote d’Ivoire | David Paltiel, Yale School of Medicine

Jordan:

Jordan PM defends freedom of speech after unrest | AFP

Jordan: Set Independent Inquiry in Attacks on Protesters | HRW

Syria:

Syrian protesters come under fire from security forces | Guardian

Syrian president wavers between crackdown or compromise as southern protests continues | AP

Assad to replace emergency law with worse: dissident | Reuters

What is at stake if Syria’s regime falls | CS Monitor

A bloody mess | The Economist

As Obama talks Libya, neocons move on to Syria | MinnPost

Pawlenty: Obama administration ‘naive’ on Syria | CNN

Pawlenty blasts Clinton on Assad: ‘ignorant or frighteningly misguided’ | POLITICO

Opinion Brief: Should the U.S. intervene in Syria? | The Week

Argument: The Syrian Time Bomb | Foreign Policy

Peter Goodspeed: Syrian violence raises the stakes on Arab upheaval | National Post

Reader writes the problems of Syria are larger than any individual | CNN

Tunisia:

Tunisia’s interim president sacks interior minister without explanation, report says | AP

The Casbah Coalition | The New Yorker News Desk

Yemen:

Blast at Yemen explosives factory kills 110 | AP

Yemen fighting worsening already dire humanitarian situation, warns UN official | UN News Centre

Activists urge UN rights council to meet on Yemen | Reuters

The Unfolding Situation in Yemen | Steven Heydemann, United States Institute of Peace

(Source: pantslessprogressive, via soupsoup)

@2 years ago with 77 notes
#syria #ivory coast #jordan #tunisia #yemen #revolution #politics 
npr: Satellite photo of tents amassing on the Tunisian side of the Tunisian-Libyan border this week. Photo courtesy of the UN Institute for Training and Research. (Taken with instagram)

npr:

Satellite photo of tents amassing on the Tunisian side of the Tunisian-Libyan border this week. Photo courtesy of the UN Institute for Training and Research. (Taken with instagram)

(via thenewrepublic)

@2 years ago with 184 notes
#revolution #libya #tunisia 

"The U.S. has an overwhelmingly powerful role there. Egypt is the second-largest recipient over a long period of U.S. military and economic aid. Israel is first. Obama himself has been highly supportive of Mubarak. It’s worth remembering that on his way to that famous speech in Cairo, which was supposed to be a conciliatory speech towards the Arab world, he was asked by the press—I think it was the BBC—whether he was going to say anything about what they called Mubarak’s authoritarian government. And Obama said, no, he wouldn’t. He said, “I don’t like to use labels for folks. Mubarak is a good man. He has done good things. He has maintained stability. We will continue to support him. He is a friend.” And so on. This is one of the most brutal dictators of the region, and how anyone could have taken Obama’s comments about human rights seriously after that is a bit of a mystery. But the support has been very powerful in diplomatic dimensions. Military—the planes flying over Tahrir Square are, of course, U.S. planes. The U.S. is the—has been the strongest, most solid, most important supporter of the regime. It’s not like Tunisia, where the main supporter was France. They’re the primary guilty party there. But in Egypt, it’s clearly the United States, and of course Israel. Israel is—of all the countries in the region, Israel, and I suppose Saudi Arabia, have been the most outspoken and supportive of the Mubarak regime. In fact, Israeli leaders were angry, at least expressed anger, that Obama hadn’t taken a stronger stand in support of their friend Mubarak."

Noam Chomsky (via azspot)

(via azspot)

@2 years ago with 70 notes
#noam chomsky #egypt #tunisia #revolution #politics 
the-whole-point: “Tunisia lit the candle, Egypt blew on it, and now, it is spreading.”

the-whole-point:

“Tunisia lit the candle, Egypt blew on it, and now, it is spreading.”

(Source: lumosed, via gresa)

@2 years ago with 3388 notes
#revolution #politics #tunisia #egypt 
fuckyeahanarchopunk: Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak, Gaddafi

fuckyeahanarchopunk:

Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak, Gaddafi

@2 years ago with 78 notes
#revolution #politics #gaddafi #libya #egypt #tunisia 
theatlantic: Refugee Aid in Tunisia is Supplying Libyan Rebels The rebels don’t like it when you call them rebels. That’s Qaddafi’s term, they say, and prefer Reagan’s: freedom fighters. This matters only for public relations purposes, because among themselves, members of anti-Qaddafi militias don’t speak English, but rather Arabic and Amazir — the Berber language — and call themselves thwar, which roughly means revolutionaries. Fair enough, it’s their war. In April, the thwar based in Libya’s desert interior attacked a border crossing 300 kilometers southwest of Tripoli; found it inexplicably lightly-defended; and seized it, opening an escape route to neighboring Tunisia. Over the next month, more than 60,000people drained from Libya into Tunisia, according to Kamel Derich of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, who runs that agency’s efforts near the crossing. Three refugee camps, one run by Derich’s UNHCR team, one by the government of the United Arab Emirates, and one by the kingdom of Qatar, housed fewer than 10,000 Libyans, he estimated. The majority found private shelter with families in Tataoine, a rural town on the edge of the Tunisian Sahara. “It is a Muslim obligation,” said Ehmansouva Naouifel, a clerk in Tataoine’s city Commerce Department, while shopping in a grocery store downtown. “We wish to help, but also, you must help.” Since March, Tataoine families have been hosting the 60,000 of more than 400,000 Libyans who came to Tunisia since February, often in spare rooms vacated by family working abroad in Europe. Read more at The Atlantic [Images: Libyan refugees cross the border into Tunisia / Reuters]
1 year ago
#tunisia #libya #war 
"The face of the Arab world for too long has been Osama bin Laden. No more. Now it’s the young people of Tunisia and Egypt."
Jon Stewart (via kileyrae)

(via soupsoup)

2 years ago
#jon stewart #osama bin laden #egypt #tunisia #revolution #politics 
"Yesterday night, a man followed me to the toilets. I pushed him, I ran away, and I screamed. Men jump over the wall and enter in our room. We are afraid at night; we cannot sleep. The police do not do anything."

Tunisian woman, 67, Lampedusa, Italy, April 2011

Women and children in Italian reception centers must be housed in areas where their safety and well-being is ensured. Many women traveling alone who were placed in reception centers told MSF that there was no effective separation from men, and they feared abuse despite the strong presence of police. Due to the lack of privacy and security, women reported being too afraid to sleep, change clothes, or even go to the toilet alone.

From North Africa to Italy: Seeking Refuge, Finding Suffering

(via doctorswithoutborders)

(via doctorswithoutborders)

2 years ago
#tunisia 
pantslessprogressive: Tunisian court closes Mohamed Bouazizi case at centre of Arab protests A Tunisian court has dropped charges against a policewoman whose dispute with a fruit vendor sparked a chain of events that unleashed uprisings around the Arab world. The state news agency TAP said the case against Fedia Hamdi was closed after the vendor’s family withdrew its original complaint. The family says it acted in a gesture of tolerance and an effort to heal wounds suffered in Tunisia’s upheaval of recent months. The case was at the heart of what has become a season of protests against autocratic leaders stretching across Arab countries from Yemen to Morocco. Hamdi was accused of slapping vendor Mohamed Bouazizi in December in the provincial town of Sidi Bouzid. Bouazizi’s wares were confiscated on the grounds that he did not have a permit. [read more] Above: Former Tunisian President Ben Ali (left) visits Mohamed Bouazizi (right) in the hospital. Bouaziz set himself on fire to protest the confiscation of his vendor stand. He died on January 4, 2011. Credit: AFP
2 years ago
#tunisia #revolution 
2 years ago
#tunisia #revolution #twitter 
pantslessprogressive: A Syrian woman reacts as she sits next to her son who was seriously wounded during a violence between security forces and armed groups in Latakia, northwest of Damascus, Syria, on March 27. [Photo: Hussein Malla/AP] Bahrain, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen News Roundup: March 28. Bahrain: Bahrain opposition says 250 detained, 44 missing | Reuters Bahrain shuns Kuwait’s mediation offer | AJE World ignoring Bahrain struggle | Toronto Star Ivory Coast: Battle Erupts For Key Ivory Coast Town | VOA Ivory Coast Refinery Running Out of Crude, May Shut in April | BusinessWeek EU weighs new sanctions on Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo | Reuters Britain announces emergency aid for Ivory Coast refugees | Guardian The Urgent Situation in Cote d’Ivoire | David Paltiel, Yale School of Medicine Jordan: Jordan PM defends freedom of speech after unrest | AFP Jordan: Set Independent Inquiry in Attacks on Protesters | HRW Syria: Syrian protesters come under fire from security forces | Guardian Syrian president wavers between crackdown or compromise as southern protests continues | AP Assad to replace emergency law with worse: dissident | Reuters What is at stake if Syria’s regime falls | CS Monitor A bloody mess | The Economist As Obama talks Libya, neocons move on to Syria | MinnPost Pawlenty: Obama administration ‘naive’ on Syria | CNN Pawlenty blasts Clinton on Assad: ‘ignorant or frighteningly misguided’ | POLITICO Opinion Brief: Should the U.S. intervene in Syria? | The Week Argument: The Syrian Time Bomb | Foreign Policy Peter Goodspeed: Syrian violence raises the stakes on Arab upheaval | National Post Reader writes the problems of Syria are larger than any individual | CNN Tunisia: Tunisia’s interim president sacks interior minister without explanation, report says | AP The Casbah Coalition | The New Yorker News Desk Yemen: Blast at Yemen explosives factory kills 110 | AP Yemen fighting worsening already dire humanitarian situation, warns UN official | UN News Centre Activists urge UN rights council to meet on Yemen | Reuters The Unfolding Situation in Yemen | Steven Heydemann, United States Institute of Peace
2 years ago
#syria #ivory coast #jordan #tunisia #yemen #revolution #politics 
The Middle East feminist revolution.→

promotingpeace:

Women supporting women inevitably leads to women supporting revolution. In Tunisia and Tahrir Square, women were at the front and centre of organising and leading protests, demanding social change [GALLO/GETTY]

(via soupsoup)

2 years ago
#feminism #tunisia #egypt #revolution 
npr: Satellite photo of tents amassing on the Tunisian side of the Tunisian-Libyan border this week. Photo courtesy of the UN Institute for Training and Research. (Taken with instagram)
2 years ago
#revolution #libya #tunisia 
"The successful revolt (in Tunisia) proves that the fortunes of Arab countries don’t depend on what Washington does."
The Week Bullpen columnist Daniel Larison, from his latest column, In Tunisia, a less in benign neglect (via theweekmagazine)

(via theweekmagazine)

2 years ago
#tunisia #revolution #politics 
"The U.S. has an overwhelmingly powerful role there. Egypt is the second-largest recipient over a long period of U.S. military and economic aid. Israel is first. Obama himself has been highly supportive of Mubarak. It’s worth remembering that on his way to that famous speech in Cairo, which was supposed to be a conciliatory speech towards the Arab world, he was asked by the press—I think it was the BBC—whether he was going to say anything about what they called Mubarak’s authoritarian government. And Obama said, no, he wouldn’t. He said, “I don’t like to use labels for folks. Mubarak is a good man. He has done good things. He has maintained stability. We will continue to support him. He is a friend.” And so on. This is one of the most brutal dictators of the region, and how anyone could have taken Obama’s comments about human rights seriously after that is a bit of a mystery. But the support has been very powerful in diplomatic dimensions. Military—the planes flying over Tahrir Square are, of course, U.S. planes. The U.S. is the—has been the strongest, most solid, most important supporter of the regime. It’s not like Tunisia, where the main supporter was France. They’re the primary guilty party there. But in Egypt, it’s clearly the United States, and of course Israel. Israel is—of all the countries in the region, Israel, and I suppose Saudi Arabia, have been the most outspoken and supportive of the Mubarak regime. In fact, Israeli leaders were angry, at least expressed anger, that Obama hadn’t taken a stronger stand in support of their friend Mubarak."
Noam Chomsky (via azspot)

(via azspot)

2 years ago
#noam chomsky #egypt #tunisia #revolution #politics 
fuckyeahprotest: (via devils-trap)
2 years ago
#revolution #politics #protest #tunisia #egypt #libya 
the-whole-point: “Tunisia lit the candle, Egypt blew on it, and now, it is spreading.”
2 years ago
#revolution #politics #tunisia #egypt 
"Uh, they’re not the same in any fucking way, shape or form. At all. At all. ‘This is the same as people in the Middle East overthrowing years of dictatorship,’ or is that just the last thing you saw on the news?"

JON STEWART, reacting to the news media and pundits comparing the protests in Wisconsin to the anti-government protests in Egypt and Tunisia, on The Daily Show.

He is correct.

(via inothernews)

2 years ago
#jon stewart #politics #revolution #egypt #tunisia 
fuckyeahanarchopunk: Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak, Gaddafi
2 years ago
#revolution #politics #gaddafi #libya #egypt #tunisia 
Liberty and Freedom: Is Libya the nightmare version of the dream that began in Tunis and Cairo?→

socialisimo:

The Gaddafi regime, facing a wave of unprecedented protests throughout the country now including the capital of Tripoli and a pattern of diplomatic and military defections, has unleashed the full force of the Libyan military and its mercenaries on significant segments of the population. Reports…

2 years ago
#libya #egypt #tunisia #revolution #gaddafi #politics