The spark of the Tunisian Revolution is linked to a marketplace vendor in Sidi Bouzid. After pleading with a government official, this vendor got slapped in the face, and a stolen scale. The government practically shut down his only source of profit. Afterwards, he ran into town on a rampage and lit himself on fire. This vision was so horrible and so meaningful to the people of Tunisia, that they exploded in revolt. Like the French Revolution in ATTC, the Tunisian Revolution began due to government control. In France, the government took away their rights and their ability to earn profits, making them starve. Hungry people make angry people. Much like that in Tunisia, the lower class struggled to get permits to sell their goods. The only way the could was illegally. With only that job, no one would hire them. Without any source of money, or dignity, the lower class people of Tunisia recognized the inequality and a dire need for a revolt.
Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-18560_162-20033404.html
The Tunisia Revolution
ReplyDeleteThe Tunisian revolution was also called the Jasmine revolution. This revolution was part of the Arab spring revolutions. The three main causes in this revolution were: corruption, unemployment and economic stagnation, and shrinking press freedom. The president of Tunisia, president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s family abuse of power and status, was among the main causes of anti-government anger. Unemployment had risen by 14 percent; the people were losing money while the prices for everyday necessities like food was rising swiftly. Economic stagnation was making life very difficult for the common people. A quote from TNR says: “You ignore our iron fist, and we will supply you with jobs.” The government was tightening the fist and providing little to no jobs. Which leads into the last cause: shrinking press freedom. The people were getting tired of being controlled, the year leading up to the revolution the International Federation of Journalists claimed, “from 2009 to may 2012, the press faced one of its worst years since independence.” The spark to the flame of revolution was the act of one man, Mohammed Bouazizi was selling produce in town, because he could not find a job, when the police came and shut down his shop because he did not have a permit. A few days later he set himself on fire in public and died in the hospital. Some people are now calling him “the father of the Tunisian revolution.”
This revolution is like the French revolution by the fact that it was people unemployed, poor, and starving. The government, aristocrats in ATTC, just went on with their lives ignoring the cries of help from the starving. Like ATTC the jasmine revolute started off with one person committing a symbolic suicide, in ATTC Madame Defarge is like that person in never giving in persecuting the aristocrats until death.
Source:
http://www.tnr.com/article/world/81611/making-sense-tunisia