Friday, however, was simply just too emotional for me. I feel I just had to let my insides out.
I had just spent the day at school, the bulk of which was spent in a marathon session listening to several of the dance department graduate students present their final reports, and nitpicking a few of the students' reports on some really irrelevant issues – the whole session could have ended perhaps an hour earlier, if I didn't bring up the all the problems in the transplantation of subculture in one country to pop culture in another, which then somehow led into questions in gender empowerment in female dance roles, and invoked a huge, protracted back-and-forth between me and just about all the teachers sitting in the panel, while leaving the student actually presenting in the cold. Plus I really didn't know what I was talking about. Needless to say I wasn't feeling too pleased with myself when I crashed into bed as soon as I reached home.
When I woke up later in the evening, the most remarkable thing began to unfold. I had already been aware of the unrest in Tunisia and Algeria since they began, but like many others around the world, it felt like the post-election protests in Iran in 2009: a lot of steam at first, word spread via new social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and rapidly gaining in momentum. Yet Iran ended with a crackdown, with Ahmadinejad forcing the opposition into the background, in the end nearly wiping their voices off mainstream world news sources. This, even with the tacit support of Facebook and Google (adding Farsi support and tools) and, more significantly, the US government (by asking Twitter to delay an upgrade). If a revolution could still be suppressed even with such heavyweight backing, how would these new developments in north Africa possibly succeed?
And so the unraveling of events in Tunisia also caught me by surprise, along with a feeling of exhilaration. Earlier in the day I had already read how Ben Ali, in his third public address in a single month, spoke for the first time ever in Tunisian Arabic; this language factor alone signified that even he was aware of the gravity of the situation. As I sat transfixed in front of my computer, it quickly became apparent that just about the entire world was caught off guard with the rapid turn of events: Ben Ali saying he will step down in 2014; Ben Ali fleeing the country; PM Mohammed Ghannouchi as acting president; parliament speaker Fouad Mebazaa as acting president.
For myself, things to learn: Write! Twitter!
When I woke up later in the evening, the most remarkable thing began to unfold. I had already been aware of the unrest in Tunisia and Algeria since they began, but like many others around the world, it felt like the post-election protests in Iran in 2009: a lot of steam at first, word spread via new social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and rapidly gaining in momentum. Yet Iran ended with a crackdown, with Ahmadinejad forcing the opposition into the background, in the end nearly wiping their voices off mainstream world news sources. This, even with the tacit support of Facebook and Google (adding Farsi support and tools) and, more significantly, the US government (by asking Twitter to delay an upgrade). If a revolution could still be suppressed even with such heavyweight backing, how would these new developments in north Africa possibly succeed?
And so the unraveling of events in Tunisia also caught me by surprise, along with a feeling of exhilaration. Earlier in the day I had already read how Ben Ali, in his third public address in a single month, spoke for the first time ever in Tunisian Arabic; this language factor alone signified that even he was aware of the gravity of the situation. As I sat transfixed in front of my computer, it quickly became apparent that just about the entire world was caught off guard with the rapid turn of events: Ben Ali saying he will step down in 2014; Ben Ali fleeing the country; PM Mohammed Ghannouchi as acting president; parliament speaker Fouad Mebazaa as acting president.
@MW_A: Qui l'eu cru, la #Tunisie a connu en moins de 23H plus de présidents qu'en 23 ans #sidibouzid #tunisia (Who would have believed that Tunisia had more presidents in less than 23 hours than in 23 years)I was up until 3AM last night listening to the BBC World Service and callers from all around the Arab world congratulating the Tunisians for their achievement, and hoping that their success will be replicated in other countries. The first thing that came to my mind was Egypt, in the wake of their horribly rigged elections last year; and indeed Mohamed ElBaradei has spoken out:
@ElBaradei: Tunisia :repression + absence of social justice + denial of channels for peaceful change = a ticking bomb
@ElBaradei: The courage of the Tunisian people to uphold their freedom & dignity is a shining light and a trailblazer. Change only comes from within.The internet is ablaze with praise, but I just hope that the effects of Ben Ali's "Tunisian" address – by ordering the police not to shoot – will be just as long-lasting and start the same ripple effect as Günter Schabowski's misinterpreted response of the "immediate" opening of the Berlin Wall. The fact that a curfew is now in place, with the military taking a strong stance in enforcing it, makes this all the more worrisome. Not another Iran, please! When the Berlin Wall fell, I was too young to understand its impact, and I was almost envious of my high school history teacher when she told about how she collected newspaper clippings throughout the fall of the Iron Curtain, knowing that that would be a once-in-a-lifetime event. If I can afford to be just a little selfish, I hope that I can relate to my future students how I kept the same close watch on events launched by Jan 14, in the same way as my history teacher. 20 years ago it was newspaper clippings; now it is an overwhelming wave of Twitter snippets, blog posts, YouTube videos, and general citizen media. Revolution will never be the same.
For myself, things to learn: Write! Twitter!
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