The First WikiLeaks Revolution

The First WikiLeaks Revolution

wikileaks.foreignpolicy.com

the details noted in the cables -- for example, the fact that the first lady may have made massive profits off a private school -- stirred things up. Matters got worse, not better (as surely the government hoped), when WikiLeaks was blocked by the authorities and started seeking out dissidents and activists on social networking sites.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Trouble has been brewing for some time. But i think wikileaks was an influencing factor that bought the country to tipping point.
Twitter has been alight will comments for a while now about the ongoing conflict. Things started changing when a young man set himself on fire in protest after he was not allowed to sell vegtables to make a living..When he died things really started to kick off.
Ben Ali decided to stop internet access to wikieaks and had very limited success. Anon stepped in and help and things got kinda messy. Ben Ali had peoples facebook and twitter accounts hacked and tired to limit the spread on information regarding the escaliting protests.
This did not work. The news and information still got out.
Anon retaliated by taking down the tuniain govenrments web site andhelping people access tor networks.
It is a sad fact the the main news channels never covered the story until the last minute. It was left. Ben Ali is our man and there was no real critism. Many more people have died than is being reported on the news and the news reports are biased refering to the proteters as militants. They are not they are fighting for demorcary...

This is an ongoing story.......

kx



wikileaks.foreignpolicy.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

A group of over 9,000 hacktivists gathered together online today to show support for the people of Tunisia. They want the people to know they are not alone and when the Tunisian government does not want to help, there’s people from Anonymous that will be at their side no matter what. When the powerless are shut out of the media, we will make the media irrelevant - Anonymous

www.wikileaksforum.net...

TTunisian will go to the street tomorrow to say No the Ghanouchi. WE are going to continuous the revolution until the people can choose thier leadres ext

anon...

Chekib Kchouk Congratulations to my fellow Tunisians for their achievement and thank you for what you have done. This is a day that will remain in our memories for many generations to come. Please keep in mind that this is just the first step toward the real change. The real work starts now. We all have a huge responsibility to rais...e our country back to the highest levels. We will need to reshape our foundation for us to be able to build a much stronger society. Please do not and do not let anybody destroy any civilian or public properties, this is our money and the more we destroy the more we going to have to rebuild and the longer it will take us to get back on our feet. I really hope from the bottom of my heart that the Tunisian people will be able to create the true democracy that we all wanted so bad and that our constitution will be respected to the fullest. I love you Tunisia, I love you fellow Tunisian.

There are still reports of clashes between citizens and police coming in. There are still reports of police using violence against the citizens and shootings. Places still burn. And now gangs are looting nd stealing from businesses and private homes. WE MUST restore peace to Tunis

anon

Guess Tunisia disagrees with all the nay-sayers commenting that there has been no real substance to the leaks.

This could just be the beginning with any luck but I fear we in most of Europe and the US are far too apathetic about these issues until they are in our own backyard. The populace are far too full of cheap drugs and cheap burgers to try and see round the MSM and establishment BS.

reply to post by purplemer


Saw this on MSM. It looks pretty bad over there. They said the government reports 23 people dead, but the protesters say that the number is much higher. The MSM also said that the people are unhappy with the government and want them to step down. The MSM I saw didn't say anything about the protesters being Militants or anything of the sort. They just classify them as angry citizens as far as I've seen.

Someday people will get tired of their tyrannical governments all over the world, including here in America..I'm watching this closely to see how it turns out..

some more background info.......

[/yvid]

images on this site too.....

www.wikileaksforum.net...

Rule of thumb here is if anon is involved it is sure to fail.

Ben Ali has fled the country.
PM Ghannouchi will replace Ben Ali until new elections are held.

I don't understand why it should be called a Wikileaks revolution.

reply to post by Manouche

Originally posted by Manouche
Ben Ali has fled the country.
PM Ghannouchi will replace Ben Ali until new elections are held.

I don't understand why it should be called a Wikileaks revolution.

I think the internet restrictions etc. where the proverbial straw that broke the camels back.

Saying that, it is only opinion. Link from the comments on the article:
hunchar.blogspot.com...

Originally posted by Manouche
Ben Ali has fled the country.
PM Ghannouchi will replace Ben Ali until new elections are held.

I don't understand why it should be called a Wikileaks revolution.

It is not a wikileaks revolution.. that is the title of the thread and under ats terms and conditions it is what i have to use.
It is the peoples revolution and no one elses. Wikileaks and anon were influencing factor among many others..

will pm ghannouchi be allowed to replace ben ali... time will tell...



kx

Tunisia had some major problems leading up to these protests. High unemployment, economic troubles, high food prices, government corruption, political repression - all this was well known before Wikileaks released any cables. The truth is that, contrary to what your article claims, the catalyst that started protests against the government was when a student set himself on fire on December 17.

Your sources seem quite biased in favour of Wikileaks... Searching for any tangible change or revolution that the cables supposedly have 'caused'. Tunisia is not one of these cases - the protests were not caused by Wikileaks information. They were associated with the growth (and censorship) of social networking through Facebook, Twitter, and Tunisian blogs that were able to spread dissent, coupled with all of the other factors above that have been accumulating for years.

Read the comments from your source in the OP, read this and this. Attributing this to Wikileaks vastly oversimplifies the matter, and gives Wikileaks undue credit.

reply to post by purplemer


I am critic of the article's title. I don't like it, it sounds like a taking over of the revolution.
The people took matters in their own hands and Wikileaks has little to do with it IMHO.

reply to post by pforkp

I am reporting on an aspect of the revolution... i have incorperated a 25 minute documentry on the subject too.
I was not saying the wikileaks caused the revolution but played a role along with anon which set up informtation nodules to allow the sharing of information... this did play an important role and utlilisied by thousands

kx

Originally posted by pforkp
The truth is that, contrary to what your article claims, the catalyst that started protests against the government was when a student set himself on fire on December 17.

Correct. It's also my understanding of the situation from what I have read of it during this last month.

Originally posted by Manouche
reply to post by purplemer

 

I am critic of the article's title. I don't like it, it sounds like a taking over of the revolution.
The people took matters in their own hands and Wikileaks has little to do with it IMHO.

News is reported from a view point. I will report from what i have seen. The revolution was the peoples!
There is two facets to a coin. The revolution did not just occur on the streets it occured on the internet too..

kx

reply to post by purplemer


I am not criticising your use of the title, I know ATS rules in Breaking News.
To me, the article largely inflates anon and Wikileaks influence in those events. It's no more a Wikileaks revolution than Moldova or Iran were Twitters revolutions. It's evidently not neutral and very politically motivated to push Wikileaks here.

The key to this revolution was the ability for the public to communicate amongst themselves. Without communication, there can be no organization. Their government knew this which explains the attempted shutdown/censoring of internet access.

I hope the Tunisians are able to raise their standard of living through this revolution.

It might be a good idea to keep in mind that (as far as I know, anyway) Wikileaks are not claiming to be catalysts in this and I hope things stay that way, as their influence on the revolution seems tenuous, albeit noticeable and definitely worth a mention. Personally, I think it would be a good PR move for Wikileaks to release a press release deflecting all misplaced credit to the good people of Tunisia.

Originally posted by Manouche
reply to post by purplemer

 

I am not criticising your use of the title, I know ATS rules in Breaking News.
To me, the article largely inflates anon and Wikileaks influence in those events. It's no more a Wikileaks revolution than Moldova or Iran were Twitters revolutions.

yes i agree with you....

kx