Tunisia:  Insurrection or Revolution?

After reading the article “Washington faces the anger of the Tunisian people” by Thierry Meyssan, who claimed that the insurrection in Tunisia has not yet become a revolution, I was inspired to explore his arguments.  His major revelations are as follows.  First of all, Tunisia serves as a military base for the so-called “war on terror” operations.  The ports in Tunis are crucial for controlling the Mediterranean region by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).  Secondly, the international mainstream media, adherents and supporters to the schemes of western powers, have focused their reporting on the dictator and tyrant Ben Ali now that the insurrection has started even though they were fully aware of his repressive regime for the past 23 years and remained silent.  The media’s role is to circumvent the insurrection by focusing the people’s attention on the regressive, repressive, and suppressive regime of Ben Ali.  This intensive media campaign will keep those revolutionary minds off the ideas of “democracy” and all those other “destabilizing” ideas (see Noam Chomsky).  Let them not talk about how Washington recruited Ben Ali, sat back, and watched as he imprisoned, condemned, and tortured any opposition and absolutely destroyed the Tunisian economy with the help of his wife and her family.  And finally, there is a foreign policy rule that must not be violated.  That is, Washington dislikes and will not tolerate political upheavals that interfere with their plans.  Tunisia is not an exception. 

According to Meyssan, Ben Ali’s regime was fully supported by the United States, Israel, France, and Italy.  It seems that the thing feared most by Washington is the possibility of the insurrection turning into a real revolution.  Ben Ali, having been groomed by the CIA for his position as President of Tunisia, continued a 23 year pattern of cooperation with Washington.  The Pentagon always had a back-up plan in case of Ben Ali’s disobedience or death.  There exists, today, other potential leaders of Tunisia, groomed in America and waiting on the sidelines to take over. 

Furthermore, according to Meyssan, on January 13, 2010 Ben Ali ordered his police to fire into the crowds of protestors.  The head of the military, Rachid Ammar, had already received orders from Washington telling their agent Ben Ali to leave the country.  This information shows how the western powers along with their media had a crucial hand in manipulating the ouster of their agent Ben Ali.  However, the surprise of his quick downfall is now explained by the behind the scenes activity of Washington which apparently has plenty of blood on its hands.  So, now we know that it was Washington’s foreign policy that directly caused the miserable life Tunisians were suffering under Ben Ali.  Washington is just as guilty of causing the burning suicide of the now martyred Mohamed Bouazizi and all the recent atrocities by police shooting real bullets into the bodies of unarmed protestors as their “agent” Ben Ali.  President Obama said that “We (Americans) were with the people of Tunisia.”   Hmmmm..!!!!!??????

I think what surprised Washington was the extent of the anger the severely suppressed Tunisian people displayed with their insurrection.  Ben Ali had gone too far in engendering the wrath of his people because he looted the National Treasury to the detriment of the economy while ignoring the dire poverty of the working class.  His arrogance obscured his judgement, thinking he had carte blanche to steal, starve, torture, and kill at will.  Moreover, the people are not fooled by the Ghannouchi government.  It is so apparent that it promises more of the same oppression.  All of Washington’s manipulations to calm the insurrection by their operatives inserting meaningless slogans into the so-called “jasmine revolution” don’t seem to be working.  The Tunisians seem to be on a path of real “political revolution” toward the dreaded (by the west) goal of “democracy.”  Washington and all the western powers can never accept rule by the people in the Third World.  Washington must rule North Africa and the Middle East by installing their fully trained dictators.  It remains to be seen how Washington will apply its rule (dealing with political insurrections that obstruct their agenda) to this potential revolution.  Somewhere I read that the hardest people to colonize and control are those that are educated and poor.  They may be poor and starving, but, they know who their enemies are.

1)      “Washington faces the anger of the Tunisian people” by Thierry Meyssan

2)      For information on the “rule”, read Noam Chomsky’s “Security and Control l”, posted Thursday, September 16, 2010.

Copyright: © Ella Russell