新聞取自各大新聞媒體,新聞內容並不代表本網立場! 收件箱 : bangtai.us@gmail.com 突尼西亚总统流亡 维基解密促成首起革命 2011年1月16日联合报编译田思怡报道:
一个月前,一个水果摊被抄,竟导致铁腕统治突尼西亚廿三年的总统班阿里仓皇流亡海外。这堪称是阿拉伯世界近代第一场人民革命,称为“茉莉花(国花) 革命”,也可说是爆料网站“维基解密”促成的第一起革命。年轻人透过社群网站和手机串连上街示威,突破政府箝制的媒体,让邻近的阿拉伯专制政权都“锉咧等”。
这场人民革命的起因是一名水果摊贩的自杀事件。一名受过教育的廿六岁失业青年去年 12 月中在路旁摆水果摊,警察以无照摆摊为由,没收他的蔬菜和水果,他愤而自焚,并引发模仿他的自杀潮。水果摊贩自焚的消息透过 Facebook 等社交网站和手机快速传播,让原已对居高不下的失业率和粮价不满的民怨更深。
这时维基解密网站扮演关键角色,该网站去年 12 月揭露 2009 年 6 月的美国外交电文,指班阿里家族与一名黑道老大连手掌控突尼西亚经济,并指第一夫人兴建贵族学校获得巨额利益。
这些电文揭开突国统治菁英贪腐的面纱。另一封电文详述第一家庭如何被人民厌恶。美国驻突国大使葛戴克写道:“掌权小圈圈内的贪腐日益严重,连一般老百姓都注意到,民怨四起。”
在几周内,这些电文内容经口耳相传和社群网站传播,最终让民众走上街头,演变为人民革命。突尼斯大学地质系教授马奈表示:“一个月前,我们压根儿不相信革命会成功,但是人民终于站起来了。”
尽管班阿里在最后关头承诺改革、解散内阁、半年内改选国会,并不再连任,但愤怒的群众仍在首都突尼斯暴动,要他下台。政府表示至少 23 人在三周的暴动中丧生,但反对阵营估计死亡人数是三倍多。班阿里仓皇出走,长期盟友法国表示不欢迎,后来是沙乌地阿拉伯同意收留班阿里全家。
推翻独裁者 突尼西亚人民起义
2011年1月16日自由时报编译罗彦杰综合15日外电报道:
北非国家突尼西亚的独裁总统宾阿里,因失业率飙高与涉贪引发庞大民怨与长达一个月的街头抗议活动后,14 日仓皇流亡海外,结束其长达 23 年的铁腕统治,这也是现代阿拉伯世界史上,首度有政权因群众示威而垮台。国会下院议长米巴萨依宪法 15 日宣誓就任临时总统,并随即要求总理甘诺奇筹组联合政府。但突国情势并未因此缓和,首都突尼斯枪声不断,暴力有恶化趋势。
阿拉伯世界现代史首次人民革命
沙乌地阿拉伯国王阿布杜拉的王宫 15 日清晨证实,宾阿里及其家人的专机已降落沙国,阿布杜拉表示欢迎,并祝福“突尼西亚人民恢复和平与安全”。宾阿里和家人暂时在吉达一处王宫落脚,这座沙国用来招待来访国家元首贵宾的王宫,外面有士兵戒备,严格禁止任何人打扰。
当宾阿里流亡时,长期效忠他的总理甘诺奇很快接掌政权,担任临时总统。因此外界猜测宾阿里有可能东山再起。不过,突国宪法法院 15 日宣布,宾阿里再也无法复职,由国会下议院议长米巴萨暂代职权,米巴萨最多有 60 天可以筹办新选举。
宾阿里流亡后,群众仍纵火烧突尼斯的火车总站,并劫掠商家。15 日上午都还听得到枪响,市郊的居民也打电话叩应公共电视台,详述暴徒如何持刀攻击他们的房子。内政部外有军警和不明枪手爆发枪战,街上有枪手乘车随意开枪攻击。军方高层人士说,这些枪手可能是支持宾阿里的势力所鼓动。
此外,突国有两间监狱 15 日发生大火,这是因为受刑人想趁乱集体越狱,至少 42 名囚犯被活活烧死或缺氧窒息而死。
突国动乱令成千上万外国人士急着离开,单是英国游客就有三千人;他们在突国民航局宣布重新开放所有机场和领空后,纷纷涌向机场等候班机。
年轻人五成失业率 动乱源头
这次的示威源头,就是一名受过高等教育却失业的 26 岁青年,因为无照摆摊卖蔬果却遭警方没收,于去年 12 月中旬自焚。由于突国失业率高达14%,年轻族群失业率甚至高达52%,这起事件挑动了集体民怨,最后化为如野火燎原般的暴动。宾阿里 13 日晚间上电视承诺不竞选连任,并调降糖、面包与牛奶等民生物资价格,试图力挽狂澜,最后仍告失败。
事实上,宾阿里在提升国家竞争力与招商等方面的政绩,胜过其他许多中东国家。虽然突尼西亚缺乏公民权的保障,也无言论自由,但生活品质比起阿尔及利亚与利比亚邻国已算差强人意。
维基解密爆第一家庭贪腐 推高民怨
此外,这次的民间示威能够一气呵成,也被归因与“维基解密”网站公布的美国大使馆外交电文揭开第一家庭贪腐内幕有关。大使馆 2009 年 6 月所发、去年 12 月公开的一份电文,指称宾阿里及其兄弟手足与掌管该国经济的一名黑道份子勾结。该电文也宣称宾阿里的妻子靠兴建贵族学校牟取暴利。另一份详述第一家庭卑鄙伎俩的电文,则遭到当局封锁。短短数周内,这些耳语让愤怒的群众走上街头,进而促成十四日的革命。
前宗主国法国总统萨科兹办公室表示,已经采取行动冻结突尼西亚在法国的可疑资产。美国总统欧巴马则对突国人民的勇气表示敬意。 纽约时报:图尼西亚, 第一个被互联网推翻的腐败政权 2011-01-16 明泉 转/ Cables From American Diplomats Portray U.S. Ambivalence on Tunisia By SCOTT SHANE Published: January 15, 2011
Cables from American diplomats in Tunisia portray a deepening ambivalence toward the rule of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, expressing alarm about popular resentment of the blatant corruption of the country’s first family but also gratitude for Mr. Ben Ali’s cooperation against terrorism and the stability he long imposed. Related Documents
In Tunisia, Clashes Continue as Power Shifts a Second Time (January 16, 2011) Week in Review: In Peril: The Arab Status Quo (January 16, 2011) Those cables, from the cache obtained by the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks and made public in recent weeks, helped fuel the anger on the streets that culminated Friday with Mr. Ben Ali’s flight after 23 years in power. Posted on a site created last month called TuniLeaks, the diplomats’ disgusted and lurid accounts of the kleptocratic ways of the president’s extended family helped tip the scales, according to many Tunisian commentators.
“What’s Yours Is Mine” was the wry title of a June 2008 cable reporting the brazen habits of the president’s clan.
“Corruption in Tunisia is getting worse,” the cable said. “Whether it’s cash, services, land, property, or yes, even your yacht, President Ben Ali’s family is rumored to covet it and reportedly gets what it wants,” the cable said, reporting that two nephews of Mr. Ben Ali’s had seized the yacht of a French businessman in 2006.
While the cable recounted routine demands for bribes by low-ranking government workers (the cost of a traffic stop, one Tunisian said, was up from 20 dinars to 40 or 50, or about $28 to $34), it said the flagrant thievery at the highest levels was most worrisome.
“Although the petty corruption rankles, it is the excesses of President Ben Ali’s family that inspire outrage among Tunisians,” the cable said. “With Tunisians facing rising inflation and high unemployment, the conspicuous displays of wealth and persistent rumors of corruption have added fuel to the fire.”
Another cable, from July 2009, reported a “lavish” dinner of the American ambassador, Robert F. Godec, with Mr. Ben Ali’s son-in- law, Mohamed Sakher el-Materi, in his beachfront home in Hammamet. There was “staff everywhere” and “ancient artifacts everywhere: Roman columns, frescoes and even a lion’s head from which water pours into the pool,” the cable said. The dinner included a dozen dishes, including ice cream and yogurt flown in from St. Tropez on the French Riviera.
“El Materi has a large tiger (‘Pasha’) on his compound, living in a cage,” the ambassador reported. “He acquired it when it was a few weeks old. The tiger consumes four chickens a day. (Comment: The situation reminded the ambassador of Uday Hussein’s lion cage in Baghdad.),” the cable added, referring to a son of Saddam Hussein.
The ambassador called the opulence of the evening “over the top,” saying that his hosts’ “behavior make clear why they and other members of Ben Ali’s family are disliked and even hated by some Tunisians.”
“The excesses of the Ben Ali family are growing,” he added.
Some cables report how the “quasi mafia” of the country’s ruling family muscled its way into the management of Tunisia’s most profitable bank and how Mr. Ben Ali demanded a 50 percent share of a private university.
Others, however, make it clear just how much United States officials, preoccupied with the threat of terrorism in many other Muslim countries, valued Mr. Ben Ali’s cooperation and ability to maintain order.
An upbeat August 2008 cable giving Condoleezza Rice, then the secretary of state, a survey of Tunisia before a visit reported that “Tunisia styles itself ‘a country that works’ .” The writer added, “While Tunisians grumble privately about corruption by the first lady’s family, there is an abiding appreciation for Ben Ali’s success in steering his country clear of the instability and violence that have plagued Tunisia’s neighbors.”
The cable reported not only Tunisia’s successes against terrorists but also its progressive social ways, calling it “a model for the region on women’s rights.”
Tunisian activists associated with the independent blog Nawaat.org (the core, in Arabic) created the TuniLeaks site on Nov. 28, the same day WikiLeaks, along with The New York Times and other news organizations, began posting the first of 251,287 confidential diplomatic cables the organization had obtained.
The Tunisian government subsequently tried to block access to the site, but the striking details of the cables circulated on Tunisian Web sites, adding to the ferment against Mr. Ben Ali.
On its Twitter feed, WikiLeaks has highlighted reports of its reported role in encouraging the Tunisian uprising. Foreign Policy magazine tagged the end of Mr. Ben Ali’s rule “the first WikiLeaks revolution,” and while that may be an overstatement, the cables’ role in what President Obama lauded Friday as “this brave and determined struggle for the universal rights” underscores the awkward dilemma the WikiLeaks cables have posed for the administration.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has been pressing an “Internet Freedom” initiative, emphasizing the power of the Web to expose injustice and promote democracy. But at the same time, the Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation of WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, including using subpoenas to try to obtain the private Internet activity, credit card numbers and bank account details of Mr. Assange and his associates.
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