“Jasmine Revolution”
Symbol of peace: Flowers placed on the barrel of a tank
in very much calmer protests than in recent days in Tunisia

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011
Mannoubia Bouazizi, the mother of Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi. "Mohammed suffered a lot. He worked hard. but when he set fire to himself, it wasn’t about his scales being confiscated. It was about his dignity." (Peter Hapak for TIME)

1 - TUNISIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


How eyepatches became a symbol of Egypt's revolution - Graffiti depicting a high ranking army officer with an eye patch Photograph: Nasser Nasser/ASSOCIATED PRESS

2 - EGYPT Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


''17 February Revolution"

3 - LIBYA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

5 - SYRIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

"25 January Youth Revolution"
Muslim and Christian shoulder-to-shoulder in Tahrir Square
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -
(Subjects: Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" (without a manager hierarchy) managed Businesses, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)
"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)
(Subjects:Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

"If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening."


“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."



African Union (AU)

African Union (AU)
African Heads of State pose for a group photo ahead of the start of the 28th African Union summit in Addis Ababa on January 30, 2017 (AFP Photo/ Zacharias ABUBEKER)

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela
Few words can describe Nelson Mandela, so we let him speak for himself. Happy birthday, Madiba.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Press freedom is under pressure in Tunisia

Deutsche Welle, 18 october 2012




Journalists in Tunisia have gone on strike for the first time since the country won its independence. They accuse the government of restricting freedom of speech. Is press freedom in danger after the revolution?

Several hundred journalists rallied outside their union's headquarters in Tunis earlier this week, chanting "Freedom for Tunisia's press." Union members from abroad as well as Tunisian opposition politicians also turned out to support the activists.

The nationwide strike dominates the talk on radio and television, and the banner of the national journalist union, SNJT, can be clearly seen on numerous websites.

Fear of returning to former practices

More than 90 percent of Tunisian journalists have joined the strike, according to the journalists' union.

A poster in Tunis calls for press
 freedom
The journalists accuse the government of trying to bring the media under its control.

"Press freedom is the most important achievement of the January 14 revolution and now it's at risk," said SNJT member Zied El Heni, who fears a return to the practices of the Ben Ali government.

Following the revolution that took place on January 14, 2011, the former propaganda media of the Ben Ali regime were supposed to become independent newspapers and broadcasters. But the government, under the leadership of the conservative Islamic Ennahda party voted into power a year ago, has replaced the heads of the broadcasters and former state-run press organizations in recent months.

The new directors, journalists argue, are friendly to the Ennahda party or to the former regime and intervene directly in programs and press coverage. Such intervention is illegal under Tunisia's new press laws, which were drafted shortly after the revolution.

New media laws

Heni accuses the government coalition of trying to control the media through the new directors. "They want to return to the days when there was only one way to report and only one way to think," he said.

Nizar Dridi is one of seven journalists
on a hunger strike
In addition to replacing the new directors and applying the new laws, the journalists' union demands a clear separation between editorial staff and management.

At the Dar Assabah newspaper company, which publishes two of Tunisia's biggest papers, some of the journalists have been on strike for more than 50 days.

Journalists accuse Lotfi Touati, who was appointed by the government as the publisher's new director, of censoring their work. They point out that Touati worked in the notorious Ministry of the Interior in the Ben Ali regime and view him as the instigator of a coup against the leadership of the journalist union.

Earlier this month, seven journalists went on a hunger strike.

"We began the strike after we exhausted all other peaceful ways of protest," said Nizar Dridi, one of the activists. "We demand the resignation of the new director who meddles in editorial operations. We want to be able to work independently."

In their first round of negotiations, the Tunisian UGTT trade union federation and the government failed to reach an agreement.

130 attacks on journalists' freedom

Even if working conditions for journalists in Tunisia have improved since the revolution, the press continues to be confronted daily with various obstacles. Since the beginning of the year, the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders has registered 130 attacks on journalists' freedom, including censorship by their own directors and attacks by police.

That's why it's important for journalists to keep drawing attention to their situation, argues Belhassen Handous from Tunisia's Bureau of Organization. "The strike comes at the right time," he said.

Handous calls for the new media laws, which have been in limbo for nearly year, to be applied. "Even though the laws may need to be revised in some points, we need a legal framework because only that can guarantee freedom of opinion," he said.

The Tunisian government has meanwhile responded to the strike, saying in a statement that the hard-fought press laws should be applied immediately. The laws call for, among other things, the establishment of an independent regulator for audiovisual media.

In addition, journalists are no longer subject to the penal code. In the past, they were frequently convicted of violating public policy.

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