My country, Tunisia: ‘For years, the regime kept up appearances’ - The Star.Com

Blogger Lina Ben Mhenni posted pictures of the corpses of people killed in the lead up to the revolution. She is a teacher at the University of Tunis and a contributor to Global Voices, an online blogging communityLina Ben Mhenni, 27, is a blogger and teacher at the University of Tunis. She is also a contributor to Global Voices, an online blogging community.

JIM RANKIN/TORONTO STAR

   Lina Ben MhenniSpecial to the Star

When Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire on Dec. 17 last year, I was living in the house of a friend who works as a lawyer. Together, we began following the uprisings sparked by his death, verifying information and sharing it with others.

She and I took part in the first demonstration in Tunis in support of the inhabitants of Sidi Bouzid, where Bouazizi lived, and all the protests that followed. She helped me find out about support activities organized by lawyers.

We spent days and nights in front of our computer screens — reading, writing and uploading photos and videos. After that I had the opportunity to travel to Sidi Bouzid, Regueb and Kasserine. I have been subjected to tear gas and soldiers’ fire. I have met the families whose children were fatally shot by police, interviewing them and taking pictures of the dead.

I’ll never forget the feelings I had when I entered the house of Nizar Slimi, who died in Regueb, 38 kilometres from Sidi Bouzid. It was the first time that I had entered the house of a martyr. The images of his crying family and of his body are etched in my memory. The things I saw in Kasserine, too, will always be with me.

On Jan. 11, I went back to Tunis and continued to cover what was happening in the capital and in the poor suburbs. On Jan. 13, I was disgusted by the president’s speech and by the reaction of his supporters, who forgot the martyrs and took to the streets crying, “Long live Ben Ali.” I spent the whole night crying, worried about the fate of the revolution.

But the following day, I was heartened when Tunisians took to the streets and, referring to the president, cried out “Dégage!” — “Get out!” I was outside the interior ministry with thousands of demonstrators of different political persuasions, beliefs, genders and ages. All Tunisia was there.

I was with the man I love most on Earth, my father, who educated me and was behind my activism. And with my mother, who gave birth to me twice — once on May 22, 1983, and later when she offered me a kidney after mine had failed.

That day our happiness was big when we learned the dictator escaped. A new era started.

The Tunisian revolution started a few years ago. In 2008 a huge social movement against corruption and unemployment started in the mining basin in the south of the country. People protested for many days. But the government succeeded in controlling the upheaval by imposing a media blackout on the events and arresting the movement’s leaders. Later, small uprisings occurred in other regions, but the authorities always succeeded in nipping them in the bud by deploying police and using violence.

Anger among Tunisians grew with successive acts of repression on the part of the regime. The injustice affected all social classes. This is why the self-immolation by fire of Mohamed Bouazizi triggered the wave of protests, which ended with the escape of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

For years, the Tunisian regime kept up appearances. The government spent huge sums of money to improve the reputation of Tunisia all over the world. The country appeared as a model of economic success. The level of freedom and the status of women seemed good, too.

But the reality was different. And when Bouazizi set his body on fire as a gesture of despair, protest spread throughout Tunisia. From social and economic demands, the slogans turned to political demands.

While some people protested on the ground, others conducted their struggle on the Internet. I belong to this latter category. I have been a blogger since 2007. I have always struggled against censorship and fought for human rights.

Young people were the most active agents of this revolution. Today, we young Tunisians face great challenges. The dictator may have left, but the situation is not clear, as forces of the counter-revolution are still here, trying to spread disorder and violence everywhere.

We young people fulfilled the “Yes we can!” But now we must continue the fight for true democracy in our country.

Lina Ben Mhenni, 27, is a blogger and teacher at the University of Tunis. She is also a contributor to Global Voices, an online blogging community that shares and translates posts from around the world. Ben Mhenni, who took pictures of corpses of Tunisians slain in the lead up to the revolution and posted them to her blog, A Tunisian Girl, was recently named by The Daily Beast as one of the bravest bloggers in the world.