French photographer ‘murdered’ in Tunisia
p2pnet view P2P | Freedom:- Lucas Mebrouk Dolega, working for the European Press Photo Agency (EPA), has died in Tunis’ Rabta hospital from head injuries sustained on January 14 when police are said to have “deliberately fired a tear gas grenade at him” during the Tunisia protests, says Reporters Without Borders.
“I think it was a crime, a real murder”, it has EPA spokesman Horacio Villalobos declaring.
Dolega, 32, the first French photographer to die in the line of duty since 1985, was also the first foreign journalist to be killed in Tunisia, says the story.
“According to the victim’s colleague Julien Muguet the grenade was fired at point blank range and hit the journalist in the face, destroying one of his eyes and causing a critical head injury”, says Expatica.com.
Spreading the word
Dolega’s death is quite properly generating headlines while what’s possibly the most significant aspect of the uprisings in Tunisia has been missed by many (most?) of the mainstream media.
Slim Amamou, one of the pro-democracy bloggers, many of them of the Anonymous persuasion, who used the net to spread the word about the atrocities occurring in his country, has been named as the new secretary of state for youth and sports.
He and Aziz Amami were arrested, allegedly because they were part of the concerted action to take down government sites.
“Hundred of thousand of computers are curently attacking the Tunisian gov web sites with the LOIC cannon since more than a week now”, says a p2pnet Reader’s Write.
“Since more than a week the gov web sites are down.”
The LOIC cannon, short for Low Orbit Ion Cannon, first made its appearance as the weapon of choice for Anonymous protesters in Operation Payback organised by Anon activists, protesting attacks against WikiLeaks and freedom of speech.
It was used to take down web sites owned by the likes of eBay’s PayPal, the RIAA and MPAA and, recently, the site run by the Zimbabwe government, and now the former government of Tunisia.
Cabinet posts
RFI lists the names of some of the other members of the new Tunisian cabinet >>>
- Prime Minister: Made a member of cabinet when Ben Ali came to power in 1987, 69-year-old Mohammed Ghannouchi served as minister for finance and minister for international cooperation and investment. He was appointed Prime Minister in November 1999.
- Foreign Minister: Another member of Ben Ali’s Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) to stay in government, Kamal Morjane has been reappointed to his previous role.
- Interior Minister: Originally appointed last week as Ben Ali tried to appease the protest movement, Ahmed Friaa will retain his role in the new administration
- Finance Minister Mohamed Jegham and Defence Minister Ridha Grira are two other key RCD members that stay in their posts.
- Key opposition leaders and independents appointed to government:
- Health Minister: A doctor by profession, 70-year-old Mustafa Ben Jaafar is secretary-general of the Democratic Forum for Work and Liberties.
- Education Minister: A 65-year-old retired French teacher, Ahmad Ibrahim is secretary-general of Ettajdid, a leftist movement that grew out of the Communist Party.
- Minister of Local Development: The founder of the biggest legalised opposition party, the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), 66-year-old lawyer Nejib Chebbi went on hunger strike in the past to protest against Ben Ali’s regime.
- Two women have been appointed to the cabinet. Moufida Tlatli will be the Culture Minister and Lilia Labidi will become Minister for Women’s Affairs.
Other appointments >>>
- Minister of Justice: Lazhar Karoui Chebbi
- Minister for Religious Affairs: Larbi Mizouri
- Minister of Education: Taieb Baccouche
- Minister for Social Affairs: Moncer Rouissi
- Minister for Agriculture and Environment: Habib M’barek
Stay tuned.
Reporters Without Borders – French photographer dies from injury sustained on day of Ben Ali’s departure, January 18, 2011
Expatica.com - Franco-German photographer injured in Tunis dead, January 17, 2011
secretary of state – Blogger Slim Amamou: new Tunisian minister, January 18, 2011
RFI – An eclectic mix in Tunisia’s transitional government, January 18, 2011
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
World War III will be a global information war with no division between civilian & military participation ~ Marshall McLuhan
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January 19th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
Anonymous is the first internet-based superconsciousness. Anonymous is a group, in the sense that a flock of birds is a group. How do you know they’re a group? Because they’re travelling in the same direction. At any given moment, more birds could join, leave, peel off in another direction entirely.
January 19th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Tunisian Protesters Push for Interim Government Ouster
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Hundreds-Demonstrate-in-Tunisian-Capital-114196574.html
Tunisia’s fledgling interim government struggled to remain afloat Wednesday as demonstrators again took to the streets of Tunis calling for its ouster.
Hundreds of angry Tunisians protested for a sixth straight day in downtown Tunis, demanding all members of the old ruling establishment out of politics altogether.
“RCD degage!” the protesters chanted — calling on the RCD party, which has retained an iron grip on power for more than half a century be banned and dismantled.
Days of protests succeeded in chasing Tunisia’s strongman president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali from the country. Now the future of the interim government appears uncertain after at least four opposition ministers quit on Tuesday.
Interim Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi has promised a number of reforms including on human rights and free press. He and Interim President Fouad Mebazaa have quit the RCD party.
While a number of Tunisians interviewed in recent days are willing to give this interim government a chance — protesters like 54-year-old Habib want it out — and every vestige of Tunisia’s political past dismantled. “We don’t want to have people from the old party, the old government in the new…government,” he said. “Those people who are in the new government are just cheating us.”
Tunisians on the street also warned against foreign interference in their revolt, and criticized France and the United States in particular, for supporting the pro-Western Ben Ali regime in the past.
We have no confidence in America, one woman shouted. They said nothing against the abuses during Ben Ali’s regime, so they should keep their mouths shut now. We won’t listen to what the US says — or France, or Europe.
The United States, France and the European Union have issued messages of support for the Tunisian people and called for free and fair elections and democracy in this North African country.