Tunisia: A Warning to Corrupt Muslim Rulers

The collapse of the 23-year dictatorship, the first ever collapse of an Arab leader to a "people power" uprising rocked the world. President Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali described as a staunched Western supporter fled out of the country. Massive unemployment, media censorship, denial of access to information specifically internet and the grave corruption by the Head of state prompted the riot. They start off after, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself ablaze on December 17 in remonstration, a young graduate who sold fruits and vegetables as a livelihood, his cart confiscated for his failure to secure proper license. He eventually died an agonising death on January 5. Like Tunisia, similar protest over unemployment and food prices have also conked out in Jordan, Algeria and even Saudi Arabia in the past weeks, all countries with an elevated percentage of young people, majority are well-educated but unemployed.'

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