Book of the Month

Tunisia is no longer a revolutionary poster-child

by artappraiser 2/8/2013 - 2:40 am

By Rachel Shabi, Comment is Free @ guardian.com, Feb. 7, 2013

Amid the shock and grief at a terrible murder, there is an angry accusation. When forthright opposition leader Chokri Belaid was gunned down in broad daylight outside his home in Tunis --[that happened Wednesday morning]--, furious protesters marched on the offices around the country of the ruling Ennahda party. Belaid's brother, Abdel Majid, accused the Islamist party – which dominates the three-way coalition government – of the murder. Ennahda has denounced the assassination. Chillingly, Belaid, a secularist and vocal critic of Ennahda, warned of the rise of political violence when he appeared on Tunisian TV the night before he was killed.

Tension has been building, then, within a revolution that is too often billed a success story [....]  One such problem is the escalating political violence in Tunisia in the past year. A report just released by Human Rights Watch cites attacks on activists, journalists, intellectual and political figures – all the incidents apparently "motivated by a religious agenda".

Others have worried that the perpetrators of attacks on secular figures are not pursued rigorously by the coalition, thereby encouraging more of them. There's concern that Ennahda has failed to act on verbal and physical attacks [....]

Read the full article at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/07/tunisia-no-longer-revolutionary-poster-child

Tunisian government 'dissolved' after opposition leader killed – as it happened

Guardian.co.uk, Feb. 7, 2013

• Interim cabinet to restore calm before early elections
• Police battle protesters two years after Jasmine Revolution
• Fierce fighting in Damascus as Syrian opposition to meet
• Muslim summit calls for negotiated end to Syrian war
Read the latest summary

 

by artappraiser 2/8/2013 - 2:48 am

Violent tide of Salafism threatens the Arab spring
A series of repressive dictatorships have been brought down in north Africa, but the ensuing struggles for power have left a vacuum that has allowed the rise of an extremist movement that is gathering both force and supporters

By Angelique Chrisafis, Patrick Kingsley and Peter Beaumont, The Observer, 9 Feb. 2013 

[....] The Salafist component in Tunisia remains a small minority, but it has prompted rows and mistrust among secularists and moderate Islamists. The Salafists are spread between three broad groups: new small political movements that have formed in recent months; non-violent Salafis; and violent Salafists and jihadists who, though small in number, have had a major impact in terms of violent attacks, arson on historic shrines or mausoleums considered to be unorthodox, demonstrations against art events – such as the violence at last summer's Tunis Arts Spring show, which was seen to be profane – and isolated incidents of attacking premises that sell alcohol outside Tunis.

It is not only in Tunisia. In Egypt, Libya and Syria, concern is mounting about the emergence of violent fringe groups whose influence has already been felt out of all proportion to their size. [....]

by artappraiser 2/10/2013 - 1:01 am

In Egypt, Father Mubarak and now her brothers?

by Resistance 2/10/2013 - 2:37 am

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