http://www.thivest.com/?page=31

Exactly one year ago, a university-educated Tunisian, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in the provincial city Sidi Bouzid, after police confiscated his unlicensed fruit and vegetable cart because he refused to pay bribes to three council inspectors. Bouazizi was 26 years old and supported eight people on $150 a month. His hope had been to trade up from a wheelbarrow to a pick-up truck. Because Bouazizi refused to pay the bribes, his cart was seized and he was beaten. After he was not granted an audience with the governor, Bouazizi poured a can of fuel over himself and set himself on fire. He was taken to the hospital with burns over 90 percent of his body and died on January 5.
On December 17, 2011 — a year in which the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, was ousted and tried in a cage as global audiences watched; in which Libya’s long-time dictator Muammar el-Gaddafi was deposed and killed; in which the President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, finally agreed to a transition of power after 30 years; in which a popular uprising has persisted in the wake of a bloody crackdown in Syria – Tunisians unveiled a statue of Bouazizi. As Moncef Marzouki, an activist who became Tunisia’s president last week after the country’s first democratic vote, was quoted by Al Jazeera:

“Sidi Bouzid, which has suffered from marginalisation, restored the dignity of all Tunisians. We have pledged to restore the joy of life to these areas.”

Al Jazeera reports that tens of thousands rallied and danced in Sidi Bouzid’s main square; streets were adorned with photographs of Tunisians killed in the popular revolution that, a month after Bouazizi’s self-immolation, led to the ouster of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years in power. Celebrations will continue through the weekend and include Nobel Peace Prize-winning Yemeni opposition activist Tawakkol Karman, among other international figures.

Economic and Social Challenges Remain

But while the revolution has brought democratic freedoms, poverty and joblessness remain the reality for the vast majority of Tunisians. Unemployment was at 13 percent at the end of 2010 and is now at 18.3 percent and even higher for young people. The revolution has actually set Tunisia’s economy back as tourists and foreign investors have stayed away, says Al Jazeera:...... more
http://www.thivest.com/?page=31