tunisian troubles

The BBC reports one person has been killed in fresh unrest over unemployment in Tunisia. The protests erupted last month over a lack of freedom and jobs. A series of demonstrations began after a man set fire to himself on 17 December in the central Sidi Bouzid region to protest against the police confiscating fruit and vegetables that he was selling without a permit.

This is not the first time that Ben Ali, the dictator of Tunisia, faced street anger over joblessness and economic misery during his 24-year reign, but the recent protests are by far the most serious challenge to his rule. About three years ago, in January 2008, his security apparatus crushed protesters in the southern mining town of Redhayef when workers and young people protested wages and unemployment. Tunisia ignores basic human rights, shows no respect for the dignity of its citizens and does not tolerate any signs of dissent. The Guardian's web site indicate that the US considers Tunisia to be a police state "with little freedom of expression or association, and serious human rights problems," and the Ben Ali family as a "quasi mafia." http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/217138

Tunisia's national unemployment rate, which understates the true unemployment situation, stands at 14 percent. However, the youth unemployment rate (applying to Tunisians between 15 and 24 years old) is at 31 percent.

The income share of the top 10 percent is approximately 32 percent, and the top 20 percent of the population controls 47 percent of Tunisia's income. Tunisia's inequality is so severe that the bottom 60 percent of the population earns only 30 percent of the country's income (the top 40 percent take home 70 percent).

The International Monetary Fund describes the government management of the economy and the uneven economic growth which benefited mainly northern and coastal cities while marginalizing the interior of the country as "prudent macroeconomic management."

The Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom labels the country as a "mostly unfree" nation marginally close to being repressed - its lowest score. Transparency International ranks Tunisia among its seriously corrupt nations with a score of 4.3 on a scale of one to ten (where one is most corrupt and ten is free of corruption). According to the Freedom House Index, Tunisia is considered "not free"

The Tunisian dictator and his family are touted by Western governments as an example of a stable and progressive North African Muslim nation. The IMF hails their neoliberal economic policies are hailed as prudent and wise, yet these policies primarily benefited Ben Ali's family and that of his wife, in addition to other well-connected wealthy Tunisians. The president's son-in-law purchased a 17 percent share of a bank just before it was to be privatized and then sold the shares at a premium.

The Tunisian government is an important ally for the US. A United Nations report on secret detention practices found that Tunisia is home to secret detention facilities where prisoners are held without International Red Cross access.

There have been similar protests in over jobs and food in neighbouring Algeria. Two people have been killed and hundreds wounded during riots in several Algerian regions in recent days.