Ammar404 Scared

Here is the story of the Day Against Censorship in Tunisia told by tunisians. For those who still don’t know who is this Ammar guy… It’s an imaginary person tunisians invented as a metaphor for the invisible censor blocking their access to many website.. 404 is the error you get on your screen if you try to access “illegal” content in tunisia.

At least in other countries you get a message informing you that the website you are trying to access has been filtered, no such courtesy in Ben Ali’s Tunisia. By the way, this video produced by tunisian activist is on vimeo because youtube, dailymotion among others are blocked.

It is also worthwhile to consider this success within the regional context; as Egypt had its April 6 strike pushed mainly by online activists, Tunisia had its #manif22mai protest movement. The lesson to draw is that online activism is a force to reckon with in ways many classical political groups have failed to cease upon. In other words, it would be premature to discount online dissent as the stuff of posh kids with a fast Internet connection.

One can only wonder why some so-called western “liberals” would write for years such incongruous nonsense about a dictatorship that is afraid of young citizens wearing white t-shirts and peacefully demanding their freedom of speech.
Go figure ..

Ps. lesson to meditate: the activists followed all the legal procedures to lawfully request a permit to organize a vigil. it was denied.