In This Part Of The Essay, Tunisia And Libya Are Discussed

In the past, freedom was not being persecuted for having different opinions and it was a new start, where everyone is equal. Freedom wasn’t in most parts of the world; in fact Freedom House showed the statistic of the freedom of the press from 1987 and 2014 and in 1987 fifty-seven percent of the worlds freedom of the press wasn’t free and in 2014 only thirty-two percent of the press wasn’t free. This show that people are learning the importance of freedom

Libya’s transition to a democracy will involve many steps, considering its current lack of any centralized government. A multidimensional approach including peacekeeping, nation building, and developmental assistance is likely to have the most success in repairing Libya’s government. Through close monitoring, the Libyan government could be a functioning democracy in as little as five years.

He says, “The classical liberal conceptions of free speech and free press may not be enough to produce a fully informed electorate or to redress the social and economic ills that skew public debate. But as a constitutional matter, they remain the single best defense against overweening state.” He also points out the alternative to private control of speech and the media is state control, which will have a deadly consequence as far as freedom of speech, freedom of press, and the accuracy of the reports are concerned. He concludes his report by saying that the civil liberties and rights may be flawed, but they are our only tool in balancing the powers of the government and the

1. The country of Tunisia sits atop the northernmost point in Africa, surrounded by Algeria to the west, Libya to the east, and the Mediterranean Sea and Europe to the north. It has occupied this territory since its foundation under the Ottoman empire.1 Since then its rulership has transitioned from regime to regime; each with a history of civil war and corruption.2 The most recent of these ended in revolution in 2011, when Tunisia overthrew its dictator, and established a new constitution and elected government.3 Today it is the only democracy in the Arab world.4 This outcome was internationally championed as a success story, evident by the 2015 Nobel peace prize awarded to the union leaders, lawyers, and human rights activists who facilitated the dialogue between politicians and the workforce for the construction of a new democratic system.5 However, the same economic problems of the previous regime still remain and threaten the political stability that many of Tunisia’s allies, including the United States of America (U.S.), hope to see.6 This paper explores Tunisia through the cultural domains of Politics and Social Relations, Economy and Resources, and finally the country’s relation to U.S. interests.

To the world’s surprise, a revolution beginning in Tunisia seemed quite unlikely since comparatively, their government did not deprive its citizens of basic rights to the point of extreme oppression. This was in large part due to Tunisia’s economy being reliant upon tourism, and because a lack of freedom would deter tourists thereby harming the economy, Ben Ali had to allow people more freedom than he would have preferred. For a dictator, these new

Libya is a Country located in northern Africa, 90% of Libya’s land is covered by the Sahara Desert. There are no lakes or rivers, all of the country’s water supply is from underground. Libya is one of the largest countries in Africa, but largely due to its vast desert environment, the population is less than most of the other countries. Libya also has no water above ground, everything comes either from the ocean or the underground water systems that irrigate the underside of Libya. Libya’s flag is solid green, the only flag in the world with one colour and design, Libya also has a huge history of religions and cultured as well as some of the oldest architecture on the planet.

Revolution is a way to make change in power, or a country’s governmental system. For some people it is a step towards freedom, a new beginning, also an action against injustice, corrupted government and leaders. Revolution is a movement to bring down a distorted regime and to make a complete change to a nation’s fundamental institutions. There were several revolutions that occurred in history such as the American, French, and Iranian Revolution among many others. Each of these revolutions brought many significant changes to a nation’s economy, culture and sociopolitical organization. According to Marxist Communism, revolution is very crucial to change the societies from one historical phase to another and the perception of revolution is an

Due to his long term position of power and debilitating health, a group of unelected and military “décideurs”, known as “le pouvoir” (“the power”) has risen to control Algeria from behind the scenes (Still waiting for real democracy, 2012 ). Concurrent with the country’s transition from Bouteflika’s authoritarian reign to le pouvoir’s shadow

Iran has long been known to be opposed to freedom of expression, and in recent years, their negative mentality towards it has been too prevalent. In November 2015, Soheil Arabi, a 30 year old Iranian citizen, posted a negative comment on Facebook, involving the prophet Muhammad. Iran’s strict and brutal laws regulating expression rights quickly came into action and showed their dark side by convicting him, upholding the death penalty, and taking his life.1 Soheil Arabi’s situation provides insight into the brutality and corruption of the Iranian government; they prevent dissidence from their subjects, rule over them with extreme control, and severely punish their citizens.

“Who lost Tunisia?” This question may well haunt future European leaders. As Hervé Morin, a former French defense minister, recently warned, Europe — and France in particular — cannot afford to wait until the black flag of the Islamic State is hoisted above the presidential palace in Tunis.

Tunisians had enough in their plate already, this was just the drop that spilled the glass. In the past weeks prior freedom of speech strikes, Tunisia was in a very bad shape. First of all food prices were going up at the same time as the unemployment rate. Past two characteristics are red flags for any government. On top of all this, corruption scandals were making the people even angrier. Officially, Tunisia’s case is the first time that wikileaks makes a population take actions in their own hands.

Getting in touch with media law during the first semester of my Masters gave me a sense of the importance of law in general because it consists of acts and articles which organise most issues in the human’s life in a way that protects ethics and morals. Regardless of the hypocrisy and double-standards

Revolution has liberated much of the country as well as the media scene in Libya from Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year reign of power in and around Tripoli (Cottle, 2011). Currently, Libya has more than 150 newspapers, five magazines, eight national radio stations, 12 TV channels, and 10 regional radio stations that can be used to promote public relations (AGC, 2011).

Located in Northern Africa, Tunisia was once a country marked by the authoritarian rule of Ben Ali. Citizens were increasingly repressed by the regime and at the end of 2010, after many years of suffering, decided to stage a revolution. However, it is important to note that the inspiration and primary stages of the revolution began many years prior to 2010 (Al-Azb 224). A revolution that marks a significant time in the history of both Tunisia and other Arab countries, the Tunisian uprising was greatly influenced and advanced by the use of media and the success of the uprising would have been impossible without such assistance.

In this introduction, some of the reasons will be presented to justify the choice of Tunisia as the main subject of this paper. First of all, Tunisia is a great example for our as a model of countries that switched from a complete oppressing and Internet censorship to a country where freedom of Speech is preserved. Second, Tunisia gave birth to the Arab spring through its Tunisian Revolution in January 2011. It was fueled by the use of social medias where the protests were being organized and supported through online networks (The use was mainly on Twitter and Facebook since other social networks, video-sharing and blogs such as Youtube, Dailymotion, Amnesty International website..). The main reasons of these