Friday 14/01/2011 , Tunisia Independence day :) A video for you : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeLT2PEmnDI Le 20/01/2011 13:24, Khaled KOUBAA a écrit :
Roberto and all, For those who don't know Tunisia : Tunisia: Small country, great nation. First Arab country that abolished slavery in 1848. First Arab country to establish a constitution in 1861. First Arab country to abolish polygamy in 1956. First Arab country to legalize abortion in 1973. Tunisia is the first Arab country to kick out its dictator and this without the help of any foreign nation! Today Tunisia has reached a critical and important point in its history after succeeding in its revolution. President Ben Ali has left the country, and government has collapsed leaving the country in an unpredictable situation. A new “Coalition Government” has been announced bringing old dissidents and Human Rights activists in team with a main focus of preparing a democratic transition. Friday January 14th 2011, I have been inside the huge protestants in front of the ministry of Interior and I witnessed brave people asking clearly their dictator to leave. Since then Tunisian retrieved their freedom lost many years and began interesting politics. Young people went on the street asking for more n and more social change without being politically coached. I have witnessed, and have been part, of the strength of the "real" Tunisian Internet community to use Internet and Web 2.0 ( Blogs, Video, Facebook, Twitter, … ) to support the revolution and everyday’s riots showing to the world what’s happening due to a lack of official local media coverage. My life has been different during these days : my house is in a hot spot; near El Aouina Army Casern and just between the Airport and the US Embassy. So I took my wife to her father house, and I stayed alone during 5 days. Everything was different each day; night riots with fire shooting between protestants and police during the first 2 days , near helicopter surveillance between army and snipers belonging to Ben Ali Presidential militia during the last 3days. I have never felt the importance of the security before that. It was the same feeling that had the Tunisian people which led them to go out and organize “Population committees” in each city to protect each city from Ben Ali militia.
@ Roberto, I want to say that havn't seen the real Internet community but only what the old regime want to make you see. You have not seen any of our problems. The festival was their to choose a "Miss Net" and not to discuss Net Neutrality issue. A word that was forbidden even to be mentioned. Tunisian Internet community is free today and will soon show to the world what we are capable to accomplish.
Vive Internet and thank you Vint and Internet pioneers to gave us this wonderful tool that helped our revolution.
From the free Tunisia
Khaled Koubaa
Le 20/01/2011 00:46, Roberto Gaetano a écrit :
I had the honour and pleasure to be invited to the "Festival International de l'Internet" in summer 2009, representing the Board of ICANN. I was impressed in particular by a couple of things, that I could witness in practice, and that I could discuss with the people over there. First, the concept that they wanted to bring the internet where people were, not waiting for the people to come where the internet geeks were, and second, the idea that it was not sufficient to bring the internet to the large cities, but that the connectivity had to be extended to reach rural areas. The festival was held in El Kantaoui, a place that is crowded in summer with people on vacation. That addressed the first point: people were there relaxed, had time to browse the stands, and were getting contacted more and better than in a conference hall. I found there people that were enthusiastic about the internet, stands that were dedicated to specific groups of people (I remember in particular a stand for elderly people, where the concept was that they have specific needs that have also to be addressed). All this to say that I was impressed by the potential growth of the internet in Tunisia, the interest that the subject was getting by the population, and the innovative ideas of the organizers. Incidentally, Tijani was part of the organization, and managed to introduce me to a lot of people with whom I had very interesting conversations (besides showing me the place where I could buy the best harissa I have ever had!!!). I am sure that now, with the situation evolving towards more freedom of the media, the internet will see further development. I hope that our friends in Tunisia (Khaled? Tijani? Others?) will have the opportunity to use this powerful tool to support the change. I saw this evening a reportage on the French television on Tunisia that was telling also about the new freedom of the press, with journalists that were describing the changes. I found that it was a pity that they did not mention the internet. But I am sure that our people and ALS there will work to make sure that the internet will be one of the drivers for the change. Cheers, Roberto
-----Original Message----- From: at-large-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org [mailto:at-large-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org] On Behalf Of Khaled KOUBAA Sent: Friday, 14 January 2011 00:40 To: at-large@atlarge-lists.icann.org Subject: [At-Large] A huge day for Internet in Tunisia
Hi all, After very dark days, tonight Tunisia is living a historic moment after the President speech. The President has ensured that he will not be candidate for the 2014 election. He ensured that all freedom of expression and speech will be open to all. Internet is really open there is no web site closed. I am know watching for the first time of my life "real" opposition leaders on governmental TV Tunisie7. I am positivist because I know that this is a real window for better situation. Best,
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