That’s the title of this article from Foreign Policy Magazine. This is the first real-time “revolution” we have seen of WikiLeaks documents in action. The piece is short, as events are still unfolding, but the point is clearly made:
Tunisians didn’t need any more reasons to protest when they took to the streets these past weeks — food prices were rising, corruption was rampant, and unemployment was staggering. But we might also count Tunisia as the first time that WikiLeaks pushed people over the brink. These protests are also about the country’s utter lack of freedom of expression — including when it comes to WikiLeaks.
Tunisia’s government doesn’t exactly get a flattering portrayal in the leaked State Department cables. The country’s ruling family is described as “The Family” — a mafia-esque elite who have their hands in every cookie jar in the entire economy. “President Ben Ali is aging, his regime is sclerotic and there is no clear successor,” a June 2009 cable reads. And to this kleptocracy there is no recourse; one June 2008 cable claims: “persistent rumors of corruption, coupled with rising inflation and continued unemployment, have helped to fuel frustration with the GOT [government of Tunisia] and have contributed to recent protests in southwestern Tunisia. With those at the top believed to be the worst offenders, and likely to remain in power, there are no checks in the system.”
Of course, Tunisians didn’t need anyone to tell them this. But the details noted in the cables — for example, the fact that the first lady may have made massive profits off a private school — stirred things up. Matters got worse, not better (as surely the government hoped), when WikiLeaks was blocked by the authorities and started seeking out dissidents and activists on social networking sites.
As PayPal and Amazon learned last year, WikiLeaks’ supporters don’t take kindly to being denied access to the Internet. And the hacking network Anonymous launched an operation, OpTunisia, against government sites “as long as the Tunisian government keep acting the way they do,” an Anonymous member told the Financial Times.
As in the recent so-called “Twitter Revolutions” in Moldova and Iran, there was clearly lots wrong with Tunisia before Julian Assange ever got hold of the diplomatic cables. Rather, WikiLeaks acted as a catalyst: both a trigger and a tool for political outcry. Which is probably the best compliment one could give the whistle-blower site.
And another short piece from Business Insider:
Tunisia’s government has collapsed, partially due to food price inflation and unemployment, but also because of WikiLeaks.
One of the U.S. government cables released by WikiLeaks (via @spbaines) exposed the corruption of Tunisia’s President’s family, its reach into business in the country, and ability to transcend the rule of law. President Ben Ali’s family was called “The Family” throughout the leak. The government attempted to block access to WikiLeaks earlier this month.
Here, too, is a link to all of the WikiLeaks cables that fueled the citizen anger that lead up to today’s events. Kudos, as well, to Anonymous for their relentless efforts on behalf of freedom of internet access during this period.
Certainly, the situation in Tunisia is in flux, and it will take some time to sort it all about, but there can be no argument that information is power and that governmental accountability is a right of the people.
and even they admitted WikiLeaks was the ‘ignition’ of sorts.
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p>Let’s hope this leads to some positive change.
The rules of the game have changed. The free information subculture, if you will, is robust and organized; they’re a force to be reckoned with, and they’re communicating on Twitter in record numbers (often in codes we (I) can’t understand). I’ve found my way ‘in’ a little bit, but haven’t gotten all that far. The technology is over my head and coded language necessary, but the dedication and fire in the belly these people exhibit is extraordinary.
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p>Thanks for reading & commenting. The discomfort among people who should be like-minded is disappointing, to say the least. Perhaps time will help.
this is indeed the accountability in government that public access to information will create.
Unfortunately the powerful and connected don’t appreciate having to share this and their ruthlessness in protecting their privileges is still quite formidable.
in their world view. Sadly, this won’t even penetrate their consciousness. They’ll cling to their “Julian Assange is evil and will pay” meme, confident that their way of life is secure.
While WikiLeaks is all shiny and new, this isn’t the first time in the Arab world where large crowds have protested. This is the first time it lead to a change in head of government, if not regime. I don’t know if the average Tunisian needed an American diplomat to tell him/her that the state was corrupt — they knew it. All I’ve read avers that the catalyst appears to have been an educated man committing suicide in reaction to an overbearing state.
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p>But it’s too early and confusing for me to pin it on one single thing, much less the greatest fashion au courant (I suppose Iran used up Twitter as a great revolutionary moment, so Tunisia got WikiLeaks. Maybe Sri Lanka will revolt via iPhone?) Here’s what bothers me — people are paid good money in regimes like this to make sure this doesn’t happen, yet it did. The Tunisian army would not be the first army to mow down protesting civilians until the crowd dispersed. Remember Iran? Burma? Why was Tunisia different? These generals and mandarins knew the state was corrupt because they were the ones getting a piece of the action! Ahamd Shabir, head of Tunisian Secret Service doesn’t need Wikileaks because he’s one of the corrupt ones. Yet he watched this all happen. Did his heart grow three sizes this day?
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p>Look, the cell phone service wasn’t disrupted. Highways into Tunis weren’t blocked. Air space belatedly closed. Free access to media broadcasts. Everything you do to head off this type of popular uprising wasn’t done. There are plans to deal with this in regimes such as Tunisia, and they weren’t followed. Either the notable Tunisian security apparatus was all drunk and derelict, or they turned on the corrupt regime that was giving them a slice of the action. Why?
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p>Maybe Wikileaks pushed soldiers to stay their guns, agents to switch sides. It can happen (Romania ’89 springs to mind), but usually doesn’t.
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p>Here’s my prediction for what it’s worth — the president of Tunisia wasn’t too corrupt, but corrupt wrongly. Maybe he was keeping too much take for himself, or losing his game. So the people who suppress the righteous anger of the population let it slip to force him out. The find a loyal stooge (the prime minister) to front while the army takes over for the president’s family, and one month from now, the new president is either a general, or a recently retired one. And the regime goes on.
I haven’t commented about the WikiLeaks documents but I have been intrigued by the whole thing. Hopefully they will continue to shed light on the corrupt situations that are making our world a sick place.
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p>Your ending statement is exactly right:
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p>Pretty amazing show of strength and courage by Assange and his team, I must say.
Assange seems to be winning. He is getting away with rape, he is toppling governments, he is continuing to recklessly endanger lives all around the world, this man is not a hero for free speech is a James Bond villian wannabe. Already the Lebanese government is on the verge of collapse and civil war due to wikileaks revelations as well, the Chinese and Iranian diplomatic corps have been wiped out, massive sackings in Morocco and Egypt. Mosad agents are now at risk of losing their livelihoods and lives. Saudi and Israeli relations have been permanently damaged and it now appears clear that other Mid Eastern regimes will seek nuclear proliferation rather than work with the US since all of our hard work has been compromised. No more Palestinian-Israeli peace talks now that the moderates have been purged in neighboring governments and within Fatah and the PA. No more moderates in China willing to endorse bilateral and trilateral talks over NK nukes. No peaceful solutions to Iranian and NK proliferation. When diplomats cannot trust each other and talk openly diplomacy dies, when diplomacy dies than we are thrust into a Hobbesian world where everyone will wage war against one another. This suits the openly nihilistic and anarchic vision of Julian Assange, but most true liberals believe in a world order governed by democratic and cooperative institutions, institutions that have now been gutted and damaged beyond repair. The ramifications will be worldwide and in a global age no one is safe.
I’m a bit skeptical of Wikileaks, and of Assange, but my bottom line position is to err on the side of disclosure. The truth will set us free.
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p>But, jconway, you’re ascribing too much power to him. We don’t know yet if he’s “getting away with rape,” the case is not settled (though I agree that it shouldn’t be dismissed). He will topple no governments, and the lives that are endangered (there may certainly be some) are endangered by other things, NOT the disclosure. There may be “a need for secrecy” in some cases, but the ultimate problem lies with whatever created that need.
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p>The world is dangerous.
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“Getting away with rape”?
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p>You’re over the edge. Try and come back to the planet the rest of us live on.
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p>You wrote:
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p>Chief among those “democratic and cooperative institutions” is free speech. The kind of “diplomacy” that depends on flagrantly self-serving lies, so thinly veiled that they are so readily published by low-level minions, is moribund anyway.
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p>Do you now join Ms. Palin in publicly judging who is and is not a “true liberal” — apparently based on a litmus test of whether or not we share your particular prejudices?
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p>You wrote:
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p>The rest of us are at far greater risk from those who, like you, would “protect” us from the truth about our governments than from any consequence of any disclosures from WikiLeaks.
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p>Wikileaks is at the very bottom of a long list of things that threaten our safety in a “global age”. Sites and technology like it are near the top of a very short list of things vital to our collective survival.
We should just shoot ourselves now!
Information about what government officials are doing, which is becoming increasingly available from all means, will be the death of our civilization.
Your comment is filled with falsehoods from the very beginning, “He is getting away with rape”. Did you know he hasn’t even been charged.
Maybe others with more time than me now will address the rest of your very scary list.
on this topic. Aye yay yay.
What is wrong with you? Reading something like this from you leads me to think something is dreadfully wrong, as the comments are so disconnected from reality and rational reasoning.
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p>With that quote, I hereby nominate you Worst Person of the Day. What a horrible and inexcusable thing to say. First, we live in a society in which one is considered innocent until proven guilty — holy crap did you fail in that regard. Second, no charges have been brought up thus far — he’s simply wanted for questioning. Finally, what allegations have been made by the women don’t involve rape (they involve broken condoms) and the women who have made the allegations have already been caught in several lies. He was already allowed to leave the country after the incident because what charges were made then were thrown out — he’s only now being asked to come back.
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p>Not many countries allow suspected rapists to leave the country if they think the allegations are serious, do they, jconway? Do you think it at all possible that Sweden’s been asking to ‘question’ Assange about the non-charges again, all these months later, right after he released cablegate, just to get him back in the country now that the US wants him? The UK won’t export Assange to the US for cablegate. That fear is the reason why Assange is in court over this, rather than just going to Sweden to fight the non-charges for which Sweden thought was so trivial they let him leave the country months ago.
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p>Since when is toppling dictatorships a bad thing? Tunisia is a country with a large and educated middle class that could easily be a full-fledged democracy, of and by the people. This should be something we’re applauding. Get a grip, dude.
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p>As for every other deranged and lunatic argument you’ve made about how WikiLeaks is making the world collapse, or something… prove it. The idea that WikiLeaks is the reason there isn’t peace in the Middle East, as you suggest, is the most laughable thing I’ve ever heard. You need proof for every one of your ridiculous arguments if you want other people to take you seriously again on BMG.
I’ll put in the time to “refudiate your truth.”
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p>Factually wrong. Assange has not been charged with rape. Do your homework.
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p>Factually wrong. Assange has not toppled a single government let alone governments. Informed citizens taken responsibility for their lives by voting in new governments, like in Kenya, and by driving out authoritarian leaders, like Ben Ali. Do your homework.
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p>Opinion for which you have no substantiation. In fact, not a single injury is attributed to WikiLeaks by the U.S. government. Do your homework.
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p>Wrong. Assange actions and statements clearly refute your assertion that he is not an advocate for free speech.
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p>(This is actually getting tiresome….)
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p>Factually false again. You offer no proof because you have none.
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p>Again, factually false. You offer no proof because you have none.
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p>Okay, this is too silly to take seriously, so I’ll lump it all in one. This is bullshit made up out of thin air combined with a heavy dose of histrionics for good measure. Offer some proof of any of it–as well as proof that you know the future.
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p>Factually false. Assange has espoused neither nihilistic nor anarchic goals or ideology but he has espoused a belief in democracy and governmental structures that are accountable to the people.
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p>Overwrought nonsense. Prove the damage you claim with evidence.
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p>Overwrought, hysterical nonsense again.
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p>Jconway, I gotta say, this post is one for the ages. It’s a keeper for sheer entertainment value alone.
establishmentarian convictions, and perhaps his affection for The New Republic, a magazine that, I confess, rotted my brain for a while in the 80’s and 90’s. (I should have smoked weed like everyone else).
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p>Conway’s never been dishonest about his beliefs. He’s just usually more thoughtful and articulate.
he interned for a few months at the state department (or something). He is his own source. Us plebeians and the entire fourth estate don’t know anything. We must bow down to His wisdom.
See also, in Foreign Policy: The First Twitter Revolution?
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p>… and his earlier post on his own blog, What if Tunisia had a revolution, but nobody watched?