[IRP] Slim Amamou (and other bloggers) arrested in Tunisia

Fri Jan 7 18:23:21 EET 2011

Dear all,

First of all, let me say that I am most thankful and impressed by the work
with the charter. This kind of policy documents are most vital in the times
of today. Due to extreme work load I haven't been able to participate in the
work, but I have been following it closely and from time to time used the
charter as an interesting proof of concept as well as a good base to use in
discussions and debates.

Secondly, the situation in Tunisia has rapidly gotten worse. As you all know
the strategies that we see be exercised by the regime are similar to the
ones being used in conflicts all over the world now. Burma, Iran, Venezuela.
The history seems to be repeating. Right now we also have the same situation
in Belarus and soon also not unlikely in Hungaria, which from a Swedish /
Northeuropean point of view means that this is coming closer.

What is disturbing me personally about the arrest of Slim Amamou is that as
far as I have understood the Tunisian Pirate Party, in which afaik Amamou is
active, have been distributing USB sticks prepared with the TOR Darknet
system at universities in Tunis. This means that the regime is going after
not only people claims their right to express, but also targetting people
actively providing and exploring tools for actually retaking this right.
This is for me a clear escalation of repression.

Experiences from earlier actions concerning this shows that what is needed
is a pressure on all levels. From an activist point of view what should be
done is to technically relieve the Tunisian regime critics by trying to set
up safe tunnels and secure lines to make the information flow intact.
Further more, petitions and media coverages is always good. A common
#hashtag on Twitter could be useful, of course - as well as promoting news
from other hashtags, where #sidibouzid seems to be the most commonly used
one.

Best regards

/Marcin de Kaminski

-- 

Marcin de Kaminski
PhD Candidate, Lund university, Sweden
Sociology of Law - www.soclaw.lu.se
Cybernorm project - www.cybernormer.se

Phone#: +46-(0)768-045151

2011/1/7 Dixie Hawtin <Dixie at global-partners.co.uk>

Hi Meryem,
>
> I have heard about the very sorry situation in Tunisia and it is
> desperately sad that Slim has been targeted. Thanks for letting us know.
>
> I'm just wondering is there anything we can do? An online petition, or
> people we should send messages of support (or censure) to, or something
> else? Does anyone have any ideas? I would like us to respond in some way.
>
> Thanks,
> Dixie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: irp-bounces at lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org [mailto:
> irp-bounces at lists.internetrightsandprinciples.org] On Behalf Of Meryem
> Marzouki
> Sent: 07 January 2011 15:28
> To: IRP; Expression IPjustice
> Subject: [IRP] Slim Amamou (and other bloggers) arrested in Tunisia
>
> Dear all,
>
> You've probably heard about the situation in Tunisia, with street
> demonstrations, strikes and other actions following events in the
> city of Sidi Bouzid since mid-December, when a young unemployed men
> selling goods in the streets immolate himself after the police seized
> his goods. He recently died. These protests and of course this
> desperate act, are a consequence of corruption and very high level of
> unemployment, especially for young people including highly educated
> people, in the country.
>
> The Tunisian authorities exercizes severe repression against
> protesters, and has intensified the censorship of the press and any
> independent reporting and the targetting of any dissenting voice. In
> particular, Slim Amamou - who recently participated to our
> discussions on the IRP list, that's why I'm especially mentioning
> him  - and other bloggers have been arrested, and there are no news
> about their situation, except that Slim was detained at the ministry
> of Interior headquarters.
>
> Information in English may be found at: http://
> globalvoicesonline.org/-/world/middle-east-north-africa/tunisia/ and
> at: http://fr.readwriteweb.com/2011/01/07/divers/blogueur-slim-amamou-
> auteur-sur-readwriteweb-arrt-en-tunisie-sidibouzid/?
> utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A
> +readwriteweb-france+%28ReadWriteWeb+France%29 (the latter article is
> in French, but there are some comments in English at the bottom of
> the page).
>
> There is also an audio interview in English, including an interview
> of Slim - of course before his arrest - at: http://media.theworld.org/
> audio/010620118.mp3 (interview by Clark Boyd,BBC correspondent in
> Brussels,published on 6 January).
>
> Wanted to let you know...
>
> Best,
> Meryem
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-- 

Marcin de Kaminski
PhD Candidate, Sociology of Law - www.soclaw.lu.se
Cybernorm project - www.cybernormer.se

Phone#: +46-(0)768-045151
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