The background of the riots in Tunisia.

Tunisia is located in the northernmost part of the African continent, bordering Libya and Algeria. This North African country with a population of 6.5438+million attracts a large number of European tourists every year because of its charming Mediterranean scenery. During his 23 years in power, President Ben Ali was widely praised for successfully implementing economic reforms and attracting foreign investment. In 2007, the World Economic Forum rated Tunisia as the country with the strongest economic competitiveness on the African continent. In 2009, the economic growth rate of Tunisia reached 3. 1%.

However, over the years, the country's unbalanced economic structure has not been fundamentally solved. The economy with export and tourism as the main growth points is deeply affected by the global recession, and the domestic employment environment is also deteriorating. According to official data released by Tunisia, the unemployment rate in that country is 14%. According to British media reports, the unemployment rate of young people in Tunisia has actually reached a staggering 52%. Young people who set themselves on fire were the fuse of the incident. Because they could not find a job after graduating from college, they took to the streets to sell vegetables and fruits.

Tunisia has always encouraged citizens to receive higher education, so it is not a problem for college students to find jobs. However, in the past 10 years, unemployment became more and more serious. Many critics accuse government officials of cronyism and cronyism, which makes it impossible for ordinary people to find jobs without a back door. Ben Ali always concentrated his power in several political families he trusted, and his wife Laila was exposed to have placed relatives of his family as government officials.

In addition, Ben Ali's dictatorship has also been widely criticized. In the bloodless seizure of power in 1987, he seized power from the lifelong president Habib Bourguiba. At that time, he said that bourguiba, a seriously ill old man, could no longer manage the country, and promised to bring "real democracy and progressive political life" to the people. Although Ben Ali promoted political reform in the early days of his administration, it came to an abrupt end after he consolidated his power.

In the 2009 general election, Ben Ali was elected president for the fifth time. Before the election, he threatened to put opponents in prison if they questioned the fairness of the voting results.

The development of riots in Tunisia has exceeded the expectations of many political analysts. In fact, similar anti-government protests have also occurred in some Muslim countries. It is unclear whether the resignation of the political strongman Ben Ali will trigger a chain reaction similar to the "color revolution" in the Arab world, but for those countries with insufficient oil resources and lagging reform, how to face the growing dissatisfaction of the bottom, especially the young people, will be a problem that must be seriously considered in today's depressed global economic environment. According to the China Journal, in 2007, Tunisia was ranked 1 in the economic competitiveness of the African continent by the World Economic Forum, which was better than South Africa. Tunisia's annual economic growth rate is around 5%. In addition, the free trade zone signed with the European Union was implemented in 2008. It is a country with a good tourism image and has always given people the impression of steady economic growth.

According to Reporters Without Borders, the 74-year-old President Ben Ali, who has been in office for 23 years, is a dictatorial strongman. He cannot tolerate any criticism and sends his critics to prison.

Tunisia gives the outside world the illusion that it will stabilize economic growth in exchange for democracy and freedom. However, on 20 10, 12 and 17, a 26-year-old unemployed youth in Sidi Bouzid set up a stall to sell fruits and vegetables for a living, which was confiscated by the local urban management. He set himself on fire in anger, protesting against the "rough law enforcement" of the urban management department, and then protesting the bloody conflict between the people and the National Guard, resulting in one death. Although the young man who set himself on fire was sent to the best hospital in Tunisia for emergency treatment, he eventually died of his injuries.

The discontent of depressed people soon reverberated throughout the country. At first, there were demonstrations and social unrest in some towns in Tunisia. According to the report, the demonstrations mainly took place in three towns in western and central Tunisia: Tara, Kaselin and Lecourbe. The president of the International Federation of Human Rights 1 1 said that at least 35 people were killed in the conflict caused by the demonstration. At the same time, the government and trade unions said that a large number of people were injured in demonstrations and police. Tunisia's policy encourages education, and a higher education diploma has always been equated with job security. However, in the past 65,438+00 years, the unemployment problem of graduates with higher education has become more and more serious. According to World Bank statistics, it has exceeded 20%, and in some areas it is even close to 60%.

The high unemployment rate of young people is blamed by many people on the serious corruption of Ben Ali's government. Without the "back door" relationship, there is no job. Coupled with the rising prices of people's livelihood materials, dissatisfaction with Ben Ali's regime deepened and demonstrations spread everywhere.

Ben Ali felt that the situation was serious and carried out a small-scale cabinet reshuffle, and said that the government would strengthen job creation. He was eager to quell public grievances and announced that 300,000 jobs would be created within two years.

Ben Ali claimed to control the media and tried to tell people in public talks that street sports were used by Islamists. He underestimated the street protests that spread from local areas to the capital, starting with educated unemployed youth, which were not only simple social movements, but also turned into serious political demands.

The frustration accumulated by years of dictatorship has become the reason for the continuous street movement. As experts have said, the government's attitude has always been "although there is no freedom and democracy, the government guarantees the people a better life." This statement is no longer correct.

People in Tunisia held high the slogan "Ben Ali stepped down" in demonstrations, and Ben Ali made another speech on TV on June 5438+03, hoping to quell the street movement. Unexpectedly, people's grievances deepened, street sports became more intense, and the situation finally got out of control.

Tunisia's spontaneous people's movement overthrew the president nearly 1 month later. Tunisia human rights activist Shu Yika told Le Monde that this case shows that the "velvet revolution" can also happen in other countries. This is the first time that people have said "don't step down", and it is successful, which may have a chain reaction in North Africa. (Comprehensive Xinhua News Agency, chongqing morning post)