A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Saturday, January 15, 2011

The Street Vendor Revolution

Everyone is debating if this is the First Twitter Revolution, the Social Media or Facebook Revolution, and so on. Those may have been the media that spread the message, but the spark that launched this revolution was the street vendor (though he had a college degree) Mohammed Bouazizi, who, after his vegetable cart was confiscated and he was slapped around by police in December, set fire to himself with gasoline. His attempted suicide (he didn't die till January 4) launched the 29 days of wrath that ousted Ben Ali. Someday — how soon depends on what happens next — he'll have streets named for him. And perhaps not just in Tunisia.

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