TAKRIZ TO THE USA, PRESIDENT OBAMA AND Mrs. CLINTON

388e jour après Ben Ali

ACTUAL SPEECH CAN BE FOUND HERE

President Obama, Secretary of State Mrs. Clinton,

I would like to bring to your attention the critical situation of freedom of speech and expression in Tunisia. The last resemblance of freedom are dying, rapidly. The situation is really urgent.
 
To put things in context, Tunisia was a beautiful country where different civilizations chose to live. A country tiny in size but big in its historic soft power[1]. Through the centuries our land is known for its peacefulness and tolerance as well as it’s openness. Tunisians were also pioneers in the arab world in matters of Freedom and Human rights, let alone Women rights.

Historically Tunisia had strong diplomatic and economic ties with the US that dates back more than 200 years[2]. WWII is probably the most important historical evidence but let us also not forget the American Friendship Treaty the US and Tunisia signed in 1799 [3]

We, TAKRIZ are the first Tunisian online think tank [4]. The movement was founded in 1998 and is considered a pioneer in cyber civil rights activism worldwide[5]. This is how NATO PA defined it back in 2002. Most importantly TAKRIZ is the voice of the Tunisian youth. From 1998 to 2002 we were able to gain mainstream acceptance in our country, we innovated on the Internet which was barely being implemented back then. We won much exposure due to the nature of our work. Free, True, Secular, Honest, Citizens, Critic, Peaceful, and Anonymous were what best defined us from inception[6]. Our work is purely related to freedom of speech and civil rights. Two fields completely annihilated by the Tunisian government since 1987. Our online movement has been censored ten years ago, from August 2000 precisely[7].

In the two years we were able to emit freely online we outpaced the government repression system. What we did was tremendous. We started sparks of critical thinking on the situation of the freedom of our society, the bad and the not so good. This in turn made our citizen rally and follow us. We were a true patriotic example of what should have been done in Tunisia in terms of debate and democracy. People through the power of Internet got enlightened and understood what civil rights meant to them. They saw in it the building block of the future Tunisia.

Unfortunately this led the government in our country to censure our web sites[8], then it started a hunt on our members and jailed some of us[9], some of us were also tortured[10] and died[11]. Here we all recall the soul of the martyred Zouhaier Yahyaoui. You might wonder why online, why on the Internet? The answer is simple, in Tunisia any kind of media is controlled by the government and no inch of freedom is left without surveillance, repression and censorship. You might wonder why anonymous, the answer is obvious we can not be otherwise. There’s repression, jail, torture and death, we just can’t do without being anonymous. 

Today we are standing in front of you, asking for the right to think, the right to express ourselves and debate our ideas, the right to prepare our generation to lead the country, the right of doing so being free from any kind of fear, terror, repression and torture, the right to be free from any kind of illegal and political censorship.

We do ask for these rights because today Tunisia is in its highest alarming state. A country ruled by one man where there is no democracy, no justice, no civil rights whatsoever. In all our modern history no similar repression has taken place. Torture, Corruption, Fear, Abusive trials disguising political trials are happening today at a frequency that is alarming and quiet frankly dangerous. Today in Tunisia the people have no means left available to prepare the succession of Zine Elabidine Ben Ali the dictator.

Dictator. The last elections of October 2009 were a stage for a comedy that no one could ever believe. 8150 days of mental slavery and dictatorship, 23 years of terror and repression are here to remember everyone what Ben Ali is. On top of that our government is lying, the media that are totally controlled by the state is lying, we are forced to live in a country where no freedom is left to its people, and where lies and misinformation from the propaganda of an evil regime are bringing the people down to their knees. Whoever left that dares say the truth is shut down by the most terrifying methods and in the quickest time frames.

These past Six months alone, three journalists including our member TBB : Taoufik Ben Brik were sentenced to jail in unfair trials because they wrote on the situation we are here mentioning. Students were jailed because they protested for the problems the Tunisian university system is facing. The Free University of Tunis (ULT) has been shut down because its dean wrote a book and criticized the political system and the state of civil liberties in Tunisia. We could go on and on.

But I would also like to bring to your attention, that the laws against terrorism that our government is so proud of using aren’t in fact working. What might make you think the Tunisian dictatorship is your friend in the war on terror, is arguable. These laws are working for terrorists and that is mostly because of the way they are carried out in Tunisia. What I see in my country today is people left with no freedom at all, never before there were people so easily brainwashed, people that could do anything for the sake of a minute of pride, a minute of terror. People are embracing radical forms of religion that is dangerous. They’ve got nothing left to lose. No freedom, No identity, No self esteem and No way to actually blame the responsible for that.

The dictator made us bent, and took advantage of everything. It took our freedom, it cut our tongues, it disguised the truth, it disguised the democracy, it raped our country. This matter is urgent, this situation can no longer stand. And if dictator is still here it's because it shut every single door and every single window of free speech and free thinking. It alienated with fear and terror all actors and classes of our society and on top of that it mocked every ideology based on freedom, civil rights and democracy.

To fix this Tunisian Dictatorship Paradigm we need our freedom to speak. We, Tunisian people, need freedom to build our country, to work something durable. FREEDOM to live like real human beings not slaves belonging to Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his mafia.

The US has been built on a constitution stating freedom of speech and democracy as its 1st amendment. The US President Mr. Obama in his speech in Cairo affirmed the importance of free societies in the Arab world. Secretary of State Misses Clinton On January 21st 2010 confirmed the importance of freedom in the oppressed countries and the importance of an Internet free of political censorship. Previously Misses Rice, having established the US Global Internet Freedom Task Force pointed to the same points. We totally agree on these stands, we are ready to apply them should you help us gain our freedom of expression. We are asking you for concrete actions. Be it tougher diplomatic pressure on dictators, or closer support to TAKRIZ building the technological tools that would allow its members or readers to bypass/circumvent political censorship online.  Be it by forcing the Tunisian government to lift all Deep Packet Filtering and censorship on the site takriz.com. On anonymity, we would no longer need it the day Freedom of Speech will be established in Tunisia. We all seek that day in which we can reveal our names.

TAKRIZ is open to discuss the points described in this brief with any qualified party, you can reach us at free@takriz.com, our group is publishing an extranet in English for anyone needing more information on TAKRIZ at www.takriz.net.

Those who are relinquent to the idea of a sovereign people in Tunisia, those who do not take active steps in liberating the voice of the Tunisian people, those of you who will continue to support the dictators in our country shall be remembered and will be remember as such. Dictators come and go, history prevails. And if Ben Ali on top of his seventies is soon to be history, bad history, we would love to have the opportunity to work on his succession from now on avoiding this way any turmoil and more global atrocity to come.

Thank you,

Foetus
TAKRIZ

References

1.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_power

2, 3.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5439.htm

4, 5.
Cyberdemocracy - Pierre Levy ISBN 978-2-7381-1053-4,
Mediterranean Special Group Report - NATO Parliamentary Assembly - 2002

6.
TAKRIZ Charter (french) http://www.takriz.com/emag/article/essence-de-takriz

7, 8.
WWW . TAKRIZ - Le Monde - Géraldine Faes - 09/13/2000
Les cyber-résistants tunisiens donnent naissance à une nouvelle forme de contestation - Le Monde - Florence Beaugé - 09/21/2000
Le Web censuré, à la mode tunisienne - Transfert Magazine - Eric Mugneret - 01/18/2001
Des "souris" contre Ben Ali - Le Nouvel Observateur - Stéphane Arteta - 08/21/2001
Internet en accès très limité - L’Express - Eric Mugneret - 01/21/2001
The censors’ Net (Les censeurs du Net) - Le Monde - Claire Ulrich - 5/29/2009
En Tunisie, police et justice contre le plus célèbre des cyber-résistants - Le Monde - Florence Beaugé - 06/13/2002

9, 10, 11.
Many publications HRW, Amnesty Internaitonal, RSF : Reporters Without Borders

European Parliament - Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy - Ad hoc Delegation to Tunisia (25 -27 May 2002) Report

other references available upon request, other references available in the french version of this speech at
http://www.takriz.com/emag/article/takriz-a-la-france-et-europe