Fedia Hamdi News Today

The revolution in Tunisia did not take place in a vacuum. After having been ruled for more than 30 years by the same president, Zineal-Abidine Ben Ali, [...]

I am writing this on the anniversary of the death of Jan Palach, the 19-year-old history student at Prague’s Charles University whose self-immolation in 1969 became the ultimate symbolic gesture of protest and disgust against totalitarianism and Soviet occupation. His act, though not the first of its kind, was iconic. It fired the imagination of a generation and prompted others to imitate his example in protest against Communist despotism. Jan Zajíc and Evžen Plocek followed suit in Czechos...

By Habib Toumi TUNIS: Ten years ago, a Tunisian street vendor set himself ablaze. Mohammed Bouazizi was one of many young men in the town of Sidi Bouzid in central Tunisia and elsewhere trying to make ends meet by doing odd jobs. He did not finish high school successfully and without the much-coveted diploma, his chances for securing a steady job requiring academic qualifications were limited. He resorted to use a cart to sell fruit and vegetables. The local municipality required him to have a ...