WHAT'S GOING DOWN IN TUNISIA

HISTORY OF THE PROTESTS

• Official start: Janurary 18, 2011
• The people of Tunisia were unhappy with the new line up of the government
• As a result, Ghannouchi and Mebazaa resigned from Ben Ali's Party.
• By the end, all ministers of Ben Ali's party quit, but remained in their cabinets

Moncef Mazouki has been the president since December 13th 2011
His term is five years long
There will be elections once the five years is up
Tunisia has some of the best chances to transition to democracy out of the Arab Spring countries. They don't export oil and they don't have disputes with neighboring countries. They are in the process of writing a post revolutionary constitution and are protesting in the streets. They were started by the suicide of an unemployed college graduate in December. The man set himself on fire in front of a government building after police confiscated his fruit cart, saying he was selling without a permit. He died from his injuries.

Amnesty International is getting involved with Tunisia and has been reporting about the suicide of the young man. In Tunisia, protesters have scaled a U.S. Embassy gate and set fire to cars on the property.

President Obama called Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa of Tunisia to congratulate him and the Tunisian people on the ratification of their new constitution and on the inauguration of Jomaa’s independent government to lead the country to elections.

Tunisia is having a revolution but they are easily slipping into the government they want, unlike the other countries around them. Other countries who have more things to offer for the world are having a harder time getting there government to where they want it to be.