Violence-scarred Tunisia announces new government - Yahoo! News
TUNIS, Tunisia – Tunisia took a step toward democracy and reconciliation Monday, promising to free political prisoners and opening its government to opposition forces long shut out of power — but the old guard held onto the key posts, angering protesters.
Demonstrators carrying signs reading "GET OUT!" demanded that the former ruling party be banished altogether — a sign more troubles lie ahead for the new unity government as security forces struggle to contain violent reprisals, shootings and looting three days after the country's longtime president fled under pressure from the streets.
"We're afraid that the president has left, but the powers-that-be remain," said Hylel Belhassen, a 51-year-old insurance salesman. Even before the new government was announced Monday, security forces fired tear gas to repel demonstrators who see the change of power as Tunisia's first real chance at democracy.
President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled Friday to Saudi Arabia after a month of protests over unemployment and corruption led to his downfall after 23 years in power. The government announced Monday that 78 civilians have died in the month [...]
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Associated Press Writer Raf Casert in Brussels, Hamza Hendawi in Cairo and Jamey Keaten in Paris contributed to this report.
We'll get to this before too long unless we choose to take matters in hand and make sure any necessary transitions happen smoothly and peacefully. By the time we resort to violence we've lost sight of what we're trying to create, and that's already become so prevalent that many are completely numb to it. "Huh, another school/workplace shooting." "Huh, another parent killin' their kids." "Huh, another eight civilians dead somewhere in a military action." On and on and on.
Right now there are inordinate numbers of American people who seem to be dead-set against the idea of peaceful anything, and/or who seem to believe that grousing is the only thing they can do short of violence, and/or who seem to think we're completely incapable of intelligent, interdependent action or solutions that work out, truly, for a majority of people. Personally, I think people are pretty smart, dumb as we often act, and that we're capable of large-scale common sense, try as many might to prove otherwise, but I'm an idealist and have been told repeatedly that I'm simply wrong to think it could ever actually happen. That's possible, but I hope I never really believe it.
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