Sousse. By Uncle Monty.

:: Latest From Tunisia's Unrest ::

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President Ben Ali flees country following more of today's

violent clashes in the capital, Tunis. The Army is now in

charge. Airport hard to get to. Grim situation getting worse!
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/2011114172228117723.html

Jan. 14th, 2011.

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Protesters seek Ben Ali resignation.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/201111410345507518.html
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Behind Tunisia Unrest, Rage Over Wealth of Rulers.
By David D. Patrick, The New York Times.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11014/1117958-82.stm#ixzz1B1BASYYv

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Tunisian president, calling for calm, says he won't run for re-

election. Tunisia's autocratic president, struggling to contain

deadly riots that have threatened his authority, made sweep-

ing pledges for political and media freedom and said he will

leave the presidency — but not until his term ends in 2014.
By Bouazza Ben Bouazza & Elaine Ganley.
The Associated Press

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2013931890_tunisia14.html

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Dear Monty – Be careful in Tunisia. Don’t
play with fire there. You could get hurt or
shot dead by the trigger-happy riot police
if you get near those street protests against
the Tunis government. Remember you’re

a foreigner. Not a local Tunisian. So again
be careful Monty. The story about Sousse
sounds like a bittersweet experience. I would
think the crook who robbed your camera has
done things before like snatching handbags,
purses, laptops, and mobiles from his unsus-
pecting victims. Be careful it doesn’t happen
again. Get home soon. I’m worried to death
while you’re in Tunis. Take great care Monty,
dear one. Much, much, love, Phillippa York.

January 14th, 2011.

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Sweet & Sour Sousse.

By Uncle Monty at North

Africa's Gulf of Hammamet.
...

Located at the Gulf of Hammamet, Sousse

is about 110 miles directly south of the

Tunisian capital of Tunis. Established
some 3,000 years ago and even before the
famed Roman Carthage became supreme,
Sousse is a medium size community of about

170,000 people and during the booming tourist

season it then swells hugely in population.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousse

...

Sousse seems to be attractive to white English
working class folkz from the ones I saw at the
beach front at where many had boiling red
skins after languishing in the sun all day upon
arriving from wintery Britain with rather
plain pale and untanned faces. Many of them
stay at expensive tourist hotels, while I did
not by staying like I am at Hôtel Mabrouka
on Rue d'Italie in the heart of Sousse for a
mere 12 Tunisian Dinars or about six quid
per night. Sure it isn't fancy for that price,
but who cares as long as the bed sheets are
clean with a comfy bed to soundly sleep on

like I have. Sousse is an ideal location to ex-

plore many other parts of Arab Tusinia, too.

That I am most certainly doing for sure.

...

Traditional Horse Racing Inside Arab Tunisia.

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Internal unrest taking place right now inside

once peaceful Arab Tunisia, as shown in the

above lead story image, has already resulted in

as many as 50 young people having been shot

dead by the riot police during street protests

over massive unemployment and lack of de-

cent jobs. Tunisian President Zine El Abidine

Ben Ali, 74 - who is a law unto himself after his

tight grip of 23 years in office under his one party

political system - is now faced with the ugly

reality of his own doing while he and his own

cronies have lived off the hog for years as

the people have gotten poorer and poorer.

And, more desperate. "Necessity makes even

the meek brave," says that old saying. Once on

the streets they're no longer meek, thankfully!

...
4 more reported dead in latest Tunisian unrest.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2011/01/13/sporadic_clashes_overnight_despite_tunisia_curfew/ Associated Press.

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23 die in clashes between Tunisia jobs protesters and

police. President blames foreign parties for civil unrest, as law-
yers and journalists protest over 'police brutality' and censorship.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/11/tunisia-jobs-protests

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Troops deploy in capital as Tunisia dismisses minister.
Protest leaders say 50 have been killed and excessive

police brutality reported. Prime Minister Mohamed

Ghannouchi also announced that most prisoners arrested

during nearly a month of riots are being freed. AFP.
http://gulfnews.com/news/region/tunisia/troops-deploy-in-capital-as-tunisia-dismisses-minister-1.745142
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Tunisia unrest reflects a larger problem.
Arab world needs comprehensive reform

packages to deal with socio-economic issues.

http://gulfnews.com/opinions/editorials/tunisia-unrest-reflects-a-larger-problem-1.744616

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Every country in the world today has heavily equipped
riot police that are oftentime given a free license to

kill and torture even peaceful protesters at the
hands of the state. Tunisia is no exception, of course.
All police are fundermentally a law unto themselves
whether they are riot-equipped or not. The intrusion
of the police into our lives is growing daily whether
we have committed a crime or not. The state is
also a law unto itself that deploys its police to control
political and social protest and dissent by the country’s

angry people. Worse still, no amount of tax money is
spared to spend on equipping such police even in places

like passive England. Deadly force against the people

is also common among so many governments these-

days despite living in our ditigal age of the 21st century.
They are accountable to nobody but themselves

are the all-powerful state and their violent police.
...

Almost everywhere I have been in the past week inside

Tunisia I have noticed coachloads of Arab cops, stationed

here and there, with their loaded guns and riot shields at

the ready. I saw such at Carthage-Hannibal in the

north. Then at Sfax at the Gulf of Gabes in the south

and at Monastir in the east and at Kairouan in the west

to enforce Ben Ali’s one man rule. Only at tiny Dar El

Jem – boasting the world’s third largest Colosseo di

Rome - did I not see such riot ready cops. And every-

where you go there are large presidential photos of

Ben Ali with his hand crossed over his heart. One

would almost think he was an Arab king or shah.

...

Tunisia's youth finally has revolution on its mind. We've

become used to gossiping about the regime and feeling that

we're plotting. But now we see the time to rebel has come.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/13/tunisia-youth-revolution

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At Sousse itself, such cops were evident on Av. De La
Republique and Av. H. Bourguiba. Aside from that two

others things occurred at sweet Sousse that was pretty
sour while here. One was seeing a traffic cop chewing out

a driver very badly about something and suddenly the

driver had had enough of the bullying cop and so he hit

the car pedal and off he went at high speed with skid

marks left in his wake. The cop was almost run over at

that point before he realized what had happened to him.

It was, too, late!
...
As for me, sour Sousse also came into full play a day or

so later. I was out photographing at nearby Av. Med

Karoui, when I saw a young guy on the corner and de-

cided to ask him directions back into town. Many young

Tunisians are multilingual so alot of them speak relatively

good English from my experience. Whatever, I was per-

haps no more than two or three minutes with the guy

when he suddenly rushed me and snatched my main

camera from its lanyard around me neck. It was the last

place I had expected to be robbed since up until that point

I felt extremely safe at wherever I’d been inside Tunisia.

...

Running like a fast fox, the Muslim bastard ran off with

my prize camera that was now his. He could keep the

camera if he wanted it for all that I wanted back was my

memory card or digital stick with some 400+ images

I had taken earlier while inside Libya’s Tripoli and

then later all over Tunisia. The next day, I went back
to the same spot in the hope he might just show his face

again knowing, like I did, that he lived nearby at where

he had robbed me. My hope was to offer him to buy

my camera back or just my memory card so that I had

at least my coveted images back. It was, too, late!

...

I never saw him again or my camera or my memory
card. What makes me so vex is that my camera will

be absolutely useless to him or non-saleable once the

battery goes dead since I suspect he has no battery

charger for the camera nor any download cord
unless he has a multicard reader or software for my

camera which I doubt. But worse still, is the loss of

my 400+ images that will be meaningless to such a

sour Sousse street criminal like him at perhaps 18

or 19 years of age. He must have heeded, however,

the old dictum – “Don’t go back to the crime scene.”

Did I report my loss to the police? No! They couldn’t

do a thing to help me retrieve my camera,

so why bother them?
...
So what it all came down to for me was simply:
“Sweet & Sour Sousse” has I now head back by

train to the Tunisian capital of Tunis with its one

million population and at where social and political
unrest had reached its environs in the last day or
so with armoured tanks patrolling some of the

streets. I hadn't arrived at North Africa to

witness a war zone, know did I? Nope!!
...
Classic Bedouin Horseman at the Desert of Tunisia.

:: Story Update ::

Tunisian president says he will not seek re-election in 2014.
By Amy Fallon.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/13/tunisian-president-will-not-seek-re-election
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Greetings from Sweet & Sour Sousse, Uncle Monty.

+Aelred of Hexham, Abbot of Rievaulx, 2011.

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Feedback & Comments

thebiggerissue@k.st

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Tuning Into Tunis. By Uncle Monty.

Such is the next story of his inside Tunisia.

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Coming soon ...
The Big Issue – Helping The Homeless
Or A Scam? By Andrew Coates.
Edited By Uncle Monty.
http://allaboutthebigissue.blogspot.com/

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