Tunisia Censorship

In case you haven't been following it in the news, Tunisia is going through a lot of changes right now. After tens of thousands of people took to the streets in protest, the country's corrupt 23-year dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, fled the country. As a result, the county and the government is starting to open up. NPR has a great article about the rapid changes to censorship in the country. The internet filter has come down, the Information Ministry was abolished, and newspapers and TV stations are now able to report what they want. 

I can't even imagine the excitement of, literally overnight, being able to see things you couldn't previously see. Tunisian state television initially did not dare to show footage of the protests and the violence committed against the protesters by the police, but then once Ben Ali left the country, the station took on-air calls from Tunisians for the first time and allowed them to express their opinions and anger. Tunisians are now able to watch an uncensored news broadcast for the first time. Newspapers are now able to print negative stories about Ben Ali. A Tunis bookstore is able to stock books that were previously banned -- Tunisians are so excited that a crowd gathered around the front shop window to gawk at the display of previously banned books. The owner says, "We have all the books that were forbidden. It's books about the families of Ben Ali, and all the books about freedom and liberty of thinking." 

Radio stations are now able to play the music they want. Previously, disc jockeys were required to play certain songs. For instances, one disc jockey explains how he was required to play songs by Latifa Arfaoui, who was a friend of Ben Ali's. The disc jockey says he has now deleted all her songs and is playing what he wants, including music from a rap artist that was recently released from prison and has songs that are not very favorable to Ben Ali. 

This isn't the end of it though. There's still a lot of changes going on in the country and in the government, and there's still a lot of turmoil. There are still some lingering problems of censorship. It will be interesting to see what ends up happening in Tunisia in the near future. But, for the time being, I found these overnight changes in censorship to be very exciting and encouraging.