Tunisia and WikiLeaks

From the Times’s coverage of the President of Tunisia, who seems to have fled the country:

Some demonstrators also cited the evidence of cables from the United States Embassy in Tunisia that were released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks providing vividly detailed accounts of the first family’s self-enrichment and opulent lifestyle.

Raise your hand if, before the street protests started, you had focussed very much—or at all—on what the WikiLeaks cables had to say about Tunisia. Does any one person know enough about all of the countries mentioned in the cables to say for sure how significant they are? Unless someone does, it is rash to keep talking about how they add texture but “no great revelations.” Anyway: Tunisia. Here’s a sample, from a July 17th, 2009, cable:

Tunisia is a police state, with little freedom of expression or association, and serious human rights problems…. They tolerate no advice or criticism, whether domestic or international. Increasingly, they rely on the police for control and focus on preserving power. And, corruption in the inner circle is growing. Even average Tunisians are now keenly aware of it, and the chorus of complaints is rising. Tunisians intensely dislike, even hate, First Lady Leila Trabelsi and her family. In private, regime opponents mock her; even those close to the government express dismay at her reported behavior.

There are also accounts of shady bank dealings, a stolen yacht, land handed over to Leila, her brother berating an official who actually checked that the amusement park he owned had insurance (what kind of amusement park is that?), a comedian thrown in jail on trumped-up charges after making some jokes about the family. Also, there’s a pet tiger named Pasha. The July 17 cable says, “Notwithstanding the frustrations of doing business here, we cannot write off Tunisia.” Tunisians, apparently, were unable to write off the frustrations of their lives. Reading the cables, it is clear that their release did not cause the fall of the President—he was laying the groundwork for that himself—though it may have affected the timing. It also, perhaps, clarified the moment for the Tunisians; will it also do so for us?

It would be useful, while we’re at it, to learn more about the grand jury in Virginia that is apparently pursuing criminal charges against members of WikiLeaks. Good for Twitter for telling a number of people that the government wanted to know their account information, prompting what is now one of my favorite Tweets of all time, from Birgitta Jónsdóttir: “do they realize i am a member of parliament in iceland?” It’s good to realize, and remember, that people, in Iceland and Tunisia and elsewhere, might actually care quite a bit how we conduct ourselves, what we ignore or try to wriggle around or condone.

Read more from our coverage of the protests in Tunisia and beyond.