Tunisia’s govt restores people’s trust via Facebook
In two days 69,000 members joined govt’s group
For the first time in its history, the Tunisian Interior Ministry decides to use the social networking website Facebook to communicate with the Tunisian people after 23 years of oppression and mistrust.
In deciding to use the same medium that ignited the Jasmine Revolution, Tunisia’s Interior Ministry expressed its keenness on turning a new era and reaching out to the people it has oppressed for more than two decades.
Lack of trust seems to have been gradually dissipating with more than 69,000 members joining the Interior Ministry’s group only two days after it was launched on Facebook. Members come from a variety of professions and belong to different age groups.
In addition to interaction with Tunisian citizens whether through receiving their complaints and suggestions or through getting their feedback about the ministry’s performance, the Interior Ministry’s page on Facebook offers the latest update the activities of the ministry’s departments in the form of news stories and audio and video files.
The use of Facebook on the part of the ministry is seen by most Tunisians as ironic since social networking websites were blocked in the country in an attempt to silence any kind of opposition to Ben Ali’s regime.
According to observers, using Facebook to communicate with the people is an unprecedented achievement of Tunisia’s revolution since it constitutes an implicit acknowledgement of the role of technology and the internet in leading revolutions and calling for justice.
Ammar 404, the nickname given by Tunisians to the censorship authority that banned blogs and blocked websites, is now considered defeated.
Mr. Propre
Several Tunisians are counting on the integrity of the new Interior Minister in the interim government Farahat al-Rajihi, who they call on Facebook Mr. Propre, French for Mr. Proper, and who they believe is innocent of all the crimes committed by the regime of former President Zein el-Abedin Ben Ali.
The speech Rajihi delivered upon the assumption of his role as the new interior minister played a major role in restoring the lost trust between the people and security.
Rajihi’s speech, considered the first of its kind in Tunisia’s history, heralded a drastic change in the discourse of the interior ministry due to its daring exposure of what happens behind the scenes in this once-formidable government body.
(Translated from the Arabic by Sonia Farid)