The first volume of the Memoirs of the former President of the United States, Barack Obama is in the bins. The publication, yesterday, Tuesday, November 17, 2020, of the first part of its memories, “a promised land” was expected worldwide.
It is, so to speak, the literary event of the year, in the United States and in the 22 other countries where the publication of the Memoirs of Obama took place.
In this first volume, composed of 848 pages and which covers his first presidential mandate between 2008 and 2012, Barack Obama, returns, in detail on the significant events of his presidency.
Among other striking events, the revolution in Tunisia, mentioned in one of the chapters of its memories.
“The same month, in Tunisia, a desperate fruit seller set out by fire in front of the siege of the governorate of Sidi Bouzid. It was an act of protest, produced by the distress and the fury of a citizen in the face of a government which he knew corrupt and indifferent to his needs.
The man, Mohamed Bouazizi, 26, did not have the reputation of being an activist and was not particularly interested in politics. It belonged to a generation of Tunisians having known only the economic stagnation and the yoke of the dictator Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.
Hangled repeatedly by municipal inspectors, after being refused an hearing before the judge, he had ended up being fed up. According to a witness, at the time of mixing, Bouazizi shouted-to everyone in general and to anyone in particular: “How do you want me to earn my life?” »»
The suffering of this fruit merchant sparked demonstrations against the Tunisian government and, on January 14, 2011, Ben Ali fled with his family in Saudi Arabia. In parallel, similar movements, mainly animated by young people, were born in Algeria, Yemen in Jordan and Oman, the first buds of what was going to become the Arab Spring ”.
President Obama also evokes his speech on the state of the nation and the addition of a direct sentence to express the support of the United States to the Tunisian people.
“After the tremendous mobilization of Tunisians who had managed to overthrow a dictator, the population through the country seemed to be in turmoil, carried by the hope of a real change. The situation was however complex, and the outcome uncertain. Finally, we decided to add a sentence, simple and direct, to my speech: “Tonight, I want to say clearly: the United States of America is alongside the Tunisian people and support the aspiration of all peoples to democracy”.
