• Listen to this segment

• Listen to the entire program

The popular uprising in Tunisia continues today, after key reform politicians resigned from the coalition government that was announced only yesterday. The new coalition government was immediately rejected by Tunisians, who were angered that it included many of the old government’s top members. In response, three officials of the General Union of Tunisian Workers withdrew from the coalition government, dealing a major blow to its legitimacy. Former President Zine El Bidine Ben Ali left the country on Friday, after having been in power for 23 years. He was ousted after weeks of protests by Tunisians against what is being called a dictatorship, 30% unemployment, and rising food prices. The uprising was sparked by the tragic self-immolation of a Tunisian student unable to find adequate work, and two more suicides by self-immolation have followed. It is also being reported that leaked US diplomatic cables through Wikileaks fueled the protests. Cables from the US embassy in the capital Tunis revealed the former US-backed President and his wife’s family operated like a “quasi-mafia.” The family reportedly expropriated national resources, like water and land, for use as essentially private property.

GUEST: Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and Chair of Mid-Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco