It is really a shame and sad that in our advanced technological era we are still killing each other simply because the other is poor and cannot defend himself or herself, or belongs to a different religion or simply because his or her skin is of a darker shade. The following are the stories of three young men who were killed because they were just different. I need not comment more. Let them speak for themselves . . .
Mohammed Bouazizi (Born 29 March 1984, Tunisia – Died 4 January 2011, Tunisia)
Cause of Death: Burns from Self-Immolation
He was known by his friends and family as “Basbousa.” His father was a construction worker who had died when Mohammed Bouazizi was three. His mother later married his uncle. The only education he had was the little he could get in a one-room school in his small village. One of his ambitions was to graduate at least from high school, but due to ill health of his uncle, who was unable to work regularly, Bouazizi had to work various jobs from a young age. It was then that he became a street vendor. He managed to earn enough money to be able to support his family, even paying for a younger sister’s university tuition.
It was on the morning of 17 December 2010 around 8.00 a.m. that Bouazizi started his day selling vegetables from a small cart. (The day before he had contracted a debt of approximately 200 dollars in order to buy the produce to sell the following day). But just after 10.30 a.m. the police started harassing him because he did not have a vendor’s license. This was not the first time. Some people even said that in that part of Tunisia no permit was needed to sell from a cart. Bouazizi came from a poor family, and so he could not afford to bribe the police officials. His family claimed that he was publicly humiliated when a forty-five year old female municipal officer slapped him in the face, spat at him, confiscated his electronic weighing scales and threw away all his produce. When an angry and hurt Bouazizi went to the governor’s office to complain, and was not allowed in, he got a can of gasoline, and, standing in the middle of the traffic, he soaked himself with the fuel and set himself pm fire. People immediately panicked and tried to pour water on him. But he had already suffered burns on over 90% of his body. He was taken to the hospital. While in the hospital, he was visited by the then President of Tunisia, who, according to Bouazizi’s mother, promised to send him to France for treatment, but no such transfer ever occurred. Bouazizi died some three weeks later.
Within hours of Bouazizi’s self-immolation, protests erupted in his hometown, but soon became widespread. The anger and violence became so intense that the President and his family had to flee Tunisia and seek refuge in another country. Such protests around the Middle East and North Africa became known as the Arab Spring. Young people were tired of the autocratic politics of their respective countries.
Bro Carmel Duca MC
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