NEW YORK - Drawing on the history of their adopted homeland, Tunisian-Americans gathered near the UN on Martin Luther King Jr. day, a moment when their countrymen's own call for freedom is ringing out.
The day also marked one month since Mohammed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old unemployed university graduate, set himself on fire. Bouazizi's suicide sparked massive protests all over Tunisia, leading to president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's flight from his country after a reign of more than 23 years.
In a display of solidarity with those protests, over a hundred people gathered across the street from the United Nations Headquarters. Many had wrapped the bright red Tunisian flag around their heavy winter coats. Handmade signs invoked King's famous words: "Tunisians Also Have a Dream" and "I Have a Dream. Free Tunisia."
"This is a historical moment," said Jamal Benaji, a Tunisian who has lived in New York for 15 years. "After 23 years the people arrived to overthrow a dictator."
Until the demonstration ended after several hours near the Tunisian Mission to the United Nations, the crowd kept up a steady stream of chants in Arabic, English and French.
As in Tunisia, where people are asking for a complete exit of Ben Ali's ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD), the demonstrators in New York chanted in Arabic, "Tunisia, Tunisia, free, free! Get out RCD!" In English, the chant was simply "RCD, out!"
The demonstrators also called for the removal of Mohammed Ghannouchi, the current prime minister. The acting president, Fouad Mebazaa, charged Ghannouchi with creating a national unity government while the country gets ready for elections in two months' time, but Ghannouchi is also considered part of the old regime's corrupt elite.
Mary Annabi, a woman from Ireland married to a Tunisian, praised the democratic system in the U.S. where she has lived for twenty years. "Here, the Constitution is by the people, for the people," she said. "In Tunisia, the constitution is for the President."
Their constitution is one of the issues Tunisians will have to face as they attempt to reform their government, since it is thought to favor the old regime.
A young boy, leading the chants while perched on his father's shoulders, held a sign reading "New Constitution Before Presidential Election in Tunis." The crowd denounced the constitution in another chant.
Other demands were for a UN presence at the upcoming elections and for the organization to pressure Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Canada and other countries into extraditing Ben Ali and his family back to Tunisia where they can stand trial.
Handmade signs insisted the United States follow France in investigating and freezing assets held by members of Ben Ali's family, and many of those present expressed a hope that countries worldwide would help to alleviate the sudden shortages of food and medical supplies in Tunisia.
"I'm from Egypt, and I'm coming in solidarity with our brothers in Tunisia," Ahmed Lotfy said, waving an Egyptian flag.
Protests in Egypt, Jordan, Libya and Algeria have borrowed the language and symbols of Tunisia's uprising. Even Bouazizi's horrifying suicide by self-immolation has now been repeated in Algeria and Egypt.
Zakaria Eltourroug, a student from Morocco, focused on the revolution's positive side: the possibility for change. "I am really glad that this happens in our lifetime," he said. "Finally one Arab country woke up and said 'Enough!'. Hopefully, this is just the beginning. I am waiting for Algeria to be changed, Egypt to be changed, even Libya."
Like the original demonstrations, the protest in front of the UN was not staged by an official organization, but by a group of friends. One was Jamal Saidi, a US citizen originally from Thala, another city rocked by protests in the last few weeks. Whereas some protesters were surprised by the revolution, Saidi was not. "It was expected, because of the amount of the heavy weight that has been on the people's shoulders. It went beyond a dictatorship."
"We picked today, it was a coincidence," Saidi said, "but when we found out, we went for it: Martin Luther King Day."
By Jessamy Klapper
