

Jailed Pirate Party member becomes Tunisian government minister - mcantelon
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/01/jailed-pirate-party-member-becomes-tunisian-government-minister.ars

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jdp23
Is <http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=slim> Hacker News' first high-level
government official? :-)

The Guardian also covered this in
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/18/tunisia-
dissiden...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/18/tunisia-dissident-
blogger-minister)

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pavel_lishin
> Several junior ministers have already walked out after it became clear that
> key jobs, including interior and defense, won't be changing hands. For its
> part, the new government has pledged to hold a full slate of elections
> within the next few months, saying that current ministers were still needed
> to maintain stability during the transition period.

You just had a revolution, guys.

~~~
malkia
Where was the mainstream media on that one? And thank you ArsTechnica!

~~~
danohuiginn
Where was the social media?

Seriously: most mainstream outlets I follow have devoted a reasonable amount
of space to Tunisia, albeit hampered by an obvious lack of experts on the
situation there. Social media? very little. Pretty much the only stuff I've
seen has come via the pirate parties or the far left.

Possibly it's just my friends and contacts being unusual -- but my hunch is
that if you tried to quantify online attention to Tunisia, you'd find it lower
than in the mainstream press.

~~~
cabalamat
> _Where was the social media?_

There's been quite a lot of coverage on Reddit, e.g.:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/f3zyh/new_governm...](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/f3zyh/new_government_formed_in_tunisia_list_of/)

[http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/f42mk/arrested_pi...](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/f42mk/arrested_pirate_party_member_becomes_tunisian/)

[http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/f4jdq/new_tunisia...](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/f4jdq/new_tunisian_government_declares_total_liberty_of/)

[http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/f4nvx/israel_drea...](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/f4nvx/israel_dreading_a_democratic_arab_world_israeli/)

[http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/f4lpn/juan_cole_t...](http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/f4lpn/juan_cole_tunisia_uprising_spearheaded_by_labor/)

~~~
danohuiginn
Note that 3 of those are links to mainstream media outlets. Of the other 2,
one is torrentfreak talking about the pirate angle (which is the right angle
for them, and fascinating as a reflection of the growing international
seriousness of the pirate movement -- but is perhaps not the most important
part of the revolution).

I kind of expect the online world to put the professionals to shame in depth
and insight of coverage. Often that does happen -- here, not so much.

------
mahmud
I would be cautious about celebrating this. It might be a bit of a tokenism;
the former runner ups are replacing Bin-Ali and his family, and they might be
trying to hijack the revolution by placating the youth.

~~~
cabalamat
I'm reminded of the Romanian revolution in 1989, when some of the 2nd tier of
Communist leaders started calling themselves the "National Salvation Front"
and stayed in power.

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bitskits
It will be interesting to see just how much influence he's able to have. Even
without being the leader of a major government, this could make a difference
in how the party is perceived. Just having a Pirate Party member in government
is pretty significant, IMO.

~~~
cabalamat
> _It will be interesting to see just how much influence he's able to have._

The giovernemtn have said there will be democratic elections within 60 days.
If they renege on this, it would probably make sense for him to resign, lest
he be seen as a collaborator with the old regime.

> _Just having a Pirate Party member in government is pretty significant,
> IMO._

He's the first Pirate in government, as far as I know.

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Joakal
I read that he's the "State Secretary for Youth and Sports." Not quite a
minister.

~~~
fab13n
That's most likely a direct transposition from French "secretaire d'etat",
which is just a junior minister.

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electromagnetic
Now the question is: Is diplomatic immunity retroactive?

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hermanthegerman
Oops - maybe the ruling class in Tunisia should have made the state their
intellectual property.

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michaelty
Pirates, pirates everywhere!

~~~
Gianteye
Apparently you can't have a party, even a political one, without "Arrrrrr."

