Interviews with Zied Mhirsi

At the end of the 2007 era, we saw the first blogs being censored by [Former Tunisian President Zine el Abidine] Ben Ali. And that increased more and more and more. And at some point he managed to kill the blogosphere. But we kept this connection going. And I can recall people meeting and gathering now in real life and trying to go and occupy the space– the real space. And organize some actions to protest against the Internet censorship.

And in 2009 we could see or hear in Habib Bourguiba Avenue, the largest boulevard in Tunisia, a lot of Tunisian bloggers coming wearing white and gathering here to protest against the censorship of the internet. And two bloggers ended up in jail. And a lot were harassed and got their ID checked and kicked out of the café. And it was funny in 2009 to see Tunisian police looking for people just wearing white and arresting them randomly. Because they couldn´t tell who was who, you know? It was fun. I think we would see sometimes some bloggers who are speaking more openly being censored. I think that´s for us an alarm that, “Oh, you crossed the red line you shouldn´t cross.”

You know, and people go back at that blog and read what they wrote. So know the new guidelines, you know. And the more blogs get censored, the more we realize that those decisions were taken so randomly. Like, you really can´t tell why this blog would be censored and why that other blog wouldn´t be censored. Which puts people even in more and more self-censorship. And then at some point, people say, “Oh man, come on. We can´t keep going like this. We just got to do something against the Internet censorship.”

Especially it reached a level that really was a nightmare, I think, in terms of not knowing exactly what you could write about, you know. YouTube was censored. You can´t even share videos. There was not a single video platform where you could share pictures. So that really pushed everyone to basically start questioning how wise this is. And why would somebody who is writing about flowers be censored? And the fact that the number of user boomed, basically did not allow the government to really monitor effectively what was happening. And it was too much, I think, for them and they started banning and censoring websites randomly.

In 2004, Dr. Zied Mhirsi became a pioneer in Tunisia’s pre-revolutionary blogosphere, and used his blog, Zizou From Djerba, as a platform to express ideas, opinions, and experiences. He soon engaged others in the blogosphere on policy debates about topics like education, agriculture, and the environment. Initially, the Internet was one of the few venues for Tunisians to express themselves without being harassed by government authorities. As the regime of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali became more aware of the blogosphere’s ability to influence society, bloggers like Mhrisi became targets of censorship and persecution.

As a student studying in the United States, Mhirsi became involved in Tunisian radio and through his broadcasts, informed Tunisians about world events. When he returned to his homeland, Mhirsi remained active in radio and used it to promote the use of social media. This concept transformed into a weekly political show that featured voices from the Tunisian blogosphere prior to the 2010 uprising. Since the revolution, Mhirsi has worked extensively with international media analyzing the post-revolution political situation, working with outlets such as CNN, Al Jazeera English, 60 Minutes, CBS News, the New York Times, and the Financial Times, to produce news stories, documentaries, and other shows. In March 2011, Mhirsi co-founded Tunisia Live, the first Tunisian English-language news website. Tunisia Live is viewed by more than 100,000 visitors every month and serves as the main Tunisian news platform for English speakers.

In addition to his media activities, Mhirsi is a global health professional whose public health career focuses primarily on strengthening health systems to combat HIV/AIDS and other serious diseases.

Twitter: @zizoo

Blog: http://www.zizoufromdjerba.com/

Website: http://www.tunisia-live.net/