GARY RYNHART: It’s time for policymakers to strike while the crisis iron is hot
A little over 10 years ago a 26-year-old street trader, Mohamed Bouazizi, stood outside the governor’s office in the small Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid and doused himself with a can of gasoline. His last words before he struck the match and set himself alight were: “How do you expect me to make a living?” He had had enough of the continual harassment from local officials and police shaking him down. The daily humiliations.
His desperation was later described by his sister. “What kind of repression do you imagine it takes for a young man to do this?” His sacrifice was the touchstone that led to the “Arab Spring” that sent dictators toppling from Tunis to Cairo. In Tunisia, within a year the 24-year Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali dictatorship was over...
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