By Jesse Burks
Sidi Bouzid (see-dee boo- zeed), Tunisia 
December 17, 2010 
8:00 a.m. 
Mohamed Bouazizi (bo-uh-zee-zee) stood at his vegetable cart at the beginning of another day. It wasn’t much to look at, but he was proud of what he had and he liked working. He liked doing what he could to help support his mother and sisters. He was even saving some money so his sisters could go to college. A good friend who had helped his family in the past would come to him for food sometimes. He was even poorer than Mohamed was, so Mohamed would give him the produce for free. Friends have to look out for each other to survive in a place like this. 
After a couple of hours, trouble showed up––the police. He asked them not to disturb his business, but just like always they began their routine bullying. They confiscated his produce cart, hit him, and yelled out slander about his deceased father. They also confiscated his weighing scales, worth about 100 U.S. dollars, and he asked them to give it back. They didn’t; instead the policewoman gave him a slap in the face. He went to the governor’s building to ask him to hear his case so that he could get his scales back. They didn’t listen to him; they wouldn’t even open the door. In desperation he cried out, “If you don’t listen to me, I will burn myself!” No reply. He got some gas in a jug and stood in the middle of the road right in front of the governor’s building. He poured the fuel all over himself and shouted for the governor and all those around to hear: “How do you expect me to make a living?” He lit the fuel and his body burned as a beacon for all to see his protest against the injustice and oppression that he had experienced. He died on January 4, 2011. 
For years Tunisia had suffered under the dictator “president” Zine Ben Ali. Everything you did had to be acceptable to him. If you stepped out of line or said the wrong thing, you were in trouble. You had no freedom to speak anything politically except favorably toward Ben Ali and his ruling party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD). Locally, the police kept the peace by censorship and abuse. There were cases of police abducting civilians and subjecting them to interrogation, prison, and even torture, all without a trial. 
Like a dictator denying his people their freedom, all men have been in bondage to the sinful nature since Adam and Eve’s disobedience. About 1500 years after their first sin, the fallen state of man was at a depraved state that we today would be shocked to see. Genesis 6:11,12 says: “The earth was also corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” Long afterwards, the Jews were given a law by God through which they could learn how to be pleasing to Him. But as we see from the following Scriptures, even this law did not free them from sin. 
Romans 7:14-17: “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.” 
Isaiah 59:9-10: “Therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us; we look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness.” So on our own, we are lost and blind to the truth of our state. Through the law that God gave to Israel, our eyes are opened to our sin; but we are still slaves to it. So to be freed from sin, we need God, but not just His law. We need His grace. 
Isaiah 59:15-16: “So truth fails,, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him, and His own righteousness, it sustained Him.” 
Jesus’ sacrifice was the perfect application of divine justice and mercy. “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Ephesians 2:4-5). When we obey the Gospel of Christ, we’re free, just like Romans 8:2 says: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” 
Try to soak in the feeling for a moment. You live in a country ruled by a corrupt and oppressive government. You have never known freedom. You have family that depends on you for money so that they can sustain the food, shelter and clothing that they need to survive. Not what they need to be happy, not what they want; just enough to live. It’s nearly impossible to find work. You finally figure out a way to earn a little money. Then the police come. They’re supposed to protect civilians from criminals. Instead they harass you, slap you, hit you, steal from you––anything they want to do. You have never known life to be any better than this. Every day you try to earn a living, and the people who should be protecting you are the ones who cause you the most harm. The only way to make peace with them is to bribe them; but you can’t afford how much they want from you. 
Then it changes. Mohamed Bouazizi’s actions sparked protests in Sidi Bouzid. The entire town goes to the streets and protests against the regime. You join them. On Facebook, you see videos and read conversations about people all over your country rising up against Ben Ali, shouting to cleanse the corrupt government and law enforcement. Along with tens of thousands of people, you head to the capital city of Tunis where Ben Ali reigns. Basically all business there has stopped, and everyone is screaming for the dictator to leave. The pressure on the people is put back on the tyrant where it came from. It’s funny how all of you withstood the injustice for so long, and he only takes the pressure for a little over two weeks. But, relief is not without its own pain. Even though the citizens remained innocent of bloodshed, Ben Ali ordered his police to fire live rounds on his own people, and there were a number of beatings during the protest at the capital. Finally, on January 14, 2011, Zine Ben Ali runs away into Saudi Arabia. 
And just like that, he’s gone. You’re free. A weight lifts off your heart and mind that had stifled the hope of happiness for so long; the floodgates open and joy rushes through your whole body. You celebrate with the rest of the country with smiles and laughter and dancing in the street. Have you ever seen people that are so full of joy––so ecstatic––their emotions overflow and they just start dancing? … 
Freedom from sin is like freedom from oppression. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Romans 6:7-8 says: “For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.” We raise up against our old master the devil, and through the sacrifice of Jesus’ life-blood, our Lord frees us from sin. Then the rightful King makes his entrance into our hearts. “And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’” (Matthew 21:9).