>>Ten years ago today, 26-year old Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest over injustice and state marginalization, igniting mass uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and other countries across the Middle East and North Africa.

He set himself on fire for having his fruit stand confiscated for the third time, for not having a license for it. He likely had no money to get a new fruit stand, and saw no way out except to commit suicide in protest.

I wish these so-called human rights activists named the oppression that drove Bouazizi to self-immolate, instead of glossing over it. He was driven to suicide because he had his right to engage in voluntary economic interactions with other consenting adults violated. This oppression was rationalized by the ideology that says the state has a right to use the threat of incarceration to control the private economic activity of individuals, and is one the human rights activists are silent about.