The most striking aspect of Mohamed Bouazizi’s life is how ordinary it was. He was a typical 26-year-old Arab trying to make a living in a neglected Tunisian town, a fruit and vegetable seller whose ambition was to save enough money to buy a car. His meagre daily earnings were spent on supporting his family. No one of course will know what went through his mind when he bought a bottle of petrol and burnt himself alive. But the morning of his December 17 suicide had been a Kafkaesque struggle to recover the cart that had been confiscated by the police.
穆罕默德•布阿齐兹(Mohamed Bouazizi)的生命里，最不平凡的一点就是他十分平凡。他是一个典型的26岁的阿拉伯年轻人，在突尼斯一座默默无闻的小城，靠贩卖蔬菜水果努力维持生计，理想是攒够钱买一辆汽车，他每天微薄的收入都用于补贴家用。不过，谁也不知道当他买了一瓶汽油，惨烈地点燃自己时，心里在想什么。他在2010年12月17日早上的自焚，是为了讨回被警察没收的小推车的一场卡夫卡式的抗争。