The Tunisian Revolution: The Revolution of Dignity

Abstract

This article not only recounts the events that led to the revolution in Tunisia, but also provides an analysis of its causes, describes its significant actors, and attempts to put the Tunisian uprising in comparative perspective with the other revolutions in North Africa that followed it. To explain the revolt, the article focuses on the disparities in wealth distribution between interior and coastal Tunisia; the bleak employment prospects of Tunisian youth; fatigue with President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's system of authoritarianism; the use of e-mail, text messaging, and Facebook to broadcast the revolution; and the special roles played by lawyers, judges, and labor union activists in organizing the later stages of the revolution. Additional analyses are provided concerning the disparate roles played by the army and the police in supporting and opposing the revolution.

KEYWORDS:

• Arab Spring
• Internet
• labor unions
• Mohammed Bouazizi
• revolution
• social media
• Tunisia
• unemployment
• youth
• Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This article was translated from Arabic into English by Khalid Bekkaoui.

Notes

¹Ali Abaab, “La région de Sidi Bouzid” [“The Region of Sidi Bouzid”] www.cicred.org/eng/publication/books/monographieTunisie/MonogTunisie_def_planches.org

²Mouldi Gassoumi, “Kasserine: Du Colonialisme Capitaliste à l'Intégrationnationale,” in Actes du Colloques: Kasserine: Mémoire et Histoire [Kasserine, Memory and History] (Tunis: Mil, 2009), 190.

³ http://www.mediaterranee.com/Tunisie/Economie/Tunisie-le-chomage-des-jeunes-une-bombe-a-retardement.html. Accessed May 18, 2011.

⁴ Jeune Afrique, [Tunisia: Reasons of the Anger]. The international economic crisis, the tiger of Tunisian revolution, February 9, 2011, http://www.jeuneafrique.com/Article/ARTJAWEB20110209103052/.

⁵ Jeune Afrique, “La crise économique mondiale, un déclic dans la révolution tunisienne,” February 9, 2011, http://www.jeuneafrique.com/Article/ARTJAWEB20110209103052/.

⁶ The Guardian (UK), “U.S. embassy cables: Tunisia—a U.S. foreign policy conundrum,” December 7, 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/217138.

⁷Frederick Engels, Théorie de la Violence [Theory of Violence] (Paris: Gilbert Mury, 1972), 42.

⁸See the website http://www.gnet.tn/temps-fort/tunisie-ben-ali-a-donne-lordre-de-bombarder-kasserine/id-menu-325.html

⁹See the website http://www.scribd.com/doc/52995479/Journal-LE-MONDE-14042011

¹⁰Declaration by Juan Méndez, special UN reporter on torture, citing the governmental official figures in May 20, 2011. Tunis, Tunisia: 300 killed through the revolution, continuation of the torture. See the website http://www.20minutes.fr/monde/tunisie-300-morts-pendant-revolution-poursuite-torture.

¹¹According to evidence provided by local youths, security agents committed at least three cases of rape on January 24, 2012 (personal interview).

¹² L'Est Républicain (French newspaper), 17 February, 2011. http://infosplanetaires.com/afrique/eqypte-le-retour-a-la-normale-n%E2%80%99est-pas-acquis.html.

¹³Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (Paris: Petite Collection Maspero, 1974), 44–45.

¹⁴Lazher Merjri, The Tunisian Revolution: 17 December. MIP, Tunisia 2011, p. 68–86.

¹⁵ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkPVSZIVzXk

¹⁶Zoghlami Naget, “Women at Tunisian revolution,” communication à la journée sur la révolution organisée par L'Association des sociologues tunisiens, Tunis, February 10, 2011, unpublished.

¹⁷This was the case for the president of the Bar Association, Ahmed Rahmouni, and the judges Khathoum Kennou, Wassila Kaaba, Raoudha Karafi, Leyla Abid, and Leyla Bahria.

¹⁸Figures of the Tunisian agency of the Internet, December 2011 http//:www.ati.tn/fr/index.php?id=90&rub=27.

¹⁹According to the website of the Tunisian opposition, September 25, 2009, http://nawaat.org/portail/2009/09/25/Tunisie-les-cyberflics-doublent-leur-effectif-et-se-lachent-sur-facebook/.

²⁰Samy Ghorhal, “Rachid Ammar, the powerful man of Tunisia: The army will not shoot’”. Rue 89, January 16, 2011, http://www.rue89.com/2011/01/16/larmee-ne-tire-pas-lhomme-fort-de-la-tunisie-est-general-185923. Compare to the 147,000 active duty troops in the Algerian army as of 2008 (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algeria#Foreign_relations_and_military) and the 7,600 troops in Qaddafi's army in 2008.

²¹Youssef Ben Ismaïl, “Tunisia: Reasons of the anger,” El Mouwaten, March 9, 2011, http://www.elmouwaten.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=67.

²²Rachid Ammar was born in Sayada, in the Tunisian Sahel in 1947 or 1948. An artillery officer, he pursued his studies in the military academy in Fondek Jédid and then at French military schools in Turkey. In 2001, he became Joint Chief of Staff, and in 2010, he was appointed lieutenant general. He became Commander of Joint Task Forces on April 2011.

²³Abdelaziz Barrouhi, “Le général Ammar, l'homme qui a dit non,” Jeune Afrique, February 7, 2011, http://www.jeuneafrique.com/Article/ARTJAJA2612p044-049.xml1/.

²⁴European Union Press Office, “Joint Statement by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and Commissioner Stefan Füle on the Events in Tunisia,” January 14, 2011, http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/118865.pdf.

²⁵Thierry Meyssane, “Tunisie: Comment les Américains ont vouler canaliser la révolte,” Les Echos du Maghreb, January 30, 2011, http://jamalhafsi.unblog.fr/2011/01/30/tunisie-comment-les-americains-ont-voulu-canaliser-le-revolte/.

²⁶Valérie Segond, “Les revolutions arabes ne sont que des coups d'Etat militaries masques,” La Tribune, January 6, 2011, http://www.latribune.fr/actualites/economie/international/20110601trib000626151/les-revolutions-arabes-ne-sont-que-des-coups-d-etat-militaires-masques.html.

²⁷Raouf Seddik, “Tunisie-USA: L'intérêt américains dans la révolution tunisienne,” Afrique en Ligne, February 25, 2011, http://www.afriquejet.com/tunisie-usa-linteret-americain-dans-la-revolution-tunisienne-201102263034.html.

²⁸As of May 2012, about 100 parties had been already recognized.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amira Aleya-Sghaier

AMIRA ALEYA-SGHAIER is a research professor at the University of Tunis, specializing in the history of national movements in North Africa. He is the author of seven books, most recently Bourguiba (Éditions MIPE, 2011), and editor-in-chief of the academic journal Rawafed.