CIAO DATE: 05/2011
April 2011
Tunisia is where it all began. It also is, by virtually every measure, where the promise of a successful democratic transition is greatest. The reasons are many, but the most significant lies in the country’s history of political activism and social mobilisation involving a wide array of forces that decades of regime repression never fully stifled. This tradition served the nation well during the uprising, as workers, the unemployed, lawyers and members of the middle class coalesced in a broad movement. It will have to serve the nation well today as it confronts critical challenges: balancing the urge for radical political change against the need for stability; finding a way to integrate Islamism into the new landscape; and tackling the deep socio-economic problems that sparked the political revolution but which the political revolution in itself cannot address. In hindsight, Tunisia possessed all required ingredients for an uprising. Talk of an economic miracle notwithstanding, vast expanses of the country had been systematically neglected by the regime. The unemployment rate was rising sharply, notably among the young and well-educated. The distress triggered by such social, generational and geographic disparities was epitomised by the self-immolation, on 17 December 2010, of a young, unemployed, university graduate from a small town. His suicide quickly came to embody far wider grievances. In the wake of his death, young demonstrators took to the streets in the south and centre of the country, demanding jobs, social opportunities and better educational and health services.
Resource link: Popular Protests in North Africa and the Middle East (IV): Tunisia's Way [PDF] - 2.0M