[ad_1]
Tunisia, where the Arab Spring began, has also been its relative success – but celebrations will be muted when it marks the decade since protesters ousted its autocratic leader on Thursday.
The revolutionary optimism of the pro-democracy movement which ousted President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 has given way to despair among a third of unemployed youth.
And while Tunisia – unlike most of its regional neighbors – has kept the candle of a fragile democracy burning, widespread popular discontent is now pushing many to leave.
Tunisians made up the largest number of irregular migrants, over 12,000, who arrived in Italy last year on boats crossing the Mediterranean.
The key tourism sector in the North African country, already hit hard by a series of jihadist attacks in 2015, practically collapsed amid the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving the resorts that line its coastline for the most of them deserted.
It was in Tunisia that the revolts began after the young street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi, deceived and humiliated by the local authorities, set himself on fire on December 17, 2010.
His desperate protest sparked a wave of popular uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, briefly sparking hopes of bringing political freedom to millions of people.
As these hopes were largely dashed and Syria, Libya and Yemen were plunged into brutal wars, little Tunisia opened up a more promising path after Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14, 2011. .
The country has since had nine governments in 10 years, but power transfers have been peaceful, despite initial unrest and deadly Islamist attacks.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 2015 to the so-called Tunisian Quartet for Human Rights, Law, Labor and Business “for its decisive contribution to building a pluralist democracy … overnight of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011 “.
Crony capitalism
A new constitution approved in 2014 by Islamists and the opposition has been hailed as a historic breakthrough.
A graffiti represents a man transforming into a bird symbolizing freedom, on the Mohamed Bouazizi square – named after the street vendor who started the revolution – in the city of Sidi Bouzid. By Fethi Belaid (AFP / File) The country has since held several elections deemed fair by local and foreign observers, the latest of which brought President Kais Saied, a lawyer, to power in late 2019.
Former bloggers have launched independent media, and a revived Tunisian cinema now dares to tackle previously taboo subjects, while a vibrant civil society has emerged.
But the discontent has been fueled by the lingering economic malaise, largely blamed on a political class crippled by infighting.
Critics accuse powerful families of maintaining a crony capitalist system where rules and lines of credit protect them from open competition.
The economy contracted by 9% in 2020, the World Bank estimates, and people have taken to the streets once again in marginalized areas to demand jobs and investment.
“We have not gone from a democratic transition to an economic transition,” journalist Zied Krichen told AFP.
The public sector increased salaries and inflated its payroll, with the number of civil servants increasing by 50% from 2010 to 2017.
But it did not meet “the huge expectations,” Krichen said. “The various governments have tried to buy social peace without having a long-term policy of economic development or social integration.”
‘For the sake of history’
The crisis has fueled nostalgia for the stability of the years under Ben Ali in some quarters.
Many of those injured in the uprising are still awaiting recognition and compensation. By FETHI BELAID (AFP) Some former demonstrators, meanwhile, look bitterly at the years that have passed since their rally for “freedom, work (and) national dignity”, often at a high personal cost.
A preliminary count by Tunisian authorities in 2012 revealed that 338 people had been killed and 2,147 injured during the popular uprising.
These figures are reduced to 129 killed and 634 injured in an online list published in October 2019 by the Tunisian Higher Committee for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
While many victims and families still await recognition and compensation, few of those responsible have been held to account. Some now occupy important positions in the police or the army.
Former Tunisian demonstrators injured during the revolution are demanding recognition and compensation in the capital Tunis. By FETHI BELAID (AFP) Day laborer Moslem Kasdallah, 31, who lost his leg in clashes with police in 2011, demanded that the state officially recognize and help victims like him.
“Some need operations, prosthetics,” he said, declaring that he is ready to “sacrifice” himself again in the battle for justice, including the publication of an official list of victims.
“We gave our blood to write history, and history must be written today by enforcing the law and publishing the list,” he said.
“We want the authorities to recognize the revolution, in the name of history.”
Source link
