Protests erupt throughout Tunisia over price hikes, lack of progress on human rights
Seven years after Tunisians rose up to depose longtime strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a revolution that effectively launched the Arab Spring, protests are again being staged across the country, including in the capital Tunis. The week-long demonstrations come after the government passed a law cutting public salaries and raising taxes on a slew of consumer goods as part of an austerity package agreed to with foreign donors. Protesters have been heard shouting slogans such as, “poverty and hunger have increased against the oppressed citizen,” and, “people are suffering in the countryside.”
Bu Ali Al-Mobariki, the Assistant Secretary of the Tunisian General Labor Union, stressed that citizens have the right to object to the government measures but warned that the demonstrations risk being hijacked by “vandals” who lack the organizational infrastructure to initiate their own movements. “We support the peaceful protests as they are an integral part of Tunisians’ right of expression,” he told The Media Line, “but we don’t accept those who are trying to weaken the country and shift attention to their own agendas. Tunisia is a democratic state, however, the rioting is completely unacceptable as it paints a bad and incorrect image about us.”
In this respect, the Tunisian Interior Ministry confirmed that one person was killed in clashes with security forces, whereas hundreds have been arrested for “incidents of theft, riot[ing] and sabotage.” In response, the government deployed Tunisian army units to Kasserine, Qebly and Qulaybiya, among other cities, to ensure public order and security. While Tunisian Prime Minister Yousef al-Shahid conceded that the economic situation is “difficult and critical,” he nevertheless condemned people who “break, rob and abuse Tunisians.”
Amid the ongoing turmoil, Al-Mobariki urged authorities to take the people’s will into account, revealing that “Tunisian political parties, organizations and associations studied the matter and provided the government with demands, [including providing] health insurance to those who are unemployed, tending to the poor and increasing the minimum wage for workers.”
The 2011 revolution was ignited when Mohammed Bouazizi, a fruit vendor, set himself on fire in Sidi Bouzid after being mistreated by police. His self-immolation brought the masses out onto the streets to reclaim their personal dignity and to promote social justice; this, amid high levels of unemployment, political corruption and overall poor living conditions.
Prior to that the country had been ruled by only two leaders, Habib Bourguiba, who led the campaign to liberate the country from French colonial rule in 1956; and Ben Ali, who succeeded Bourguiba and served as president for over thirty years.
After Ben Ali’s overthrow, various interim administrations managed state affairs until elections for the Constituent Assembly took place in late 2011, resulting in Tunisia’s first democratic government headed by veteran politician Moncef Marzouki. In 2014, parliamentary elections were held, with the newly-formed secularist Nidaa Tounes party winning a plurality of the votes. In November that year, Beji Caid Essebsi won the presidential elections.
But despite these developments, Tunisians clearly are dissatisfied with the rate of progress.
In fact, according to Human Rights Watch the political and humanitarian situation in Tunisia has deteriorated since the revolution. In a recent report, titled “Serious Human Rights Violations Continued,” the organization described systematic “torture, arbitrary house arrests and travel restrictions under a state of emergency declared in November 2015.” It noted that a “lack of accountability for past human rights violations also persisted.”
Palestinian political analyst Hanna Isa agrees that conditions in Tunisia were better before 2011. “They called it the Arab Spring, but I call it the Arab Winter,” he told The Media Line, while suggesting that the North African nation lacks the basic infrastructure to provide average citizens with the life-improvements they are seeking.
For his part, Basher Al-Fatah, an Egyptian political analyst and researcher at the Pyramids Center for Strategic Studies, explained that revolutions first bring about political change and only then can the new leadership begin work to bring about social and economic reforms. “Tunisians succeeded in achieving democracy and freedom, as they got rid of a dictator [Ben Ali] and held three elections so far. As such,” he elaborated to The Media Line, “the people are not protesting against the government—they elected the current government—but rather against unemployment, corruption and rising prices.”
In this respect, al-Fatah contends that the protests in Tunisia should not be viewed as a counter-revolution, but, instead, as an expression of ongoing frustrations mainly over what he termed the “corruption dinosaur.” Nevertheless, he qualified, the government is not entirely at fault, as the economy has been hampered by a wave of terrorist attacks targeting the crucial tourism industry.
Tunisian activist Sakena Abd Al-Samad attributes the ongoing unrest to democratic growing pains, noting the country has already gone through multiple governments since the uprising. “After the revolution, we are still building,” she stated to The Media Line, adding that the transition to a free society always comes with a price.
On the other hand, she concluded, “whereas the current situation is relatively calm, nobody can be sure what it might escalate into.”