Tunisia

Marginalized Tunisians Organize to Demand Economic and Social Change

Diverse social movements have emerged in Tunisia over the past decade and the country has seen myriad protests focusing on a range of issues, from debt relief for farmers to the alleviation of the Covid-19 pandemic to police brutality. Marginalized residents, including those in the country’s south who have seen little investment in their region while natural resources are extracted for the economic benefit of the north and international corporations, engage in what author Sami Zemni calls “an environmentalism of the poor.” This environmentalism, such as that of the Kamour movement in the southern governorate of Tataouine, call attention to environmental concerns while demanding jobs, access to land, the provision of and access to services, and the redistribution of wealth.

Interview

Political Cartoon

Cartoon showing wealthy urban Tunisians at a cafe; rural Tunisians protest from the country — Wealthy urban Tunisians at a cafe; rural Tunisians protest from the country’s periphery. Cartoon by Deena Mohamed.

Infographic Slideshow

Protests in Tunisia's Tataouine Governorate spike in 2020

Reasons for protest: economic decline and increasing militarization

Tataouine has a 29% unemployment rates, 58% for college-educated

Tataouine produces 20% of Tunisia's gas and 40% of it's oil.

The government promised 4,500 jobs to locals in 2017 as a result of earlier protests, but by 2020 only 2,500 had been delivered.

Maping showing resource extraction in Tunisia, which is concentrated in the marginalized periphery. — Resource extraction in Tunisia has historically been concentrated in the marginalized periphery. Despite being resource rich, the periphery’s inhabitants continue to experience high poverty rates. The center map highlights administrative areas with both extractive sites and poverty rates above 16.7 percent. The governorate of Tataouine, where some protests have been concentrated, is outlined in black.

Image Slideshow

Workers in a field in Sidi Bouzid — In the Sidi Bouzid region, women largely tend to the fields while men transport and market agricultural goods. (Photo credit: Ernest Riva)

Field workers take a break — Women workers take a break from weeding fields that have been transformed into a peach plantation through an influx of irrigation water and agricultural chemicals. (Photo credit: Ernest Riva)

Woman weeding on a peach plantation — A woman weeding in the peach plantation. (Photo credit: Ernest Riva)

A cistern in Sidi Bouzid — Despite the many resources that came to the region after the 2011 revolution, entire neighborhoods in areas like Sidi Bouzid do not have access to water. Many houses are equipped with cisterns and the quality of water is very poor. (Photo credit: Ernest Riva)

A woman stands in the doorway of her home in an informal settlement on the outskirts of Tunis. These homes do not have access to formal water infrastructure. (Photo credit: Ernest Riva)

A playground in Gabes with a chemical plant in the background — A derelict playground in the southern city of Gabes, with a chemical plant in the background. The industrialization of the region promised wealth and “modernity,” but instead created marginalized areas where people live in poverty. (Photo credit: Ernest Riva)

A dead sea turtle outside a chemical plant in Gabes — A phosphate plant in Gabes Governorate produces black sludge that pollutes the sea and coastline for hundreds of kilometers. (Photo credit: Ernest Riva)

A soccer field next to a phosphate storage area — A soccer field in Gafsa Governorate, located between a school and a phosphate storage area. (Photo credit: Ernest Riva)

Seasonal farmworkers ride in the back of a truck — These seasonal workers are employed in date harvesting. Dates, farmed in the south, are irrigated by groundwater and are mainly destined for export. The workers’ livelihood depends on good harvests and the prices they get in international markets. (Photo credit: Ernest Riva)

Falling water levels at Bouhartma Dam, one of the largest dams in Jendouba Governorate. — Pictures show the vast drop in water levels at Bouhartma Dam, one of the largest dams in Jendouba Governorate. The water is used for irrigation. Now farmers graze their livestock in areas that had previously been submerged. Water levels have fallen sharply due to climate change, with periods of prolonged drought and record high temperatures. (Photo credit: Issa Ziadia)

Farmers overlooking Bouhartma Dam — Pictures show the vast drop in water levels at Bouhartma Dam, one of the largest dams in Jendouba Governorate. The water is used for irrigation. Now farmers graze their livestock in areas that had previously been submerged. Water levels have fallen sharply due to climate change, with periods of prolonged drought and record high temperatures. (Photo credit: Issa Ziadia)

Article

“Tunisia’s Marginalized Redefine the Political” by Sami Zemni from MERIP

Spring 2021

Tunisians took their grievances to the streets again in January when peaceful demonstrations broke out in cities across the country. Protesters mobilized amidst a continuing social and economic crisis and against the backdrop of a three-day COVID-19 lockdown that began on January 14, 2021—the tenth anniversary of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s flight from Tunisia. At night young people violated the curfew and clashed with police forces who responded with violent repression and thousands of arrests.

The National Campaign to Support the Social Struggles, a committee coordinating the protests, blamed the entire political class for the economic crisis and the country’s inadequate response to the health crisis in its January 25 statement, titled “The People’s Program Against the Elites’ Program.” The campaign accused “the bourgeoisie” that has ruled Tunisia since 2011—when protesters toppled Ben Ali’s regime during the Arab uprisings—of diverting attention from social and economic problems through endless political bickering over ministerial appointments and conflicts between the president, the prime minister and the parliament. Confronting the elites and their allies across society, the campaign proposed developing a program to separate “forces aligned with the people and those of the bourgeoisie and of colonialism.” Covering a range of issues, from debt relief for farmers and financial aid to alleviate the impact of the pandemic to police brutality, their formulation builds on the work of diverse social movements that have emerged within the country over the last decade.

A few months before the National Campaign’s statement, on November 8, 2020, the government led by Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi signed an agreement with demonstrators in Al-Kamour in the southern province of Tataouine, which ended a nearly four-year wave of social mobilizations. The government’s acceptance of the protestors’ demands, and the new protests that engulfed the country, are testimony to the growing political salience of regional economic and social inequalities and the rising strength of the marginalized—those excluded from accessing social, political, economic and natural resources. More than ever, Tunisia is witnessing the growing activism and anger of its marginalized populations, who were the first to rise up against Ben Ali and his regime. The post-revolutionary governments have, however, failed to address the root causes of their anger, including unemployment, limited access to health care and education, clientelism, corruption and nepotism. The ongoing protests by the marginalized reflect the fact that the Tunisian revolution not only sought to secure political freedoms and democratic institutions. It also pushed for social and economic development and an end to the enduring inequalities that divide the coastal areas of the country from the peripheralized and marginalized interior.

In Tunisia, where economically excluded groups are also politically marginalized, the question of marginality is the most pressing political issue. A focus on those populations who are subject to multiple forms of economic, political and social marginalization requires rethinking and reassessing the dynamics of contention, protest and resistance beyond the classic institutions of political representation such as parties and labor unions.

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Interview

Political Cartoon

Infographic Slideshow

Image Slideshow

Article

“Tunisia’s Marginalized Redefine the Political” by Sami Zemni from MERIP

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