A revolution for dignity and freedom: preliminary observations on the social and cultural background to the Tunisian revolution

This paper seeks to explain the logic behind the Tunisian revolution, from the social protest which erupted in the governorate of Sidi Bouzid which then expanded to other regions – Kasserine, Douz, Jendouba and Sfax – until it evolved into a revolution which sparked off similar developments in other Arab countries. In this process, the self-immolation of a young informal trader, Mohamed Bouazizi, before the governorate in Sidi Bouzid, in protest at an official ban on his sales of fruit and vegetables, became the catalyst for this transformation, symbolising the issue of unemployment amongst youth, particularly amongst those with higher education. It also seeks to highlight the unfair socio-economic discrimination which existed between the interior and the coast in Tunisia, against the background of the general atmosphere of the lack of freedom of expression which lay behind the protests which ensued. However, these revolutionary events were not simply determined by the social and economical context but were also a response to highly rational calculations of how the abilities and resources of the different social classes directly affected by the former regime could be mobilised to achieve such a revolutionary outcome. Yet in attempting to assess this logic so soon after the events themselves, the author recognises the epistemological problems inherent in making such an assessment, both in terms of the interrelationships between events and in terms of participant observation of them. It is for this reason that his conclusions can only be preliminary.